Weird and Strange Animals in the World

Our earth is a planet of weird and strange animals. These weird and strange animals not only startles our eyes at a first glance but also open doors to new branches of learning.

Below are the 5 animals that I think are not only a bit unusual by their appearance but are also interesting to learn about.

The aye aye is a lemur, native to Madagascar. The aye aye lemur is an extremely rare primate which is distinguished by its rodent like teeth, large eyes, a slim dark body and a thin middle finger. The aye aye lemur is the world's largest nocturnal primate i.e it spends its day sleeping and becomes active only at night, searching for food.

The aye aye lemur can be called a 'Primate woodpecker'. It has a strange method of finding food. It taps on trees and makes a hole to find a larva or caterpillar, its main diet. Then uses its thin middle finger to pull them out.

The aye aye lemur has a number of local superstitions attached to its name. These superstitions are one the reasons why this creature is one of the endangered animals in the world. For the locals, an aye aye is a symbol of death and the sight of an aye aye predicts the death of a villager. Some say that if it points its middle finger at someone then he is sure to die. Therefore the aye aye is looked as a sign of evil and is killed at sight.

Sloths are adorable medium sized creatures which are native to Central and South America. They are easily distinguishable with their long claws. Sloths are mainly vegetarians feeding on buds, shoots and leaves but some sloths are also seen to eat insects, small reptiles and birds.

A sloth is famous as a lazy creature. It spends most of its time hanging from tree branches and only move when necessary. But when a predator reaches, a sloth can move at a pace of 4m per minute. A sloth is a true eater. With two third of its whole weight consisting of its stomach's contents. Its stomach also matches its slow nature. The digestive process of a sloth can take a month or more to complete. This strange creature has another characteristic. The hair of a sloth grows in opposite direction to other mammals.

The armadillo is a placental mammal which is native to South and Central America. The armadillo is famous for its leathery armor shell. The name armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one". There are approximately 20 species of the armadillo some of which are distinguished from the number of bands on its armor. The armadillo is about 75cm long with its tail.

This weird and unusual animal is used in many types of scientific researches. Armadillos are used for the study of leprosy. The nine banded armadillo is also studied in science for its unusual reproductive system, giving birth to four quadruplets which are genetically identical. The shell of armadillo is also used to make a charango, which is a traditional musical instrument.

Australia is the land of strange animals. If you want to crown any animal the strangest animal of Australia, then the strongest contender of them all is the Duck Billed Platypus or the Platypus. The platypus in all ways is one of the most strangest creatures in the world. It is a monotreme mammal, i.e it lays eggs instead of giving birth like other mammals.

The strangest thing about a platypus is its appearance. A platypus has duck-bill, beaver tail and otter foot. When the Europeans first encountered the duck billed platypus, they thought it was something made by attaching different animal parts.

Another distinction of a platypus is its venom. The male platypus has the ability to inject venom from the spur on its hind leg making it one of the few venomous mammals.

This weird and strange creature is a soft shell turtle which is originally native to China. These are sometimes called pancake turtles. These turtles spends most of their time lying on sand waiting for small insects and invertebrates to feed.

These creatures can seem rather helpless but when smelling danger, they can escape at speeds of 15 miles per hour. These turtles are savage fighters, darting their heads at their targets similar to that of a snake. They are quite unfriendly to human visitors, biting fingers and sometimes even hand.