Animals: they have had their fair share of lists, including Top 15 Unusual Deep Sea Creatures, Top 10 Badass Living Creatures, and Top 10 Ugliest Creatures. However, not a single list has been dedicated to those creatures that just make you go awww. From cute to cutest, here are the animals in the wild kingdom that have been naturally selected to distract their prey just by simply being adorable (or were bred to be)! Happy weekend!
These thin fish belong in the same family as sea horses and sea dragons. They are much cuter, though, probably due to their nose-like snouts. Most live in salt water, but a few live in fresh water. Like sea horses, the male carries his partner’s eggs for quite some time.
Fun Fact: The love life of these fish is pretty varied. Some species mate for life, some mate with several different partners, and some female members of various species mate with multiple partners at the same time.
These small Insectivores are covered in fur which hides most of their features… which is what makes them so adorable. The European Mole spends most of its life underground, digging tunnels and eating insects. They are well known for their poor eyesight, which isn’t really needed underground. They may be cute, but they can cause problems for an unlucky gardener or farmer, as the Mole’s burrowing can damage crops and plants. Not to be confused with the rather ugly Star-nosed Mole.
Fun Fact: You can’t kill moles in Germany without a permit
Not the fruit – the bird! These puffy birds native to New Zealand are one of the thickest feathered birds around! The bird’s wings have been reduced to stubs over time, rendering them flightless, but they make up for that with their extraordinary sense of smell. They have a varied diet, consisting of insects, worms, leaves, and berries. There are five recognized species, all of which are endangered.
Fun Fact: Kiwi’s lay huge eggs for their size: up to 20% of their body weight. That would be like a 150 pound woman giving birth to a 30 pound baby.
At first, you might think this animal is a giant ball of fluff, but there really is a rabbit in there. These large rabbits were bred specifically for the fluffiness. There are four recognized breeds, as well as several unrecognized breeds. They range from WTF fluffy (English), pretty fluffy (French, Satin) to large, but not super fluffy (Giant).
Fun Fact: Just in case you didn’t realize how fuzzy these guys are, you can actually buy clothes and yarn made entirely of Angora rabbit fur (with no harm done to the animal).
These guys are quite cute at first, but once you startle them, you just want to poke them. This Family of fish (I couldn’t choose just one) is able to swallow water (or even air) quickly, so much so that they become spherical, scaring off predators. This often saves both of their lives, since most puffer fish species are poisonous. You should be safe as long as you don’t eat it, with proper preparation, it can be served as a dish (see Top 10 Poisonous Foods We Love To Eat – item 9). Not to be mistaken for their cousins, the porcupine fish (they are two separate families).
Fun Fact: Puffer fish have the smallest genomes in the vertebrate world.
These mammals are the most adorable members the family Erinaceidae (mostly hedgehogs), even though it is filled with cute critters. You probably have seen one of these before or at least know how they look like. They are vaguely rodent-like mammals that have many small spines on their back. They can roll into a ball to protect themselves. This particular hedgehog has been domesticated, so you can have one for a pet without too much trouble.
Fun Fact: Be sure to check your local laws before buying a hedgehog. Some places require you to have a permit, while others (such as the states of California and Hawaii) completely ban them as pets.
These little rodents are even more adorable than their bigger cousins. There are three species, but my favorite is Campbell’s dwarf hamster. These creatures come from the steppes of China and Russia. They are sold as pets in just about every pet store. Chinese hamsters are also adorable and sometimes called dwarf hamsters, although they are not in the same Genus.
Fun Fact: Personally, I had a bad experience with these guys. When my family bought two dwarf hamsters, the store owner said we bought two females. We believed them, even when one of them started to get fat. Then she gave birth to a litter of nine little hamsters. We removed the male, just in case, but all the rest died off, some of which were caused by the mother. It’s sad.
Now we’re getting to the hardcore stuff. These “sea cows” are really beefy, but really cute. So cute you want to hug it. Unlike whales and dolphins, manatees are herbivorous. Not surprisingly, they are related to elephants. They are endangered, partly due to a vicious, unnatural predator: the boat propeller.
Fun Fact: Manatee’s have vestigial (useless) toe nails on their flippers.
