Bizarre Animals We Never Knew Existed

No, that’s not a rabbit in a Halloween costume, it’s an achatina fulica, otherwise known as a giant African Land Snail. Depending on how you feel about snails these big boys are either the cutest thing on the planet or they’re the thing that should not exist. Their bodies can grow up to about 15 inches long, and they get incredibly hungry.

In their 10 year life span they can eat through pretty much anything, and people who’ve kept them as pets have found that they can even chew through plaster walls. If you take a giant land snail home make sure you’ve got plenty of food ready.

The bush viper looks terrifying, and guess what, it is. These frightening, demonic looking, rough scaled creatures are mostly live in Nigeria and western Kenya, although they can also be found in northwestern Tanzania and northwestern Angola. This venomous species comes in shades ranging from bright red, to orange, brown, and green.

While they move fast when it’s time to catch their prey, bush vipers tend to sit still and coil up in order to conserve their energy. If they were constantly on the move they'd have to eat all the time, hence the stillness. When disturbed they strike quickly and they rarely miss. 

These gorgeous stags are actually red deer or fallow deer who are suffering from a condition known as leucism that causes its hair and skin to lose its natural color. While these animals are mostly thought to be mythological creatures who appear in everything from Hungarian mythology to Harry Potter, they can actually be seen all over the world, you just have to keep your eyes peeled.

There aren’t a lot of animals with leucism in the wild, like albino animals their lack of pigmentation doesn’t do them any favors with predators. Still, some of these animals manage to survive even without their ability to blend in. 

The endangered Mexican alligator lizard is a gorgeous small invertebrate that more closely resembles a curved piece of turquoise than a member of the animal kingdom. They tend to be slow-moving, however when they feel threatened they can run away with the best of them. These lizards mainly live in high elevation cloud forests in Central America, specifically Mexico and Guatemala.

The Mexican alligator lizard has a healthy diet of bugs that are low in protein like caterpillars, grasshoppers, and katydids, although during the summer they don’t each as they’re preparing to breed. Locals believe that these lizards are venomous, but fortunately for collectors that’s not the case.

Someone get this guy to a hair dresser, STAT. The Angora rabbit is one of the oldest kinds of domestic rabbit, and its bred for the long fibers of its coat which is known as Angora wool. No one knows exactly how they became pets, but it’s believed that they were first brought to Europe from Ankara, Turkey by French sailors in order to copy the shawls that they saw on native women.

There are at least 15 breeds of Angora rabbits, with the English Angora being the most popular. Obviously this guy’s hair has gotten out of control, and most Angora rabbits need to be groomed daily in order to keep their hair from getting out of control. 

Most fish in the sea are considered to be bony fish, but this big boy is the king of them all. This huge creature is a Mola alexandrini ocean sunfish, initially it was believed to be a Mola mola, but recent research has helped to re-identify the animal. Sunfish are the largest bony fish known to man, and due to their size they grow into strange shapes - often resembling discs or wagon wheels.

While this huge fish holds the title as the world’s heaviest bony fish, the largest recorded catch was actually a M. alexandrini, or a southern sunfish, caught in 1996 off Kamogawa, Japan. It would seem that there are some very big boys out in the eastern sea. 

These proud harpy eagles, whose scientific name is the harpia harpyja can found from southern Mexico all the way up through Central and South America and even into northern Argentina, although their homes are being threatened by deforestation. While they grow up to 3.5 feet in length, their rear talons reach about 3-4 inches long, which is the same size as a grizzly bear’s.

Harpy eagles are very protective of their young, and they continue to bring fresh green twigs and branches to their nest after their offspring are born in order to keep them cool and safe from parasitic insects. 

Now this is a handsome young fellow. The Schmidt’s Guenon, otherwise known as a red tailed monkey, is one of the most secretive monkeys in existence. Even though they can live in large packs they really don’t like to be seen and will often sneak away to eat their meals in order to avoid detection.

Like a squirrel, the spot-nosed guenon will stuff its puffy cheeks with food in order to make sure that they have something to eat hours after a meal. Their striking colors can be seen in the wild throughout Africa. They often use their puffy beards as a way of communicating with one another. 

