From giant salamanders the size of grown men, to fish that turn inside out and bladder-infesting sea creatures, the world is full of some truly bizarre (and at times frightening) creatures. Yet they each serve an ecological purpose and these strange animals are fascinating in their own right.
GIANT SALAMANDER
Giant Salamander
Something tells us these giant salamanders were never called for in any witch’s recipe. Seriously, look at that thing! That lives under some people’s porches! The United States is also home to a giant salamander called the Hellbender, and it’s…well, the name fits. However, it is not as endangered as the shockingly strange-looking Chinese cousin. The Chinese giant salamander can grow to be nearly six feet long.
GIANT Coconut Crabs
This is not phtot shopped. This is not a hoax. That is a giant crab on a garbage can!
giant crab!!!
They’re native to Guam and other Pacific islands. Coconut crabs aren’t endangered, per se, but due to tropical habitat destruction they are at risk. In WWII, American soldiers stationed in the Pacific theater wrote home with tales about entire atolls being covered in the armor-plated giants. These crabs can crack a coconut in one swipe; but they’re generally too slow to be very dangerous to humans. Children pass lazy afternoons by picking the crabs off tree trunks and watching them crash to the ground; it’s reportedly great fun. And kind of messed up.
Angora Rabbit
This fluffy creature looks like a science experiment crossing a Sasquatch and a kitten gone wrong. It’s just a rabbit, however. They were exceptionally popular in the 17th and 18th centuries among European nobility as lap pets, and many different hybrids were bred to suit changing tastes of different royalty. The angora rabbit is still popular to this day.
Cantor’s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle
Cantor’s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle
The Pelochelys cantorii, or Cantor’s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle, is one of the most unusual looking animals on earth and certainly one of the most odd looking turtles in existence. Yet few people have seen it or know about it. It’s not a sea turtle – the Cantor prefers to inhabit inland, close to streams and wetlands. It grows very large, with adult shells often spanning more than six feet. They are native to Cambodia but are very rare.
Star Nosed Mole
Star Nosed Mole
Pucker up. The star nosed mole is a tenacious creature, able to withstand severe cold and burrow easily through ice to make its home and find food. It lives in Canada and the East Coast of the United States. It favors a high protein diet of clams, snails, small rodents, mollusks and worms. It’s not a very big creature – about the size of a hand. But its 22 nose tentacles are hard to miss. They help the mole find food.
Climbing Fish
Climbing Fish
People were shocked to find the fish with “hands” – and now scientists are even more shocked to find a fish that happens to be a skilled rock climber. It would seem the march of evolution is indeed inexorable. Lithogenes wahari is a type of catfish with specialized pelvic fins that act as gripping “hands” to climb rocks, walls and other terrain. The fish is incredibly rare and the most recent sighting occurred after twenty years of research. There are actually a number of so-called walking fish although not all are true fish.
ANGLER FISH
Angler Fish
Newly Discovered Species of Angler Fish near New Zealand
deep sea angler fish
Some guys just can’t catch a break. The male angler fish is 1/20th the size of the female angler fish. The huge, traumatizingly ugly spiny fish with the glowing “fishing rod” lure you saw in Finding Nemo? That’s the female. The male is that tiny little blob attached to his horrific goddess that you never noticed. He burrows in with his teeth and she “feeds” him ex-utero style until he eventually loses his eyeballs, then internal organs and finally his life. By then, she’s got his sperm so it doesn’t matter. Anglers are deep-sea fish, but that doesn’t mean they’re safe from threat.
all jokes aside those are some cool pics.. i’ve seen the angler fish and the mole but that giant salamander is crazy. keep posting this stuff if you can, keep up the good work…
mike b.
May I use this terrific picture of the deep sea angler fish for a book I am writing for children to promote their interest in nature. Thank you in advance.
I am in awe at this. It makes my mind boggle about evolution theories.
Its a real funny
The “climbing fish” looks identical to the “mudskipper” here in Borneo, where they’re anything but rare.
If you sit near almost any river here you’ll see dozens of them, ranging from about 1 to 6 inches in length.
They’re slow on land but on water they “run” so fast they skim across the surface, with such speed and noise that they can startle you, as there’s crocodiles in the area!
omg, that coconut crab picture was taken here on guam!!
I’ve been looking for an evolutionist who can explain to me how this fish evolved the lure over its mouth. Anyone? Isn’t there a universal teaching on this?
Richard Dawkins explains this… small changes over time that gives the organism slight advantages over others – will result in higher fitness. Over time these changes become ubiquitous in a population b/c those who do not have advantageous adaptations die out b/c they can not compete successfully with those that do have it… Survival of the fittest. Those who had the better lures (small variation w/i a population – some had better ones than others) were more successful & were able to produce more offspring. over time (loooong time) their decedents survive & comprise the population you see today.
Richard Dawkins is AMAZING!!! check out the video on the Giraffes Lingual Nerve – BEAUTIFUL!!! so elegant! http://videosift.com/video/Richard-Dawkins-Demonstrates-Laryngeal-Nerve-of-the-Giraffe
That crab is huge! I cannot imagine walking on the street and seeing something that big around! Amazing information! My babies love this stuff… anything to do with animal pics and info. Thanks for sharing…