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We usually think of weighing oneself as a not-very-pleasing endeavor we either do and no questions asked, or blatantly ignore. But it’s a whole different story if we're talking adorable and tiny animals being put on scales.

Bored Panda has made a compilation of the cutest little pals getting a weigh-in session. Not only are the pictures all too adorable, they also reveal what kind of tricks, scales, and gadgets animal care workers use to measure their buddies. From weighing an unsuspecting koala sittin’ on a tree limb to wrapping an owl in a burrito-like blanket, this is the kind of cuteness overload I've been missing all this time.

Bored Panda reached out to Emily Greenhalgh, a marine biologist and science communicator who worked at the New England Aquarium in Boston and posted a picture of a baby penguin being weighed. Emily explained what the procedure of weighing wild animals looks like.

"As you can imagine, keeping a wild animal still enough to get an accurate weight reading can be a bit of a challenge.” Emily further explained: “Plastic tubs and containers are clutch. The penguin chicks are placed gently in a plastic tub (the kind you would store flour or cereal in) and then the tub is placed on the scale to get an accurate measurement.”

Meanwhile, other animals (like the sea lions and harbor seals) “are trained to hop up onto the scale as part of their enrichment activities, which makes things a bit easier,” said Emily.

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It really depends on the individual animal how often they get a checkup and how they get weighed.

For example, “The Aquarium's 550-lb green sea turtle, Myrtle, gets a full workup twice a year, including weight measurements, ultrasounds, and blood-draws.” Meanwhile, “Much like a human, the Aquarium's giant anacondas get a checkup annually.”

However, the baby animals like the rockhopper and African penguins that are born at the Aquarium get a checkup and a weigh-in much more frequently.

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#13

Animals-Being-Weighted

CamParkZoo Report

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Rissie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OK, that looks so snuggly! I want my own weighing cuddle basket....

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#19

Animals-Being-Weighted

Winters_Aspen Report

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GirlFriday
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That puppy is the perfect weight. He is a snuggly weight. Give him to me and I will verify.

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#22

Animals-Being-Weighted

mep.purdue.edu Report

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R L
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The part of me that says this shouldn't be necessary because they should not be in captivity, is screaming.

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Felicia Dale
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No Orca should be in captivity! They are not injured animals who have been "rescued" to be rehabbed and released! They are intentionally caught, sold for huge amounts of money and exhibited for more money. Please, people, do your research on these animals before assuming anything. No animal who swims as far and as deeply as they do should EVER be in a swimming pool. I grew up watching the Orcas in Puget Sound, Washington State, and it breaks my heart to see them turned into performers for humans' pleasure. Now they're literally starving to death because of lack of the salmon they need to thrive (thank you, dams) and the noise of all the human traffic interfering with their ability to hunt. They have intense and tight relationships with each other, are a matriarchal society, and they MUST be protected where they are!

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Felicia Dale
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One male Orca was so depressed and miserable he literally banged his head against the wall of the tiny pool he was held in until he killed himself. NO ORCA SHOULD BE IN CAPTIVITY.

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Elaine Mattingly
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the picture you can see wounds they might be trying to save him. I hope.Nothing belongs in prision if you leave it where it belongs.

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Grace Cho
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can they breathe out of water? Orca's are my sister's favorite animal so I should ask her

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Grumble O'Pug
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

#dontbuyaticket #TanksButNoTanks #lifeinatanksucks #ricobarrydolphinproject Delete this one BP, it isn't right keeping the largest dolphin in a small tank.

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jevais
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There should be a worldwide law forbidding to hold all marine mammals in captivety. It's extremely cruel. It's big business, all that counts is money, the hell that the animals are maltreated. Dead fish are their meals, never seals, dolphins or wales eat in te wild dead animals. Would you like to live in a space so small that your feces and urine surround you? Top all these horrific treatments, they don't live in water with chlorine. Any they die young.

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Inga Viviane
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a difference between a small seal. ( Also a sea mammal) and dolphins and wales, but for the rest, i totally agree. Those kind of big social animals hurt in captivity, and there will never be a tank bug enough for them

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Jim Kirkham
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

SCALEMEN of Florida services, calibrates and re-certifies these Custom Built Emery- Winslow Scales every 30 days at Sea World. The Scales are over 20 years old and still working and very accurate.

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THE DOG LIFE
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait... won't the pressure of the orca and the scale hurt its stomach somehow?

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Raine Soo
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That smile is amazing. I never smile like this when I have a weigh-in...

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jevais
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Raine Soo that can't smile, it's impossible it's just the way their face is.

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Truth Monster
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3 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

this one is boggling, as the pool would lend itself to a far more accurate way to measure, which is water displacement.

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sorlag110
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nope, in very large pools of water, even an Ocra isn't massive enough to significantly displace the water. And the little it does is near impossibe to measure in real time because water becomes chaotic at larger scales. The random oscillations in the water makes small measurements unusable unless it's a statistical average over time. Unless the caretakers are super unethical they wouldn't put the Orca in a pool small enough to make a water displacement measurement work. Orcas will however voluntarily jump up to a platform. Hope it makes more sense now.

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#24

erinruberry Report

#25

Animals-Being-Weighted

ZookeeperCasi Report

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Michelle Muirhead
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He is cheating, he is leaning on the wall. Hint to me, must remember to do this next time I go to the Doctor’s.

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#28

biologistimo Report

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Rissie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No if that isn't the definition of awwwwwwwwww, I don't know anymore.

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#29

Animals-Being-Weighted

amyngyn Report

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eli yete
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

now this is a story about how my life got flipped turned upside down...

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#32

Animals-Being-Weighted

erinruberry Report

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Tracey Hirt
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who’s a good, big girl? You are! You're a good, big girl! ❤️

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#41

Animals-Being-Weighted

London Zoo Report

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Kirsten Kerkhof
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Keeper: "You're overweight." Penguin: "Says the one who feeds me while I'm on the actual scales!"

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