olinguito

Scientists recently discovered the olinguito, an amazingly cute new species of mammal.
最近，科学家发现了一种哺乳动物新品种——超级可爱的小尖吻浣熊。

Hidden in the forests of Ecuador and Colombia, the furry little critter -- the olinguito is related to raccoons -- evaded science journals until researchers from the Smithsonian Institution identified it last week.
小尖吻浣熊深居在厄瓜多尔和哥伦比亚的森林里，酷似浣熊。在上周史密森学会研究人员发现它之前，人类科学杂志对它还不曾有过任何报道。

But while it's cute, it's not the cutest animal in the world.
虽然长相可爱，但小尖吻浣熊还不算是世界上最萌的动物。

In fact, after our highly unscientific office poll at CNN Travel, we don't even think it makes the top 20.
其实，根据我们在CNN旅游频道上的一次“超级不科学”的官方投票统计，小尖吻浣熊甚至都排不上前20。

According to a New York Times report from 2006 on several studies of cuteness, "cute images stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain aroused by sex, a good meal or psychoactive drugs like cocaine."
《纽约时报》自2006年起展开的数次“可爱”方面的研究表明：萌图跟愉快的性体验、美味的食物或可卡因等精神药物一样，也能刺激大脑的兴奋中心。

So why splurge on illegal drugs when you can simply click through our gallery?
既然点击我们的萌图就能心情愉悦，那又何必浪费金钱购买非法药物呢？

We haven't included kittens playing in boxes, dopey dogs or anything else domesticated.
虽然我们并没有小猫盒子嬉戏图、木头木脑萌狗图或其他家养萌宠图。

But we do let you know where you can see these creatures for yourself, from torrid jungles and arid deserts to mountains and oceans.
但我们却能告诉你哪里能亲眼看到下面这些可爱动物。它们或来自热带雨林，或居于干燥沙漠，或藏在高山深海。

Sloth

20. Sloth
树懒

Sluggish and serene, the sloth, found in the rainforests of South America, happens to have the same name as the Catholic vice.
树懒产于南美的热带雨林，行动迟缓，性情钝静，名字恰好是天主教下的一种恶习。

But sloths aren't lazy. They're just really, really slow.
树懒其实并不懒，它只是动作太迟钝罢了。

So slow that algae has been known to grow on their coats.
正因为太迟缓，树懒身上都能长出绿藻来。

Nevertheless, it's that relaxed, unhurried attitude that makes them so endearing.
不管怎样，它这种悠然自得的态度着实让人喜爱艳羡。

Pygmy hippopotamus

19. Pygmy hippopotamus
倭河马

Like its larger cousin, the pygmy hippopotamus has stumpy legs, a blunt snout and extraordinary swimming skills.
跟它的“表兄”大河马一样，倭河马也有粗短的四肢、圆钝的鼻头，一流的水中功夫。

Unlike its larger cousin, the pygmy hippopotamus isn't one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.
但不同的是，倭河马并不是非洲最危险的动物之一。

Without the threat of being mauled by a jaw full of teeth, it's easier to recognize that the hippopotamus -- when pygmy-sized -- can be pretty cute.
既然倭河马不攻击人，又生得小巧——那也算是可爱的河马吧！

The pygmy hippopotamus is an endangered species, as listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
倭河马是濒危动物，已被国际自然及自然资源保护联盟（IUCN）列为保护动物。

So while you may have seen pygmy hippos paddling away happily in zoos, they're a lot harder to spot in the wild.
虽然你能在动物园里看到自在戏水的倭河马，但在野外，倭河马其实已经不多见了。

Slow Ioris

18. Slow loris
侏蜂猴

With an unnervingly wide-eyed stare, the slow loris hails from the tropical jungles of Southeast Asia and is notable for its plush but strong limbs.
在东南亚的热带丛林里，侏蜂猴两只大眼睛一瞪便嗖地扑了下来，结实的毛茸茸胳膊煞是耀眼。

Slow lorises can hang by their feet for hours at a time -- and often do.
侏蜂猴能数小时倒钩在树上，而且，它们也确实喜欢这样玩耍。

