Strange Looking Animals

We often speak about animal cruelty, but how universal is your love for animals in general? Would you go the extra mile to save these animals?

Try looking beyond the differences, and not let our sight influence our ability to care for beings that we find strange by our standards. Due to karma and it’s complexities, beings can take on all types of forms in samsara. It is interesting to see how karma manifests. (Nice to share these animals with children)

Tsem Rinpoche

Some unusual looking animals:

Cantor’s Giant Soft-Shelled Turtle

The turtle is found primarily in inland, slow-moving fresh water rivers and streams. Cantor’s giant soft-shelled turtle can grow up to 6 feet (about 2 meters) in length and weigh more than 100 pounds (about 50 kilograms).

It is primarily carnivorous.

The turtle spends 95% of its life buried and motionless, with only its eyes and mouth protruding out of the sand. It surfaces only twice a day to breath, and lays eggs in February or March on riverbanks.

Matamata Turtle

Translated from Spanish, Matamata means “I kill, I kill” because all of its characteristics are directed towards one goal: Its mode of eating.

The head and neck is large and flat, and covered with numerous protuberances, wards, and ridges; which serves as an excellent camouflage.

However, do not be fooled by the name. The Matamata is a docile species as it is neither able nor inclined to bite with any effectiveness.

Patagonian Cavy (Mara)

The Patagonian Cavy is number three on the list of giant rodents. It may not be the largest rodent, but it’s definitely the most unusual looking, bearing a striking resemblance to the mythical jackalope. It’s described as a cross between an antelope, a rabbit, and a kangaroo.

When startled, it can leap up to six feet straight into the air and is capable of reaching 35 miles/hour while running.

Saiga Antelope

Saiga is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There is an estimated total number of 50,000 Saigas today, which live in Kalmykia, three areas of Kazakhstan and in two isolated areas of Mongolia.

It has an extremely distinctive appearance with an enlarged nose that hangs down over the mouth. These ungulates are thought to be intermediates between antelopes and sheep.

Star Nosed Mole

The Star-nosed Mole lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these tunnels exit underwater.

The incredibly sensitive nasal tentacles are covered with almost one hundred thousand minute touch receptors known as Eimer’s organs..

Elephant Shrew

Elephant shrews are not true shrews, but are more closely related to aardvarks, golden moles, and tenrecs. They are widely distributed across the southern part of Africa.

Elephant shrews take their name from their long pointed head and very long, trunk-like nose. Long, slim legs and a characteristic hunchbacked posture give them the appearance of a miniature antelope or perhaps a tiny pig with a long tail.

Long-Beaked Echidna

Long Beaked Echidna is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.

Found in New Guinea (Indonesia) and Papua New Guinea, their most distinguishing feature is their long-snouts, which curve downwards and accounts for two-thirds of the length of the head. They have no teeth; instead their tongues are covered in spikes (teeth-like projections), which are effective in hooking prey and drawing it into the mouth.

They differ from other mammals in that they lay shell-covered eggs that are incubated and hatched outside the body of the mother.

Pink Fairy Armadillo

It is found in central Argentina where it inhabits dry grasslands and sandy plains with thorn bushes and cacti. It has the ability to bury itself completely in a matter of seconds if frightened.

The Pink Fairy Armadillo burrows small holes near ant colonies in dry dirt. It feeds mainly on ants and ant larvae near its burrow.

Long-Eared Jerboa

“The Mickey Mouse of the desert”, the Long-Eared Jerboa is a mouse-like rodent with a long tail, long hind legs for jumping, and exceptionally large ears.

Classified as endangered by the IUCN, the Long-Eared Jerboa is mainly found in China and Mongolia.

Axolotl Salamander

The Axolotl is a fascinating creature for reasons such as its grotesque appearance and for exhibiting the phenomenon known as neoteny.

Axolotls have amazing healing and regenerating abilities, such as complete limb re-growth.

Thorny Devil

An amazing Australian reptile, this creature is covered in thorns. Despite its appearance, it is totally harmless.

The thorny devil, a creature of the desert, has the ability to collect rainwater with its back, allowing the water to run down its body, eventually finding its way to the mouth where the water is consumed.

Frill-Necked Lizard

Considered one of the most familiar of Australia’s dragon lizards, the most incredible aspect of this small lizard is its frill, which rises instinctively when the lizard is startled or becomes alarmed.

Aye Aye

Found only on the island of Madagascar, these rare animals may not look like primates at first glance, but they are related to chimpanzees and humans.

