17 Surprisingly Real Animals

When you take all the living creatures in the world and mix in a healthy dose of time (measured in millennia) along with a strong shot of evolution, you get some bizarre life forms. Of course, even strange things take on the air of the familiar with enough exposure, which is why the genuinely peculiar types of life that remain we never see.

There aren't many creatures left on the planet that we can't see in photos. We pored over the vast catalog of life and pulled out 17 animals that you possibly didn't know existed.

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Red-Lipped Batfish

The red-lipped batfish didn't get those red lips via a bloody meal or even grabbing a lipstick. Scientists believe the lips play a role in attracting a mate. As for attracting dinner, this anglerfish uses its modified dorsal fin to lure in prey. It doesn't stand much of a chance otherwise, as the red-lipped batfish is a terrible swimmer. Instead, it uses its fins to walk on the seafloor.

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Lowland Streaked Tenrec

The lowland streaked tenrec found in Madagascar has an appearance that looks like a shrew crossed with a hedgehog. An adult averages 5.5 inches long, though scientists have noted some Lowland Streaked Tenrecs as big as 6.8 inches. This tenrec communicates through vibrating one dorsal section of quills called sounding quills. These differ from the hard spines that the tenrec uses for protection from predators.

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Japanese Spider Crab

Close-Up Of Spider Crab with very long legs In Aquarium — Urs Flueeler / EyeEm / Getty Images

The Japanese spider crab can reach 12 feet long if you count the leg span. The body itself is only about 15 inches. Those eight long legs and body top out at around 45 pounds. It is the largest arthropod (animals with exoskeletons, a segmented body, and jointed limbs) in the world. As the name would suggest, this animal is found mostly in the waters surrounding Japan.

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Tufted Deer

The male tufted deer, found in China, sports a pair of terrifying fangs that seem ready for a vampire movie. Not only that, but they also have pointy little horns. These herbivores won't suck anyone's blood, however. The males use the fangs and horns for fighting during mating season.

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Glaucus Atlanticus

The glaucus Atlanticus is a sea slug that spends its days floating upside down in the water feeding on prey like the Portuguese man-o-war. The little sea slug can absorb the stings of the tentacles and store the toxins to use for its own protection. This has resulted in many people getting a nasty sting. While they appear to be blue and white through and through, the actual dorsal surface of this sea slug is silver to fool predators swimming below. The blue and white fools the predators of the skies.

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Giant Isopod

The giant isopod looks like an overgrown pillbug or woodlice. The largest known individual was a whopping 19.7 inches long. This giant crustacean occupies the floors of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans at depths ranging from 560 to 7,020 feet. Giant isopods feed primarily on carrion that finds its way to the ocean floor, but they don't spend much time eating; one giant isopod in captivity didn't eat for over five years.

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Aye-Aye

With a tail like a squirrel, eyes like an owl, and a face reminiscent of a raccoon, the aye-aye has quite the motley appearance. The aye-aye is a species of lemur found on the island of Madagascar, and it lives more like a woodpecker. To find food, the aye-aye taps on trees to locate buried insects and then gnaws a hole in the wood so it can reach in with its long, thin fingers to grab the tasty treat.

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Star-Nosed Mole

Looking a little like something like a boss from an old school Nintendo video game, the star-nosed mole lives in Canada and the United States and makes use of its strange flanged face to feel its away around the tunnels it digs. The star-shaped nose is packed with nerve cells and is believed capable of detecting even subtle seismic waves traveling through the Earth.

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Blobfish

Another easily named animal, the blobfish lives in the deep waters around Australia and New Zealand and has adapted to its environment by evolving into a gelatinous mass of flesh with a density just above that of water. This form allows it to float just off the seafloor deep below the surface. When removed from its deepwater, high-pressure environment, where it looks more like a typical fish, it takes on the blob appearance.

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Goblin Shark

This shark's disconcerting appearance with its needle-like teeth, beady eyes, and long snout does make it appear more like a goblin than a shark. The goblin shark comes from an ancient line of sharks believed to have changed little in the last 125 million years. They can grow up to 13 feet in length and spend most of their time in deep waters near the seafloor looking for food.

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Saiga Antelope

A mother saiga with brown and tan fur walks on a grassy patch, with a calf next to her — Igor Shpilenok / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2,0

The saiga antelope looks like just another antelope if you start at the body. The nose and head quickly change that perception with a hooked snout, making it look more like a camel mixed with an elephant. Sadly, the saiga antelope is a critically endangered animal that one ranged over Eurasia but has since been confined to a single region in Russia and a few in Kazakhstan. The antelope's rather large nose evolved to help it deal with filtering out dusty air in the summer and to warm cold air in the winter.

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Gerenuk

The gerenuk name comes from a Somali word meaning "giraffe-necked." But that neck isn't the only thing it has in common with giraffes: the gerenuk also doesn't need to drink water. Instead, this antelope species gets all the hydration it needs from a diet of tree branches, brush, vines, and other plant matter. At only two weeks old, these animals learn to balance on their hind legs.

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Dumbo Octopus

The dumbo octopus got its name from the fins that bring to mind the large ears of the cartoon elephant. It uses those fins for steering while swimming freely about the deep ocean areas it calls home. The dumbo octopus doesn't have ink because it wouldn't help it blind a predator to escape in the darkness of the ocean depths. Instead, the octopus changes its color and size.

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Pink Fairy Armadillo

The pink fairy armadillo looks like a baby bunny wearing an armadillo shell. It reaches just 3.5 to 4 inches in length and lives in Argentina. It evolved to enjoy being in the desert. This little creature digs burrows in the soil and uses the flat, rear part of its body to compact the soil, significantly reducing the chances of a tunnel collapse.

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Cantor's Giant Soft-Shelled Turtle

The Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtle looks like a melted version of a turtle. The close-set eyes and broad, wedge-shaped head give rise to its more descriptive name — frog-faced softshell turtle. This freshwater species lives in ponds, lakes, and rivers throughout Asia and can grow up to 6 feet in length.

Despite the wide range of habitats, it is listed on the IUCN red list as critically endangered. There's hope that the species may recover based on growing numbers of nests and eggs found in surveys.

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Purple Frog

The purple frog can be found in the Western Ghats in India and is known for its fat, bloated body. Spending most of its life underground, the purple frog only comes to the surface for roughly two weeks every year to mate. It even eats underground, primarily ants and termites.

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Okapi

Jiri Hrebicek / Shutterstock

You might think that the okapi was related to the zebra because of the stripes on its rear legs, or perhaps a horse because of its head and body shape. The okapi's large upright ears and prehensile blue-violet tongue spill the beans on the actual relative: the giraffe. The okapi was first brought to the attention of the Western world in the late 1800s when explorer Henry Morton Stanley mentioned it in one of his popular travelogues. You'll find the okapi in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is the national animal.