The Amazon rainforest is one of the true nature wonders on Earth. The Amazon rainforest is a home for over 2.5 million different species of insect, more than 40 thousand varieties of plant, one and a half thousand bird species and over 2 thousand fish species, and below you can find the top 10 strangest of all Amazon animals.
1. Donald Trump's Wig
The hair of this caterpillar has been likened to Donald Trump’s wig which seems a little harsh on it. Megalopyge opercularis lives in the parts of Central America and southern United States. If you see one in nature, don’t be fooled by its friendly, comedy appearance, because hair-like protrusions are not for stroking. They have venomous spines. When you touch it, if you’re lucky, the swelling, discomfort and itching will be localized, but that is usually not the case.
The irritation can spread through your limbs causing headache, difficulty breathing, abdominal distress, burning, swelling, rashes, blisters, and sometimes chest pain, nausea and numbness. Megalopyge opercularis lives on oak, citrus and elm trees, so if you see a hairy patch on one of those trees, don’t stroke it.
2. Caged Urodidae Moth Cocoon
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Image: The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow[/caption]The Amazonian moth belonging to the family of Urodidae is one of the strangest and most beautiful cocoons in the insect family. Its cocoons make a coarse open mesh cage with an exit at the bottom, and hangs from the underside of a leaf, like a pendulum on a long thread of silk. The cocoon is bright orange colored. Because these caterpillars mostly live in areas of the world that see significant rain, such as the Amazon rainforest, they do not spin cocoons that encompass the pupa entirely, or chrysalis, in which they complete the metamorphosis process. Instead, their cocoons are spun more like mesh netting, with a skeleton-like structure hanging on a long length of silk from the underside of a leaf.
They are breathing through their encapsulation in the cocoon, which puts them at great risk of drowning in water, if not allowed to escape.
3. Decoy-building Spider
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Photo: Courtesy of Lary Reeves[/caption]A new species of spider that builds elaborate fake spiders has been discovered in Amazon rainforest. The casual observer would think that there is nothing but a decomposed spider sitting in the middle of a web. Yet when looking more closely, we can see that in the place where will be the head, sits a tiny spider only about 1 cm (0.4 in) in length. The dead spider is really not a spider at all, but the spider-shaped object acts like a scarecrow built by the tiny spider.
Using nothing but remains of other dead insects, debris and leaves, the tiny artist creates a convincing decoy. So far, the most logic explanation is that they make these decoys as a way to scare off massive predators that can prey on them.
4. Electric Eel
The electric eel is in the only known species of electric fish family. Despite its name, it is not really an eel, but a knifefish. In fact, these animals are more closely related to catfish family than they are to eels. They live in freshwater marshy areas or stagnant arms of rivers where other fishes find it difficult to live because of the lack of dissolved oxygen. They can produce powerful electric shocks of up to 600 volts as a defense mechanism, and to shock their prey.
Known for their strange breeding behavior in the dry season, the male ell makes a nest from his saliva into which the female ell lays her eggs. About 3,000 young eels can hatch from the eggs of one female. That is a lot of combined volts!
5. Candiru Fish
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Image: Max Gibbs[/caption]The candiru fish, also known as vampire fish, toothpick fish or cañero, is a species of parasitic freshwater catfish. Adults can grow up to 15 inches in length and can be found throughout the Amazon basin. These fish species are known to parasitize the gills of larger fishes and eat their blood. Shockingly, there have even been reports of vampire fish entering the urethra of human males! The smell of human urine attracts this fish. It will follow and find a source of urine, swim inside an orifice and use its series of spines to get in the urethra, where it will cause hemorrhaging.
Any attempts to get out the tiny monster, nearly transparent candiru will cause a great pain because the fish's spines point backward. Treatment involves extensive surgery, and without treatment, death can result from sepsis.
6. Jesus Lizard
The Basilisk is a lizard in the Amazon rainforest that people named the Jesus Christ Lizard, and they call it this because it walks on surface of the water. The Jesus Christ Lizard can be up to three feet long and they can weigh up to 13 ounces. Their feet are really large to provide a big air cavity to allow them to walk on water. There are flaps on each toe to help in the process. This lizard eats snakes, fish, insects, shrimp, scorpions, other lizards, small mammals, birds, fruit and flowers.
It survives by walking on water and so escaping the predators. When gliding across the water, it confuses the predator, which usually leaves. They also survive by sleeping on plants and being very alert.
7. Glass Frog
Hyalinobatrachium mondolfii is a frog species from the Centrolenidae family. It is known from a number of disjunction locations – Delta Amacuro and Monagas states in northeastern Venezuela, Pando Department in Bolivia and Leticia in southern Colombia and possibly can be found much wider within the Amazon rainforest. These frogs are usually found near streams. They lay their eggs on the leaves that hang above the water and the adult frogs will protect the eggs. When the tadpoles become ready to hatch, they fall to the stream coinciding with rains.
While generally green in color, what makes them so interesting is their internal organs that can be seen through the translucent skin on the underside of their body, which takes on the hue of the frog’s environment making it hard to see for any would-be predators.
8. Potoos
Potoos are a group of birds related to frogmouths and nightjars, and can be found throughout the Amazon rainforest. Masters of disguise, they are nocturnal animals that spend days with eyes half open, motionless, perched upon the stumps of broken branches. The potoo's feathers are brown with streaks of other colors that include reddish brown gray and black. This bird has black streaks on the crown (top) of the head and on the lower part of the body. Their stump will be chosen wisely, as it will be the home of just one egg, whose incubating duties are shared in shifts, by both the female and male.
You will be very lucky to see one because their camouflage is really effective, especially when combined with their lifeless pose.
9. Arapaima
The arapaima, also known locally as “paiche” (a combination of words for fish and red), is the largest freshwater fish in the South America. They are almost endangered and protected by Brazilian law, but can be caught in approved areas only or stocked fish ponds. It is believed to be the largest freshwater fish species in the world. Some larger specimens can be almost 3 m in length, and weigh more than 100 kg. The largest recorded specimen was an incredible 4.52 meters! As well as having gills, this fish needs to go to the surface every 5 to 15 minutes to breathe air into its large and modified swim bladder, which is made of lung like tissue.
Some local people use its bony scales as nail files, and the tongue is thought to have medicinal power, used to kill intestinal worms when mixed into a drink together with guarana.
10. Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko
For the satanic leaf tailed gecko, whose real name is Uroplatus phantasticus, it is easy to see how this creature received its common name. Sometimes, these geckos will have a satanic look, but at the end of the day their coloration is all about blending in. Their goal is to look exactly like decaying leaves ,so, if that means being purple and red color, they will do what they have to in order to fit in with their environment. Surprisingly, this is not their only method for avoiding hungry predators. This gecko can also flatten its body, which helps in reducing shadow. If these camouflage tactics do not work, they can always show their scary bright red mouth or simply drop their tail and run away.
With all of these characteristics the predators on Madagascar should probably just find something else to munch on.
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