The door to the Department of Unexpected Species Friendship is always open. A glance inside today reveals a trio of abandoned tiger cubs who’ve been adopted by an awesome pair of female pugs. The cubs were born at the Oktyabrsky Health Resort in Sochi, on western Russia’s Black Sea coast. After their mother rejected them the zoo keepers found two willing wet nurses in the form of these plucky little pugs. Because dogs and cats produce milk of differing composition, zoo keepers have to provide supplemental feedings to ensure the cubs receive adequate nutrition.

At the rate they’re growing, the tiger cubs will soon be larger than their adoptive canine mums. But for the time being the pugs seem quite pleased with their new roles.

[via Dailymail.co.uk]

What is a dog, if not a fluffy, walking canvas? That seems to be the mindset of competitive dog groomers. Photographer Ren Netherland (previously featured here) is still traveling around the United States taking awesome canine portraits at creative dog grooming competitions. We’re still impressed by just how many characters or creatures a groomer is able to include on one dog thanks to careful dyeing and shearing.

Why settle for simply transforming a dog into Yoda when you can make one end look like Yoda and the other end look like an Ewok? And just how many different Sesame Street characters can you fit on a single dog?

“It takes two intense hours for the groomers to produce their masterpieces before facing judges. Mr Netherland said: ‘The owners have to grow out their dog’s hair in preparation for the show - so that it’s long enough for them to make something. They train and rehearse throughout the year in preparation for the competition, whittling their creation down to a fine art.

‘The best thing for spectators is that when the poodles fist come onto the stage, they just look like normal poodles. Suddenly they are transformed before your eyes into something colourful and completely different. The dogs seem to enjoy the pampering and all the attention.’”

Visit Ren Netherland’s website to view more of his fascinating photos.

[via Laughing Squid and Neatorama]

We recently posted photos of an awesome dog with markings that form a natural mustache. Now it’s time to meet an equally awesome mustachioed kitty. Meet Hamilton (the Hipster Cat)!

Born in San Francisco with the markings that resemble a dashing white handlebar mustache, Hamilton lived in a Silicon Valley animal shelter until he was was adopted by Jay Stowe:

“Hamilton is a rescue kitty that was born on the 4th of July (probably). He has a real mustache that is better than any mustache that has ever walked this planet.”

Jay shares photos of his debonair feline friend Hamilton (and Hamilton’s amazing ‘stache) on Instagram.

[via Laughing Squid]

Don’t let his dapper appearance fool you. Even when sharply-dressed Dread Cthulhu is still an ancient creature of unfathomable evil.

This awesome Cthulhu mask was created by Montreal-based artist and fabricator Ian Langohr.

If you’re curious how one might go about making a mask such as this, you’re in luck! Ian made a sped-up video of the process for his Zombie Cat Mask.

Click here to view more photos of Ian’s Cthulhu mask.

Cthulhu fthagn.

[via Make:Craft]

Using the long exposure setting on his camera and an LED light, Pasadena, California-based artist Darren Pearson, aka Darius Twin (previously featured here), spends his nights creating awesome light paintings depicting a host of wonderful creatures which look like ghosts made of light. Each piece takes between two and five minutes to create.

Visit Guardian.co.uk to view more examples of Darren Pearson’s beautiful artwork.

[via Designboom and Guardian.co.uk]