Bad day Improved... 100%
posted by mrgroweler at 2:29 PM on April 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

Sampled!
posted by Ardiril at 2:31 PM on April 16, 2011

Was just about to post this! So wonderful. Love this.
posted by nickyskye at 2:34 PM on April 16, 2011

Oooh, my husband just sent me this one to add: tickling a camel!
posted by flex at 2:36 PM on April 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

tickling a dude
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:39 PM on April 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

Yay! Happy animals!!!
posted by Jezebella at 2:41 PM on April 16, 2011

The penguin link didn't play very well for me. But, I found the same video on YouTube for anyone else who is having the same problem.
posted by marsha56 at 2:42 PM on April 16, 2011 [13 favorites]

This is a whelk gigging uncontrollably.
posted by The Whelk at 2:44 PM on April 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

baby otter. nuff said.
posted by rog at 2:45 PM on April 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

Thank you, marsha56!
posted by so_gracefully at 2:45 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

So where do I get a penguin?
posted by cjorgensen at 2:50 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I can get you a penguin, dude. Toenail polish and everything. There are people.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:51 PM on April 16, 2011 [12 favorites]

Attention Internet: I love you.
posted by meese at 2:54 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am going to have to do extensive viewing research to see if this will be able to replace "fat bulldog puppy what can't roll over" as the most goddamn fucking adorable video ever.
posted by elizardbits at 2:55 PM on April 16, 2011

Just when I thought I couldn't love penguins more! Someone goes and tickles one.
posted by grapesaresour at 2:55 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I can put this on endless loop and all my cats would starve to death.
posted by PapaLobo at 3:00 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

HNNNNGGGGGGGGGH!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:01 PM on April 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is the full video, with more waddling and tail twitching goodness.
posted by sharkfu at 3:03 PM on April 16, 2011 [31 favorites]

This is internet gold!

Does anyone else think that tumblr's flash video player is a war crime, especially when there are so many competent flash video players out there?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:05 PM on April 16, 2011 [13 favorites]

Loaded a helluva lot faster than YouTube normally does for me, but the window is a bit on the tiny side.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:06 PM on April 16, 2011

Why wouldn't you tickle a penguin, if it gets that kind of response?
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:10 PM on April 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Back when the earth was still cooling and I was a psych undergrad, I did experiments with rats in mazes and Skinner boxes. To get the rats to work for treats (Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk) they were kept a bit hungry and were therefore skittish when they were first picked up. Part of the experimental procedure was to calm them down. The best way was to pick up a rat under his "arms" (and they were all male rats), and blow gently in his face. The rats loved this. They'd get erections. And of course, among us students, the procedure was called "giving your rat a blow job".
posted by angiep at 3:12 PM on April 16, 2011 [53 favorites]

List of things I did not previously know and did not really want to know about rats: Complete.
posted by Scattercat at 3:28 PM on April 16, 2011 [15 favorites]

From the longer version: Cookie the tiny penguin has a condition called "bumblefoot" for which they give him fresh socks every day.

If you tell me you know of something cuter I will not believe you sir.
posted by saturday_morning at 3:30 PM on April 16, 2011 [23 favorites]

angiep, that is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard about rats! Huh, the things one learns on the blue are ever astounding.

Ok, adding to the tickling wonderfulness: tickle kitty, dog tickling baby, tickling the lion, and
Tickle fetish, Japanese TV show (almost nsfw)
posted by nickyskye at 3:32 PM on April 16, 2011

I like penguins. They meet my needs.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 3:40 PM on April 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

Greatest thing ever. I will reconsider my desire to kill all of humanity.
posted by rtha at 3:40 PM on April 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

That''s sort of like this owl.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:41 PM on April 16, 2011 [8 favorites]

Holy CRAP do I want a penguin.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:42 PM on April 16, 2011

And also an owl.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:44 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

cookie got bumblefoot yo
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:44 PM on April 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

He sounds like Zoidberg!
posted by dirigibleman at 3:50 PM on April 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

lil fawn
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:52 PM on April 16, 2011

Oooh, I don't know about dog-tickling-baby. Dog/baby experience here, and that's a little too aggressive for my liking -- that dog is bossing that itty bitty baby around, not a good precedent...
posted by thinkpiece at 3:54 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Marketplace from American Public Media doesn't like the loris video
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:58 PM on April 16, 2011 [16 favorites]

When I can make something that happy every day, I think I will have accomplished everything I'm here for. Thanks for posting.
posted by Mooski at 4:11 PM on April 16, 2011

Marketplace from American Public Media doesn't like the loris video.

And now I don't either. God that's awful. I knew the video looked cute, but since I was unfamiliar with the animal, I had to wonder what it was actually going through. The first tipoff is that it's obviously nocturnal and sitting under strobing flourescent lights. The rest is just horrific.
posted by triceryclops at 4:14 PM on April 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

I can't watch the Loris videos any longer. I also recently learned that "dealers" (I'm using that word loosely) who sell Loris' as pets pretty routinely yank out all their teeth to make them "safer" to have as pets (which you really shouldn't).

Boycott Loris videos and ask YouTube to remove them.
posted by anastasiav at 4:58 PM on April 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Poor lorises.

