10 animals way weirder than anything you’ve seen in science fiction [pics]
10top animals nature
1 Aye-aye lemur
This is not photoshopped: The cracked-out, Salacious Crumb-looking aye-aye is a particularly ugly lemur found in Madagascar. It is known to be an omen of death or bad luck, and as such, is often killed on sight.
2Blobfish
The blobfish actually looks relatively normal in its deep sea habitat, but it has low-density flesh — used to help it float so it doesn’t expend energy on swimming — which makes it look like a gross gelatinous blob when it’s taken out of water. The blobfish was voted “World’s Ugliest Animal” in 2013 by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
3Venezuelan poodle moth
The satanic-looking Venezuelan poodle moth is a possibly new species of moth that we know very little about. It was only discovered in 2009, presumably while it was haunting a village and eating the souls of children.
4Tube-nosed fruit bat
There are many different types of tube-nosed fruit bats, but the genus has been nicknamed “Yoda bats” for obvious reasons.
5Sunda colugo
Found mostly in Southeast Asia, the Sunda colugo — or Sunda flying lemur — is a lemur that lives solely in the trees, and is known to glide from tree to tree using a membrane on its sides.
6Cyclops shark
This is actually not a species, but is a mutated shark fetus found in Mexico. Cyclopia is pretty rare in any animal, and usually causes their death shortly after birth.
7Pangolin
A pangolin is actually just a scaly anteater, though when it curls up, it can look like a resting dragon. They are found in the tropics of Asia and Africa.
8Naked mole rat
The hideous naked mole rat lives mostly in Eastern Africa, and has a very high pain tolerance, and also an apparent imperviousness to cancer. They can live up to 31 years, are the only mammals to have “queens” as primary breeders, and are definitely that sound you’re hearing in the closet at night.
9Star-nosed mole
The star-nosed mole is found mostly in Eastern Canada and the United States. The sarlacc-like snout is a sensitive sensory organ that basically takes the place of eyes, and the mole is able to detect earthquakes, which makes it the perfect alien pet.
10Uakari
The uakari is a close relative of the saki monkey from earlier in the list, and totally wants to lead you through the alien jungle to its hobo hovel. These are relatively small Amazonian monkeys, and have been known to travel in packs.