Despite its huggable appearance, this animal is venomous.
可别被毛茸茸的外表迷惑——侏蜂猴其实是有毒的。

The venom comes from a gland in the elbow and, like a party trick invented by Dracula, is ejected through the teeth.
毒液藏在肘部的腺体中，然后就像吸血鬼德拉库拉玩把戏一样，从牙齿喷射出来。

This venom, however, isn't enough to save the slow loris from the dangers of the pet trade; it's listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.
可这毒液也难以让侏蜂猴从宠物交易中幸免逃脱。侏蜂猴已被列入IUCN的红色名录中。

Chameleon

17. Chameleon
变色龙

Maybe bulging eyes, slightly down-turned mouth, curly, prehensile tail and extremely long tongue, the chameleon is one of the more appealing reptiles.
气泡眼、微垂的嘴巴、蜷曲易擒的尾巴、巨长无比的舌头——在爬行动物里面，变色龙还算是比较好看的吧？

As remarkable as its color-changing mood swings is the peculiar way chameleons move in a rocking motion.
变色龙得名于“变色”。奇特的是，当情绪突变时，变色龙会不停摇摆身体。

Not the most efficient way of transportation, but definitely attention-grabbing.
虽然摇晃身体并不一定能尽快逃离，但却足以引人注目了。

Meerkat

16. Meerkat
狐獴

Meerkats are a type of mongoose that live in the deserts from the Kalahari of Bostwana to the Namib of Namibia, South Africa and parts of Angola.
狐獴是獴的一种，栖息在博茨瓦纳的喀拉哈里沙漠，纳米比亚的纳米比亚沙漠、南非以及安哥拉部分地区。

With meerkats it's not so much their faces, which, while far from ugly, are really no different from those of the common dwarf mongoose.
说起狐獴，那它们的长相并不是亮点。毕竟还不算难看，跟普通矮小的獴也没什么两样。

It's the way they stand, the human-like upright pose with paws gathered demurely at the front.
奇特的是它们能像人类一样笔直站立，两只小爪子还端庄恭敬地合拢在胸前。

Koala

15. Koala
考拉

Koalas aren't as sweet as they look.
考拉的性情可没外表看上去的那么可爱。

Koala experts say the creatures' behavior most often varies between mildly cranky to downright bad-tempered.
考拉专家表示，这家伙性情多变，现在还温和可爱，说不定下一秒就暴躁狂怒了。

The koala's enduring popularity indicates that, as in our love lives, good looks can blind us to severe personality flaws.
而考拉之所以能经久不衰地繁衍生息，大概也说明恋爱时俊俏的外貌何等重要——只要长得好看，有点小脾气又能怎样呢！

At the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia, guests can pet koalas -- hopefully one of the better-tempered ones.
在澳大利亚布里斯班市的龙柏考拉保护区，游客可以抚摸考拉——但愿能遇到脾气稍微温驯点的家伙吧！

Penguin

14. Penguin
企鹅

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" to "Happy Feet," the squat, aquatic birds with their sleek, debonair coats have a secure position in pop culture.
从《波普先生的企鹅》到《快乐大脚》，这个胖嘟嘟的水鸟早已凭一身光滑儒气的“燕尾服”在大众文化中占得一席之地。

There are 17 species of penguins in the world. Most are some version of black and white, none can fly and all are excellent swimmers.
世界上共有17种企鹅，其中大部分都是黑背白腹，不会飞翔，但却很擅长游泳。

What's more surprising is that penguins are also excellent runners.
更惊奇的是，企鹅还是个跑步健将。

Six of the 17 species live in Antarctica, so the most enjoyable way to call on these birds is through a cruise in the region.
有6个品种的企鹅生活在南极洲。所以，若想近距离接触企鹅，最好的方法自然是搭邮轮去南极洲喽。

Red Panda

13. Red panda
小熊猫

Red pandas share little in terms of appearance with their monochromatic cousins, the great pandas.
小熊猫跟“单亲表兄”大熊猫在外貌上几乎没有相似点。

