Since the dawn of mankind, we have been known for documenting life around us. From the very first cave painting, more than 44,000 years old, found in western Europe, to the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi. Indonesia, to Michelangelo in the 14th century, to scientists and scholars in 2021. In this article, we will do the same, teach you about the very real and wondrous animals you probably didn't know about before!
1. Meet The Colugos!
This scary, yet adorable, looking mammal is native to southeast Asia. The Colugos has a unique feature - A fur-covered membrane, called the "patagium", connecting to their face, paws, and tail.
This enables them to glide (not fly) in the air for distances of up to 200 meters (650 feet) between trees.
2. Meet The Saravati Anemone Shrimp!
This tiny 2.5 CM shrimp goes by a lot of names: Anemone Shrimp, Carid Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp, Commensal Shrimp. Going for a wild swim in the Widespread Western Pacific? You can find it on various host anemones and corals, over coral and rocky reefs in depths of 2-40m.
The Sarasvati anemone shrimp has purple-edged white spots on its transparent body. Its antennae are white and its claws are white with purple stripes. As with some other commensal shrimp species, it has a red band across each eye. This shrimp was named after a Hindu goddess.
3. Meet The Man-Of-War!
With no relation to the Royal Navy, or any ship armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails, its probably one of the weirdest animals who have made it on the list. The Portuguese man o' war (also known as the man-of-war) is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
It has numerous venomous microscopic nematocysts that deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish and has been known to occasionally kill humans. Despite what it looks like, the Portuguese man o' war is not a single organism. They are siphonophores, a colonial organism made up of many specialized, though genetically distinct parts.
4. Meet The Kangaroo Mouse!
A Kangaroo Mouse is either one of the two species of jumping mice; the Dark kangaroo mouse and the Pale kangaroo mouse. The "Kangaroo" in the name is there for a reason - these mice can jump with extraordinary abilities. And we don't use the word "extraordinary" lightly.
Kangaroo mice are nocturnal and are most active in the two hours following sunset - a time they use to collect food. They are known to maintain large caches in their burrows, which are excavated to a length of between 3 and 8 feet (1 to 2.5 meters).
5. Meet The Quokko!
Any Aussie reading this will probably recognize it right away, but for the sake of people born outside of Australia, We want you to meet a new friend - a short-tailed scrub wallaby. The Quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal and can grow to about the size of a domestic cat.
Even though they look like a very small kangaroo, they can climb small trees up to 1.5 meters (4 ft 11 in). Its fur is a grizzled brown color, fading to buff underneath. The quokka is known to live for an average of 10 years.
6. Meet the Ili Pika!
No, It's not a Pokemon call. It's the name of a mammal from the Ochotonidae family, native to northwest China. The Ili pika resembles a short-eared rabbit. It has brightly colored hair and displays large rusty-red spots on the forehead, crown, and the sides of the neck, and weights of up to 250g (~1/2lb).
Sadly, likely due to the effects of climate change, Its population is declining. The Ili Pika is currently considered to be endangered, with approximately fewer than 1,000 left.
7. Meet The Quagga!
You've already met the Quokko, our Australian friend, so don't get confused and come say hey (or rather farewell) to this interesting beast. The Quagga was (yes...was...) a subspecies of the plains zebra that lived in South Africa until hunted to extinction late in the 19th century by European settler-colonists.
The Quagga is believed to have been around 257 cm (8 ft 5 in) long and 125–135 cm (4 ft 1 in–4 ft 5 in) tall at the shoulder. It was distinguished from other zebras by its limited pattern of primarily brown and white stripes, mainly on the front part of the body. The rear was brown and without stripes, and appeared more horse-like.
8. Meet The Water-Bear!
Tardigrades known as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals - so tiny you probably won't notice them. They got their nickname from the German zoologist, Johann August Ephraim Goeze, in 1773, who called them little water bears.
They have been found everywhere in Earth's biosphere, from mountaintops to the deep sea and mud volcanoes, and from tropical rainforests to the Antarctic. Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive extreme conditions.
9. Meet The Mantis Shrimp!
Mantis shrimps, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans, who typically grow to around 10 cm (3.9 in) in length, while a few can reach up to 38 cm (15 in). But don't get fooled by their size - they hold the record for one of nature's deadliest punches.
