unique

We've made it to the middle of the week, thank goodness, only half a week left. Still, even though there's not that much to go, we're already feeling tired. We've given our best in the beginning of the week, using up all of our inspiration, and now, we're in need of some more. No problem. You've come to the right place. What you're about to see are this week's animal pictures that are each worth 1000 words.

These pictures show off the most amazing parts of nature. You'll see pictures of animals showing love to other animals, pictures of the most unique animals, and even some pictures of animal hilarity and madness. There's something in here that will inspire you without a doubt, so take a look and get energized!

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.

Although all animals are beautiful, some animals are more unique than others. Whether it's because of how rare and underappreciated these animals are or because they have some unique characteristic. Such is the case with 'Long Boi' - 'the tallest mallard duck to have ever lived' that drove twitter crazy over the weekend.

Twitter does that sometimes - going nuts over a particular animal. From celebrating Viscachas for looking like they're perpetually done with everything to going nuts over the fact that octopuses sometimes punch fish for no reason other than spite. We love the things that make animals unique, and we love them even more when they're hilarious. 

Nature is amazing. It has given us some of the most beautiful animals in the world. We've seen everything from birds that look like they're wearing stars to stunningly colorful praying mantis. The simplest of animals can leave us breathless and have us in awe of what mother nature has given us. 

Sometimes though, nature decides to create a special treat for the ones of us who are paying attention, and rather than simply making a new beautiful animal, nature takes an existing animal and makes it even more special than before. Below, you will strange and beautiful animals with some of the most incredible color mutations, and you will definitely find yourself amazed by nature all over again. 

All of us are a little bit different, that's perfectly normal. The exact same can be said about cats. Some of them can be unique just like us, whether they're cats born with two noses, born as incredibly large kittens that just keep growing, or - as is the case of this adorable viral kitten - if they have double claws. 

It's important to give love to the animals around us even if they're a little bit different, and Ecothyrus on imgurhas definitely done that. We're always happy to hear stories of people adoption senior animals, sick animals or animals with traumas or behavioral issues. These stories are the most heartwarming of all, and we love each and every one of them, including the one about this double-clawed cat. 

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. 

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.