Most caterpillars are icky… except for these guys. This cute caterpillar is the larva form of the Isabella tiger moth. They eat a variety of plants, including certain ones that they eat to fight back against certain parasites. They may be furry, but don’t pet them without gloves, or else you might get a rash.
Fun Fact: Do you LOVE woolly bears? Then go to the annual Woollybear Festival in Vermilion, Ohio. The main event is a huge woolly bear dress up competition. It takes place in mid-September.
These things are amazingly adorable! The only member of the Cyclopedidae family (their scientific name is Cyclopes didactylus); these guys are a lot like the other anteaters, only they’re smaller and live in the trees. They also have a prehensile tail (like an opossum). Obviously, it is extremely cute, but watch out for their sharp claws.
Fun Fact: Why are silky anteaters goldish? It might be because they blend well with the seed pods of the silk cotton trees, where they usually hang around by.






























What a great list! Awesome!
***** list
This list blows. Where is the Three Toed Sloth!?
“Most caterpillars are icky…’ WTF. what sort of language is that. Grow up and get a good list.
Terrible.
i only find 3 of them ‘cute’. numbers 1 & 2 are unacceptable to be considered ‘cute’. some are even ugly!
Haha, I was surprised to see a “cutest animals list.” I’m used to seeing the unusual animals, this was a good change of pace.
amazing list! kept me on the edge of my seat! this list writers talent is of prodigy like proprtions. 10/10. fantastic and amazing!
Ah. So it’s the predators that are supposed to go ‘aww’. Okay. Many of these look like they fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. For human affecting cute I think that bat-eared fox on another list would win.
Puppies
or Japanese Spitz if you cannot choose puppies!
the claws of the Euro. mole remind me of a girl i dated. her toe nails were horrific!
Nah sorry most of these weren’t even remotely cute, the fennec fox anyone? And what about those incredibly tiny monkeys? And koalas?
awww…. cute! (hey, not a manly word there!)
Well, for a dude, I’m a real sucker for cute animals.
but I was absolutely expecting the shih zhou dog to be on this list.
@robfl (10): haha! horrific toenails!
I want the silky anteater. He looks kind of like a sloth.
oh my goodness the dwarf hamster story breaks my heart on many levels. My family bought 2 female gerbils, specifically so they wouldn’t get pregnant!!!! turns out one of them was already pregnant. On Christmas day i woke up to a bunch of baby gerbil heads and tails in the bottom of the cage.
The are not that cute…at all
You want cute?
Check the ultimate authority on cute –
http://www.cuteoverload.com
6 Puffer Fish are pretty good at beatboxing:
not as cute as i expected…
I admit, I went “awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” at pretty much all of these >w<
No Fennec Fox?
Theres probably better ones, but only in baby form. Nice to see the puffer fish they are so cute smiling all the time heh
they’re not so cute, except the bunny and the hedgehog. kittens are the cutest anyway.
How many of these are actually nasty little critters in disguise. Getting a rash from petting a caterpillar doesn’t sound cute to me.
the rabbit and hamster are cute. the rest aren’t very cute at all.
I saw some puffer fish just last week at seaworld and I can confirm they are the most cutest animals.
I think when an animal gets past the really ugly stage it also becomes cute in its own way. That would explain why I fell for the wife ( or vice versa
)
No Fennec fox?! What?!
Another fun fact about the Angora rabbits: Their fur is such good insulation, you’d overheat rapidly in a sweater made of pure Angora. So it’s most often mixed with some type of wool (mohair or cashmere, rarely regular wool) or just used as fluffy accents.
There is also a species of goat that bears the name Angora, but the fiber from them is known as mohair.
I have no idea what they are called, but there is a fish-like thing that lives in the ocean and looks like a human baby is an extremely cute and fishy way!
I love all of the choices though, I aaawed quite a lot!
I’ve got one
the capybara
cutest thing EVER.
well i liked the list but i was surprised to see the european mole on the list most people hate those things.
WOW, this list is an EPIC FAIL….listverse is dropping its standards.
I can only conclude that this list was dripping with sarcasm.
i did not find any of these animals cute, the european mole is perhaps rather unattractive and scary looking.
How can the obvious, cats and dogs, and dolphins and ponies not be on the list?
