Be careful of these cuddly creatures!

While mosquitoes and ticks, those pesky harbingers of West Nile, dengue fever, cholera, Lyme disease, and Kyasanur fever  are universally hated, it's hard to believe the Earth's more cuddly creatures could breed evil.

Alexandra Evans has found 13 cuddly creatures to ruin your next trip to the petting zoo. 

Peacocks -  dying in droves in Pakistan's Thar Desert region in an outbreak scientists believe is linked to Newcastle disease.

Armadillos -  beneath their shell these mammals shield leprosy, a rare bacterial infection that attacks the skin and nervous system.
 
Whales -  harbor influenza A, a viral flu strain with the most potential for interspecies transmission.

Monkeys & apes -  are "reservoir for human disease." The HIV virus originated in African monkeys.  Strains of malaria, Ebola, and monkeypox virus can be  transmitted by monkey and ape populations.  Measles, rabies, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, shigellosis, amebiasis, balatidiasis, herpes B, giardiasis and helminthes are believed to have appeared first in man's closest relative.

Read more to see what you "might" catch from dogs, cats,  prarie dogs, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters.