It's our feline friends that are the cutest pets of them all, according to science. With cats coming out as the animals with the most adorable faces, followed by ferrets, rabbits and hamsters.
#1.
In the world of cute animals, it's hard to pick just one winner, but the quokka's friendliness gives it the edge. This small, cuddly creature is known for its sunny personality. The quokka (Setonix brachyurus) is also known as the short-tailed scrub wallaby.
What Is the Most Popular Pet in the World? It should come as no surprise that the most popular pet in the world is the dog. There is a reason why people say the dogs are a man's best friend, and there are tens of millions of them living in the United States alone.
Dogs are the most popular pet, with almost half of Australian households keeping at least one dog (48% in 2022, up from 40% in 2019).
Pet Ownership in the U.S. at a Glance
Dogs are the most popular pet in the U.S. (65.1 million U.S. households own a dog), followed by cats (46.5 million households) and freshwater fish (11.1 million households).
Dogs come in at number one, with48.3 million households owning dogs in the United States, making these four-legged friends one of the most popular pets around. For people who live active lives and love giving out belly rubs, dog ownership can be a rewarding experience.
The rarest animal in the world is the vaquita (Phocoena sinus). It is a kind of critically endangered porpoise that only lives in the furthest north-western corner of the Gulf of California in Mexico. There are only 18 left in the world. It is thought that they may be extinct in ten years.
There's a reason dogs are man's best friend. Not only are they adorable, they're also crazy smart. They have emotions, they learn tricks, they recognize their owners, they can sense others' feelings—and that's not even all of the clever things dogs can do.
The Happiest Animal
The quokka, a close cousin of the kangaroo, rocketed to internet fame when tourists began taking selfies with the animal, which is unafraid of humans and appears to smile for pictures.
Least Popular Dog Breeds of 2022
At the bottom of the list (Nos. 197 through 199) are the Sloughi, Norwegian Lundehund, and English Foxhound. Last year, the Norwegian Lundehund was at the bottom, but they have surpassed English Foxhounds in registration over the past year.
Fish are the third most popular pets in the United States, and nearly 12% of all American households have at least one fish or more.
The species that are commonly kept as pets are the Madagascar hissing cockroach, the death's head cockroach, the Indian domino cockroach, and the Cuban cockroach. While they're not a pet you want to be affectionate with, you can handle them fairly easily.
A black cat who lives in Italy and inherited $13 million. The cat was a stray that found its way into the home of Maria Assunta, a property magnate in Italy. When Assunta died at the age of 94, she willed her fortune to either the cat or an animal welfare charity that would look after it.
The quokka, a small marsupial native to Australia, is one such example of a species vulnerable to extinction in the country's harsh surroundings. Known as the “happiest animal in the world” due to its cute and friendly appearance, these creatures are now only found in a few isolated forests and small islands.
Pet lovers everywhere woke up Saturday morning to some heartbreaking news: Boo, the social media-famous Pomeranian often dubbed the “world's cutest dog,” has passed away. The 12-year-old pooch racked up millions of fans over the years on both Instagram and Facebook.
Gordon the Shiba Inu Wins the 2022 World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest: 'He Exudes Joy' Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2013. Her work has previously appeared on MTV, The Frisky, Vice, and Best Friends Magazine.
Yorkshire Terrier
Yorkshire Terriers, or Yorkies for short, are one of the smallest dog breeds, weighing in at about 7 pounds and standing 7 to 8 inches high. Their silky coats do need daily grooming, but they're affectionate, good with kids, and eager to please.