New ugdorable bat

Courtesy of Wired, where they're falling all over themselves coming up with different ways of describing this new species from South Sudan: "looks like a tiny flying bulldog," "manages to simultaneously resemble a badger and bulldog. With black-and-cream coloring reminiscent of a frothy stout," and "striking, panda-like bicolored patches." We sympathize with their enthusiasm.

New Giant Tarantula Discovered in Sri Lanka

New giant tarantula discovered in Sri Lanka. With an eight inch leg span. Not much else needs to be said about that except maybe "Whoa, cool!" 

Your Monday ugdorable

This is a new book about baby sloths. Of course, all of us liked sloths before sloths were cool. (I wrote a book with a sloth on the cover way before this one.) But it's not their fault they're popular, you know? So I'm betting you still want a book full of baby sloths. You can read more about it here.

Saving an ugly orphan

 
Here's something you don't see every day: a baby pangolin drinking from a bottle. This orphan named Fikile is being raised by the Tikki Hywood Trust in Zimbabwe (photo from their Facebook page).

World Pangolin Day

It's World Pangolin Day! Check out the official website for depressing info about the threats facing these unique scaly mammals, adorable video of a baby sticking out its tongue, and facts that even I didn't know, like that there are eight species of pangolin.

Buglovers

I recommend that you check out my article for the Associated Press on pet insects. It is highly relevant to our interests.

-Wombat (No Relation)

An ugly animal treat

Readers of this blog are no doubt familiar with the Marabou stork and as much as you love ugly animals, I'm going to guess that you don't find that that photo gives you a healthy appetite.

So imagine my surprise when I was recently given this bar of chocolate, a souvenir from Norway:

The bird is even reproduced on the chocolate itself:

According to the blog's Norway correspondent, this link explains that the company held a competition to design a logo in 1907 and they just liked the drawing. You have to wonder if they didn't see an actual photo of a Marabou stork till it was too late... or if they were just really our kind of people.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Your early Monday ugdorable

A baby sifaka from the Duke Lemur Center! They're the only place that's ever successfully bred the Coquerel's sifaka. There are only 56 of these lemurs in captivity and like probably everything on Madagascar they're endangered in the wild. And aren't they amazing little gremlin babies?