The hammer-headed bat, scientifically referred to as the hypsignathus monstrosus, is also known as the big-lipped bat. This creature has a hairless split chin and warty rostrum with wrinkled skin around it. These megabats live in equatorial Africa and have a wingspan of up to 38 inches making it Africa’s largest bat.

You don’t have to worry about this bat picking up your dog for a meal as they tend to eat only fruit, with figs making up a major part of their diet. They also enjoy bananas, guavas, mangos and other cultivated crops, so you don't want to raise these around your farm. 

The quokkas isn’t just one of the cutest animals to ever hop across the planet, they’re also really friendly. Visitors to their home on Rottnest Island in West Australia have no trouble grabbing a selfie with this smiling creature. If you noticed the pouch on the creature (and how can you not) then you’ve likely deduced that they’re related to the kangaroo.

When they’re not smiling for selfies, these cuties hang out in large groups and eat in swamps while eating greens and storing fat in their tails. They dig tunnels through the vegetation where they live and eat, but more often than not they just like to nap. 

This ornate pheasant with an equally overwrought name is a bird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek khrusolophos, "with golden crest.” While it’s found in Southwestern China and northern Burma, the bird was named after Sarah Countess Amherst, wife of Sir William Pitt Amherst, the Governor of Bengal. He was responsible for sending the first of these gorgeous birds to London in 1828.

Like most birds with beautiful plumage the males are colored with incredible colors while the females tend to be more bland in their colorization in order to help them blend in with their surroundings. 

Out of all the creatures in the animal kingdom, hairy frogs are among some of the most freaky. These creatures, also known as the trichobatrachus robustus, or the horror frog, live in Central Africa where they break their own bones in order to produce claws when faced when faced with predators. One researcher explained:

Some other frogs have bony spines that project from their wrist, but in those species it appears that the bones grow through the skin rather than pierce it when needed for defense.

Males grow up to about four inches and grow long hair-like strands of skin and arteries. Its believed that this “hair” helps the frogs take in more oxygen into their skin. 

This happy camper is a Mexican soft salamander, or an axolotl, a creature that can regenerate most of its body parts if amputated. The axolotl is an amphibious creature that only lives in lake Xochimilco, near Mexico City, and nowhere else. This animal spends its entire life in the water, and the only things it has to worry about are aggressive fish that are introduced by humans and chefs who want to put them on a plate.

The axolotl can grow up to one foot in length and they can weigh up to eight pounds. This sweet little salamander can live up to 15 years in captivity, and the most lucky of them can live for up to 12 years in the wild. 

These incredibly endangered antelope once inhabited a large area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. These animals date back to the ice age, a time that was ruled by mammoths and saber-tooth cats, and this kind of ancestry allows them to live in one of the harshest climates in the world.

There are only 160,000 saiga antelope in existence today, and they’re still being hunted for their meat and horns. Their docility is one of the reasons that they’re so easily hunted, and it’s unfortunate that such majestic creatures are dying out. 

The California Leaf-nosed Bat (Macrotus californicus) is the only bat in North America, north of Mexico, with large ears and leaf-like projections on the nose. These bats hang around all year, and without a hibernation or migration period they can be seen around the caves, mines, and rock shelters of the Sonoran desert.

As creepy as these bats look they don’t pose any real threat to people. Instead of feasting on blood they prefer to eat insects like crickets, beetles, and moths. A lucky California Leaf-nosed Bat can live for up to 30 years in the wild and grow up to 13 inches in wingspan.  

When you’re around this monkey you should always carry a box full of Kleenex, you never know when you’re going need it. These interesting looking mammals aren’t endangered yet, but their numbers are decreasing as they lose places to call home. They have a diet like most humans, in that they’ll eat anything, but they only get up to about 50 lbs in weight.

And yes, that nose exists for a reason. Male proboscis monkeys use their fleshy, pendulous schnozes to attract a mate. It’s believed that they use their large noses to amplify their mating calls as well as a way of intimidating their rivals. 

