Film-makers have created some crazy-looking creatures in the last hundred years, but nothing you’ve ever seen on screen can compare to the real-life, wild and wonderful animals you can find in the furthest and deepest corners of our planet.
We’d like to share with you some of Toby News’s favourite weird beasts. Prepare to gasp and laugh...
1: Dumbo Octopus
Don’t be fooled by the name, this cute thing can’t fly! Instead, it actually lives in the deepest part of the ocean; deeper than any other type of octopus. There aren’t many of them; that’s why the females carry all their eggs ready to be fertilised and made into babies. Cute!
2: Star-Nosed Mole
This bizarre - faced beast is only the size of a Hamster, but that bonkers nose has over 25,000 sensory receptors (nerves that sense) that are so powerful that they can even detect earthquakes! Good job there aren’t many in North America, where they are to be found.
3: Lamprey
Belive it or not, these freakish fellows are fish! People used to think they were eels, and that’s why they are sometimes wrongly called Lamprey Eels. There are currently 38 types of Lamprey - and 18 of those are carnivorous!
Lamprey used to be a delicacy, and were one of King Henry VIII’s favourite foods! I think I’ll stick to pizza!
4: The Fossa
The Fossa lives only on Madagascar. It is classified as a Big Cat, although this is controversial, as it shares many traits with the Civet family (Weasels, Stoats, etc.). Fossas are carnivorous, and when they are scared or angry, they release a foul stench. Sometimes, boy fossas have stinkfights to compete for the best girlfriend! Don’t try this at parties, readers!
5: Blobfish
These jelly-like grumpsters might look a bit (or very!) gruesome, but don’t worry, you are not likely to ever meet one. Plus, they never get bigger than twelve inches long!
They live in the Midnight Zone, the deepest part of the sea, where the pressure doesn’t harm their blobby bodies. If you did want to find one, you’d have to go to Australia, New Zealand or Tasmania.
6: Gerenuks
These delicate-looking creatures are often called the ‘giraffe-gazelle’, and you can see why. With their slender limbs and neck, tiny head, big eyes and prominent ears, these gentle antelopes look they they’ve just leaped off the set of a film about
adorable aliens. In reality, they live in the driest parts of East Africa (Somalia, etc.).
7: Aye-Aye
They might look like something out of a nightmare, but all this type of nocturnal lemur gets up to at night is hunting for food. They have a unique technique for sourcing the tastiest treats; the Aye-Aye taps on wood until it hears the sound it is looking for, gnaws a hole into the wood with its long teeth (which never stop growing its whole life!), then stick their incredibly long middle finger into the hole to extract its reward, usually honey or little grubs and bugs.
8: Naked Mole Rat
Some animals have strange names (like the Aye-Aye above), but the name naked mole rat describes what it looks like perfectly! They may not be beautiful, but these unusual lookers are incredibly resilient, hardly ever get ill, and live in societies where everyone looks after them. Their appearance helps them survive very harsh underground conditions. They don’t feel pain on the outside of their bodies, need to eat and breathe very little and can survive cancer and oxygen deprivation. They are tiny, only 3-4 inches long, but the queens of their colonies are always the biggest. No-one ever falls out in their societies, they do everything to help and care for each other. Such a shame that these sweet little things look so off-putting!
We’d like to share with you some of Toby News’s favourite weird beasts. Prepare to gasp and laugh...
1: Dumbo Octopus
Don’t be fooled by the name, this cute thing can’t fly! Instead, it actually lives in the deepest part of the ocean; deeper than any other type of octopus. There aren’t many of them; that’s why the females carry all their eggs ready to be fertilised and made into babies. Cute!
2: Star-Nosed Mole
This bizarre - faced beast is only the size of a Hamster, but that bonkers nose has over 25,000 sensory receptors (nerves that sense) that are so powerful that they can even detect earthquakes! Good job there aren’t many in North America, where they are to be found.
3: Lamprey
Belive it or not, these freakish fellows are fish! People used to think they were eels, and that’s why they are sometimes wrongly called Lamprey Eels. There are currently 38 types of Lamprey - and 18 of those are carnivorous!
Lamprey used to be a delicacy, and were one of King Henry VIII’s favourite foods! I think I’ll stick to pizza!
4: The Fossa
The Fossa lives only on Madagascar. It is classified as a Big Cat, although this is controversial, as it shares many traits with the Civet family (Weasels, Stoats, etc.). Fossas are carnivorous, and when they are scared or angry, they release a foul stench. Sometimes, boy fossas have stinkfights to compete for the best girlfriend! Don’t try this at parties, readers!
5: Blobfish
These jelly-like grumpsters might look a bit (or very!) gruesome, but don’t worry, you are not likely to ever meet one. Plus, they never get bigger than twelve inches long!
They live in the Midnight Zone, the deepest part of the sea, where the pressure doesn’t harm their blobby bodies. If you did want to find one, you’d have to go to Australia, New Zealand or Tasmania.
6: Gerenuks
These delicate-looking creatures are often called the ‘giraffe-gazelle’, and you can see why. With their slender limbs and neck, tiny head, big eyes and prominent ears, these gentle antelopes look they they’ve just leaped off the set of a film about
adorable aliens. In reality, they live in the driest parts of East Africa (Somalia, etc.).
7: Aye-Aye
They might look like something out of a nightmare, but all this type of nocturnal lemur gets up to at night is hunting for food. They have a unique technique for sourcing the tastiest treats; the Aye-Aye taps on wood until it hears the sound it is looking for, gnaws a hole into the wood with its long teeth (which never stop growing its whole life!), then stick their incredibly long middle finger into the hole to extract its reward, usually honey or little grubs and bugs.
8: Naked Mole Rat
Some animals have strange names (like the Aye-Aye above), but the name naked mole rat describes what it looks like perfectly! They may not be beautiful, but these unusual lookers are incredibly resilient, hardly ever get ill, and live in societies where everyone looks after them. Their appearance helps them survive very harsh underground conditions. They don’t feel pain on the outside of their bodies, need to eat and breathe very little and can survive cancer and oxygen deprivation. They are tiny, only 3-4 inches long, but the queens of their colonies are always the biggest. No-one ever falls out in their societies, they do everything to help and care for each other. Such a shame that these sweet little things look so off-putting!
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