10 very strange creatures

This animal might look like an alien from a ‘70ies science fiction movie but in fact it’s a real live squid, so elusive that only a few juvenile specimens have been studied by scientists until now. The footage shows what is believed to be an adult ‘bigfin squid’ and it was filmed close to an oceanic drilling site. Very little is known about these animals but scientists assume that they dangle their long arms on the oceans floor in search of food, or that they simply wait for food to bump into them.

One might also wonder why it’s called the ‘bigfin squid’ when ‘spider squid’ would clearly be more suitable…maybe ‘spider squid’ was already taken.

The alligator gar is the biggest member of the extensive Gar family that unites several species of primitive fish. They get their name form the long alligator-like snout complete with interlocking sharp and fierce-looking teeth. They grow to weigh as much as 365 lbs (166 kg) and although they are a top predator in their own watery world, they present no real danger to people. In fact, people are one of their few enemies mostly because the increase in popularity of bowfishing in the states that allow alligator gar fishing. Another remarkable fact about this fish is that, unlike most other fish, it's able to breathe in air due to an anatomical anomaly. This is why it prefers to linger close to the water’s surface making them very vulnerable to bowfishers (who fishes with bows in the US of the 21^st century anyway?)

The sun spider, also called the wind scorpion, lives in desert areas and it’s a member of the arachnid family. It’s a moderately large species of spiders, adults reaching 2.8 inches (7 cm) in length and their diet is mostly made of small insects. They don’t build any webs and they are also not venomous although one might think at first sight that they surely must be deadly. No cases of human fatality were ever registered due to a sun spiders bite but they are known to bite if provoked, inflicting a nasty wound to the very intelligent person that handles them. The sun spider/wind scorpion is also the only know animal with two cool names.

The tiger fish is a name given to a variety of fish species belonging to several different families that live in rivers across the African continent. They range in size, but they all have in common their big protruding teeth and their ferocious appetites. The goliath tiger fish are biggest members of the tiger fish family and can reach lengths of up to 7 ft (2m) and can weigh as much as 105 lbs (50 kg) making them one of the most sought after trophy fish in the world. Due to the murky waters they live in, they developed a very acute sense of hearing by linking the inner year with the air bladder, which is very sensitive to vibrations in the water.

The giant forest hog is one of the biggest members of the Suidae (pigs) family and it was initially believed extinct until the first living specimen was discovered at the beginning of the last century. Giant forest hogs inhabit densely forested areas of the African continent and they can reach 6.6 ft (2m) in length and they can weigh as much as 600 pounds (273 kg). The males have huge wide heads with protruding patches of naked skin under the eyes and they also have quite big tusks of about 30 cm in length. They’ve been known to carry the African swine fever, a disease that can be transmitted to domestic pigs.

The frilled shark is considered to be a fossil species because it has not changed for millions of years. At first sight it doesn’t even resemble a shark, it rather looks like an eel, but scientists confirmed that they haven’t committed any mistake and that it is indeed a shark.  Although it’s widely spread across the world and it’s not considered to be an endangered species, the frilled shark is very rarely seen because it lives at great depths. Due to its elusive nature, it was thought to be long extinct until the first specimen was discovered in Japan about 100 years ago. They range in size but they are known to be as long as 6.6 ft (2 m) with females being usually larger than males.

The narwhal may be the most known animal on this list, but this doesn’t make it less strange. Almost everybody knows that narwhals are whales which have huge tusks protruding form the upper jaw. But not so many people know that the narwhals tusk is actually a deformed incisor and that mostly males develop them. Scientists also observed that one in 500 males develops two tusks instead of only one, thus doubling their coolness factor. Also, in the Middle Ages it was believed that narwhal tusks were actually unicorn horns and magical powers were attributed to them, so they were worth their weight in gold back then.

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If you happen to see one of these in the wild…there’s no point in running away. This is not a hoax, grizzly-polar bear hybrids actually exist and unlike other animal hybrids as ‘ligers’ and ‘tiglons’, they also exist in natural habitats. Although a number of these animals were found in the wild and scientists know about then, there is still a debate on how the species should be named. The alternatives considered by the scientists are ‘the pizzly bear’, ‘the grolar bear’ and ‘the polizzly’, but until a decision is taken, the world will know it simply as the ‘grizzly-polar bear hybrid’, which actually sounds really ok.

This is a one of a kind parasite that you’ve probably didn’t even knew it existed. It’s a small crustaceous that has a strange hobby: it enters the bodies of fish through their gills and then it attaches its self to the tongue. Using its claws it then cuts of the blood supply in the tongue until it atrophies and falls off. Afterwards it attaches its self to the remaining stub and it literarily takes the place of the tongue. Although it doesn’t actually eat tongues as its name suggests, it’s still a very creepy parasite being the only ever recorded parasite that replaces the functionality of one of the host’s organs.

It mainly targets fish but there have been reports of other species that have lost their tongues to it, this being the most famous example.

Stumblers are very elusive creatures, their existence being fiercely debated by scientists because no individuals were captured until now. It is believed they are part of a new hominid species that recently evolved form Homo Sapiens but until recently only a few observational studies have been conducted on them so there is very little information available. However, the individuals are described as leading solitary lives spending hours on end ‘stumbling’ - their only enjoyable activity.

Although they interact indirectly with other members of their species via the internet, they never actually meet each-other in person, which lead the scientists to the conclusion that they must reproduce asexually. They usually stop ‘stumbling’ only to feed themselves and in many cases they forget to eat for days, although some clever individuals have formed parasitic relationships with individuals from other species that are tricked into bringing them food on request.