- The manner in which monkeys (in this case, white handed gibbons) move through space is elegant and amazing, and I think one particularly potent ingredient of this for me is how smooth and natural, how instinctual it all seems to be - how they manipulate space so casually. In some sense I think it's the awareness of the general depth of complexity of a thing that is made to look so utterly facile that really gets me (the "Crouching Tiger" Effect).
- I tend to find your average aquatic mammal more elegant than your average cold blooded swimming thing. I wonder whether this is 1) related to the previous point (in that it seems to me for some reason that it must be more difficult for mammals underwater and therefore I subconsciously root for them as the underdog as it were, even if the premise for my rooting isn't actually true), or 2) whether I just connect better with mammals. It's all likely nothing more than a matter of aesthetics - the trifles of fur, whiskers, and so forth - but whatever the case may be, otters are pretty cool.
- Giraffes and flamingos are both creatures that strike me as if they should be in some way awkward, but whose utter lithe elegance within this expectation makes them all the more lovely.
