The world's weirdest looking creatures

When the estimated number of animal species on our planet falls somewhere in the range of three to 30 million (in over 5000 distinct families), you can expect some real curveball creatures. Let's look at 20 of some of the most bizarre among them.

Tongue-eating louse

Family: Cymothoidae

Habitat: Coastal California

Fun Fact:  This creature enters a fish's body through its gills, attaches itself to the base of the fish's tongue and extracts blood from the tongue with its claws. Then it replaces the tongue by attaching itself to the muscles of the exposed tongue stub. The fish uses the louse as if the parasite were its very own tongue.

Pink fairy armadillo

Family: Dasypodidae

Habitat: Sandy plains and dry grasslands of Argentina

The pink fairy armadillo is the smallest of the armadillo family, weighing under one pound. The pink fairy armadillo is nicknamed the "sand-swimmer" because it is said that it can "burrow through the ground as fast as a fish can swim in the sea."

Giraffe weevil

Family: Attelabidae (Leaf-Rolling Weevils)

Habitat: Forests in Madagascar

It is the longest weevil in the world due to the elongated shape of its head.

Pelican eel (aka gulper eel)

Family: Eurypharyngidae

Habitat: Temperate and tropical areas of all oceans

The only known member of the genus Eurypharynx, the pelican eel is very different in appearance from typical eels. It lacks pelvic fins, swim bladders, and scales.

Brazilian treehopper

Family: Membracidae

Habitat: Forests in northern half of South America

The globes on this scary creature aren't eyes, but "pronotum" -- an insect body segment just behind the head. Scientists aren't entirely sure what purpose the thing serves, but some speculate that it may be mimicking the parasitic fungus that invades insects, mind controls them, and then bursts Alien-style out of them. The theory goes that predators will leave prey infected by the nasty parasite alone.

Tree kangaroo

Family: Macropodidae

Habitat: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia

The tree kangaroo can leap 60 feet from trees to the ground without getting hurt.

Snub-nosed sneezing monkey

Family: Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys)

Habitat: Burmese forests

When it rains, the water falling into their noses causes them to sneeze.

Dugong

Family: Dugongidae

Habitat: Warm coastal waters from the western Pacific Ocean to the eastern coast of Africa

The Dugong is the only living herbivorous mammal that is strictly marine.

Sea cucumber

Family: Echinoderms

Habitat: Ocean

The sea cucumber breathes through its anus.

Basking shark

Family: Cetorhinidae

Habitat: Warm, temperate ocean waters

After the whale shark, the basking shark is the second largest living fish, and can grow up to 32 feet long. These sharks are often mistaken for plesiosaurs, a group of long-necked, predatory marine reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

Elephant shrew

Family: Macroscelididae

Habitat: Dense forest and open plains

Elephant shrews are not really shrews at all. They are more closely related to elephants, aardvarks and golden moles.

Angora rabbit

Family: Leporidae

Origin: Turkey

Clothing and yarn made out of this fluffy animal's fur is very common. But fear not; the shearing process isn't harmful to the rabbits. They are bred for their long, soft coats.

Pancake batfish

Family: Ogcocephalidae

Habitat: Western Atlantic, North Carolina, northern Gulf of Mexico, northern South America

They live on the bottom of the ocean covered in sand.

Malaysian tapir

Family: Tapiridae (Tapirs)

Habitat: Tropical Rain Forests

Although Malaysian tapirs look like pigs, they are most closely related to horses and rhinos.

Axolotl

Species: Salamander

Habitat: Lake Xochimilco and Lake Chalco in Mexico

The axolotl remains in its larval state throughout its entire life. This adaptation, known as neoteny or "backwards evolution," means it doesn't develop the same adult features of the salamander and prevents it from living on land.

Fangtooth

Family: Anoplogasteridae

Habitat: Deep sea

The fangtooth, aka ogrefish, has the largest teeth of any fish proportionate to its body size. The Fangtooth is among the deepest-living fish in the sea, dwelling as far as three miles deep in the ocean.

Deep-sea hatchetfish

Family: Sternoptychidae

Habitat: Deep ocean

These angry-looking fish are carnivorous and feed on plankton and crustaceans.

Naked mole rat

Family: Bathyergidae

Habitat: Tropical grasslands of East Africa, southern Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.

A colony of naked mole rats can consist of 20 to 300 individuals. Their underground territory can be as large as six football fields.

Leafy seadragon

Family: Syngnathiformes

Habitat: South Australian waters.

The tail of a male leafy seadragon will turn bright yellow when he is ready to mate.

Elephant seal

Family: Phocidae (Earless Seals)

Habitat: Northern elephant seals are from Mexico and Southern California. Southern elephants are found in sub-Antarctic waters.

Elephant seals can dive almost 5,000 feet deep into the water and stay there for up to two hours.

Matamata turtle

Family: Chelidae

Habitat: Stagnant pools in Brazil and the Amazon River

Matamata turtles are lazy creatures. They live in the water and hardly ever leave it. Since they're not very good swimmers, they usually just walk where they want to go.

Giant isopod

Family: Cirolanidae

Habitat: The cold depths of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans

And lastly, another horror from the deep: an unspeakably large louse. Were you pretty creeped out by that wienerroach you spotted skittering across the kitchen floor that time? Imagine coming face-to-face with one of these creepy sea beasties and then decide how frightening a roach really is. Giant isopods are a good example of deep-sea gigantism.

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  1. 11 years ago
    wpnwilo2

    Yes, it's dead. They will sell the meat in a market.

  2. 12 years ago
    Robert RidesattheDoo

    Is that monkey dead? If not why are they holding up the shoulders and head?

  3. 12 years ago
    padaminasnybakery

    Aliens do exist!!

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