Saturday 3 March 2012

Top 10 weirdest creatures!

10. Tarsier


Only found in south east Asia, these guys love climbing trees and only eat meat. They prey on anything from little insects up to birds. Unbelievably they are known for catching birds out of the sky.


These tarzan-like creatures can climb trees within a day of birth and reach sexual maturity by 2 years!


9. Narwhal


No they aren't fish unicorns. These Arctic whales have a tooth which abnormally grows through a hole in their upper lip forming a tusk.

Approximately 1 in 500 have a second abnormal tooth, resulting in a pretty badass looking double tusk whale.

Scientists aren't exactly sure what the tusks are for, some suggested it's for poking through the ice when they resurface.

Others think it's for showing who's manlier, being double horned means you're an automatic winner!


8. Pink handfish


This fish actually walks along the ocean floor, another first member of a newly discovered family.

There's only been 4 specimens ever to be found. They grow up to roughly 6 inches in length.


7. Kiwa hirsuta


Also branded the 'yeti crab', this hairy crustacean lives in the deep ocean, near volcano vents in depths more than 7500m!

It uses the hair on its arms to catch bacteria for it's dinner when it's not clamping nearby fish. It's also used for detoxifying minerals in the volcano vents.


6. The Oarfish


This guy breaks the record as the longest fish on record! At 36 feet in length, it uses it's fins to propel itself and lives in tropical climates (as do most strange creatures).

They are mainly carnivores and snack on other fish swimming about. These boys are rare though, so chances are you won't ever see one :(

5. Pelochelys Cantorii





Think you're lazy? Then listen to what I have to say about this guy. He spends 95% of his life not moving, just staying mobile and sleeping under the sand! He only gets up twice a day to take a breath.

He mostly ambushes his prey, which just proves he's lazy.





Getting into weirder territory here!






4. Japanese Spider crab



You must have seen this one coming, no 'strange' list is complete without a creature from Japan. Their legs can span 4m while their body only about 50cm making them the largest known anthropod.


Wouldn't it make sense to film these instead of filming a CGI dinosaur stomping on model cities? Would cut down production costs for sure!




3. Blobfish


This unfortunate looking fish lives in depths of 600-1200m near Austrailia.

Most of the fish is a flabby mass, allowing it to have a lighter density than water so it can swim without using too much energy.

It's an endangered species, and the world would be less interesting without them, so don't let the Aussies kill them off!



2. Squid worm


Is it a squid? Is it a worm? Actually it's a squid worm!(I nearly typed squidward..) Found in depths of over 1.8 miles, not much is known about this alien looking creature, it was discovered to be the first member of a new family in the Polychaeta class.

But wait it gets weirder.. See all the tenticle things? They're used for breathing, and if that wasn't weird enough, see the curly ones? They're used for sucking in food.




And the winner is..


1.  Star nosed mole





These strange looking moles have over 25,000 sensory neurons in their 'nose'.  Because it has to adapt to its blindness, it has to be able to identify food. And to avoid predators, it must do this fast!

The mole therefore can eat it's prey in a record 120 milliseconds!

If you want to appreciate how fast that, imagine you're an insect; in the time you take to think about how fast 120ms is, you've already been eaten.



If you're ever depressed, be happy in the thought you don't look like any of these fellas!

Oh, and I missed the obvious catfish!


1 comment:

  1. Lol catfish also am I the first person to comment on this

    ReplyDelete