Cute animal videos: the trifecta

YouTube has become an invaluable resource to 'net surfers (not to mention bloggers) everywhere, and while it may be an impressive storehouse of great short films, historic and ephemeral footage, sometimes-brilliant vlogs and bizarro scavenger hunts, the site's crowning achievement has been its collection of cute animal videos. The temptation to aim video cameras at one's pets, and then share the results with the world, must be impossible to resist -- that's the only way I can explain why pets are so overrepresented on the internet. But with great quantity, sometimes, comes occasional quality; the one benefit to having access to millions of cute animal videos is that some of them are actually pretty cool, and the cream tends to rise to the top.

Dramatic prairie dog
This is like a full-motion LOLcat. Excerpted from a Japanese TV show which is anything but dramatic, a little editing and music made this clip into internet magic. Witness for yourself:

Sneezing baby panda
The tension this video builds is incredible; the envy of any Hollywood movie trailer editor. Watch it at least three times to get the full effect.

Otters holding hands
For the ultimate in anthropomorphic cuteness, there's "otters holding hands." Sure, maybe they're in love, and this is just an early stage of their otterly courtship. But I'm sure there's another, harsher, more animal kingdomy explanation. Judge for yourself: