Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow feature film captures extraordinary moments of contact between people and animals as seen through the lens of the artist’s camera on more than thirty expeditions to some of the earth’s most remote places. Written, directed, produced, and filmed by Gregory Colbert, it is a poetic field study that depicts the world not as it is, but as it might be—a world in which the natural and artificial boundaries separating humans from other species do not exist. The viewing experience is one of wonder and contemplation, serenity, and hope.

Edited by two-time Oscar-winner Pietro Scalia; narrated by actors Laurence Fishburne (English), Enrique Roche (Spanish), and Ken Watanabe (Japanese). Musical collaborators include Michael Brook, David Darling, Heiner Goebbels, Lisa Gerrard, Lukas Foss, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Djivan Gasparyan.

The idea was simply to film peoples pets. The mysterious music was intended to offset the images of the pets to make them seem more disturbing than they usually are. Or maybe they are disturbing. We had fun going to peoples houses and seeing what would happen with their animals. Most of the time we didn’t get what we wanted as it is difficult for pets to act. but sometimes we would get really funny moments. It was fun to do something where you don’t have a clue what the outcome was going to be. Thanks to drew O’Neill the producer, Arthur Loveday the D.O.P., Maria Cecilia for all sorts, Lara Lancereau and Sarah Espeute for helping with the concept. And thanks to the pets and owners and Metronomy fans that took part.

Meet the new pride and joy of the Prague Zoo, one of two Rothschild giraffes born this month, via the Internet Center for the Study of Baby Animal Cuteness, ZooBorns.

Did you know Newt Gingrich, for all his talk of forcing poor children to swab out the toilets in their government schools, is really just a big ol’ softie?

It’s true — Newt loves cute, fuzzy animals, and they love him back!

Pets With Newt 2012.

Oddly enough, there doesn’t seem to be a testimonial from a newt.

Born November 13 at a Tel Aviv zoo, this ungainly yet astoundingly cute baby is named Dolittle. (Via ZooBorns.)

Click to embiggen

Here’s some amazing footage from the “Eyes on Leuser” project, condensed from a month’s worth of recordings from video cameras placed in northern Indonesia’s mountain jungles.

It’s been a little while since we last visited the Internet Center for Advanced Studies of Baby Animal Cuteness, Zooborns, so I think it’s time for a couple of photos of the first-ever rare Pallas’s Cats born via artificial insemination, at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden: First Ever Birth of Pallas’ Kittens with the Help of Advanced Science.

(Click the pictures to embiggen to maximum cuteness.)

Blame Zooborns for the following overdose of cuteness.