The Internet and cute animals go hand in hand. In fact, it's even been shown that looking at cute animals on the Internet is good for you, which only makes #CuteOff all the sweeter.

As we speak, scientists around the world are uploading snaps to Twitter of the most adorable-looking animal and insect subjects they've had the pleasure of being acquainted with.

Of course, at this point we'd have to concede that #CuteOff isn't strictly a scientist-only affair, as there's nothing to prevent people who aren't scientists from jumping in on the hashtag (nor should there be). Basically anyone who likes cute animal pics – which amounts to pretty much everybody on the Internet, now that we think about it – can get in on the fun.

This isn't the first time scientists have taken to Twitter to demonstrate the lighter side of their day job. Already this year we've had #FieldworkWin and #FieldworkFail, in which researchers tracked their more remarkable victories and losses in the name of scientific endeavour.

More recently we had #JunkOff – kind of the same deal as #CuteOff, except this time field scientists were competitively trading their best images of animal genitalia spotted in the wild.

Warning: clicking on #JunkOff won't just show you massive elephant and rhino members. Hijackers on the thread have also uploaded this traumatic image of what just might be nature's largest sexual appendage. You have been warned.

Getting back to the cute stuff, here are a few of our favourite pics from #CuteOff. And don't forget – there are plenty more where that came from.