I’m going to start a thread of animal tweets with rad pictures and cool facts I’ve learned about them that I want to share. Because animals are the best.

Crows are some of the smartest animals in the world, having the intelligence level of a human child. They can use tools, recognize individual human faces, hold grudges against humans and each other, and even understand the concept of death. That last one amazed me.

Here’s some much needed cuteness for today. Sand cats live in the deserts of Africa and the Middle East, and are incredibly adapted to a desert climate as they can go weeks without water. Habitat destruction is a concern, but they are not endangered, thank god.

Grizzly bears are harmless and cuddly except they’re not actually like that at all and they can outrun any human, on any terrain, uphill or downhill, and can reach a top speed of 40 miles an hour. So don’t run from a bear. But they’re still awesome and I still love them.

The blue-capped ifrit is a little bird from the rainforests of New Guinea, and one of the only poisonous birds on Earth. It secretes toxins into its feathers that cause your skin to go numb upon contact; enough of it can also cause permanent paralysis and heart failure.

This is one of my favorite birds, the huge shoebill from the swamps of Africa. They’re known for standing perfectly still in the water for hours at a time, just staring with their creepy serial killer eyes searching for prey. They also make a noise that sounds like a machine gun.

Panther chameleons from Madagascar are some of the dopest lizards around. They’re also some of the most colorful animals in the world, and their colors change depending on their mood, as well as light levels, temperature, and humidity. I want one.

This is a wild dog called a dhole, found in Asia. Like most dogs, they’re very social animals, living in large groups with none of the dominance hierarchies that wolves have. They’re also intelligent, peaceful, and very accepting of other dholes outside their own family.

Check out the mudskipper! This guy is amazing. It’s a fish, but it spends 90% of its life on land, and it’ll actually drown if it can’t leave the water. It rolls in the mud to keep itself wet, and males can jump two feet in the air because lady mudskippers are super into that.

This is a bumblebee bat, the world’s smallest mammal at barely over an inch long. They live in limestone caves in very small areas in Thailand and Myanmar and are only active for about an hour a day, and a cool thing about them is they’re to hover like a hummingbird.

This good boy is called a maned wolf. They live in South American grasslands, but are endangered due to habitat loss, as well as shy and generally afraid of humans. But I think they’re incredible. Also, apparently their urine smells like marijuana.