With a bushy, ringed tail like a raccoon, pointed ears and reddish-brown coloring like a fox and short legs, these arboreal balls of fluff have always been difficult to classify.
这个树居萌物有着浣熊一样的毛茸茸粗尾巴、一对尖尖的耳朵、狐狸一样的棕红色毛发、以及短短的四肢，因此还真难以分类。

The red panda sleeps with its tail wrapped around its body, and is identifiable by russet fur with white patches on the snout, "eyebrows," cheeks and ears.
小熊猫睡觉时喜欢蜷缩在毛茸茸的尾巴下，只露出赤褐色皮毛、鼻周围的白斑、“憨煞人的蛾眉”，还有尖尖的耳朵。

There are few of these adorable animals in the wild and their shyness makes them hard to find.
虽然也有部分小熊猫生活在野外，但因为天性害羞，人们很少能在野外一睹它们的萌态。

Beluga whale

12. Beluga whale
白鲸

About four meters long, the white, baby-faced beluga whale, which makes its home in the colder seas of the Arctic and sub-Arctic, is about one-fifth the size of a blue whale.
白鲸长约四米，生得一张娃娃脸，主要在北极与亚北极附近海域活动。白鲸个头只有蓝鲸的五分之一。

With its relatively small size, benign facial structure and lump on the forehead (called a melon), the beluga whale is undeniably adorable.
白鲸体型娇小，长相可爱，尤其是额头外隆圆滑突起，显然是当之无愧的萌物啊。

Clown fish

11. Clown fish
小丑鱼

Sure, real clown fish can't talk or pop open their eyes for that comic Pixar effect, but they can do cooler things, such as switch genders.
当然，现实中的小丑鱼可不会像动画片中那样凸起双眼，但它们却有更牛的本领——变换性别。

Clown fish can be found with their aquatic buddies, the sea anemones.
一般，有海葵的地方就会有小丑鱼。

The sea anemone's poison -- which doesn't affect the clown fish -- protects the clown fish from predators and the clown fish pays for the protection by eating the anemone's leftovers and keeping the house clean.
海葵的毒物不仅伤害不到小丑鱼，还能保护小丑鱼免受其他食肉动物的侵袭；自然，为作报答，小丑鱼会吃掉海葵内的残渣，保持海葵干净清洁。

Chinchilla

10. Chinchilla
龙猫（南美洲栗鼠）

An indigenous South American rodent, the chinchilla offers another example of how dangerous it can be to be cuddly.
龙猫是土生土长的南美洲啮齿动物。别看它长相萌人，其实也不是个好惹的家伙。

The chinchilla was hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century for its plush pelts.
19世纪，人们为了得到漂亮皮毛而四处捕猎，几乎将龙猫赶尽杀绝。

According to Harold Meadow's "The Chinchilla," as quoted on Save the Wild Chinchilla, while humans have one hair per follicle, the chinchilla has 50.
“拯救野生龙猫”中引用了哈罗德•米多的《龙猫》，指出：人类一个毛囊只有一根毛发，但龙猫却有50根。

Seeing a chinchilla in the wild is difficult. They're few in number and live at altitudes that spell out death for most of us valley-dwelling humans.
现在几乎很难在野外见到龙猫。因为龙猫数量已剩不多，而且它们生活在人类身体无法承受的高纬度地区。

Roe deer

9. Roe deer
狍

The roe deer is chestnut-brown, roughly the size of a goat and native to England.
狍全身棕栗色，个头同山羊差不多大，土生土长于英国。

According to the British Deer Society, it's not difficult to spot roe deer on a walk in the woods.
据英国鹿协会反映，在小树林里能经常发现悠然踱步的狍。

"If you were to walk very quietly through any reasonable size wood for an hour immediately following first light you would probably see wild deer of one species or another," says its website.
该协会官网上写道：“在任何有一定面积的树林里，只要你循着光亮安静漫步一小时，会很容易遇上各个品种的野生鹿。”

