10 Of The Weirdest Animals You’ll Find On Planet Earth

6 /10 Star-Nosed Mole

The star-nosed mole is found in moist, low areas throughout the northern portion of North America. Its nose is roughly 1 cm in diameter, and the organs are distributed on 22 appendages.

It has a touch organ with more than 25,000 tiny sensory receptors called Eimer’s organs. They use them to feel their way around and can also detect seismic wave vibrations.

While other mole species have Eimer’s organs, they are not as specialized or as numerous. As the animal is blind, the snout is also used to detect electrical activity in prey animals, tiny prey.

It is also the fastest eating mammal, taking as short as 120 milliseconds to identify and consume individual food sources.

5 /10 Sunda Colugo

The Sunda colugo is also known as the Malayan flying lemur and is a species of colugo. While it was thought to be only one of two species of flying lemurs, this was recently disproved.

It can be found throughout Southeast Asia in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, southern Vietnam, southern Burma, and Singapore.

While it is not a lemur and cannot fly, it can glide as it jumps among the trees. It is active at night and feeds on soft plant parts, including leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruits. It is less than two feet long and weighs between 2-3 lbs.

4 /10 Yeti Crab

The Yeti crab is a blind deep-sea crab with legs covered in long, pale yellow hairs.

It was first seen in 2005 by marine biologists using a submarine to explore hydrothermal vents along the Pacific-Antarctic ridge, south of Easter Island.

It was named the Yeti crab after the abominable snowman of the Himalayas. The crabs lived at a depth of 7,200 feet near recent lava flows and areas where warm water came out of the seafloor.

It was found to be a new species, a new family (Kiwaidae), and a distant relative to hermit crabs.

3 /10 Superb Bird Of Paradise

The Superb Bird of Paradise was recently recognized as a new species due to its unique dance moves.

It is found in New Guinea in the Bird’s Head peninsula. It was found to sing a different song than other birds found in New Guinea, and the bird’s courtship dance was soon observed.

Its dance was shown on the Planet Earth series with its pitch-black oval with blue feathers showing a smile and pair of eyes hopping around a female.

Its unique courtship dance featured a slide from side to side, head instead of jumping, and its feathers spread out to a crescent instead of an oval, showing that this was a new species.

2 /10 Japanese Spider Crab

The Japanese spider crab lives in the waters around Japan and has the largest leg span of any arthropod.

They are considered a delicacy in Japan, but conservation efforts have been put into place to protect them from the dangers of overfishing.

1 /10 Glaucus Atlanticus

Also known as the blue dragon, the Glaucus atlanticus is a species of blue sea slug. It is found in the ocean’s warm waters, and it floats on the surface due to a gas-filled sack in its stomach.

It is less than 3 cm long and lives throughout the entire water column.

It glides on its backside and shows its bright underbelly to airborne predators. The blue color acts as camouflage against the ocean waves, while the grey bottom blends below the bright sea surface.