You can’t miss these little fish when you take a trip to your local aquarium. Flowerhorn cichlids are easy to spot because of their bright colors and interestingly shaped heads. If you see these in the wild then you’re lucky because they’re a man made species that tends to exist as a pet or in an aquarium, any time they’re in the wild it’s because they’ve been set loose.

In the wild they have a parasitic nature, which is why they’re banned from Australia. If you’ve just got to see one of them in the wild then go to Singapore and Malaysia where they’ve started to breed. 

The gharial, otherwise known as the gavialis gangeticus, sometimes called the Indian gharial, is one of two surviving members of the family Gavialidae. These mean looking creatures are a group of crocodile-like reptiles with long, narrow jaws. They grow up to 15 feet in length and can weigh up to 2,200 pounds.

If you feel brave you can find these animals in India, along the Chambal, Girwa, and Son Rivers, and along the Narayani River in Nepal. Rather than chase down their prey like other crocodiles, the gharial use their snouts to sense animals in the water and snatch them up. 

In west Africa albino giraffes are definitely a sight to see. While they’re not running around in abundance, there are more of them than you’d think. In 2017 the New York Times reported that a white giraffe was sighted in Garissa County near the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy with a similarly pale offspring, meaning that there could be more white giraffes running around in the future. The leader of an antelope conservatory in the area told the Times: 

They were so close and extremely calm and seemed not disturbed by our presence. The mother kept pacing back and forth a few yards in front of us while signaling the baby giraffe to hide behind the bushes.

These solemn-faced cuddlies are also known as the Central American tapir, is a species of tapir native to Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. It is one of four Latin American species of tapir, and it’s the largest indigenous mammal in Central America.

Even though they seem like they’re oddly shaped boars, these tapirs are actually more closely related to the rhinoceros. They need a lot of food to get through the day and possess micro-organisms in their stomachs to help them break down plant life. They’re rarely seen in Central America and tend to keep to themselves. This is even more true today as their habitat is under the constant threat of destruction. 

Even though the star-nosed mole looks like something closer to a character from a horror movie, it’s actually a minuscule little creature that can be found in wet low areas in the northern parts of North America.

More often than not this carnivorous creature can be found digging through the damp ground, and it rarely pops up to concern itself with the above ground world. In order to feed the creature uses its star to hunt by reaching around to 10 or 12 places at a time. There’s a lot that scientsts don’t know about this creature, and they’re learning new things every day. 

This bearded pig from Borneo has seen things. Its grizzled face shows the wear and tear of a life spent rutting for food and never having a trim. These unkempt looking animals play an important part in the ecosystem of their home on the Asian archipelago. As a never ending migrator the bearded pig spreads the seeds of the dipterocarp tree across the island, maintaining their growth.

The bearded pig’s foraging also helps keep the soil invigorated, speeding along organic decomposition. This animal doesn’t know it but all of their digging helps tree roots get the nutrients that it needs. 

Is it a crab or is it a pomegranate? Obviously it’s a crab, but its polkadot shell makes it resemble either a very garish piece of wall paper or that tasty purple fruit. The trapezia crab, or trapezia rufopunctata is a species of guard crabs in the family Trapeziidae. This small commensal crustacean can be found inside Pocillopora and Acropora coral of Indonesia.

While these crabs were initially believed to be coral pests, researchers have found that the trapezia crab actually has a symbiotic relationship with its hime, and spends its time cleaning and defending the coral. They only grow to one inch and size. 

The long-eared jerboa, also known as the euchoreutes naso, is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent with a long tail, long hind legs for hopping, and if you didn’t notice, they have very large ears. These cute little creatures can be found in the deserts of northwest China and southern Mongolia.

Since the long-eared jerboa is such a tiny specimen, which makes it a yummy appetizer for its predators, nature has made sure that it’s the color of sand, allowing it to blend in with its desert home. The jerboa eats insects and while its body only grows to about 3.5 inches in length its tail grows to double that size. 

Not a mouse and not a deer, the greater Malay chevrotain or napu is a species of even-toed ungulate in the Tragulidae family also known as the Tragulus napu. These strange and shy animals can be found in Sumatra. The size of a mouse-deer can vary greatly, with some of them weighing as little as four pounds, while others can grow up to 33 pounds.

