ased on recent estimates there are approximately 30-50 million species on Earth. Among those species were the common birds, dogs, cats and fishes but did you know that there are strange and weird species which you probably haven’t heard of? Here listed below is a compilation of the strangest and weirdest animal species on Earth.
Solenodon
Solenodons are venomous, nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous mammals belonging to the family Solenodontidae. Only one genus, Solenodon, is known, although a few other genera were erected at one time and are now regarded as junior synonyms. The Solenodontidae family is interesting to phylogenetics researchers due to its retention of primitive mammal characteristics; their species resemble very closely those that lived near the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
African Civet
The African Civet is a common viverrid native to tropical Africa. Unlike many other members of the family, which resemble cats, the African Civet resembles a short dog-like animal. Like all civets it has perianal glands that produce a fluid known as civetone (used in the perfume industry), which it spreads on markers in its territory to claim its range.
São Tomé Shrew
The São Tomé Shrew (Crocidura thomensis) is a white-toothed shrew found only on São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe. It is listed as a critically endangered species due to habitat loss and a restricted range.
Long-beaked echidna
The long-beaked echidnas make up one of the two genera (genus Zaglossus) of echidnas, spiny monotremes that lives in New Guinea. There are three living species and two extinct species in this genus. Echidnas are one of the two types of mammals that lay eggs.
Sea pig
Sea pigs are also known as scotoplanes, a genus of deep-sea holothurians (sea cucumbers). This sea creature is like a cross between a pig and a slug. I still think it’s cute, despite the fact that it looks like it has human fingers growing out of its mouth.
Pangolin
A pangolin, also scaly anteater or tenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation. They are found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The name “pangolin” derives from the Malay word pengguling (”something that rolls up”). Pangolins are nocturnal animals, and use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin is also active by day. Pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.
Vampire squid
The Vampire Squid is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. With their long velar filaments deployed, Vampire Squid have been observed drifting along in the deep, black ocean currents. If the filaments contact an entity, or if vibrations impinge upon them, the animals investigate with rapid acrobatic movements. They are capable of swimming at speeds equivalent to two body lengths per second, with an acceleration time of five seconds. However, their weak muscles limit stamina considerably.
Aardvark
The Aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. The aardvark is nocturnal and is a solitary creature that feeds almost exclusively on ants and termites; the only fruit eaten by aardvarks is the aardvark cucumber. Aardvarks can live to be over 24 years old in captivity.
Sumatran rhino
The Sumatran Rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for courtship and child-rearing. It is the most vocal rhino species and also communicates through marking soil with its feet, twisting saplings into patterns, and leaving excrement. The rhino spends a large part of its day in wallows. When mud holes are unavailable, the rhino will deepen puddles with its feet and horns. The wallowing behavior helps the rhino maintain its body temperature and protect its skin from ectoparasites and other insects.
Greater Galago
The greater galagos or thick-tailed bushbabies are the common name for three species of strepsirrhine primates. They are classified in the genus Otolemur in the family Galagidae.
Amazon River Dolphin aka Boto
The Amazon River Dolphin, alternately Bufeo, Bufeo Colorado, Boto, Boto Cor de Rosa, Boutu, Nay, Tonina, or Pink River Dolphin, is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the Orinoco, Amazon and Araguaia/Tocantins River systems of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Because they are unfused, the neck vertebrae of the Amazon River Dolphin are able to turn 180 degrees. The pink dolphin has been listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of the Nature due to pollution, over fishing, excessive boat trafficking and habitat loss. The brain of the river dolphin is 40% larger than a human brain.
Mola mola aka Ocean Sunfish
The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg. Sunfish live on a diet that consists mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, they consume large amounts in order to develop and maintain their great bulk. Females of the species can produce more eggs than any other known vertebrate. Sunfish fry resemble miniature pufferfish, with large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.
Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial now found in the wild only in the Australian island state of Tasmania. Because they were seen as a threat to livestock in Tasmania, devils were hunted until 1941, when they became officially protected. Since the late 1990s, devil facial tumour disease has reduced the devil population significantly and now threatens the survival of the species, which in May 2009 was declared to be endangered.
Slender loris
Loris tardigradus malabaricus is a subspecies of the slender loris which is only found in India. The greatest concentrations of these slender lorises are found in the southeastern Ghats of India. It is not clear how many slender lorises survive in the wild. Because of their small size and nocturnal habits, it has been difficult to do an accurate count. Until recently not much attention has been paid to the plight of the slender loris, but new interest has been shown in their species and studies are under way. The Indian government has laws protecting the slender loris, but its effect is difficult to gauge.
Okapi
Although the okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of the zebra, it is most closely related to the giraffe. Unknown to Europeans until 1901, today there are approximately 10,000 – 20,000 in the wild and only 40 different worldwide institutions display them. The tongue of the okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out). Okapis have several methods of communicating their territory, including scent glands on each foot that leave behind a tar-like substance which signals their passage, as well as urine marking. Males are protective of their territory, but allow females to pass through their domain to forage.
Pig-nosed frog
The sole member of an ancient family, 50 to 100 million years old, it hunkered deep underground while the dramatic environmental and physical changes sweeping the earth wiped out whole groups of animals and saw new ones evolve. This dinosaur among frogs was only discovered in 2003.
Nomura’s Jellyfish
Growing up to 2 meters (6 feet 7 inches) in diameter and weighing up to 300 kilograms (ca. 660 pounds), Nomura’s Jellyfish reside primarily in the waters between China and Japan, primarily centralized in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. In 2009, a 10-ton fishing trawler, the Diasan Shinsho-maru, capsized off Chiba on Tokyo Bay as its three-man crew tried to haul in a net containing dozens of Nomura’s Jellyfish; the three were rescued by another trawler.
Star-nosed mole
Star-nosed moles are easily identified by the eleven pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing their snout which are used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around.
Making this article, I learned a lot about this animals. Many of them have some unique attribute, and they are special because of that. It would be terrible if some of them extinct. Source
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