There are many animal species on our planet. Mother Nature has been generous to some, like for cats being super cute and fluffy while others – like for these weird animals we will discuss today, they are so unlucky – weird and ugly! Check out these weird and bizarre animals!
1.Venezuelan Poodle Moth
This bizarre animal is covered with white fluffy hair, with funky antennae that grows on its head and large black eyes. They were first seen in 2009 and to this day almost nothing is known about them. The name derives from a comparison of its shape that looks like a cross between a poodle and a moth. Even though zoologists inquired with scientists hoping to identify this animal, no one has yet been able to successfully identify it. The first observable feature about this animal is no phony concoction like the dogerpillar and jackalope. It's scary, cute and furry appearance is totally in line with what's expected for a neotropical ornamental moth.
Scientists later found a similar photo of a white and fuzzy animal known as Diaphora mendica or muslin moth
2.Hatchetfish
This species lives in the deep temperate and tropical seas. They have light-emitting organs along the underside of its deep, muscular abdomen. It belongs to the Sternoptychidae family. Despite their weird and scary look, this fish measures only 5 inch (13 cm) in entire body length. They have the ability to blend in with shades of light rays passing through the ocean waters or make themselves lighter or darker – this is a useful camouflage as it aids in evading predators. They have large round eyes located at the top of their head which looks upwards, the Hatchetfish has adapted well to the gloomy darkness of the deep-sea – its
eyes are also sensitive to light and can see the light that travels from the surface, and that makes easier for them to spot any food that falls from above.
3.The Promachoteuthis Squid
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Image credit: wild-facts.com[/caption]This specie of squid was captured in the Southern Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 2,000m in 2007. What is most strange and bizarre about this creature is that it has typical human looking teeth. It’s distinct to other species, with its unique and several morphological features, including; nuchal fusion between the head and mantle, compared to other club suckers it has a larger arm suckers; a recessed club base; greater width of tentacle base than arm base and the presence of an aboral tentacle groove.
The scientists describe these “teeth” as “dentures,” but what supposed to be its teeth are the squid's lips, and behind its mouth is a beak. Just a single specimen of this squid has ever been found and caught.
4.Cape Rain Frog
The Cape Rain Frog (Breviceps gibbosus) or Giant Rain Frog is a frog species endemic to South Africa and belongs to the Microhylidae family. It hides from predators by bloating and transforming literally into a stone. Its natural habitats are; the Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, urban areas, rural gardens and pastureland. This species, like all other amphibians are being threatened by habitat loss.
The Cape Rain Frog got its common name because it lives underground and usually only emerges just before rainfalls. Its burrowing activities provide a role in aerating soil, and the frog feeds on worms and small insects.
This frog species does not need a large water amount in order to mate and breed – just the opposite, because it can’t swim and will drown if placed in water.
5. Pigbutt Worm
The pigbutt worm was discovered in about 3,000 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean. It is a new species of deep-sea worm – but a worm like no other, it has a round shape unlike other worms. Chaetopterus pugaporcinus literally means ‘resembling a pig’s rear’ this is because the animal looks like a pair of buttocks. The Pigbutt worm has a segmented body but its middle segments are weird, giving the animal this characteristic round body shape. They feed on plankton, which they hunt using a net of mucus.
Little is known about these strange and mysterious animals. Scientists do wonder whether its most commonly observed form is its adult or juvenile stage, because it is too large to be a larval form.
6. Erenna Richardi
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Image credit: strangeanimals.info[/caption]This animal belongs to a Siphonophore (jellyfish) family, and it is one weird, elongated, dagger-shaped creature. This creature is actually composed of thousands of individual organisms (zooids), even though it looks like one animal. Some siphonophores reach gigantic sizes, and therefore are always featured on the world's longest animals list. For example, the Giant Siphonophore (Praya dubia) holds the record for the second largest sea organism, with the size of about 40 meters (130 ft) long. There are more than 160 Siphonophore species and the most of them are thin and long, consisting mostly of a clear gelatinous matter.
The Erenna Richardi is either dark orange or red. And through their transparent body, their digestive system is visible. They are bioluminescent and glow green or blue when disturbed.
7. Glass Squid
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Image credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute[/caption]This funny looking squid looks like a cartoon character. Oceanic glass squid (T. borealis) is an animal that inhabits great deep-sea waters and found in depths greater than 2,000 m. They live in almost all oceans worldwide, but most of the Borealis species live in the North Pacific Ocean in sub-Arctic and boreal regions. Glass squids have a different outward appearance, or morphology to most squid. There are about 60 different species of Glass Squid found within the Cranchidae and most share the common characteristic of having transparent bodies.
The adult squid grows to about 50 cm with large eyes that are pointed forward – this allows them to see what’s coming from underneath them, this makes them fast in spotting danger.