Is it okay to still like the sloth video?
posted by nev at 5:05 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Take THAT, flying rainbow pop-tart kitty!
posted by briank at 5:17 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I worked with rats in a lab too! But my job was just to pat them to calm them down- no wonder they defecated all over me- they probably knew they could have been getting 'blow jobs' instead!
posted by bquarters at 6:12 PM on April 16, 2011

Ok, one more really adorable vid of a parakeet tickling a sleepy kitteh.
posted by nickyskye at 6:29 PM on April 16, 2011 [10 favorites]

OK, parakeet tickling a sleepy kitteh is my new favorite reason the internet was invented. I raise ducks, and I dream of my ducks and my cats interacting in this way.
posted by nevercalm at 6:33 PM on April 16, 2011

this penguin, i can't even, just #WAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT but omg! the parakeet and the kitteh are just too presh.
posted by liza at 6:41 PM on April 16, 2011

I'd be interested to see where the original came from and why these people were tickling their penguin instead of seeing it reposted on some idiot tumblr blog, but it's still fun.

I am going to guess what we're actually seeing is a feeding response. Not that it isn't cute as all hell anyway.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:45 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Look out! Goat stampede!
posted by brundlefly at 6:54 PM on April 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

Incidentally, "puppy stampede" is one of the best possible youtube searches ever, soundly trouncing my old standby of "baby eats lemon".
posted by elizardbits at 7:00 PM on April 16, 2011

Marketplace from American Public Media doesn't like the loris video

They're not alone (and a couple of years late, but more attention is always good). FWIW, nosila posted about the horror of the pet loris business when the tickle video was posted here in 2009.
posted by mediareport at 8:20 PM on April 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

The loris video is one of those cases where we anthropomorphize an animal's behavior & fool ourselves into believing it's enjoying itself when it really isn't & quite often is actually in distress. Just because it looks cute to us doesn't mean it's having fun. It's sad but necessary that we stop & find out what the truth behind the image really is.
posted by scalefree at 8:48 PM on April 16, 2011

The pigmy loris video is a lot of things, cute is not one of them.
posted by Blasdelb at 9:09 PM on April 16, 2011

scale--

Do you have data to support the anthro claim? For example, do we see stress hormones in the blood? Similar responses to unambiguous painful threats? Something?
posted by effugas at 9:56 PM on April 16, 2011

Ok, one more really adorable vid of a parakeet tickling a sleepy kitteh.

Finally, cats get a taste of their own medicine.
posted by The Whelk at 10:16 PM on April 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Hell yes, it's still okay to like the sloth video!

That thing's from Aviaros del Caribe, which is a well-respected and noble-hearted rehabilitation facility for sloths. Obviously, something very bad had to happen in order for any given baby sloth to wind up there, but now that said bad thing -has- happened, they're in the best possible place.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 12:52 AM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Do you have data to support the anthro claim? For example, do we see stress hormones in the blood? Similar responses to unambiguous painful threats? Something?

I can't find a reference but I remember reading at the time that part of the loris's "cute" behavior in one video was recognized as a defensive reaction by someone familiar with them. That's the best I can come up with right now, sorry.
posted by scalefree at 7:27 AM on April 17, 2011

As for the penguin, I believe the flapping he's doing is evidence of sexual excitement rather than just plain happiness at being tickled. We have much in common with them but not everything. Animals aren't people.
posted by scalefree at 7:30 AM on April 17, 2011

Ok, one more really adorable vid of a parakeet tickling a sleepy kitteh.

When parakeets pet kittens it's cute and nibbly... when cockatoos pet kittens it is kinda creepy.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:48 AM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

When parakeets pet kittens it's cute and nibbly... when cockatoos pet kittens it is kinda creepy.

Really creepy. Maybe it's the relative size or those icky claws or that HUGE beak. That cockatoo looks menacing! I loved the penguin, though. :)
posted by airgirl at 10:02 AM on April 17, 2011

Scalefree's right. That flipper-patting is a mating behavior.

I still think it's cute, though.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:14 AM on April 17, 2011

>When parakeets pet kittens it's cute and nibbly... when cockatoos pet kittens it is kinda creepy.

>>Really creepy. Maybe it's the relative size or those icky claws or that HUGE beak. That cockatoo looks menacing! I loved the penguin, though. :)

One of the YouTube commenters said "the bird looks like a pedophile", and oddly enough, before I saw the comment--when the cockie was about to munch on the cat's ear I was thinking OH NOES, THIS LOOKS SO WRONG, like the bird is grooming the cat for molestation! Anthropomorphising, I know.

Creepy. Amusing to see the cockie's feet go in that direction, but still creepy...
posted by owlrigh at 3:52 PM on April 17, 2011

SOON
posted by The Whelk at 3:52 PM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Agreed owlrigh, I refrained from over-editorializing on it, but seriously, the reptilian looks and skeevy claws that the cockatoo is given the poor little kitten what doesn't know any better makes my skin crawl in a deeply anthropomorphic way too.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 10:25 PM on April 17, 2011

Oh man. You guys. This penguin video has been showing up on my Facebook feed for days, but I have this weird knee-jerk reaction to everything on Facebook lately so when videos show up there I basically refuse to watch them. But clearly I am only hurting myself with that kind of foolishness, because BABY PENGUIN OMFG I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *explodes*
posted by palomar at 6:11 AM on April 18, 2011

Ok, one more really adorable vid of a parakeet tickling a sleepy kitteh

ok I'm really sorry to have to be the jerk-ass pedant about this, but I actually cringe when I see videos like that of little birds and cats together. It is cute looking, but unfortunately cat saliva is really dangerous to birds, and since they lick themselves clean it's all over their claws. the smallest scratch, even one done playfully, can kill the bird. painfully.

The cockatoo and cat one is better - bigger birds have more feathers/thicker skin, so it's not so risky.


now the penguin? eeeek! so cute
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:36 PM on April 18, 2011

You want the cute? You can't handle the cute.
posted by scalefree at 6:01 PM on April 19, 2011

Hysterical bubbles!
posted by homunculus at 11:09 AM on April 22, 2011

scalefree, that poor dog looks miserable!
posted by audacity at 12:47 PM on May 2, 2011