These little animals pack a big bite. They’re hiding two long, needle-like fangs in their mouths which they use to stab predators. Along with those teeth they have an extra thick coat and dense muscles that protect them from attacks. 

The Squeaking Silk Moth, or the rhodinia fugax if you prefer, doesn’t actually squeak when it’s a moth. However, when it’s in its form as a caterpillar the insects can squeak loudly in order to keep predators at bay by contracting their bodies and forcing air through their spiracula. The sounds is akin to that of a mouse or rubber duck.

Once the silk moths become moths in the autumn they take on the colors of fall foliage in Asia, which turns the males a dark yellow-orange, sometimes turning nearly black, while the females are always bright yellow. They're most easily found in the Palearctic Asia, but have been found in Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

What else can you call this animal but the blowfish? The Blobfish, or Psychrolutes Marcidus, is one of the strangest aquatic creatures found in Australian and Tasmanian waters. They are in the deep sea family of Psychrolutidae, also known as the fathead sculpin family.

The Blobfish is considered to be a “lie and wait” predator, meaning that rather than chase after its prey it sits still with its jaws open and sucks in anything that’s small enough to get munched. These odd looking fish are found in depths ranging from 330 and 9,200 feet in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

The Angola colobus, Angolan black-and-white colobus or Angolan colobus, is a primate species of old world monkey belonging to the genus Colobus. They’re found across Africa in places like eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, eastern Gabon, and northern Congo. They don’t live in one specific habitat, and can thrive in bamboo forests just as well as savannas and swamp lands.

The Angola colobus is a medium-sized, arboreal monkey that have long silky hair, complete with white epaulettes on the shoulders. Their young are born completely white, and over the course of their first three months they grow their black adult plumage. 

While this creature may look like a tasty piece of sushi, they’re actually tough little cuties that can dig their way out of most situations. In fact, it only takes a few seconds for this animal to completely bury itself in the sand when it feels threatened. Also known as the chlamyphorus truncatus, the pink fairy armadillo is one of the few armadillo with a dorsal shell that’s nearly totally separate from its body.

These can be found in the plains and grasslands of central Argentina where the pink fairy armadillo forages for worms, snails, plant matter, and yummy ants. 

This species of crab, also known as the Heikegani is native to Japan and is believed to hold the souls of ancient warriors. The belief stems from the imprint on the crab’s shell that looks just like a face. The story goes that during the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185 AD all souls of the Heike samurai warriors who perished were reincarnated as Heikegani.

These fighters were known for wearing a terrifying mask, and it’s believed that these crabs have the imprint of a face on their shell so as to show allegiance to their clan. Many people believe that the crabs watch over their ancestors to this day.

The rufous elephant shrew, rufous sengi or East African long-eared elephant-shrew that spends most of its waking hours constructing tight and intricate trails that it uses to escape its predators. The elephant shrew’s legs are incredibly powerful, giving them the ability to jump over three times their body length.

These tiny shrews have overactive scent glands on the soles of their feet, which the young rub all over their parents in order to create a “family odor” that’s distributed throughout their habitat. While they have plenty of predators, these creatures use their speed and intense tunneling abilities to escape whatever comes for them. 

 African wild dogs are one of Africa's most endangered species with less than 5,000 left. These endangered dogs roam in packs of up to 10 around areas in South Africa and the southern most parts of East Africa like Tanzania and northern Mozambique. They grow to about 30 inches tall and 44 inches long.

As adorable as these wild dogs are, they’re fearsome predators who can run up to 44 mph when chasing their prey. They often go after gazelles or medium-sized animals that they can easily take down with a group. In Latin, their name means "painted wolf," which comes from their peculiar coat.  

The spotted garden eels are most easy to sight by their small size - they rarely grow longer than 16 inches - and their three large black spots on their body along with the small black spots that take up the rest of the space across their tubular bods. These creepy crawlies burrow into the bottom of the sea, make their bodies rigid, and use the holes they create as a home, or a way to hide from predators.

These eels rely on the water's motion to bring food to them, the garden eels typically live in current prone habitats. Their only source of food is small planktonic animals.

