--- description: A serious science journal allows itself some cuddles title: The Top 10 Cutest Animals of 2014 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Nature's_ Top 10 Cute Critters for 2014  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Dec 18, 2014 4:14 PM CUT  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Dec 18, 2014 4:14 PM CUT If you read science journals (and really, who doesn’t?) you know that it’s not easy to top _Nature—_and _Nature_ itself surely knows it. They’re the major leagues, the senior circuit, the place the serious stuff goes to get seen. _Nature_ doesn’t do small—and it definitely doesn’t do cute. At least, it didn’t. But every now and then, even the folks on the peer review panels start to feel cuddly. Spend your days vetting new studies about the Dumbo octopus or the toupee monkey or the robot baby penguins that can fool real penguins, and you have to admit that sometimes nature can be pretty adorable—even if _Nature_ can’t. So in a nod to the sweetness that hides in the science, the journal just released an uncharacteristically precious video–the Top 10 Cutest Animals in 2014\. You can go back to being Mr. Grumpypants tomorrow, _Nature_. But for now, give us a great big hug. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3636699/video-top-10-cute-animals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3636699/video-top-10-cute-animals/"},"headline":"Nature's Top 10 Cute Critters for 2014","datePublished":"2014-12-18T16:14:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:55:03.692Z","description":"A serious science journal allows itself some cuddles","url":"https://time.com/3636699/video-top-10-cute-animals/","keywords":["animals","cute","video"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3636699/video-top-10-cute-animals/","name":"Nature's Top 10 Cute Critters for 2014"}}]}] ```