Check out Adam Curtis's Panda's of Doom post.

"Here is a film made in 1976 called Very Important Pandas. It is the history of our relationship to pandas which not only explains how they came to have such a grip on our imaginations, but it also shows what happens when pandas get involved in power politics.

As the presenter points out - any world leader who was given a pair of pandas in the 1970s fell from power pretty soon afterwards."
www.bbc.co.uk/[...]
As far as big non-adaptive animals go, I agree with Doglas Adams, the kakapo is where it's at.