This ‘Movember’ why not express your inner animal through your facial hair?

Movember is a global, moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health. Starting on Movember 1st, with a clean-shaven face, men grow and style their sprouting facial hair all in the name of raising funds for a worthwhile cause.

If you are looking for some inspiration on how to tame your furry-lips over the coming month, the animal kingdom is full of stylish moustaches to tickle your fancy.

Razors at the ready as we comb through the ARKive collection for some hairy-lipped muses…

The handlebar

Allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II, the emperor tamarin has one of the most regal facial fuzzes of the animal kingdom.

The horseshoe

With a full moustache grown down the sides of its head, the male bearded parrotbill is obviously a fan of the horseshoe. Perhaps this is where Hulk Hogan got his inspiration from?

The walrus

Thick and bushy, the muzzle of the walrus is highly distinctive, with its dense protrusion of whiskers on the upper lip. Versatile and suitable for all occasions, this rather refined looking style might even help you when foraging for tasty morsels!

The Dalí

Why not coif a rather flamboyant, Dalí-inspired moustache like the brown-eared pheasant?

Fu Manchu

The long moustache of the three-wattled bellbird is made up of three long, fleshy black-grey wattles hanging from the corner of its mouth. Fast growing hair and a lot of gel will be required to master this particular style.

Ho, ho, mo

You may want to quickly shave off this L’Hoest’s monkey-inspired chin curtain after the end of Movember or you may get mistaken for someone else! Red hat and reindeer is optional.

The Goatee

With its spectacular twisting horns, the markhor is one of the most striking of goats and the male of course has a characteristic black beard. This particular style is thought to date back to Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.

The bearded pig

Hot date? Unfortunately placed spot? The bearded pig has the perfect solution with its distinctive full-facial beard.

Mutton chops

The yellow-breasted capuchin is a mutton chops master with its thick, black sideburns.

Get involved

Have you spotted any mo’ species donning designer beards or flamboyant moustaches on ARKive – if so, lets us know!

Find out more about Movember and how you can get involved.

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Happy World Smile Day! Did you know that today is dedicated to smiles and kind acts throughout the world? Smiling is a universal sign of affection instinctive to us all. But have you ever wondered where our grins come from?

Cheeky monkey

Smiling may have originated from the bared teeth expression made by monkeys when frightened. But in higher primates, teeth bearing is often a sign of submission and non-hostility from a subordinate member of a group towards a dominant member.

Grey-footed chacma baboon showing submissive behaviour

From signalling non-hostility and appeasement, teeth bearing is thought to have developed into showing affection and affiliation between equals.

Adult chimpanzee baring teeth

Laughter is the best medicine

It’s also likely that our laughter evolved from another primate expression: the ‘play face’. This facial expression can be seen during playful encounters. For instance, a flash of teeth reassures a gorilla’s playmate that they do not intend to harm them. This appears to be a foundation of human laughter. 

Young chimpanzee showing prototypical 'play face'

It’s easy to imagine that all animals smile and show happiness just like us. Today, they can! For when you’re smiling, the whole (natural) world smiles with you…

  

Happy World Smile Day!

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For a bit of #WildlifeWednesday fun, we asked you to send us examples of bands or singers with animals in their names, and we got some great responses! We received a fabulous selection of actual band names as well as creative puns, from the Black Eyed Bees to Blenny Rogers, so we’ve put together a blog to showcase our favourites!

The Eagles

The Philippine eagle is also known as the monkey-eating eagle

The Eagles are famous for the song ‘Hotel California’, but our ARKive eagle of choice hails from the other side of the world: the Philippines. The Philippine eagle is the world’s largest eagle, and is sadly one of the most threatened birds of prey.

Arctic Monkeys

The diet of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is composed primarily of lichens

This monkey may not be from the Arctic, but he certainly looks a little chilly! The Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is a rather elusive, Endangered primate from south-western China.

And now we’ll move on to some of the fabulous puns you all sent in!

Nine Inch Snails

Trachycystis haygarthi is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List

We’re not sure the shape of this snail’s shell could be classed as ‘The Downward Spiral’ like the title of the 1994 album by Nine Inch Nails, but it’s certainly a spiral of some sort! This particular snail species, Trachycystis haygarthi, is endemic to South Africa, and so is found nowhere else in the world.

Gulls Aloud

The herring gull is a supreme opportunist and scavenger

In 2005, Girls Aloud released the single ‘Wake Me Up’, and it seems that herring gulls across the UK took this message to heart, and appear to have made it their mission to squawk as loudly as possible in the early hours of the morning, waking up many a sleepy person!

Llama del Ray

The guanaco can live at high elevations, as its blood can carry more oxygen than that of other mammals

A relative of the domestic llama, this guanaco appears to be singing along to the latest Lana del Rey song! We’re not sure this species is particularly tuneful, though…!

Fleetwood Macaque

The Sunda pig-tailed macaque is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List

‘The Chain’ is a Fleetwood Mac classic, and this Sunda pig-tailed macaque appears to be joining in the song at full voice. Yet one type of chain this species would not be celebrating is the chainsaw. One of the main threats to this primate is habitat destruction as a result of tree felling in its forest home.