Come on haters, whats wrong with an cute list for weekend reading? This is a website for LISTS not philosophical or theological teachings! Jeez.
Anyway, I agree with 22 PirateXxEsque. Most of them made me go ‘aww’ – and I like the fact that they’re slightly more unusual animals than the puppies and kittens normally termed ‘cute’. Those tiny hedgehogs are so adorable!!
Quick scroll down that list
Come on, where’s the Koala? Or hairy nosed wombat?
To tell you the truth, the baby squirrel that I found in my back yard and rehabbing since it’s mother died is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. Definitely cuter than any of these things. The mole is just gross, pretty sure I would step on it if I saw one.
This was sweet =) I’m glad the usual kittens and dogs weren’t on there (although kittens are definitely cute).
Though I gotta say I don’t find the angora rabbit cute at all… but the other ones were. =)
I didn’t find many of those cute, but it was interesting to learn a little about them anyway. Well done.
Cuteness is all in personal opinion, really.
I find a lot of snakes cute.
Along with the usual, puppies, kittens, etc. Oh, and baby pandas!
the only cute animal on this list was the pygmy hedgehog and the whole thing reads like it was written by a 12 year old, awful list
Nice list! I think n.4 is the cutest, n.3 is too big to be cute.
Have you guys ever seen a slow loris? Cuteness! Also, we have those caterpillars from #2 here in Kentucky, but we call them woolyworms. There is even a Woolyworm Festival in Beattyville Kentucky.
i don’t like #7 and #2. you chose a bad picture for the kiwi, and the mole is meh. not as bad a list as some paint it, though.
manatees have been my favorite animal since i was a kid!!!!!
can you domesticate the angora rabbit… cause i want one!!
@ dazjoe (38): Koalas and wombats may look cute, but they’re temperamental so-and-sos. Claws that can climb gum trees or forage for roots can equally well rip human flesh into very small pieces.
Developing an extraordinary sense of smell makes up for losing the ability to fly!
You really SAID that!
Are you insane?
Ask any self respecting Kiwi anmd it would tell you (if it could talk) that it would MUCH rather be able to FLY away from the 9 zillion cats that are trying to eat it every day as opposed to being able to smell the instrument termination approaching from a different time zone!
And Steph – you’re just an idiot – can you domesticate the Angora Rabbit? Do you really think something THAT puffy, THAT defenceless and THAT WHITE could possibly live in the wild??? It IS a domesticated animal – it has been BRED that way!
Richard Gere told me he likes the dwarf hamster almost as much as gerbils.
Are we looking at the same pictures here? They’re not cute.
No cute monkey species? What about the fennec fox? Anyway, loooved the rabbit
LOL @Shagrat (48):
Hahahahaha! The flying/smelling thing is a definite eye-roller.
Very amusing list.
[IMG]http://i30.tinypic.com/2i71gn5.jpg[/IMG]
woops, that didn’t work. oh well, jamie can delete that one. i’ll link it instead http://tinypic.com/r/2i71gn5/3
i disagree with almost everything in this list, except for the hamster and hedgehog.
I think I understand what the author of this list might have been trying to convey with the word “cute”: Little = Cute
Most of the ones I don’t consider cute are becuase in nature, they are little or down-right tiny. Most miniture speices of animals can be considered “cute”.
Interesting choice of list.
By the way…was anyone else freaked out by the rabbit? I would not want to have that wooly mammoth any where near me.
Most of the animals on this list aren’t cute.
A caterpillar? Seriously?
Cute? I’ve always thought that the cutest animals are those that resemble us, well at least as babies…big eyes in proportion to its face while it’s other features appear much smaller. Most of these fail those restrictions. Although you could consider the european mole cute in comparison to the type we get around here…
they look particularly bad all bloated and floating in the goldfish pond.
Vestigial DOES NOT mean USELESS!
oh my god… Totally ruined it for me.
(I don’t remember if I have ever commented before, so if I haven’t, I love your site!)
Dwarf hamsters are adorable, yes, but they are NASTY little creatures! They love to bite, even without being provoked, and are very hard to tame.
We should change the title to just 10 Cute Creatures so we can have “another 10 cute creatures” list and etc. I’m surprised no-one mentioned baby chicks… the smaller they are, the cuter they tend to be! Nice list