Behold the adorable genet, an elongated, short legged creature with an unusually long, tapered tail. A genet has a pointed nose like a skunk, and large rounded ears that are reminiscent of a bat crossed with a cat. These are seriously interesting looking mammals. Their coloration is different between species of genet, but they tend to be yellow or gray and covered in dark spots and stripes.

The largest of genets are only seen in Africa, but smaller versions of the species can be found in far flung locals like west Asia and Southern Europe. They eat small mammals and birds whenever they’re on the hunt. 

When discussing the dumbo octopus it’s important to note that this name doesn’t refer to one specific octopus, but rather an entire genus of octopus that lives deep in the open ocean. They’re rarely seen and live at depths of least 13,100 feet, possible deeper. This beautiful and rarely seen octopus is naturally rare, and in order to breed they reproduce whenever they come across a mate.

In order to make their way across the deep ocean they flap their ear-like fins, hence the name, and forage on pelagic invertebrates that swim above the sea floor. Due to the lack of predators for this octopus, it doesn't have the ink sack that many of its brethren contain. 

Often described as the smallest monkey in the world, the Philippine tarsier isn’t actually a monkey, or the smallest animal out there. This misnomer likely comes from their look as a small tree monkey, but in actuality these primates who live mostly in Southeast Asia grow to about six inches in height. While that’s small, they aren’t the smallest primate.

The tarsier is the only strictly carnivorous primate, feeding mostly on insects, although they’ve also been observed feeding on spiders, crustaceans, small lizards. Because of their size they’re in danger from attack by humans, feral cats, snakes, or monitor lizards.

Notable for its big ol’ blue feet, this carnivorous bird uses its brilliant feet to attract a mate off the coasts of Central and South America. Throughout the day these birds soar through the air in search of food, often working in flocks in order to find the best meal they can. At night they nest on land.

Their blue feet serve as more than a way to find a mate. After their young hatch, these birds use their webbed feet to keep their young safe and warm. On land the birds walk with an odd, strutting gait, but once they take to the air they’re often graceful. 

For many young people (okay maybe one very specific former young person who’s typing this) the puffer fish is a fascinating specimen. Not only is a regular fish covered in spikes, but it can puff itself up to double its original size when it feels threatened. Aside from being covered in spiny appendages the puffer fish also looks to have teeth, although those are just a fused beak-like structure.

While most fish use their pelvic fins to travel, those are absent in the puffer fish which uses its pectoral fins to move freely throughout the sea. These fish feast on mollusks and other invertebrates like sponges and coral.

If you’re worried about running into this ugly little creature, don’t worry, you have to go all the way to Madagascar to run afoul of this animal which locals believe brings bad luck. Of course it’s not really bad luck, it just looks funny. Aye-ayes do their best to spend most of their lives in in rain forest trees and only come down at night.

They spend most of the day curled up in a ball, when they wake they go on eat hunt for insects that crawl beneath tree bark. They use their long middle fingers to hunt for the larvae that makes up the most of their diet. These animals can live up to 20 years, which is a long time to stay up in a tree. 

Potamotrygon tigrina, also known as the tiger river stingray, is a species of freshwater ray in the family Potamotrygonidae. This endangered species tends to be found in black and whitewater rivers in the upper Amazon basin in northeastern Peru. The tiger river stingray can grow in disc size to at least 28 inches in width, although it’s unclear if that’s the largest they can grow.

Interestingly enough, their discs aren't the largest parts of their body. Their tails tend to grow longer than their discs are wide, and they’re outfitted with a stinger that’s tipped with barbs that can rip through flesh.

The truly gorgeous Kudu Bull is similar to an Impala or an Antelope, and they live in the Savannah woodland, favoring the rocky areas where they kind forage on different bushes and trees. Rather than spend a day eating a tree clean they tend to munch for about a minute before moving onto the next area. If they see something tasty that’s out of reach the bulls will use their horns to break down the bush down to their height.

Because of the myriad predators on the Savannah, Kudus tend to stay alert even when they’re resting in the bush. They do their best to blend in with their surroundings, and are often on the run due to their nervous nature. 

