bear

Though scaredy-cat is a truly appropriate term for real cats since we know cats are scared of basically everything - from random noises to unexpected cucumbers - when push comes to shove, cats are some of the most fearless, unbothered animals that exist. You shouldn't be offended, it's not just you poking them that they're aloof to, that trait of indifference applies to everyone. 

To prove that once and for all, we have compiled a list of some of our favorite cats standing up to other animals that you would probably not expect them to. An owl? Not a problem. A huge bear? Child's play. A king cobra? Pssh, not in this cat's household.

Although… with all this said, personally, we do not recommend counting on your cat to save you from a burglar.

Breaking tweets! Start your week with this week's freshest viral animal tweets and see which animals are making news. Laugh at the memes, have your heart melt from adorableness, and get inspired by some incredible photos. 

Week by week, we bring you the best of animal twitter, so if this week's tweets weren't enough, you can always check out last week's. 

We wish you a lovely day, and may you pet a cute cat this week!

Bears. Beets. Battle Star Galactica. 

Okay, maybe just bears. However, bears might be the most interesting subject out of all three things listed above. Sorry to offend, beet lovers of the world. 

Bears are dangerous animals, but they're also one of the cutest animals around. Yes, if you encounter one out in the wild it would be downright terrifying but what is about these animals that make us drawn to them? It could be that they're obviously fluffy, or how funny they look when they're standing. Or, maybe it's just instilled into our minds at a young age when you get your first stuffed teddy bear. 

Also, there's the obvious fact that they hibernate for about 7 months, which just sounds like a dream for anyone of us. Ah, sleep, we love it so much.

Bear with us here while we dive into the wildest bear memes we found scattered across the web. 

National Park Service has been killing it on social media lately! And with a recent post on what to do and what NOT do in case of a bear encounter, people are taking notice just how comedic their social media really is. 

Not only do you learn something, but you also do so in a fun way.

So, who is the persona with the great sense of humor behind these posts? Matthew Turner. Matthew Turner is the voice behind the witty and funny captions that have captured the attention of so many. 

Keep us the amazing work, Matthew Turner! And if you're not doing so already, check out National Park Service on Facebook and Instagram! 

And learn what to do when coming across a bear! 

Three Mexican women are pleasantly hiking in Mexico's Chipinque Ecological Park when a black bear approaches them.

Sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, right? 

Well, this nightmare did happen in reality to these three poor women, as you can see in the following video which is now going viral on social media and creating ripples.

The people have spoken! They don't want much in life, all they want is Djungelskog. 

Djungelskog is a giant, jolly-belly stuffed bear found in IKEA. And people are in love. Which, we totally understand, who can resist that face? That teddy-bear size? Or that extreme fluffy belly that looks so perfect to sit against. 

Everything about Djungelskog screams love and comfort, so we get it. And we also now desperately want one...

Thank you to Twitter user @stargazeridiot for bringing this to our attention and starting this beautiful thread of tweets.

In Northern Italy, a 12-year-old boy was collecting pine cones when a bear appeared behind him. He didn't panic and managed to walk away. 

The encounter happened when the boy, Alessandro Franzoi, was hiking with his family near a village of Sporminore in northern Italy.

According to a DailyMail report, the boy is passionate about wild animals and nature and he had studied about bears and how to respond during an encounter.

Get ready for some heart-stopping moments. 

Once a week, we will be featuring an extraordinary animal account on Instagram! Their story, the adorable pictures, and pawesome videos! This week's spotlight goes to Bear, the Ragdoll cat! 

Not only is Bear a Ragdoll with the most hypnotizing sapphire eyes, he also has quite the agenda! 

According to Bear's Instagram page, Bear is running for Purrsident in 2020! And he seems like a shoo-in for the White House! With beliefs and policies such as "unlimited tuna treats and nap equality" -- he's got our vote! 

You can follow his pawtical cuteness on Instagram! 

Meet the goodest boy we know of right now -- Bear! 

Bear is a koala detection dog. That is his job. And since the fires started raging in Australia this past September, Bear has been hard at work scouring the Earth for koalas. 

Bear is a blue-eyed border collie/koolie mix who works with the University of Sunshine Coast (USC) Detection Dogs for Conservation. Bears job is to sniff out sick, orphaned and injured koalas across New South Wales and Queensland (both of which had taken on the fires rampage the hardest). 

According to the USC site, Bear was rescued from a shelter and has an endless supply of energy, an obsessive nature, and is completely uninterested in humans -- which turns out doesn't make for a great pet, but they're the exact qualities he needs to locate and track koalas. (Sometimes he looks for other marsupials, like the endangered Northern quoll.) 

USC Detection Dogs for Conservation Senior Research Dr. Celine Frere said in a news release, "Bear is highly focused and brilliant at focusing on one thing – his ball which is his reward, which makes him perfectly suited for the job. He also has zero prey drive which is essential for a wildlife detection dog as they need to focus purely on the scent and not the animal, ultimately ignoring the animal."

Bear was trained by USC academic and also works in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Story via Mother Nature Network

Over the past week, the employees of Katmai National Park have been asking people to vote, March Madness-style, on which bear has grown the fattest over the summer. The park has posted picture matchups of bear pairs on its Facebook page, and the public got to choose the fattest with their "likes." This yearly contest began in 2014, and every year it becomes even more of a viral sensation. 

Today, a day the park calls "Fat Bear Tuesday," the contest is over. A most-round bear named 435 Holly took the grand prize.

"She is fat," the park's announcement of the winner reads. "She is fabulous. She is 435 Holly. ... All hail Holly whose healthy heft will help her hibernate until the spring. Long live the Queen of Corpulence!"