Ugly Animals: Top 10 Ugly Animals

Ugly Animals

Nature is full of vibrant colors, beautiful fauna and amazing wildlife. Some animals are so vividly colored and spectacular like the peacock, canary and macaw.

Others have interesting features that are elegant and pleasing to the eye. However there are many oddities that have nightmarish feature, strange characteristic and are just weird.

The champions of the group of creepy contenders are ugly looking and strange. Here are a few ugly animals that are frightful looking

1-Naked Mole-Rat

The naked mole rat is a borrower native to Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The desert dwelling rodents live in complex system of tunnels and barrows.

They prefer underground habitation and live long lives. The small rodent weighs about 32grams with a length of 9cm. They are visually challenged because of their tiny eyes.

Naked mole rats feature thin short lumpy legs adapted to underground mobility. On the face is their most prominent feature large protruding teeth.

The deadly incisors are used for defense, and digging of barrows. The highly specialized and adapted jaw is the animal’s biggest asset.

Other amazing fact about this ugly king of the undergrowth is its furless wrinkled pink skin. Their greatest adaptability to underground living is efficient use of oxygen and adaptable metabolism.

Another incredible fact is the high resistance to pain, cancer and tumors. Despite their small size and many predators they are one of the longest living mammals. In comparison with rats that barely live 3 years naked mole rat are known to live up to 30 years.

They are family oriented and live in cluster of 70 to 80 individuals. Their diet consists of tubers and they have a resident queen. The hierarchy is similar to bees, the queen, breeding males and workers.

Naked Mole Rat

2- Blobfish

Fish are generally strange creatures from another world so making the cut is not surprising. The Blobfish are very ugly fish found around Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania.

Probably due to its hideous look it prefers incredible depths from the eyes of predators. The deep wanderer’s gelatinous blob supports a sluggishly buoyant mass.

The lazy fish is known to feed on any edible crustacean unlucky to float its way. The blobfish’s unappealing look becomes more prominent outside water. The low-density flesh and gravity challenged fish attest to its unusual features.

Blobfish

3- Star-nosed Mole

Another strong contender for ugliest animal on the planet is the star nosed mole. The animal has two prominent features, the appendages on the snout and large scaled feet.

The feet are massive in comparison to its 18cm length and 50grams weight. The appendage around the snout consists of 22 pink colored tentacles.

The sensory tentacles are loaded with touch receptors and used to identify food through touch. The hamster sized mole has poorly developed eyes and water resistant fur and feed on different food.

They eat tiny fish, worms, insects and many small invertebrates. There favorite habitat are low wetland areas and they love to digs shallow tunnels.

Star Nosed Mole

4-Matamata

The Matamata are fresh water turtles that inhabit swamps, marshes and small bodies of water. The ugly creature that only a mother could love has a flattened rectangular head.

The large head in comparison to its body has flaps of skin and tabernacles. The chin is not left out in this hideous ensemble with 3 barbells on chin and 4 barbells on upper jaw.

It has a hinge-less, short and narrow plastron that aids them ambush prey. A master of camouflage the five webbed claw on the foot adds to its ugly appeal.

The Matamata has a distinctively long neck and tubular snout. The large sedentary turtle has a flattened head and feeds on aquatic invertebrate through vacuum suction.

Mata Mata

5-Proboscis Monkey

The proboscis monkey is found in Borneo and Indonesia. The dominant feature of the monkey is the monkey’s unusually large nose.

The large monkey is on the endangered list and the females mature in five years. The mangrove dwelling primates has a fat stomachs and very long tail. They are predominantly brownish in color with a white frontal region.

Proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) male Labuk Bay

6-Tarsier

The endangered species found only in Southeast Asia is a shy creature. The primate is found predominantly in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The small animal has very large eyes and a round heavy head. They keenly resemble depictions of extraterrestrials on steroids.

Other unusual features are excessively elongated tarsi, and fused tibiofibulae. The hind limbs are twice the length of the head and body.

Interestingly the weird contender of the bizarre has both nails and claws. It is not all bad for the creepy creature it has very soft velvety fur and unique dentures. Tarsiers are nocturnal carnivorous feeding on small insects, snakes and birds.

Tarsier Hugs Mossy Branch

Dixi-Solenodon cubanus-transparent

7-Cuban Solenodon

The Cuban solendon is a nocturnal burrower that has a deadly secret. The rare species is one of the very few mammals with poisonous saliva. It looks like a shrew in appearance and has dark brown hair and small beady eyes. Other offbeat features are scaly tail including a long elongated nose. Listed as an endangered species it has a very low breeding cycle. They feed on insects or small animals and are found predominantly in Cuba.

8-Sphynx-cat

The sphynx cat is someone’s idea of a joke. The unfortunate cat was created through selective breeding. The hairless cat has very large ears and short face. The Sphynx cats ugly features include unusually large lemon shaped eyes, wedge shaped head and muscular body. Other characteristics are tampering tail, thick paw pads, barrel chest, rounded abdomen and muscled medium length neck. Don’t forget the hairless very large ears. Breeders are to blame for this ugly doglike creature. The mutant ninja cat’s origin could be traced to Canadian origins. To add to their woes the cats are prone to reparatory issues and sunburn.

Hairless Sphynx Cat

9-Phacochoerus-warthog

Warthog is a wild pig common to sub-Saharan Africa. The pig is covered in hairy bristles and large bare head. The prominent feature is the huge tusks and facial wattles. The angry pig is quick to provocation and has a very aggressive nature. The herbivore has stumpy legs, hooves and an elongated face. They are usually brown or black in color and adaptable to hash desert environments.

Warthog

10-Aye-aye

The lemur is undoubtedly a very ugly contender. Nocturnal in nature the primate is fond of creating holes in trees. The distinctive feature is the long thin third finger and longer fourth finger.

Females have nipples located at lower region and the primate comes in brown or yellow variants. The solitary animal loves foraging and is clearly the winner in the weirdest hand department.

Aye Aye

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© 2016 femi

Comments

femi (author) from Nigeria on January 28, 2017:

They look rather creepy but their mom would think otherwise.

BODYLEVIVE from Alabama, USA on January 28, 2017:

I don't know where you found such creatures but they sure are ugly!

femi (author) from Nigeria on January 05, 2017:

Thanks for the comment Shyron E Shenko. I find the star nosed mole very weird and ugly so it gets my number one spot.

Shyron E Shenko from Texas on January 05, 2017:

Hi Tony, I think the mole-rat is probably the ugliest of those you have featured here, but I would not want to meet any of them in person.

Happy New Year