Why yes, that is a butterfly whose wings look eerily like a snake. As psychotic as it seems that an insect can mimic the design of a spooky, slithery animal that’s exactly what the dynasty darius does. Its snake-like appearance doesn’t simply extend to when it’s in butterfly mode, it also occurs when its a pupa.

While in its chrysalis this butterfly can shake from side to side, mimicking the movements of a snake to frighten predators. Unfortunately the dynastor has a short lifespan, but while it's alive it spends its days eating and frightening away predators. This is a remarkable animal that proves that nature is one of the most exciting things we have.

The Brahman is an American breed of zebuine beef cattle. It was bred in the United States from 1885 from cattle originating in India. Supposedly there were only 300 Brahmans imported from India, meaning that most of the cattle from the south-western part of Texas and the coastal country along the Gulf of Mexico had to be crossbred with other cows in the area.

You know you’re dealing with a Brahman when you see the large hump over the top of the shoulder and neck. The colorization of these big cows varies from very light grey or red to almost black, and they have massive amounts of loose skin which helps them stay cool. 

With the ability to grow up to six feet long, the female blanket octopus is one of the most fascinating sights in the ocean. The males of the species barely grow to the size of a walnut, which means that the females weigh about 40,000 times more than their counterparts. In order to mate the males detach their hectocotylus — a modified arm that holds its sperm — and gives it to the female. She keeps the hectocotylus in her mantle cavity until it’s needed for fertilization.

Don’t mess with the female blanket octopus unless you want to be ripped to shreds. These creatures are known to rip off a Portuguese man-o-war's tentacles and use them as weapons. 

Well it looks like someone spilled mustard down their shirt. The Nilgiri marten, or martes gwatkinsii, is the only marten species in southern India, and it can be found in the hills of the Nilgiris and parts of the Western Ghats. These creatures belong to the same family as badgers and weasels, and they live the life of a carnivore.

They’re most easily found by looking for their yellow patch of hair that covers its chest and throat on their otherwise dark brown coats. It’s believed that there are only about 1,000 nigiri Martens in existence. While these animals are believed to be solitary, researchers have found that they tend to travel in small packs.  

While the striated frogfish or hairy frogfish may look more like a surrealist painting than an animal, the antennarius striatus is actually a marine fish belonging to the family Antennariidae. The fish uses its odd look to camouflage itself from its enemies and can match its color to its surroundings.

In order to feed, the striated frogfish sits very still and camouflages itself along the ocean floor. Once situated it wiggles its illicium rod in order to attract smaller animals. When they’re close enough it chomps them down. If the fish loses its rod then its no trouble for another one to regenerate.

Tragopan is a bird genus in the Phasianidae family, which is commonly called "horned pheasant” due to the fact that the males have two brightly colored, fleshy horns. Tragopans nest in trees, which is rare among pheasants, likely because of the many threats they face in the wild.

Male tragopan are the most brilliantly colored of all the birds - as per usual in these cases - and they grow red with blue, black, and white feathers to show off to their mates. In order to breed the male trapogans stretch out to show off all of their various plumage. 

While it’s most well known as the zebra striped gorgonian wrapper, this sea anemone is scientifically referred to as the Nemanthus annamensis. It can be found in the central Indo-Pacific Ocean, wafting under the water with black stripes sitting atop its white base. This sea anemone grows tentacles of various colors that can be white, yellow, or orange.

One of the most fascinating things about this anemone is that its used as camouflage by the sponge crab Lauridromia intermedia. The crab carries the anemone around in order to help it avoid predators. In the words of many a Flinstone's character, "It's a living." 

The black-and-white-casqued hornbill also known as the grey-cheeked hornbill is a large bid with an over-sized blackish bill that nests in monogamous pairs within trees across the evergreen forests and savannas of equatorial Africa, as well as in central and western Africa. These fascinating birds eat mostly figs and small insects, although they’ve been known to feed upon small animals that live in trees.

Hornbills tend to grow up to about 28 inches in length and the females only lay two eggs per mating season. The birds travel quite a bit in search of food, but when they find fruit they like they’ll stick around for a while.