The world is a strange and beautiful place. You just have to go out and explore so you can learn about the many superb things around us.
However, with the Earth so huge and with people so small and with the land not interconnected at all, it is difficult for us to truly explore the world and learn about its amazing contents.
This is the reason why we are very thankful for the advent of the internet which allowed us to explore and learn more about the world without having to get out of our homes.
So, here, we introduce you to 10 of the weirdest animals in the planets – and you probably haven’t heard of them yet!
Aye Aye
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Strepsirrhini |
Superfamily: | Lemuroidea |
Family: | Daubentoniidae |
Gray, 1863 | |
Genus: | Daubentonia |
É. Geoffroy, 1795 | |
Species: | D. madagascariensis |
Binomial name | Daubentonia madagascariensis |
Gmelin, 1788 |
If you are familiar with the Tarsier from the Philippine Islands, then you might not find this animal very strange at all.
However, the tarsier looks quite cute while this primate looks quite scary. It is the stuff of nightmares, albeit a very small one.
You can easily hold it in the palm of your hands but I tell you it somehow looks like a miniature and thinner version of ET.
Goblin Shark
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Superorder: | Selachimorpha |
Order: | Lamniformes |
Family: | Mitsukurinidae |
Genus: | Mitsukurina |
Species: | M. owstoni |
Binomial name | Mitsukurina owstoni |
D. S. Jordan, 1898 |
Warning: This scary-looking shark has very sharp and long teeth plus an elongated snout that could pierce through your skin.
The good news? It rarely every goes above the seawaters as it prefers living deeper than 100 m (330 ft); thus, there is very little chance you will ever encounter this weird sea creature in your lifetime.
Pacu Fish
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Characiformes |
Family: | Characidae |
Subfamily: | Serrasalminae |
What’s weirder than a fish with teeth resembling those of humans? Creepy, right? Need I say more?
Blob Fish
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Family: | Psychrolutidae |
Genus: | Psychrolutes |
Species: | P. marcidus |
Binomial name | Psychrolutes marcidus |
(McCulloch, 1926) |
This sad-looking fish is quite strange because of its, well, appearance.
Its pinkish color does not make it cute but actually makes it even weirder. I certainly would not want to encounter this while diving.
Axolotl
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Caudata |
Family: | Ambystomatidae |
Genus: | Ambystoma |
Species: | A. mexicanum |
Binomial name | Ambystoma mexicanum |
(Shaw, 1789) |
Do you believe in pixies? Now, how about scary-looking pixies?
Well, the first time I saw a picture of the axolotl, I thought it was just another character from a fantasy movie; though its long body somehow reminds of the Jake and Finn of Adventure Time.
Silly, right?
Japanese Spider Crab
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Crustacea |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Infraorder: | Brachyura |
Superfamily: | Majoidea |
Family: | Inachidae |
Genus: | Macrocheira |
De Haan, 1839 | |
Species: | M. kaempferi |
Binomial name | Macrocheira kaempferi |
(Temminck, 1836) |
I would never wish to meet this giant crab in open waters!
Yeti Crab
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Subphylum: | Crustacea |
Class: | Malacostraca |
Order: | Decapoda |
Infraorder: | Anomura |
Superfamily: | Chirostyloidea |
Family: | Kiwaidae |
Macpherson, Jones & Segonzac, 2006 | |
Genus: | Kiwa |
Macpherson, Jones & Segonzac, 2006 |
This strange creature looks like a yeti; thanks to its furry arms and legs.
Living in hydrothermal vents located along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, the yeti crab has learned to adapt well to its surroundings. Its “fur” is believed to detoxify poisonous minerals from the vents.
It is also carnivorous. However, there is no reason for humans to fear the yeti crab because its diet is only limited to small shrimps and green algae.
Star-Nosed Mole
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Eulipotyphla |
Family: | Talpidae |
Subfamily: | Scalopinae |
Tribe: | Condylurini |
Gill , 1872, 1875 [ which? ] | |
Genus: | Condylura |
Illiger, 1811 | |
Species: | C. cristata |
Binomial name | Condylura cristata |
(Linnaeus, 1758) |
This little mole’s nose is so weird that not only does it look like short earthworms, the nose part actually covers a huge part of its head as well.
However, you should not worry about meeting these rather weird creatures because these often dig tunnels where it spends most of its time in.
Blue Dragon Sea Slug
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia |
clade Euthyneura | |
clade Nudipleura | |
clade Nudibranchia | |
clade Dexiarchia | |
clade Cladobranchia | |
clade Aeolidida | |
Superfamily: | Aeolidioidea |
Family: | Glaucidae |
Genus: | Glaucus |
Species: | G. atlanticus |
Binomial name | Glaucus atlanticus |
Forster, 1777 |
This scary but cute-looking creature looks rather interesting. Its tentacles strike out in all directions.
The good news about this, hmmm, cute slug is that it is just tiny.
You can actually place it on top of your palm and it won’t take up much space.
Naked Mole Rat
Scientific classification | |
---|---|
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Bathyergidae |
Subfamily: | Heterocephalinae |
Landry, 1957 | |
Genus: | Heterocephalus |
Rüppell, 1842 | |
Species: | H. glaber |
Binomial name | Heterocephalus glaber |
Rüppell, 1842 |
If you have watched the cute cartoon show Kim Possible, then you already know that naked mole rats exist. However, Rufus [the naked mole rat owned by Ron Stoppable in the series] actually looks quite cute while the real naked mole rat looks a whole lot different.
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