Heya I'm bored so like, what's yoir current favorite animal? Mines the olm
Ahhhh I love them all it's hard to choose... Sooo I'll say my top 2
The spotted tiger Quoll
(Pictured: A spotted tiger quoll, Dasyurus maculatus, curled up sleeping in a glass exhibit.)
Bunjeen is the original Indigenous name (from the Bandjalung language group) for them in my area. Was called the marsupial cat by colonizers until naturalist told folk or was missleading. "Quoll" comes from anglicisation of "dhigul" (Note: Aboriginal spelling is different from English spelling) from the Guugu Yimithirr mob who contacted Captain Cook (our Christopher Columbus booooo).
Since it occupies the same ecological niche as them. A good native defence against feral rabbits, but is vulnrable due to competition with feral cats and poisoning from cane toads. These Polka dotted murder balls are the second largest extant carnivorus marsupial. Live only for 2-4 years. The size of a grain of rice when born. Live solitarily, but will use a communal latrine to see who's in the area. Reaches it's teens in year one, stops growing year two, doesn't live very long past year 3 (；ＴДＴ). I don't like exotics, and the reality is definetly different to my fantasy, but I kinda want one as a pet. Maybe I can volunteer at a sanctuary or something.
(Pictured; A Spotted-tailed Tiger Quoll on a mossy log at night, by JJ Henson.
Below that picture is an Eastern Quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus. Eating a very bloody piece of meat with their hands full. I had to include it for the absolute gremlin energy).
Hoatzin
Stem-bird/Dinosaur vibes. Babies have claws on their wings to climb trees if they fall out of the nest. It is also the only bird to be a folivore; a dedicated leaf eater (foli, like foliage, and vore, which I encourage everyone to look up themselves). It's very rotund for digestion and stinky, like a cow! A dinosaur cow bird is also apt, because we no idea what kind of bird it is! Is it a pheasant? Ratite? Songbird? To my understanding, the current idea is that it's a survivor of a unique lineage of birds that survived the Chicxulub mass extinction. Our oldest fossils of potential relatives only go to about 30 MYA. Not even genetics have gotten us too far, but give it time. Was my profile picture for a time on an obscure internet forum when I was a teen. It is also the same colours as my favourite and oldest Velociraptor plush toy. (Razor the wild republic UK Velociraptor plush)
(Pictured; Top Picture of a Hoatzin chick with visable wing claws. Below it Razor, my Willd Republic UK Velocirptor)