Bottlenose dolphin

8. Bottlenose dolphin
胆鼻海豚

In captivity, bottlenose dolphins are praised for their intelligence and therapeutic qualities -- swimming with dolphins is supposedly good for one's mental health.
被驯养的胆鼻海豚一向以智慧和治愈能力而闻名。据说与胆鼻海豚一起游泳对心理健康相当有益。

In the wild dolphins can get aggressive and form gangs.
但野生海豚却比较有攻击性，甚至会结伴进行攻击。

It doesn't really seem to matter for most people -- dolphins are still adorable.
但对大部分人来说，这也不算什么——海豚还是很可爱啊！

Alpaca

7. Alpaca
草泥马（羊驼）

Domesticated for thousands of years, the alpaca is valued for its gloriously fleecy hair, which is used to make sweaters.
上乘的羊驼毛非常适合做羊毛衫，因此，羊驼已被人类驯养了数千年。

The fleecy hair also gives them a woolly, squeezable appearance.
当然，绒绒的羊毛也使得羊驼看上去超级萌人，让人特想一把抱住。

Alpacas are cute despite the fact that they can be quite testy.
虽然羊驼性情易怒，但这一点也不妨碍它的可爱哦！

Bee hummingbird

6. Bee hummingbird
吸蜜蜂鸟

The bee hummingbird from Cuba, the smallest bird in the world, isn't only tiny -- it weighs less than a U.S. penny -- it's fast, beating its wings up to 80 times a second.
古巴的吸蜜蜂鸟是世界上最小的鸟——它不仅体型娇小，体重甚至都比一美分轻。吸蜜蜂鸟的飞行速度相当快，翅膀煽动的频率是80次/秒。

No larger than a bee, it also acts like one, helping plants reproduce by transferring pollen as it flits from flower to flower sipping nectar. And it flits to a lot of flowers, eating every 10 minutes.
虽然小蜂鸟还没蜜蜂大，却能煞有介事地履行蜜蜂的职责——在花丛在飞来飞去，一边吸食蜂蜜，一边帮植物传授花粉。蜂鸟能在无数花朵间轻快穿梭，每10分钟就吸食一次。

Sea otter

5. Sea otter
海獭

Sea otters are as clever as they are cuddly.
海獭不仅萌态十足，还非常聪明。

They use rocks as tools to crack open clams and mussels for food and sleep floating face-up on the surface of the water with tangled kelp anchoring them in place.
它们会用石头撬开贝壳和贻贝来获取贝肉，还能攀附着缠绕的海藻头朝上漂浮在海上睡觉。

It's really the "rafting" that wins you over.
这么地道的“漂流功夫”，绝对能把你乐翻。

Sea otters are sociable and float together in groups of up to 100, frequently clasping paws so that they don't drift away from each other.
海獭是群居动物，通常会成百只一起漂浮。它们不时扣紧爪子，保证大家不漂散开。

harp seal

4. Harp seal
格陵兰海豹

It's no coincidence that many animals on this list happen to be threatened, vulnerable or endangered species.
毫无疑问，这里列出的很多动物都是受到威胁、脆弱、濒临灭绝的物种。

Sometimes part of what makes an animal cute -- a wealth of fluff, for example -- is what makes it appealing to commercial enterprises, such as the captive pet industry or fur industry.
有时，能使动物看上去可爱的特点，比如毛绒绒的皮毛，也正是动物捕猎业或皮毛业等商业公司的赚钱法宝。

Harp seal babies are covered in a downy, snowy white fur and have been traditional targets for the fur industry, valued for their fluffy white pelts.
格陵兰海豹幼崽因为皮毛雪白柔软、价值高昂，也一直是皮毛业的掠取对象。

While the import of products made from these "whitecoat" pelts was banned in Europe in 1983, and commercial whitecoat hunting was banned in Canada in 1987, hundreds of thousands of seals are killed each year regardless.
虽然1983年欧洲已经禁止进口格陵兰海豹皮制品，1987年加拿大也相继禁止了商业性质的格陵兰海豹捕猎，但每年还是有成千上万头格陵兰海豹惨遭毒手。

