All right, so 4 out of my 6 pets tamed so far.
First up is Voltor the black carrion bird.
I would like to start off by saying these guys creep me out, and I think it's because they very much resemble real life vultures who also creep me out. They have that fleshy, reddish colored skin on their heads, legs, and tail thing. Their beak starts off gold then ends in a black tip, and they have very beady, sort of angry, yellow eyes.

They have a little white collar of feathers around their neck and the rest of their feathers are black. Those long, dangly tail things also give me the heebie jeebies.
For animations, these guys are like most birds and just flap in place. Every now and then they'll do the flap flap uuupp, and then resettle. What I like is that they hover at shoulder height (and run/fly there) instead of doing it along the ground like some birds. They're fairly quiet pets as well. They make no sound by your side (other than flap flap) and they're pretty quiet in combat. They make a squawk when you initially send em in, they have a sort of eagle-like call they make when casting their debuff, and that's really about all I hear--my gun makes more noise. XD
Carrion birds bring demoralizing screech, which reduces the physical damage caused by enemies--it could be useful in a dungeon with some very hard hitting melee mobs that are beating up your tank pretty bad.
Overall I have no real desire to keep this guy. His skin just sort of creeps me out and I'm not a big fan of the old world vulture models. I'll be keeping my ghostly carrion bird, Elusive instead.
Next up is Carl, the lion.
I decided to go to Mulgore and look for The Rake. After a few short minutes, I found him prowling around and tamed him.
My initial thoughts were that I actually kind of like this lion skin even though I had never though to tame it before. Then I began to give him a closer look and found a few flaws that are kind of glaring to me now. First, and most noticeable, is that 2-D mane that suffers the same problem as the wolves' ruffs--it sticks out in all the wrong places and looks incredibly awkward when Carl swings his head about.

Also as you can see in this side shot, Carl has some funky looking spots on his hindquarters that made me go "O_o is he diseased?".
From the front, the lion's face isn't too bad, the whiskers looks a tad low res, but it's a proud face of a male lion; I like it.
For animations, I've always liked cats. And as a huge bonus to those of you who hate the yawn slobber thing, these guys do not make that noise!

They actually use the saber mount noises and do not make the yawn slobber when idling; instead they make more of a roaring noise (the noise your saber mount makes when you press spacebar). I also love the way cats run, they look very powerful and prideful.
I'm sure we all know how awesome cats are for hunters if you don't have a DK, warrior, or enhance shaman around. If you don't have one of those classes around, cats are the number one DPS pet for MM and SV (I'd bring a spirit beast as BM for the added heal).
I won't be keeping Carl, there's a few flaws in the skin that I'm not fond of, and I have Duskstalker on this toon already.
Next is Itty, the gray tallstrider. Itty is named in honor of my baby WRA hunter, RoxĂe's Clutchmother who is named Bitty. (As in Itty Bitty since I'm lame and it was the first thought that came to my head after seeing how tiny tallstriders look next to low level hunters.)
I actually kind of like this skin, there's a lot of little nuances to it. Her base body and legs are gray and then her face and neck are a myriad of beautiful colors. First is the bright red, then purple, then a soft teal color.

I have no real complaints with how the model looks. Their claws are low res, but that's pretty standard. I feel that tallstriders are pretty solid.
After running around with Bitty for 5 levels I have learned something very important about tallstriders--they are PACKED with personality. These guys can amuse themselves and beg you for attention all in the same go. They are fierce and loyal protectors, and they also like to have a little fun. They have won me over.
I love tallstrider animations. They are pretty quiet by your side. Every now and then they'll clean themselves or give a little silent caw. They look like ostriches when they run, which is rather fitting. And when they swim and go into combat, it's adorable. When they swim, they kick with those powerful legs, flap with their useless little wings, and they sort of use their head to help propel them.
Their ability, dust cloud, reduces enemy melee and ranged attack speed, another useful debuff if your tank is taking excessive damage from melee mobs in a dungeon.
I think I'll probably keep Itty around. She's prettier than I thought she would be, and I actually think I like tallstriders better than foxes now.
And last, for now, is Creamsicle, the orange hyena.
Hyenas are a love/hate pet for me. I want to love em, but I keep seeing so many flaws with this guy that it makes me go 'blegh.' There was a thread a while back about wanting hyenas to revert to their old stance...I hope maybe Noah picks up on it because looking more closely at their new stance makes my neck hurt. The head->neck->shoulder ratio just looks really awkward and weird.

I also dislike, as someone from the single pet challenge described, how the sides of their legs look as if they had a really bad accident in a fire. Makes me feel sort of bad for them. I'm also not overly fond of the way the orangey color looks for these guys; it's just sort of 'meh' for me.
Looking at these guys from the front is a hot mess as well. Their eyes are creepy and their box muzzles are ew.
Animations wise, if you've ever owned a fox or coyote model wolf, you know everything that these guys can do. I like that they lift their head up to run, makes them look a little more...natural I guess. They're fairly quiet pets too. They make a sort of squeal going into combat, and snarling noises while fighting, nothing real obnoxious.
Tendon rip, their ability, increases bleed damage by 30%. Bleck. I never play as MM and I almost never run in a group that would ever benefit from this debuff so to me, hyenas (and their tenacity counterparts) have a largely useless debuff, especially since arms warriors, feral druids, and sub rogues all bring their own bleed increasing abilities.
Sorry hyena fans, Creamsicle will not be staying; I just couldn't bond with the poor fellow.
I will finish the other two pets for this challenge after I get home from work.
