unique

Most cats are born with some kind of pattern or marking on their fur, but some cats are born with unique markings that coincidentally look like something else. It's a one in a million chance, but considering that there are around 600 million (probably many more) cats in the world, it's no surprise. For more interesting animal stories, read about this dog that trekked to 23,000 feet high in the Himalayas. 

Mother nature is the most beautiful creator. And sometimes, some of her creations are mind-blowingly too beautiful and unusual. The most unusual, the most visually-striking. 

Cats with multi-colored eyes? A coat pattern you've never seen on an animal and therefore didn't ever think an animal out there looked like that. There's so much unusual beauty out there and whenever we happen to cross upon it, we stop and look. And we're mesmerized, and that's exactly how we feel coming across these photos below. 

Prepare yourself for some remarkable unique beauty! 

Calling all bird lovers! And even if you aren't a bird lover, we're sure you can appreciate this little beauty! The Painted Bunting, a colorful bird whose feathers feature all the primary colors, is said to be America's most beautiful bird. And after seeing all the striking images of the painted bunting, it's not difficult to see why. As someone who has lived in America for a loooong time, I can personally say I have never come across a painted bunting and now it's on my bucket list for sure. 

Who wouldn't want to be graced by the presence of America's most beautiful bird, after all? This little fella is a rainbow in one, A little fun fact about painted bunting, perhaps we did come across this bird before and didn't realize it because the bright plumage of this bird (male) only comes in the second year of its life. Within its first year, it looks just like a female painting bunting, A female painting bunting is a uniform bright yellow-green.

Rare animals are... well, rare to come by. And this golden penguin is no exception! One wildlife photographer, Yves Adams, has won nature's lottery by being the first to spot and capture a never-before-seen yellow penguin. The penguin is a King penguin, potentially the very first of its kind. 

Yves Adams believes that the yellow penguin spotted on an island in South Georgia is leucistic. Leucism is a condition that results in the partial loss of pigmentation. Whereas albinism is the absence of melanin, leucism is only partial, which can make the animal have white or patchy colored skin, feathers, or hair. 

In an interview with the Independent, Yves Adams had this to say about the rare and unique moment he first spotted the yellow penguin, "I'd never seen or heard of a yellow penguin before. There were 120,000 birds on that beach, and this was the only yellow one there. They all looked normal except for this one. It really was something else. It was an incredibly unique experience. One of the birds looked really strange, and when I looked closer it was yellow. We all went crazy when we realized. We dropped all the safety equipment and grabbed our cameras."

Adams continued, "We were so lucky the bird landed right where we were. Our view wasn't blocked by a sea of massive animals. Normally it's almost impossible to move on this beach because of them all. It was heaven that he landed by us. If it had been 50 metres away, we wouldn't have been able to get this show of a lifetime."

This isn't the first time we've seen rare golden animals out in the wild, but it is the very first golden penguin! 

There's a good chance many of you haven't heard of this adorable animal - the ring-tailed cat. Surprisingly, it's quite a common animal, but only in certain areas. It's also not really a cat. It's actually part of the raccoon family which makes it... a catoon. 

It's another totally underappreciated, awwdorable animal that we feel deserves some love, and for all of you, animal lovers, who haven't heard of this cutie, it's a good way of finding pics to show off to your friends. 

So, give some love to this catoon who's desperately in need of it, and aww your way through these pictures. 

There are some animals out there who look like they are a mix of endless animals combined. This is one of them, and it. is. cute. 

The bat-eared fox maybe named after a bat, but to us, it looks more like a rabbit mixed with a puppy mixed with a little bit of Pokémon in it. It's so unique-looking, we can't help but love it because us, animal lovers, know how to appreciate the stranger (i.e. cooler) animals out there. We also love foxes, in every shape and form because foxes are painfully adorable. 

So enjoy these foxes that are all ears and always willing to listen, and if you're looking for some more foxes to love, click right here. 

All cats are beautiful - big, small, wild or tame. And Bengal cats are of course no different. You have to admit though, that their little wild cat spots and their quirky house panther purrsonality make them incredibly unique, and we, cat lovers, love showing some love to the unique kitties among us that don't get enough of it.

So, it's time for some unique cat appreciation. The star of today's list is one especially underappreciated kitty - the Charcoal Bengal kitty. They are unique, gorgeous, as feisty as any other Bengal, and we don't see them being given love nearly as much as they deserve it. 

Meet Memphis! He is a cat who was born with two noses and was rescued by @theoddcatsanctuary. Though he may look a little unique and different, he is not any less beautiful for it. And his message is just as beautiful as him.

"[S]preading the word that different is beautiful," the bio of his twitter account says, and we support that message wholeheartedly. One can only aspire to be as unique and memorable as this adorable guy. And his special needs siblings, who are also unique and beautiful, pose with him in pictures sometimes too!

For more special beauties, check out our weekly segment: Animals Of Instagram Spotlight Of The Week.

Imagine discovering a tree full of magical-looking animals right in your backyard. It must feel absolutely magical. Like stepping into a fairytale, Snow White going on a stroll in the woods, walking to a bunch of adorable owls. 

This twitter thread tells the story of a person who must have felt that exact way, walking into their neighbor's backyard and finding a tree full of the most unique, magical-looking owls in a tree right in their backyard. Personally, having never come across this type of owl before, I would been stunned. A huge group of gorgeous red-eyed long-eared owls are living in their person's backyard, and they are so beautiful it's hard to look away.

After the horrendous bushfires in Australia that burnt almost half of the island, killing a significant number of wild animals, we finally have some good news! As reported by ABC news, in the recovery efforts, the conservation group Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife found a tiny creature that they feared might have been wiped out by the fires - the world's tiniest possum, the pygmy possum.

These tiny guys who weigh no more than 7 grams and who can easily sit on top of your finger are found in very few places in the world - that is, if you can find them at all. Their size not only makes them hard to study, it also makes them quite elusive little beings. 

Pat Hodgens, a Fauna ecologist, said that the little possums' discovery is really exciting, and we agree! "There's only really been 113 formal records of the species [ever on Kangaroo Island]," he told ABC news. "So certainly not very common and, obviously, the summer bushfires burnt through much of that habitat that species had, but we were certainly hopeful that we would find them."

Their conservation group is going "to try to do everything we can to protect them to ensure that they hang around during this pretty critical time". He added: "It's very important now because it is kind of like the last refuge for a lot of these species that really rely on very old long, unburned vegetation."

There are still many other rare species who have not been spotted after the fires, but this is wonderful news, and we wish Mr. Hodgens and all the other people doing amazing work luck with finding all the species they're looking for. And sometimes, in Australia, people manage to find species they weren't look for. 

Hold your horses! You'll want to take a moment and appreciate these insanely stunning galloping creatures of beauty! 

You know how whenever you're out in a car and you happen to see horses go by in your window? You can't help but exclaim, "Look! Horses!" That's us with all of the following images below. And each one below is so darn majestic and lovely, it looks like they came out of novels such as "Black Beauty." 

Seriously, how are horses just so darn lovely? It's no secret everyone secretly (or not so secretly) wished for one, at some point in their lives. Let's live out that fantasy and imagine the horses below are our own. 

Monkeys are naturally adorable so we needed to take a moment to appreciate the monkeys made from sunshine rays -- the golden lion tamarin! 

The golden lion tamarin gets its name from its lion-like thick mane and it's beautiful silky, long golden fur. It's an unusually bright and striking animal that can only be found in Rio de Janeiro, and even there only in fragmented forest habitats. 

The golden lion is an endangered species with only around 2,500 left of them in the wild. Due to Brazil's rainforest disappearing over agriculture, industry, and the ever-expanding logging, sadly, the golden lion tamarin is in danger of disappearing along with it. 

Vitiligo is a skin condition in which the skin loses pigmentation. Having vitiligo often results in discolored patches in different areas of the body. It's not only pets who have these conditions, humans can have it as well. 

The good news is, having it doesn't affect your health at all, it's not life-threatening in any way or contagious. It could affect ones self-esteem, however. 

Here are 30 absolutely unique and gorgeous animals of all sorts who have vitiligo! Let them know just how beautiful they truly are! 

All these animals only have one thing in common... besides being animals, of course, they all look as if they've turned to the dark side. And we gotta say, the dark side looks pretty darn badass. Maybe we'll transition, too. 

Whether it's due to melanistic or partially melanistic, or just having unusual striking (and slightly demonic) features, these animals are flat out awesome and we want to join their crew.

Oh my! What a bunch of lovely ladies and fellas! 

All animals are beautiful, this is a fact. However, some animals may have us doing a double-take and those animals are here with us below. 

We can't help but marvel at their beauty -- join us, won't you? 

Meet the talented digital imaging artist, based in Indonesia, Aditya Aryanto. 

Have you ever wondered what Minecraft would look like in real life? Aryanto has achieved that. Aditya was fascinated by cubes, so much so that he felt the urge to transform animal images into cubes. 

Turns out it looks pretty darn awesome and totally unique. It all started with one image of an animal from sites like Pixabay, and from there he takes the images into photoshops and works his magic! 

Aditya's work can be found on Facebook page and on Instagram! Keep it up, Aditya -- we're loving this unique style!