What’s the weirdest real animal you can think of, and what makes them weird? Most of us love animals and always wonder at the weird forms life can take. Some animals are indeed really strange, and that is why we have made a list of the weirdest animals in the world. So, check out these unusual and weird looking animals in this article.
Table of Contents
Unusual Looking Animals in the World:
1. Mata Mata Turtle
Native to South America freshwater this turtle is certainly a freak of nature. It lives mainly in slow-moving swamps and streams, or anywhere it can stand and reach its nose out to the surface to breathe. This prehistoric-looking beast is designed to be ugly – for the purpose of camouflage. Having the ability to hide for the Mata Mata Turtle is extremely important as it has no methods of defending its self.
Though these ugly turtle’s look like they were designed accidentally, you can tell exactly where a turtle was from based on its coloration and markings on its shell. The turtles from the Amazonian region have rectangular shells and very dark markings on both their heads and necks – whereas the Orinoco born turtles have pale and patchy skin and oval shells. Which is rather impressive.
It has a horned snout and a slightly flat, triangle-shaped head, and a brown/black shell said to resemble stones. Measuring a length of an impressive 18 inches long and weighing up to an impressive 30 pounds, it’s a giant, very freaky-looking turtle! You certainly wouldn’t want this ancient-looking monstrosity anywhere near you.
2. Mexican Mole Lizard
Measuring up to 20 inches long, this freaky lizard is a hybrid– part earthworm, part salamander, part mole. This strange-looking animal is also commonly known as the 5-Toed Worm Lizard. You won’t find this creature anywhere – they are exclusively native to Mexico’s Baja California region.
The main threat to the slimy Mexican Mole Lizard is Snakes. In the attempt to flee predators, they can self-amputate and drop part of their tails to distract the enemy as the rest of the mole runs, digs, and hides. Though this seems like an impressive party trick – they can only ever amputate themselves once ever and are unable to regenerate.
The creepy lizard has a flattened head; a long, ribbed, pale-pink body; and two tiny but functional front arms that it uses to be able to dig underground. They live close to the surface, though these pink lizards only appear at night or after floods caused by heavy rains.
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3. Shoebill Stork
These freaks of nature are mainly found in eastern parts of Africa, primarily in large swamps and tropical regions around Zambia. More commonly known as the Shoe-billed Stork or the Whalehead Stork, this very strange looking bird is named for its shoe-shaped the massive bill. It’ impressive bill allows it to catch surprisingly larger prey than you would expect.
After the Shoebill takes its prey into its beak, the shoebill opens its bill very slightly for its innocent and dying victim to poke its head out to breath. Then, the shoebill clamps down even further onto the prey with its knife-edged beak – decapitating it before swallowing the rest of it whole.
Most of us will never have the chance to see one of them in the wild because they almost always stand completely silent and motionless for very long periods of time to reserve energy and hide from predators. Though you will probably never see a Shoebill in its natural habitat on the ground – because of its mighty wingspan of up to 9 feet, in the air, these ugly grey birds are hard to miss.
4. Naked Mole Rat
Allow me to introduce you to the naked mole rats. Despite what the name suggests these ugly beasts are neither rats nor moles – in-fact they are closely related to guinea pigs. However, this ugly burrowing rodent is completely hairless, and its wrinkled body only underlines its creepy appearance.
These strange-looking animals are native to some parts of the eastern Africa coast, the Naked Mole Rat is an extremely unusual animal know for a number of freaky and mighty impressive things such as its extremely long longevity and its absolute resistance to cancer.
The most impressive thing about the naked mole-rat is, it is the only known mammal that is eusocial. Eusociality is a social hierarchy similar to that of wasps and ants, individuals group together for strength in numbers. Like ants, there is a queen mole rat and various other roles such as workers and soldiers.
5. Wolf Eel
These eels spend the first 2 years of their lives at the top of the sea close to the surface – they do this to be able to get more air. The Wolf Eel is a very large and very freaky looking fish that lives and hides in the rocky reefs and the stony bottoms. Upon maturing, they migrate to deeper water to breed. They do this by hiding in small gaps and crevices and building some kind of den to house the freakish infants and female during birth.
At adult age reaching almost 8ft in length, the Wold Eel has very terrifying looks about them with strong very strong jaws and sharp, spiky front teeth. The impressive teeth of these spooky fish enable them to catch prey, as they are predators, and kill their main prey the nippy green crab. They also eat anything from snails to scallops, these ugly fish are not too picky – though they do have a mighty appetite. The Wolf Eel is undoubtedly the weirdest animal in the world. And maybe the most awesome.
6. Star Nosed Mole
These particular creatures are found in wet areas of Eastern Canada, and the North-Eastern states in the USA. Most commonly found in wetlands, marsh and swamps these beasts are extremely efficient and good at what they do. These animals eat faster than any of the mammal in the entire world – they also can dig at extremely impressive speeds using their talon-like razor-sharp claws.
The Star-Nosed Mole is a very weird looking creature that looks like a cross between a rat and an octopus. That’s right – an octopus. This marvel is able to be live both above and below water, they are the only mammal in the whole world that can smell underwater – all of this makes it certain these are freaky!
Though they can live under-water these creatures live underground, this is because the mole is functionally blind; it uses its large snout to find its food and to navigate through the soil. Star-nosed moles are not uncommon, just rarely seen so keep an eye out.
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