Your morning adorable: African wild dog puppies get a checkup at Illinois' Brookfield Zoo

The birth of a big litter of African wild dog puppies at Illinois' Brookfield Zoo late last year is great news for their endangered species. The litter, born to 6-year-old mother Kim and 4-year-old father Digger on Thanksgiving, contains a whopping 10 healthy puppies who were examined by a zoo veterinarian on Thursday.

The puppies, much like their domestic cousins, needed to be vaccinated against canine diseases -- the spread of distemper from domestic dogs is one cause for their steep population decline in the wild -- and have microchips implanted for identification purposes.

Brookfield is a participant in the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan program to ensure the survival of African wild dogs. Kim and Digger's puppies are the third and largest African wild dog litter to be born at the zoo so far.

African wild dogs have an "it takes a village" approach to parenting: Not only do Kim and Digger care for the puppies, but Digger's brother Duke also plays a big role in their lives. In wild packs of African wild dogs, all adults pitch in to care for the young, regardless of their biological parentage.

See more photos and video of the puppies after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Deer and cat are best friends

How many cats do you know who have their own personal hairstylist?

We don't mean a groomer who attends to their fur every now and again in between appointments with shih-tzus and poodles. We mean a single-minded stylist with only one client and ample time to attend to that client's every follicle and cowlick.

We can count only one cat with such a devoted groomer: Tiptree, the orange-and-white kitty above. It just so happens that Tiptree's stylist is a deer named Hoppy.

Hoppy was found alone and ailing when he was just a tiny fawn. He was raised by a Canadian couple -- with the assistance of Tiptree, of course -- and is even the subject of a documentary.

RELATED UNUSUAL ANIMAL FRIENDSHIPS:
• Your morning adorable: Cat licks friendly rat
• Your morning adorable: Deer and dog at play

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video credit: hoppythedeer via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Young ocelots make their debut at the Berlin Zoo

Two young ocelots born at the Berlin Zoo in mid-November were shown off to media photographers in their first major appearance Tuesday.

The kittens, named Viento and Estrella, posed with their mother Sara for a number of alarmingly cute pictures. Mother ocelots and their kittens have a close bond, but even in the wild, father ocelots aren't involved in the care of their young.

Ocelots are native to parts of South and Central America, and their range even extends a bit into Texas, where the Nature Conservancy is working to increase their territory by securing land previously held by ranchers.

Their intricately patterned coats once made ocelots popular targets for hunters who sold their skins for use in the fur trade. Crackdowns on the use of ocelot fur have helped their population to rebound over the past several decades, but habitat loss is still a concern for the species, especially their U.S. population.

See more photos of Viento, Estrella and their mother after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Rottweiler induces a fit of laughter in dog-loving baby

We love YouTube user jillyvicky's video of her son, Dylan, "having a giggle fit [while] being licked by our Rottweiler, Brodie. You can't help but laugh along with him when you watch this video."

We just can't get enough of animals who watch out for the human children in their families -- like the husky who registers his sympathy for his crying "brother" by howling along with him, the boxer who "shakes hands" with a baby, the Sheltie who runs around the room to the delight of his young human companion and the puggle who teaches his "little brother" how to high-five.

If your own pet has a similar nurturing streak, show us! Share your photos (.jpg format) or video at The Times' photo-sharing site, Your Scene, and be sure to include a caption that tells us a little about your pet!

RELATED ANIMAL BABYSITTERS:
• Your morning adorable: Patient duck babysits a litter of abandoned kittens
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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: jillyvicky via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Sleepy dachshund tucks himself into bed

We could happily watch this tired dachshund grab his favorite blanket and tuck himself into his snug little dog bed on a video loop for hours at a time.

There's just a je ne sais quoi about sleepy animals, isn't there? We can't quite put our finger on what makes them so adorable, but the cuteness is undeniable.

Insomniacs, a suggestion: Perhaps you should start imagining this video in your heads, rather than counting sheep jumping over a fence, to help yourselves drift off to sleep at night.

RELATED CUTE DOGS:

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: dummygeek via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Baby potto makes its debut at Cincinnati Zoo

At Ohio's Cincinnati Zoo, a round-eyed baby potto is just about the cutest thing going. The tiny creature made its public debut shortly before Christmas and remains on display along with its family.