8. Goblin Shark
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Image credit: kids.nationalgeographic.com[/caption]Goblin sharks inhabit the world ocean depths greater than 100 m (330 ft), while the juveniles are found in shallow waters – different from the adults. Owing to the depths at which it lives, the goblin shark poses no danger to humans. These sharks prefer outer continental shelves, upper slopes and off seamounts, and they seldom migrate to the surface of the sea. Subject to the shape of its body, one could immediately conclude it’s a poor swimmer. Its blade-looking snout is used to detect prey, and its highly specialized jaws can shoot forward rapidly to snap up prey.
Their slender front tooth suggests they are being used to catch prey, like small fishes and squid, while its back teeth are modified to crush prey.
9. Star-Nosed Mole
This star-nosed mole is fairly common in Canada and the eastern United States but luckily for anyone that might be too frightened to see its unpleasant face, this mole spends most of its time underground looking for its primary food source – insects. Even though the animal is completely blind, the odd looking mammal has a grotesque crown of fleshy tendrils around its snout which can detect prey and eat prey at great speed. Scientist proved that from the moment it touches insect larva with its tentacles, it takes just 250 milliseconds to check if the prey is edible.
The mole also benefits from its teeth that are well-adapted, as they are smaller than those of other mole species and are formed like tweezers.
10. Aye-aye
In the wild, the aye-aye prowls along rotting logs and branches, listening with its outsized ears for echoes. They are nocturnal animals i.e. they are only active at night. Due to its specialized behavior, body types, and being so different to other primates, this animal has its own family, genus and species. They are dark in color with large ears that can move in many directions. There is almost no size difference between the sexes in these animals. They are solitary foragers with a large brain-to-body ratio.
Most weird about this animal is its fingers – it has one extra-long digit that looks like the crooked finger of death. Many people believe the aye-aye can even curse a person simply by pointing at them.
11. The Pacu Fish
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Image credit:patch.com[/caption]The Pacu fish is a strange creature with human-like teeth. This fish is also named the 'ball cutter' fish because apparently it often replaces human balls for its meal of fruits and nuts. The pacu is endemic to the Amazon River, but was once caught by a fisherman in Swedes Lake, South Jersey. This discovery has led to panic within the town’s population who love to swim because the pacu possesses razor-sharp teeth and people say it mostly targets testicles of male bathers – scientists however report that the Pacu is not a carnivorous animal rather a fruit-eater; its dreaded teeth are not for biting into scrotum but for crushing fruit seeds.
Whether the speculation that the pacu is nutcracker or not, many men who used to enjoy swimming now avoid swimming in these areas as a precaution.
12. Naked Mole Rat
The naked mole-rat and its cousin the Damaraland mole-rat are the only mammals that are eusocial i.e. these animals live in a colony that may have all generations living together and just a little produce all babies for the colony, just like ants and bees. The colony has a fertile "queen" – the head of the colony. There are female "workers" in a colony who don't breed, they just spend their energy in building tunnels and finding food, there are also helpers who watch over the queen and often mate with her.
They have a tubular body structure, hairless and wrinkled – this eases their movement through tunnels. The naked mole rat lives for many years and shrugs off chemical stings and never gets cancer – little wonder scientists are currently studying these creatures.
13. Blob Fish
The fish lives at depths of 800m and it is almost never seen by people. This fish lives at the same depths as ocean animals, like lobsters and crabs and other edible sea animals which are often its prey. They are inedible, with a gelatinous skin and its body density is slightly lighter than water’s density – this enables them to float around in the deep sea instead of exhausting their energy to swim. A Blob fish can grow up to 30cm long and can live as long as 130 years.
Just like any other deep-sea creatures, their growth, aging and rate of reproduction is extremely slow. Blob fish may have a scary and strange face, but will die if it ever gets out of water.
14.Bobbit Worm
The Bobbitt burrows deep into the earth of the ocean floor, exposing a small part of its 10-foot body anticipating unsuspecting preys, when an unsuspecting prey moves into its target circle; it quickly snaps the passing prey up and crushes with a highly muscled jaw. They are also known as the Eunice worm. Their antenna has light and chemical receptors, which detects any form of movement while it stays hidden. The Bobbit worm attacks prey using its sharp teeth which can instantaneously snap a prey in two due to the power of its massive jaws and bite speed.
The Bobbit worm is found is endemic to the Indo-Pacific, unlike other members of the Euinciae family that can be found worldwide. They are broadcast spawners, with the males and females releasing their eggs and sperm into the water where they fertilize and develop.
Although three feet is more typical, Bobbit worms can reach lengths of nine feet.
15. Leaf-nosed bat
This animal feeds predominantly on insects and was first seen in a national park located in Vietnam in 2008. It was first thought to be an existing bat, but after researchers captured some of them, they realized it was an entirely different species. Leaf-nosed bats live in warm humid caves, although some have been found in hollow tree trunks and live in colonies – colonies can be small or as large as a thousand individuals.
As their common name suggests, their face is covered with skin outgrowths which helps them in echolocation. They also have pouches in their mouths which serve as a food storage and skin mask that can cover their face. They also have an unusual shaped skull aids in their biting force.
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