Referred to as "prawn killers" in Australia, this animal has the ability to inflict painful wounds — mantis shrimps have powerful raptorials that are used to attack and kill prey either by spearing, stunning, or dismembering. Some mantis shrimp species have specialized calcified "clubs" that can strike with great power, while others have sharp forelimbs used to seize the prey (hence the term "mantis" in its common name).
10. Meet The Dwarf Cassowary!
The dwarf cassowary, also known as Bennett's cassowary, little cassowary, mountain cassowary, or mooruk, is the smallest of the three species of cassowaries- but maybe the most interesting. It is between 99 and 150 cm (3.25 and 4.92 ft) long and weighs between 17.6 and 26 kg (39 and 57 lb). It is a flightless bird with hard and stiff black plumage, a low triangular casque, pink cheek, and red patches of skin on its blue neck.
And if this bird doesn't look like a deleted scene from Jurassic Park, you need to take a second peak to look at the eggs it lays. They have a light green egg-shell, like nothing you've seen before!
11. Meet The Demodex!
This fact comes with a trigger warning to germophobes. As unsettling as it may be, we all probably host a couple of these tiny mites. Around 65 species of Demodex are known and 2 species live on humans: Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis, both frequently referred to as eyelash mites.
The presence of Demodex on humans (and other types of mammals) is common and usually does not cause any symptoms, although occasionally some skin diseases can be caused by the mites. Demodex is derived from Greek dēmos, meaning "fat" and dēx, meaning "woodworm".
12. Meet The Box Jellyfish!
The facts in this article encourage you to get familiar with new animals, but maybe you should appreciate this one from a distance. The medusa form of a box jellyfish has a squarish, box-like bell, from which its name is derived.
Some species of box jellyfish produce extremely potent venom. Stings from these and a few other species in the class are extremely painful and can be fatal to humans. Box jellyfish can move more rapidly than other jellyfish with speeds of up to 6 meters (20 ft) per minute!
13. Meet The Potoo!
Potoos range from 21 to 58 cm in length, equipped with proportionally large heads for their body size and long wings and tails. The large head is dominated by a massive, broad bill and enormous eyes. And we do mean enormous.
The bill, while large and broad, is also short, barely projecting past the face. They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls.
14. Meet The Vietnamese Mossy Frog!
Even though this frog looks like a wild creature from a Tolkien novel, it's a real animal from northern Vietnam and China. The common name "mossy frog" arises from the fact that its skin is a mottled green and brown that resembles moss growing on rock, and forms an effective form of camouflage.
They have large sticky pads on their toes and a soft underbelly. They measure about 61 mm (2.4 in) in snout-vent length. The females will grow larger than the males and can reach sizes of 8–9 cm (3.1–3.5 in). This species when frightened, will curl into a ball and even do as far as to play dead.
15. Meet the Tithorea Harmonia!
We all know butterflies come in lots of sizes and colors, but this fact is reserved for the ugliest stage of the butterfly - the cocoon. The Tithorea Harmonia, like every butterfly, has 4 life stages - from egg to caterpillar, to cocoon to a beautiful butterfly.
The Tithorea Harmonia pupa (cocoon) has unique color and texture - giving it a metallic silver\gold look. This species can be found in Mexico and South America.
16. Meet The Raccoon Dog!
The raccoon dog, also known as the tanuki, mangut or neoguri, is a canine native to East Asia. The reason for the name is pretty obvious - the resemblance of its masked face to that of the common raccoon. They have long torsos and short legs. Total lengths (without the tail) can range from 45 to 71 cm (18 to 28 in).
The fur they have is winter-ready - it protects them from low temperatures ranging down to −20° to −25 °C. It has a range of brown to gray colors with black guard hairs. The tail is darker than the torso. A dark stripe is present on the back, which broadens on the shoulders, forming a cross shape. Maybe we should consider changing the name to Holy Raccoons?
17. Meet The Quoll!
Quolls are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are mostly nocturnal and spend most of the day in small caves. The six species of Quollos vary in weight and size, from 300 g (11 oz) to 7 kg (15 lb). They have pink noses and black or brown fur.
They are largely solitary but will interact in social interactions such as mating during the winter season. A female gives birth to up to 18 pups, of which only six survive because she only has six teats with which to feed them.
18. Meet The Secretarybird!
At first glance, this animal looks like one of 2 things: a really really nice pinata, or a real-life Pokemon. The secretary bird is a large, mostly terrestrial bird of prey. Endemic to Africa, it is usually found in the open grasslands and savanna of the sub-Saharan region.