Giant Panda

3. Giant panda
大熊猫

The black and white coloring, fat butt and contemplative way they chew their bamboo: one might never stop listing the qualities that make the giant panda so charming.
一提起肥嘟嘟的黑白熊猫，想想它们津津有味啃竹子的萌样，谁都会忍不住来八卦一下大熊猫的可爱特征。

The panda's inefficient dining habits -- although it has the digestive system of a carnivore it eats like a herbivore, consuming up to 38 kilos of bamboo in a single day -- make them extremely dependent on their habitat to survive.
熊猫的饮食习惯实在让人无语啊——虽然也有食肉动物的消化系统，但它却吃得像个食草动物，每天能啃掉38公斤的竹子。这么一来，竹子绝对是大熊猫的命根子呵。

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (whose logo is a stylized panda) there are only about 1,600 pandas left in the wild.
根据世界自然基金会（其标志为大熊猫）的统计，现在野生大熊猫只剩1600只了。

Philippine Tarsier

2. Philippine tarsier
菲律宾跗猴

As the smallest primate in the world, the arboreal, nocturnal Philippine tarsier has all the basic qualities of cute: enormous eyes set in a tiny body no bigger than a human fist and tiny knobbly paws with which it grasps onto tree branches.
作为世界上最小的灵长目动物，树居夜行的菲律宾跗猴绝对萌劲十足：玲珑的身体还赶不上人的拳头大，可却长了一双超大无比的眼睛，细瘦的小爪子能紧紧钩住树干枝桠。

Tarsiers are notoriously unhappy in captivity.
菲律宾跗猴如果被圈养的话，会变得非常躁动不乐。

According to the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, each tarsier needs at least a hectare of space, and captive tarsiers have been known to commit suicide by bashing in their own skulls.
据菲律宾跗猴基金会表示，每只跗猴至少需要一公顷的空间。很多被圈养的跗猴因为空间闭塞而撞头自杀身亡。

While that isn't exactly cute, it does make it fairly obvious that the only chance you'll ethically be able to see a tarsier is in the wild.
虽然撞头自杀很骇人，但这也说明：如果你想合乎道德地观赏跗猴，那还是去野外吧。

Fennec fox

1. Fennec fox
耳廓狐

The fennec fox is a sandy nocturnal desert fox, immortalized in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince" as the fox who wanted to be tamed.
耳廓狐是夜行型沙漠狐。安东尼·德·圣艾修伯里的《小王子》中提到的那只一心想被驯养的狐狸，其实就是耳廓狐。

As the smallest of the foxes (smaller than the domestic cat), with oversized ears like pumpkin leaves and tiny pointed faces, the fennec fox looks adorably, temptingly tamable.
耳廓狐是世界上最小的狐狸（比家猫还小）。番瓜叶似的大耳朵以及玲珑的小尖脸使耳廓狐看上去特别可爱、特别容易驯养。

Consequently, commercial trapping is the greatest threat to the fennec fox; it's highly sought after in the captive pet trade and often captured and put on display for tourists visiting the area.
也正因此，出现了越来越多的商业性捕猎。耳廓狐在宠物交易中炙手可热，常被抓来在景区供游客观赏。

For those who'd rather observe this cuddly creature in the wild, there are still fennec foxes in the Sahara and other dry, sandy areas of North Africa, anywhere from Morocco to Egypt.
如果你更想在野外看到耳廓狐，那可以去撒哈拉沙漠、北非某些干燥沙地或摩洛哥至埃及一带。

According to Abdo Shawky of Memphis Tours, an Egypt-based tour company, it's possible to spot fennec foxes on certain tours.
据埃及观光公司“孟菲斯之旅” 的阿卜杜·萨维吉介绍，有时候确实能在野外遇到耳廓狐。

"We have some places like the Western desert. You might see the fox in the natural habitat," says Shawky. "But they always run and hide."
“我们这里有西部大沙漠，所以有可能看到野生狐狸，”萨维吉说，“但野生狐狸一般嗖地就逃跑躲起来了。”