The world is teeming with incredible creatures, each one a fascinating marvel of nature. Some are bizarre, some are downright terrifying, and others are just plain gross! This article highlights a few of the world’s most amazing and cool animals. From the tiny, ethereal sea angel to the colossal blue whale, these strange, unusual, and sometimes shocking creatures crawl, fly, and swim across our planet. Get ready to explore the wild side of nature—if you dare!
01. Aardwolf
Found in East and Southern Africa, the Aardwolf – or maanhaar jackal – is a nocturnal insect eater that can catch and consume about 200,000 termites during a single night using its long sticky tongue.
02. Assassin Spider
Discovered in Madagascar in 2006, the Assassin Spider, that feasts on other arachnids, has deadly hunting skills and a venomous bite. The assassin Spider grows to about .08 inches long.
03. Basilisk Lizard
Found in Central and South American rainforests, the Basilisk Lizard – or Jesus Christ lizard – is a good swimmer that can run across the surface of water using its hind legs and holding its body almost upright.
04. Chameleon
The structure of the Chameleon‘s eye, allows it to have complete 360-degree vision around it’s body. For camouflage, some (not all) species of chameleon are able to change the color of their skin.
05. Hairy Frogfish
Covered in thousands of fleshy, hair-like skin extensions that act as camouflage, the predatory Hairy Frogfish (or Striated Frogfish) is able to change color to match its surroundings.
06. Honeypot Ants
Honeypot Ants are ants that are fed by worker ants until they are so gorged with food that their abdomens swell enormously. When food becomes scarce, other ants extract nourishment from them.
07. Oriental Flying Gurnard
Found in the Indo-Pacific Oceans at depths of up to 100 meters, the Oriental Flying Gurnard has massive pectoral fins that flare out when it is threatened; they also use these fins to “walk” on the ocean floor.
08. Pygmy Jerboa
Native to Pakistan and Afghanistan with highly evolved hearing, the Pygmy Jerboa has a body length of 2 to 3 inches with a tail that is typically about 3 inches long; it can jump more than nine feet in one hop.
09. Tasmanian Devil
A carnivorous marsupial only found on the island of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Devil is known for the loud screeching sound it makes and offensive odor it secretes when stressed or threatened.
10. Virginia Opossum
The only marsupial found in North America, the has Virginia Opossum a prehensile tail and is best known for “playing possum” (faking death to lose interest of its predator).
11. Atlantic Wolffish
More than just a display of intimidating teeth, the Atlantic Wolffish, also known as the seawolf, is unique in its ability to produce a natural “anti-freeze” to keep its blood moving in cold water.
12. Blanket Octopus
When threatened, the Blanket Octopus unfurls a blanket or scarf-like webbing from a set of arms tucked within its body, making the animal appear large and intimidating to potential predators.
12. Crocodile Icefish
Nearly invisible blood is one if the reasons the Crocodile Icefish is transparent; they are the world’s only known vertebrates without hemoglobin – the protein in blood that transports oxygen.
13. Hairy Frog
Found in Central America, the Hairy Frog (or horror frog), when threatened, breaks the bones in its toes and forces the sharpened bones through the skin to be used as claws.
14. Regal Ringneck Snake
If threatened, the Regal Ringneck Snake will hide its head and raise its tail into a coil (exposing its brightly colored underside) while secreting a foul-smelling mucus from the corners of its mouth.
15. Bubble Eye Goldfish
Just under its upward pointing eyes, the Bubble Eye Goldfish – a fancy goldfish with no dorsal fin – has two large pouches of skin (fluid filled bladders) that jiggle as it swims.
16. Cyclocosmia Spider
The Cyclocosmia Spider (or trapdoor spider) has an abdomen that is abruptly cut off, ending in a hardened disc which is patterned with – and strengthened by – a system of ribs and grooves.
17. Horseshoe Bat
The insect-eating Horseshoe Bat uses echolocation to catch its prey. Their “warped” face makes them more receptive to sound waves, allowing them to rapidly navigate through the air.
18. Porcupine
One of the world’s largest rodents, the Porcupine has a coat of long, sharp spikes (often containing poison) that can be detached very easily and left sticking in an attacker’s skin.
19. Stargazer Fish
With top-mounted eyes and a large upward facing mouth, the venomous Stargazer Fish buries itself in sand and leaps upwards to ambush prey. Some species of stargazers can also cause electric shocks.
20. Vampire Squid
The Vampire Squid can turn itself inside out to shield itself with a webbing that’s been likened to Dracula’s cape. It can also change colors.
21. Electric Eel
Growing up to 8 feet long, the Electric Eel uses rows of electroplates lining its body to communicate, to navigate and to immobilize or kill its prey.
22. Flying Dragon
Also known as Draco Volans, the Flying Dragon can spread out folds of brightly colored skin attached to its movable ribs to form “wings” that it uses to glide for about 30 feet.
23. Hummingbird Hawk Moth
The Hummingbird Hawk Moth, with its long proboscis, closely resembles a hummingbird as flies rapidly between plants and hovers to feed on flowers; its swiftly beating wings even make a humming sound.
24. Pangolin
Also known as the scaly anteater, the Pangolin has large, hardened, plate-like scales coving its skin; it is the only known mammal with this adaptation.
25. Blue Dragon
Also known as the sea swallow and blue angel, the Blue Dragon (Glaucus Atlanticus) is a small sea slug (marine gastropod mollusk) that floats with the aid of a gas-filled sac in its stomach.
26. Pink Fairy Armadillo
Found in central Argentina, the Pink Fairy Armadillo weighs less than a pound and is the smallest species of armadillo – and the only one that has its dorsal shell almost completely separate from its body.
27. Pufferfish
One of the Pufferfish‘s defense mechanisms is to fill its elastic stomach with water until it is much larger and almost spherical, extending pointed spines in all directions to making it a less attractive prey.
28. Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko
Indigenous to the island of Madagascar, the rare Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko has no eyelids, just a transparent covering over its eyes that it cleans with its long, mobile tongue.