They are instantly recognizable, first and foremost, because of their height - as much as 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in). Equipped with an eagle-like body on crane-like legs that give the bird a very impressive look. It has a length of between 112 and 150 cm (44 and 59 in) and a wingspan of between 191 and 215 cm (75 and 85 in).
19. Meet The Rusty-Spotted Cat!
This little ball of cuteness may seem like your average domestic cat. But it's MUCH smaller and probably not as friendly as we wish it was. The rusty-spotted cat is one of the cat family's smallest members, found mostly in India and Sri Lanka.
They have short reddish-grey fur over most of the body with rusty spots on the back and flanks. Four black lines run over the eyes, and two of them extend over the neck. Six dark streaks run on each side of their head, extending over the cheeks and forehead.
20. Meet The Green Dragontails!
The Green Dragontail is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. Among the smallest of swallowtails in India, the Green Dragontail is usually found in open sunlit patches, almost always near streams and watercourses. It may also be seen in small groups, usually twos or threes. It flies in an altitude range of 100 to 1,520 meters (330 to 4,990 ft).
But the really fascinating thing about this animal is that it moves its tail - which almost makes it look like it is swimming in water. Having a much smaller wing size to body length ratio, the butterflies have a whirring flight, rapidly beating their wings and darting back and forth in a manner reminiscent of dragonflies, their long tails acting as rudders.
21. Meet The Blue Glaucus!
This one might make you uneasy to hop in head first next time you visit the beach. The blue glaucus is known by many names: sea swallow, blue angel, dragon slug, blue dragon, blue sea slug, blue ocean slug, or by the official name - Glaucus atlanticus. These sea slugs are pelagic; they float upside down by using the surface tension of the water to stay up, where they are carried along by the winds and ocean currents.
The Blue Glaucus makes use of countershading: the blue side of their body faces upwards, blending in with the blue of the water. The silver/grey side of the sea slugs faces downwards, blending in with the sunlight reflecting on the ocean's surface when viewed facing upwards underwater.
22. Meet The Harpy Eagle!
The Harpy Eagle (also called the American harpy eagle) is the largest and most powerful raptor found in the rainforest, and among the largest species of eagles in the world. The upper side of the harpy eagle is covered with slate-black feathers, and the underside is mostly white, except for the feathered tarsi, which are striped black.
The male is much smaller in comparison to the female and may range in weight from 4 to 5.95 kg (8.8 to 13.1 lb). The average weight of adult males has been reported as 4.4 to 4.8 kg (9.7 to 10.6 lb) against an average of 7.35 to 8.3 kg (16.2 to 18.3 lb) for adult females, a 35% or higher difference in mean body mass. What a massive bird!
23. Meet The Shoebill!
The shoebill (or whale-headed stork) is a very large stork-like bird. Unsurprisingly, it derives its name from its enormous shoe-shaped bill. The shoebill is distributed in freshwater swamps of central tropical Africa, from southern Sudan and South Sudan through parts of eastern Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, western Tanzania, and northern Zambia.
The shoebill is a tall bird, with a typical height range of 110 to 140 cm (43 to 55 in), its length from tail to beak can range from 100 to 140 cm (39 to 55 in) and wingspan is 230 to 260 cm (7 ft 7 to 8 ft 6 in). They have the third-longest bill among birds after pelicans and large storks and can rival the pelicans in bill circumference.
24. Meet The Golden Fireworm!
Chloeia Flava, also known as the golden fireworm, has an elongated body, with size variations between 7 to 10 cm (2.8–3.9 in) long, and 1.8 to 2.5 cm (0.7–1.0 in) wide, excluding bristles. Chloeia Flava is widely distributed through the Indo-Pacific area from the east coast of Africa, including the Red Sea, to the Pacific Ocean's islands except for Hawaii and Polynesia. It is found in sandy to silty detrital areas close by the reef.
They range in colors from red-brown to light brown with a light color band in the middle of the body. This worm is an active carnivore, especially at dawn and dusk. Its diet consists of coral polyps, sponges, sea anemones, hydroids, and tunicates. Sounds delicious!
25. Meet The Splendid Toadfish!
The splendid toadfish also called the coral toadfish and the Cozumel splendid toadfish is a species of toadfish once believed to be entirely endemic to the island of Cozumel but have been found on the reefs of Honduras all the way up to Cancun, Mexico.