The baby, born on Dec. 8, becomes the eighth potto at the Cincinnati Zoo and only the 16th in any American zoo. Its parents are 10-year-old Lucy and 9-year-old Jabari.

Pottos are small, nocturnal primates that are more closely related to lemurs and lorises than to great apes like chimpanzees and orangutans. They're native to parts of Africa, where they live in treetops and eat things like fruits and insects.

See another photo and a video of the Cincinnati Zoo's potto baby after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Waterbuck calf gets a nuzzle at Berlin Zoo

A waterbuck calf born at the Berlin Zoo in late November is giving the zoo's other resident animal babies -- like the guanaco calf and African lion cubs, for instance -- a run for their money in the unofficial Cutest Zoo Baby competition.

The calf recently joined the zoo's waterbuck herd; young waterbucks don't typically interact much with adults until they've reached a few weeks of age and are ready to be inducted into herd life.

Once a young waterbuck becomes a full-fledged herd member, it sticks close to its mother by following a vivid marker: a bright white marker in the vicinity of her tail, rather like a target.

Waterbucks are native to parts of central and southern Africa, where they stick close to water -- hence the name -- but prefer not to swim in it unless they have to in order to escape a predator.

See more photos of the Berlin Zoo's calf after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Dachshund puppy tries to play with his reflection in a mirror

It's hard to argue with the cuteness of a baby animal's confusion about the concept of mirrors. Whether it's a golden retriever puppy, a Brussels griffon puppy or a cute tabby kitten, if it is a baby animal who mistakenly believes its mirror image is another baby animal, it's sure to be adorable.

Now we have the pleasure of adding to the above list of charmingly confused youngsters this smooth dachshund puppy, Smokey, whose introduction to mirrors was caught on video by YouTube user steva44.

This does leave us with a bit of a conundrum, though: We now find ourselves in the difficult position of deciding whether Smokey or Lyska, a bootie-wearing dog who doesn't like it one bit, is the cutest wiener dachshund we've ever seen. We'll no doubt be pondering that for some time to come.

RELATED FUNNY DOG VIDEOS:

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• Video goodness: Who needs sleds when you've got Labrador retrievers?

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: steva44 via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Penguin jumps in the snow

We've seen some cute penguins in our time, but we're not sure we've ever seen one quite as adorable as this energetic little fellow. (Well ... perhaps he's tied for Cutest Penguin with the gentoo penguin chick who hasn't yet been told that he's a flightless bird and the group of Humboldt penguins who try, but fail, to catch a butterfly. Picking the cutest penguin is like picking the cutest kitten: difficult.)

This video, filmed in a Japanese zoo, has racked up hundreds of thousands of views and earned its star countless comparisons to Mumble, the animated dancing penguin from the movie "Happy Feet."

"Or maybe he's a fan of penguin-suited dance legend Fred Astaire, who often went through his paces wearing a top hat and  tails," the Daily Mail muses. But this little penguin's dance moves more closely resemble the youthful exuberance of Kris Kross than the elegance of Astaire, don't you think?

RELATED CUTE PENGUINS:

• Your morning adorable: Little penguins North and South are released in Australia

• Your morning adorable: Penguins stroll in winter wear at Japanese aquarium

-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: smz200x via YouTube

Your morning adorable: Red lechwe calf explores her snowy enclosure at England's Chester Zoo

At the Chester Zoo in northern England, a red lechwe calf named Astrid is becoming accustomed to the snow, despite the fact that her species hails from the swamplands and flood plains of Africa.

Astrid, who was born at the zoo earlier this month, is being hand-raised by keepers because her mother failed to properly care for her. (She even spent Christmas at the home of one of her keepers.)

There are several types of lechwe, a family of African antelope; another type is the also-darn-cute Nile lechwe. ("Lechwe" is the Bantu word for antelope.)

Astrid's species is well-adapted to life in the water; the lechwe is known for its swimming skills and ability to move about quickly in shallow water and mud. It tends to be less surefooted on solid ground than it is in the water, but Astrid seems to be getting along just fine.

See more photos of Astrid after the jump!