The aye aye is the only primate known to use echolocation to locate its prey.

Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye aye an ill omen. For this reason they are often killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction have made the aye aye critically endangered (IUCN).

Blobfish

The Blobfish is a type of fish found off the coast of Australia and Tasmania. It is usually found at a depth of 800 meters.

The Blobfish is almost entirely comprised of gelatinous substances, which keeps it from sinking. Having no muscles at all, they just float in the same spot most of the time waiting for their next meal.

Unlike most fish, the female Blobfish will actually stay with her eggs, in some cases literally sitting on the eggs.

Dumbo Octopus

The Dumbo octopus can be found in all oceans. It is strange compared to others of its kind as it prefers to swallow its prey whole.

The Dumbo octopus got its name from the two fins which look like and are situated like ears. It will swim using these larger fins and with the help of its arms, it is a formidable swimmer.

Vampire Squid

The Vampire squid is a unique member of the cephalopod family in that it shares similarities with both squid and octopi.

It has very gelatinous form, resembling a jellyfish more than the common squid, and its eight arms are connected with a webbing of skin, which makes it look more like an octopus.

The vampire squid has very large eyes; in fact, it has the largest eye to body ratio of any animal in the world!

Slender Loris

Slender Lorises are so-named because of their long, slender arms and legs. They have excellent night vision which allows them to hunt during the night.

The red slender loris is endemic to Sri Lanka, and its relative, the grey slender loris is also found in India.

This species is among the most sociable of the nocturnal primates.

The tears of the slender loris have reportedly been used in traditional charms and love potions.

Tarsier

The name Tarsier is derived from the animal’s very long ankle bones. The tibia and fibula of the tarsiers are fused in their lower portions, acting as a shock absorber. The lower limbs are twice the length of its trunk which enables the Tarsier to leap about 3 meters from tree to tree with a movement similar to that of a frog.

Tarsiers are often labeled as the ‘World’s smallest monkey’. However, it is not a monkey, and its classification is somewhat problematic.

In the Philippines, before any action was taken to protect the species, the practice of catching them and then selling them as stuffed Tarsiers to tourists drove them to the point of near-extinction.

Giant Isopod

The Giant Isopod is a living fossil, and has not evolved for 130 million years

It is the largest known member of the isopod family, and the enormous size is the result of a phenomenon known as deep sea gigantism.

As a deep sea creature, the Giant Isopod is able to survive for more than 8 weeks without any food.

 Mandarin Fish (Dragonet)

The Mandarin Fish has arguably one of the most attractive coloration and patterns of any commonly kept reef fish. These fish are also sometimes called Psychedelic Fish due to their rather bizarre coloration

Male Proboscis Monkey

Found only on the island of Borneo, the Proboscis Monkey gets its name from its large, fleshy nose which has several functions. The nose swells and turns red when it becomes excited or angry. The Proboscis Monkey also makes loud honking sounds as a warning when it senses danger, which make the nose stand out straight. The nose also acts as a resonator when the monkey vocalizes.

Another obvious characteristic of the Proboscis Monkey is its large pot belly. As a colobine monkey, it has a unique digestive system that allows it to use leaves as the main food supply.

Bush Dog

The Bush Dog is found in Central and South America, from Panama to Argentina. It is a carnivore and hunts during the day, preferably in wet savannahs and tropical and equatorial forests. Although it can hunt alone on occasion, the Bush Dog is usually found in small packs of up to 10–12 individuals.

Bush Dogs are semi-aquatic and can dive underwater with great ease, partly because of their webbed feet.

Lowland Streaked Tenrec

With its black and yellow stripes, the lowland streaked tenrec resembles both a hedgehog and a shrew, and is found only in Madagascar.

Streaked tenrecs are known to communicate using high-pitch tongue clicks when foraging but many of the sounds are beyond the range of the human ear.

Pallas Cat

Pallas cats are small cats which live in the rocky areas and deserts from Iran to China and Mongolia. Its appearance is a bit unusual, with a broad head, tiny ears, big eyes, and stocky limbs.

They have the ability to move stealthily which makes them good predators, and have been known to sneak up on their prey even with very few plants to hide in.

Interestingly, a Pallas cat’s eyes have a nictitating (blinking) membrane found at its corner. This acts as another eyelid.

The Pallas cat is listed as near-threatened, and is likely to qualify for the ‘threatened’ category in the near future.

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