Amber & Investigative Journalism

We here at Amber & take our commitment to quality journalism very seriously.  This may be the Internet, but we believe in fact-checking and proper sourcing.

So, you can imagine my frustration when Nick lobbed this adorable bomb at me last week, a really solid effort to wipe me out with cuteness, and I had no idea what kind of animal it was or where it came from.

So, I put on my Hercule Poirot mustache and got to work.

You'll note that on the white board behind what is very clearly a zoo-keeper, it says "S. A. ORYX."  But the hind legs of our little buddy were definitely not oryx legs.  But, he was definitely some kind of African hoofstock-- I recognized his distinguishing characteristic properties from my class at the National Zoo in Cheetahs and Their Food.  So, I looked at a bunch of pictures of different grassland hoofstock, looking for one decidedly small in stature.

And aha!  It was a dik-dik.

Once I knew it was a dik-dik, it was as easy as Googling "baby dik-dik zoo" to find out that this little guy lives at the Chester Zoo.

And that is the story of how my quest for journalistic integrity and thoroughness lead me to kill myself with cuteness.  Look at that tiny hoof.  Look at it!  I dare you.