Commonly found under coral outcroppings. They spend most of their time in dens and are very difficult to find out in the open. Unlike other toadfish, the splendid toadfish is distinctive for its vibrant colors. It has bright yellow fins - containing distinctive patterning, while its head contains dark and white stripes.
26. Meet The Coconut Crab!
Few words can describe the way we feel about the animal you're about to see. But if we had to pick one it would be this - FEAR.
The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb). It can grow up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in length from each tip to tip of the leg.
The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb). It can grow up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in length from each tip to tip of the leg.
It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands and the Pitcairn Islands, similar to the distribution of the coconut palm. If you feel like this animal isn't scary enough, you should know it's been recorded eating its own kind, and even bigger animals like a Booby bird!
27. Meet The Armadillo Lizard!
No... It's not a picture from the set of Harry Potter. It's the Armadillo Lizard. The armadillo girdled lizard, also commonly known as the armadillo lizard, the Golden-armadillo lizard, or the armadillo spiny-tailed lizard.
It could be found mostly in desert areas along the western coast of South Africa. The armadillo lizard can be light brown to dark brown. Their belly is yellow with a blackish pattern. Its size can range from 7.5 to 9 cm (3.0 to 3.5 in) But It may grow to a maximum size of 10.5 cm (4.1 in).
28. Honduran White Bat!
The Honduran white bat also called the Caribbean white tent-making bat. It has distinctive, entirely white fur, which is only found in six of the roughly 1,300 known species of bat, which makes it pretty rare to find. It is a small species, with a head and body length of 37–47 mm (1.5–1.9 in), a forearm length of 27.8–29.3 mm (1.09–1.15 in), and an ear length of 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in). One bat weighs only 5–6 g (0.18–0.21 oz).
This bat is a pretty good contractor. They are known to build tents out of plant leaves by strategically cutting the leaf ribs with their sharp teeth. The bat will stay in these tents during the day. Their diet is built almost exclusively from the fruits of one species of fig. It is found in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and western Panama at elevations from sea level to 700 m (2,300 ft).
29. Meet The Manul!
The Pallas's cat, also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. It has rounded ears, located low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from 46 to 65 cm (18 to 26 in) with a 21 to 31 cm (8.3 to 12.2 in) long bushy tail.
To date, it has been recorded across a large areal extent, in widely spaced sites in the Caucasus, Hindu Kush, parts of the Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, Altai-Sayan region, and South Siberian Mountains. It inhabits rocky montane grasslands, where the snow cover is below 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in). It is well camouflaged and adapted to the cold continental climate in its native range. This cat finds shelter in rock crevices and marmot burrows and preys mostly on lagomorphs and rodents.
30. Meet The Red Wolf!
You must feel like you're being cheated by this point... It's a wolf! We've seen one before! But we're willing to bet you haven't heard about this type of wolf. The red wolf is a canine native to the southeastern United States and has a reddish-tawny color to its fur. The originally recognized red wolf range extended throughout the southeastern United States from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio River Valley and central Pennsylvania, and west to Central Texas and southeastern Missouri.
By 2016, the red wolf population of North Carolina had declined to 45-60 wolves. The largest cause of this decline was hunting. This majestic animal is disappearing in front of our eyes. Let's put a stop to it!
31. Meet The Chevrotain!
This next animal is what we imagine a deer would look like if it shrunk in the washing machine. Chevrotains, or mouse-deer, are even-toed ungulates, the smallest hoofed animal in the world! The Asian species weigh between 0.7 and 8.0 kg (1.5 and 17.6 lb), while the African chevrotain is considerably larger at 7–16 kg (15–35 lb).
They live mostly alone or in pairs. The young reach sexual maturity between 5 and 10 months, depending on species. Parental care is relatively limited.
32. Meet The Peacock Spiders!
Maratus Volans is a species in the jumping spider family. These spiders are native to certain areas in Australia and occupy a wide distribution of habitats. They have a specialized visual system that allows them to see the full visible spectrum as well as in the UV-range!
The males of this species are characterized by their colorful abdomen flaps that are used to attract females during courtship - just like the peacock we know, but much smaller. Both sexes are about 5 mm in body length. Females and immatures of both sexes are brown.
33. Meet The Bald Uakari!
Relax... This monkey isn't choking or having an allergic reaction, that's just the way it looks. The bald uakari or bald-headed uakari is a small "New World monkey". Easily recognized by its bright, crimson\red face, a very short tail, a bald head, and long coat, the bald uakari is restricted to várzea forests and other wooded habitats near water in the western Amazon of Brazil and Peru.
