i-How: How weird - 10 Unusual Animals from Around the World
Have you ever wondered what kinds of strange and wonderful animals live on our planet? Some creatures are so unusual that they seem to come straight out of a fairy tale or a science fiction story! In this blog post, we’re going to explore ten of the world’s weirdest animals—each one with its own amazing features and surprising abilities. Get ready to discover animals that glow, glide, walk on stilts, and even wear bright red lipstick. Let’s dive in and meet some of the planet’s most extraordinary and unique creatures! The maned wolf is an amazing animal from South America that looks a bit like a ‘fox on stilts’! It’s actually not a fox or a wolf, but its very own kind of wild dog. Thanks to its long legs, it’s the tallest wild dog in the world. With its reddish fur and unique appearance, the maned wolf stands out wherever it goes! The star-nosed mole lives underground in wet areas of North America, using its unique nose with 22 tentacles and 25,000 sensors to detect prey by touch and even smell underwater. It finds and eats small animals like worms and insects extremely quickly—often in less than a quarter of a second. The tarsier is a tiny animal with huge eyes—each eye is as big as its brain! Since it can’t move its eyes like we do, it turns its whole head around, just like an owl, to look for food. This helps the tarsier spot bugs and other small creatures at night, which is all it eats—it doesn’t eat any plants at all! These strange little animals have been around for an incredibly long time—at least 55 million years (dating back to the Paleocene-Eocene time). That means tarsiers lived on Earth way before humans, back when the planet was much warmer and filled with other amazing creatures. The pink fairy armadillo is the tiniest kind of armadillo in the world, reaching only about 13 centimetres long—about the size of a guinea pig! It lives in the sandy plains and grasslands of central Argentina in South America. This adorable animal has a soft, pink shell that looks almost like it’s made of fairy wings, giving it its magical name. The pink colour comes from tiny blood vessels close to the surface of its shell, which also help it keep cool or warm by moving blood around. It is a super digger, using its strong, spade-shaped claws to burrow quickly underground when it feels scared or wants to hide. Pink fairy armadillos are shy and mostly come out at night, searching for their favourite snacks like ants, worms, and insects. Because they’re so good at digging and hiding, not many people have ever seen one in the wild, making them a truly mysterious creature! The bird-dropping spider is a clever creature that looks just like a blob of bird poo sitting on a leaf! This strange disguise helps keep it safe, because most animals simply aren’t interested in eating what they think is bird droppings. But that’s not all—at night-time, the spider becomes a crafty hunter. It releases a special smell, called a pheromone, to trick moths into coming closer. When the moths get near, thinking they’ve found a mate, the spider quickly snatches them up for dinner! Bird-dropping spiders are quite small and mostly harmless to humans, and their unusual way of hiding and hunting makes them one of the most interesting spiders in the world. 1. Maned Wolf
2. Star-nosed Mole
3. Tarsier
4. Pink Fairy Armadillo
5. Bird-dropping Spider
The red-lipped batfish, native to the Galápagos Islands, is known for its bright red lips that resemble lipstick. Instead of swimming like most fish, it actually “walks” along the seafloor using its specially-shaped fins that work a bit like legs. This fish isn’t a fast swimmer, so it relies on camouflage and quick movements to sneak up on its food, which includes small fish, crabs, and worms. Scientists believe the red lips might help attract a mate, or perhaps warn other animals to stay away. The red-lipped batfish’s odd appearance and unique way of getting around make it one of the most fascinating creatures in the ocean. The sarcastic fringehead is a truly odd-looking fish with a funny name, but its behaviour is even stranger! When two sarcastic fringeheads meet and want to show who is boss, they open their mouths as wide as possible—so wide that their jaws look huge and scary. These mouth-to-mouth battles aren't usually harmful, but they help decide which fish gets the best hiding spot under rocks or in empty shells. Living off the coast of California, the sarcastic fringehead spends a lot of its time lurking in dark places, waiting for small fish and crabs to swim by so it can pounce. Despite their fierce looks, these fish play an important role in the ocean, keeping smaller animals from becoming too crowded. The aye-aye is a unique and somewhat bizarre-looking lemur native to Madagascar, known for its large ears, rodent-like teeth, and extremely long, thin middle finger. This nocturnal creature is often considered one of the strangest primates in the world. Colugos, sometimes called flying lemurs (although they aren’t actually lemurs or able to fly!), are remarkable tree-dwelling mammals that live in the forests of Southeast Asia. These small animals have large eyes that help them see in the dark, as they are most active at night. What makes colugos truly special is their stretchy skin, called a “patagium”, which goes all the way from their neck to the tips of their fingers, toes, and tail. Using this skin like a parachute, colugos can glide from tree to tree, sometimes for distances up to 70 metres—almost as far as a football pitch! Gliding keeps them safe from predators on the ground and helps them find food, such as leaves, flowers, and fruit. Colugos spend nearly all their time up high in the trees and are very shy, which makes them tricky to spot in the wild. The Venezuelan Poodle Moth is a very unusual insect that looks super fluffy—almost like a tiny flying poodle! It was first discovered in Venezuela in 2009. People were amazed by its soft, furry body and wings, which make it look like a mix between a moth and a cuddly toy. This moth has big, feathery antennae and large wings covered in fuzzy scales. It usually flies around at night. Scientists believe its fluffy body might help it stay warm or trick animals that might want to eat it. 6. Red-lipped Batfish
7. Sarcastic Fringehead
8. Aye Aye
9. Colugo
10. Venezuelan Poodle Moth
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Tags: Weird animals; Aye-Aye; Star-nosed mole; Tarsier; Pink Fairy Armadillo; Bird-dropping Spider; Red-lipped Batfish; Sarcastic Fringehead, Maned Wolf, Colugo, Venezuelan Poodle Moth