The world is vast, and full of strange things, espeically animals. Our world is filled with milllions of creatures, and a large portion of those creatures can be cute, awesome, are just plain weird. Let's look at twenty unique animals that you may have never even heard the names of (maybe you did, and if you did, good for you. :) ).
Venezuelan Poodle Moth
This has to be the cutest bug ever. The poodle moth, a new type of moth that was only discoevered in 2009, has an unsually fluffy body for an insect. Much research is needed still.
Fossa
This cat-like creature dwells in the forests of Madagascar. It is a canivore, and is thought to have orginated from similar carnivores 18 to 20 million years ago.
Ili Pika
This rare (and cute) rabbit-like creature was discovered in 1983 in northwestern China by scientists in the area, and has only been rediscovered in 2014. They are an endangered species, and their numbers are declining from unknown causes.
Maned Wolf
This fox-like creature is neither a fox, nor a wolf. It's not even in the same family as these two candids. It's the only animal in the genus Chrysocyon, meaning "golden dog". These long-legged mammals are prodominantly found in Brazil. They are quite common, even though much is not known about them.
Olinguito
Only discovered in 2013, not much is known about this cute mammal. They were discovered in the Andes of Columbia and Ecuador. There is still more to be known by them.
Blobfish
This ugly blob thing is the blobfish. It lives in the deep seas off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania, and in 2013 it was named the World's Ugliest Animal. A song was even inspired by it as well.
Saiga Antelope
These animals are known by their long, trunk-like snouts. They once roamed a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in Beringian North America during the Pleistocene. Today, the dominant subspcies is found in Russia. They are critically endanged as of 2015. 120,000 antelope have mysteriously died, apart from the obvious haunting of them in Mongolia.
Tufted Deer
As it's name implies, the tufted deer is characterized by the small tuft of black fur on their heads. The small deer are prodominantly found in central China and northeastern India. Their canine teeth protude from the roof of their mouths like fangs, and help protect them from predators in the wilderness. Despite the sharp teeth, they are oddly cute.
Bumblebee Bat
These tiny bats are the smallest mammals in the world. They weigh less than two grams and their bodies are the size of a bumblebee, hence it's name. They are found in the forests of central Asia, and the main threats to its existance are human interactions. Colonies of the bats are discovered to keep them protected.
Panda Ant
The panda ant, as it's name is supposed to imply, is not an ant at all. Actually, it's basically a wingless wasp native to Chile. It was discovered in the year 1938. The fluffy creatures are not to be messed with, and one sting can pack a serious punch.They are nicknamed the "cow-killer" due to their painful stingers knocking out animals much larger than they are.
Giant Isopod
Looking like a creature from outer space, the giant isopod is the largest isopod of all, and is closely related to shrimps and crabs. It's large size is due to deep sea gigantism. This is the tendency of deep sea crustaceans and other animals to grow to a much larger size than similar species in shallower waters. Other examples of this would be the giant squid and the giant tube worm. Nobody knows why this phenomeon occurs, but one theory is to help them adapt to the high pressures. They are not commercially fished, but they are sometimes served in Taiwanese resturants with rice.
Blue Parrotfish
This bright blue fish, also known as blue kwabs, blue parrots, blueman, and kwabs, are uusually born with a yellow spot on top of the head, which fades as the fish grows. Adults have large scales and develop a protruding snout and extended upper and lower caudal (tail) fin lobes. Like other parrotfishes, blue parrotfishes have the characteristic beak-like jaws with fused teeth used for scraping algae from coral and other rocky substrates. They also have pharyngeal teethexternal link that are used to grind ingested rocks into sand, which is then eliminated, creating new sand in the process. They average 30-75external link cm in length with a max length of 1.2 meters.
Shoebill
The prehistoric-looking shoebill's name derives from it's unusual shoe-shaped beak. Although it has been classfied as a stork or crane, it poses almost no similaries to living birds today. They mainly live in Africa, hunting lungfish in lakes.
Okapi
The okapi, despite its stunning zebra-striped legs, is not related to zebras one bit. They are in the same family as giraffes. Take a look at it's head, you will see the resemblance quickly. It even has a long toungue just like a giraffes, which helps it reach the leaves on the trees. These creatures are very rare in the wild, and their natural habitat is the Ituri Forest, a dense rain forest in central Africa.
Sea Pig
Also called scotoplanes, these creatures are in fact a type of sea cucumber. They are found in all the oceans of the world scrambling across the ocean floor. Sea cucumbers are echinoderms, a group of marine animals that includes sea urchins and starfish.
Tree Kangaroo
Like the kangaroos we know and love, the tree kangaroo is also a marsupial.They were discovered on the Indonesian side of the New Guinea island in 2005, but there are only a few of these animals and their populations are known to be decreasing. Scientists estimate that the golden-mantled tree kangaroo has been extirpated from 99% of its historical range, its numbers driven low by habitat destruction and hunting.
Pacu Fish
This human-tooth specimen is a relative to the piranha. They have been found in Michigan due to aquarium owners dumping fish into open waterways. They've been recently popping up in Illinois and New Jersey. They are known as the "ball cutter", because they've been known to snack on human testicles...
Narwhal
It's the unicorn of the sea. The majestic narwhal is one of the rarest species of whale in the world, and is elusive in nature. The most obvious feature of the narwhal is the tusk on it's head that looks oddly similar to a unicorn horn. This tusk is actually a tooth only found on male narwhals that help assert their dominance.
Aye Aye
Only native to Madagascar, the aye aye is one of the rarest mammals in the world. It may not seem like it at first glance, but aye ayes are actually primates. They are related to chimps, monkeys and even humans.
Lowland Streaked Tenrec
Black and gold like a bumblebee, this is one of the most uniqueanimals ever discovered The spines on their backs can vibarate, making a humming noise similar to insects. Scientists are not sure why this occurs. They are the only mammals with this ability.
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So, which animals did you like best? Which animal did you find strange or weird? Which animals have you already heard of? Our world has so much more to discover and explore. Who knows, maybe we'll find more animals to discover. We just need to keep looking.
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