The bald uakari weighs between 2.75 and 3.45 kg (6.1 and 7.6 lb), with head and body lengths average 45.6 cm (18.0 in) (male) and 44.0 cm (17.3 in) (female).In general, the bald uakari has a long, shaggy coat ranging from white in color to red and its head is bald.
34. Meet The Sea Bunny!
For all you bunny lovers out there, we'd recommend a second look. Jorunna Parva, known as "sea bunny", is a species of dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk. It is found along the coasts of Korea, Japan, Palau, Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, South Africa, Seychelles, and Tanzania.
The name should come as no surprise, I mean, look at those bunny ears! But this bunny is much much smaller and a bit on the odd side; Sea bunnies, like many other nudibranchs, eat sponges, which contain toxins. Those toxins are used for cancer treatments. The sea bunnies additionally have different colors as well. There are yellow sea bunnies with black specks all around the body. There is also a greenish colored sea bunny, but photos are very rare.
35. Meet The Hairy Frogfish!
This messy looking fella is a marine fish, who goes by the name hairy frogfish, or striated frogfish if you're feeling like being formal. This small fish grows up to 22 cm (8.7 in) long. Like other members of its family, it has a rounded, extendible body, and its soft skin is covered with irregularly-arranged dermal spinules resembling hairs - which explains the name picking.
But the hairy frogfish has some tricks up its sleeve... It has a large mouth, forwardly extendible, allowing it to swallow prey as large as itself! The coloring of its body is extremely variable because individual fish tend to match their living environments. So cool!
36. Meet The Purple Frog!
The purple frog can be found in the Western Ghats in India. It has a few names in English that have been used for this species: purple frog, Indian purple frog, or pignose frog (which is the most fitting, if you're asking us). The specimen with which the species was originally described was 7.0 cm long from the tip of the snout to the vent.
The body of the purple frog appears robust and bloated and is relatively rounded compared to other flattened frogs. Their flattened body assists them to cling to submerged rocks and boulders which essentially helps them fight strong currents, allowing them to remain near stream banks where they typically reside.
37. Meet The Peacock Bee!
Xylocopa Bombylans, the peacock carpenter bee, is a species of carpenter bee found in Australia. It gets its common name by its habit of burrowing into wood. As its name implies, the peacock carpenter bee is a metallic blue-green or green in color, although it may even appear purplish from some angles.
A large stocky bee, it is often heard by its loud low-pitched buzzing while flying between flowers. The male has white face markings. Even though the bee has a sting that is potentially painful, and looks pretty aggressive - no stings have been recorded.
38. Meet The Elephant Shrew!
Elephant shrews also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa. Their English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perceived resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and their superficial similarity with shrews. However, phylogenetic analysis revealed that elephant shrews are not classified with true shrews, but are in fact more closely related to elephants than shrews!
Elephant shrews are small, insectivorous mammals resembling rodents or opossums, with scaly tails, long snouts, and legs quite long for their size, which are used to move from one place to another like rabbits. They come in different sizes from about 10 to 30 centimeters (3.9 to 11.8 in), from 50 to 500 grams (1.8 to 17.6 oz).
39. Meet The Hispaniolan Solenodon!
The next animal is so rare, it can only be found on one specific island! The Hispaniolan solenodon, also known as the agouta, is a solenodon found only on Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
They resemble an oversized shrew; males and females are similar in size. Adults measure 49 to 72 cm (19 to 28 in) in total length, including a tail 20 to 25 cm (7.9 to 9.8 in), and weigh about 800 g (28 oz) on average. They are typically dusky brown over most of the body, with a paler underside and reddish fur on the sides of the head, throat, and upper chest. The tail, legs, snout, and eyelids are hairless.
40. Meet The Black-Spotted Cuscus!
If you just read "couscous", go get yourself something to eat before you finish this article, you might be too hungry. The black-spotted cuscus is a species of marsupial. It is a relatively colorful species found in the forests of northern New Guinea. It is threatened by hunting and habitat loss and has already disappeared from large parts of its range.
Adult black-spotted cuscuses weigh approximately 6 to 7 kg (13 to 15 lb) on average. Typically, they are 120 cm in length, with the head and body measuring approximately 70 cm, and the tail measuring 50 cm. Both adult males and females exhibit red and black fur that is dense and woolly. However, females are bigger and have a uniformly dark, saddle-like coloration, while males have spotty colorations.