In one corner of the undeclared battle for the title of “Cutest New Animal” at the Woodland Park Zoo are the two new snow leopard cubs born on Memorial Day. Snow leopards are endangered, native to the mountains of Central Asia, and can’t roar because they don’t have a larynx.

In the other corner, we have the zoo’s very first Tawny frogmouth baby. Grown up Tawny frogmouths look like owls but don’t catch their prey while flying like owls do. Baby Tawny frogmouths look like adorable cotton balls.

Who will emerge from the summer as the zoo’s cutest addition? In the long run I think that the snow leopards will have the advantage, especially since a molting bird is not usually very cute while a baby carnivorous cat just gets more and more adorable. What would be best for us all would be if the kittens and the frogmouth became unlikely best friends and had an adventure together.

(Photos by Ric Brewer and Ryan Hawk.)