Dire Kraits

The banded sea krait is highly venomous, but is rather docile

The Dire Straits song title ‘Down to the Waterline’ suits this amphibious reptile rather well! The banded sea krait leads a semi-aquatic lifestyle, and comes ashore to lay its eggs.

Mötley Shrew

Savi's pygmy shrew is the smallest land mammal in the world

Mötley Crüe’s drummer Tommy Lee could certainly rock out on percussion at pretty mean speeds, yet as far as rapid beats go, even he would be no match for Savi’s pygmy shrew! This species has a heart rate of over a thousand beats per minute!

Def Leopard

Leopards can be individually identified by their spot patterns

Def Leppard’s fourth album included the hit single ‘Animal’, a rather appropriate song title for this blog!

The leopard certainly is a beautiful animal, with its gorgeous coat pattern of rosettes which enable it to remain camouflaged when hunting. Conservation efforts are vital to ensuring a future for this species, so that it is not left ‘High ‘n’ Dry’.

Moose Springsteen

Along with the Eurasian elk, the moose is the largest living deer species

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the U.S.A’ is potentially a rather fitting anthem for this large species, as the moose’s range does include parts of the United States, as well as Canada, Russia, northern Mongolia and northern China.

Thanks to everyone who sent in ideas, you certainly are a creative bunch!

Kathryn Pintus, ARKive Species Text Author

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A dozen free range ‘eggs’ have been laid around the ARKive website for you to dig up using your eggspert knowledge!

It’s easy to play along:

• Unscramble the first cryptic clue to lead you to the correct page on ARKive
• Find the egg and break it open to eggspose the next clue
• Crack all of the clues until you reveal. . .
• The final Golden Egg
• Collect a special twibbon to show your friends what an egghead you are!

If you only make it half-a-dozen-way through and need to take a break, you can save the latest webpage in your ‘favourites’ and continue the egg hunt later.

Here’s your first clue:

“Watch this eggstreme angler video! Is this bird of prey the ultimate fisher?”

Do you eggcept the challenge, or will you chicken out?! If you’re finding it extraordinarily challenging, you can ‘like’ us on Facebook to get some eggclusive eggstra clues!

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

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Amongst the tens of thousands of images in the ARKive collection there are some hilarious, sidesplitting snaps of nature’s comedians in action so we thought we would share some of the ARKive team’s favourites. 

Vote in our poll for the photo that tickles your funny bone the most and we will announce the winner next week!

It’s been one of those days!

The most common member of the bear family, the American black bear actually exhibits much variation in colouration, ranging from black to lighter cinnamon or even brown coloured coats. This American black bear is either scratching its head or is fed up of being mistaken for a brown bear!

Clowning around

An adorable species, the northern raccoon is an expert climber, so this young raccoon clowning around is unlikely to fall, even though it looks like it is in a rather precarious situation!

Breakdancing buffalo

The African buffalo is Africa’s only wild cattle species, with its bulky build and imposing horns it is considered to be a rather dangerous animal. This individual doesn’t look so scary now though, enjoying a wallow in the mud or perhaps even attempting a spot of breakdancing!

Blowing raspberries

Even though the Malayan sun bear is the smallest of the worlds bear species, it has the longest tongue of them all! Here we can see this impressive tongue in all its glory!

Just 5 more minutes mum!

Three to four weeks after hatching and whilst the parents go fishing at sea, gentoo penguin chicks form groups or creches with other chicks in the colony. By the looks of it, this chick has had a bit too much fun for one day and needs 40 winks back at the nest!

Catch me if you can!

The striking black-and-white ruffed lemur moves amongst the trees with great agility by walking or running along branches and leaping from tree to tree. It’s also appears to be quite the acrobat, as shown in this great action shot!

Life’s tough in the Arctic…

Distributed throughout the Arctic, the polar bear is the world’s largest land carnivore. Evidently these large mammals need some time to kick back and relax, with this particular individual even finding a makeshift pillow to rest its weary head upon.

Ah, that’s the spot!

Allogrooming is quite a common behaviour amongst primates and the chacma baboon is no exception. This species is highly social, living in groups of up to as many as 130 individuals. With this many friends around it means plenty of opportunities for relaxing pampering sessions in the sun!

Can I go again?

The giant panda is arguably one of the world’s most loved species. With a diet consisting almost entirely of bamboo, the giant panda spends most of its waking hours feeding to ensure its daily energy requirements are met. This panda seems to have found some time out of its busy feeding schedule to have a slide down this snowy slope!

Finders, keepers!

One of only two species of orangutan, the Bornean orangutan eats over 400 different types of food. As this photo shows, sometimes one mango at a time is not quite enough and a Bornean orangutans eyes are bigger than its mouth!

Vote for your favourite funny photo on ARKive in our poll or let us know if you have come across another animal clowning around on ARKive.

Its not just funny pictures we have on ARKive, have a look our page of funny videos as well!

Rebecca Taylor, ARKive Media Researcher

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