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Top 10 STRANGEST Animals In The World! From massive sea creatures to animals that can live in zero oxygen…Stay tuned to number 1 to find out which is the strangest animal walking this planet!
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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From massive sea creatures to animals that can live in zero oxygen…Stay tuned to number
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1 to find out which is the strangest animal walking this planet!
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Number 10: Pink Fairy Armadillo.
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To kick off our list, here is the smallest member of the armadillo family…the pink
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fairy armadillo.
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This strange-looking animal lives in the grasslands of Argentina, and it’s nocturnal by nature.
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This little guy was first scientifically noted and described in 1825 by one of the famous
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nature scientists of the time, Richard Harlan.
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What makes the pink fairly armadillo funny is that, at first sight, the creature doesn’t
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even look like an armadillo at all!
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It’s more like a combination of a mole and a platypus, along with the head of a hamster…and
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this is not an overstatement!
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They have really small eyes, and a long pink-colored shell on their back, which is connected to
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their body by a gentle membrane.
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This part of the body probably evolved as some kind of a defense mechanism, to protect
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the animal from constant attacks in the open air.
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On top of all this, there are shovel-like paws with big claws, and a funny-looking tail.
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All in all, the pink fairly armadillo is one of the greatest weirdoes out there.
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Number 9: Pangolin.
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The next item on the list is an animal living in a much larger region than its predecessor.
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And compared to this animal, a regular armadillo looks like a weakling.
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The pangolin is characterized by massive scales, covering its entire body, and it looks more
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like an armadillo in a knight’s armor, prepared for a mediaeval battle or a tournament.
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But unfortunately, its story is not that romantic at all.
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Pangolins belong to the groups of the most illegally hunted animals on the planet, and
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they amount to around one quarter of the world’s animal black market.
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What makes pangolins amazing, though, is that they are the only type of mammal with keratin
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based scales covering their body.
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No other animal has this biological feature.
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They are also nocturnal animals, with a very humble diet: they only consume termites and
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ants, grabbing them with their long tongues, like anteaters, but they also have a strong
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sense of smell, which helps them track down food.
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Pangolins are pretty solitary, and they only get together for the mating season.
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They can be found in Africa, as well as India and Southeast Asia.
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Number 8: Japanese Spider Crab.
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Well, this explains many of the Japanese manga creations!
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No wonder the Japanese animators have a vivid imagination, with all the weird-looking animals
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that can be found in the country!
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All jokes aside, the Japanese spider crab is really something, like it came directly
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out of a sci-fi movie set.
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This arthropod has the largest leg span (5.5 meters), and it also had relatives dating
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into prehistoric times, as two similar fossils have been found, and both of them belong to
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the same genus the spider crab comes from.
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The interesting thing is that the Japanese name for this animal is “taka-ashi-gani,”
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which can literally be translated as “tall legs crab.”
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They have strong exoskeleton, which prove valuable for survival, because the spider
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crab can protect itself from many predators, including big octopuses, but they also protect
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themselves by camouflage, blending into the rocky ocean floor or wrapping in sponges or
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other animals and plants.
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The Japanese spider crab is an omnivore, but also a scavenger, eating the remains of dead
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animals and plants.
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These crazy crabs live quite deep…from 150 to 300 meters below the ocean surface.
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Before we move on…don’t forget to like this video and subscribe for more videos by Zero2Hero!
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Number 7: Gobi Jerboa.
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It looks like a mouse, but it’s not a mouse.
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It looks like a rabbit, but it’s not a rabbit.
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So, what is it, then?
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It’s Gobi Jerboa, a rodent living in the regions of present-day Mongolia and China.
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This strange animal was first discovered in 1925, living in the famous Gobi desert.
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Its diet mainly consists of all kinds of seeds and roots, as well as some insects.
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Its tail helps it run very fast, and thanks to its long ears…it can hear very well and
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sense any kind of danger.
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The ears are so big that they exceed the size of the animal’s head almost two times.
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Another very important function of the ears is to help cool the animal’s body after a
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long day in the hot desert.
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That’s evolution for you…everything happens for a reason, even when you have enormous
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ears!
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Number 6: Colugo.
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Colugo is a mammal living in the region of Southeast Asia.
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It belongs to the famous group of gliding mammals, such as flying squirrels or flying
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lemurs, using the skin between the legs to leap around and glide.
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No, it’s not really flying, but at least it’s something!
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Not only that they are one of the few gliding mammals, but they are, in fact, the world’s
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best gliding mammals of all!
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In some areas, they also go by the name of lemurs, but as a matter of fact…they just
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picked up the nickname because of the resemblance.
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These animals predominantly live in the trees, which is why they have developed their gliding
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skills, and use them to a large extent.
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The amazing thing is that a Colugo barely loses altitude when jumping from tree to tree,
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because the membrane between their legs is very effective.
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On the other hand, they are pretty lousy climbers, and the only way for them to climb a tree
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is through a series of small-sized hops, because their hands are just too weak for regular
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climbing.
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And to make things even stranger (otherwise, why would the animal be on this list), let’s
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also mention this: colugos belong to the group of placental mammals, but they are raised
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in a marsupial-like fashion; the mother curls her tail around the young, making an improvised
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pouch.
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Here’s to Colugos, those awesome weirdoes!
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Number 5: Dumbo Octopus.
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As the name suggests, this octopus resembles Dumbo, the character from the eponymous Disney
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classic and, although the species has a proper, scientific name (grimopoteuthis)…the name
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Dumbo octopus has stick to this day.
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No wonder why though, as the name itself is so catchy!
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The Dumbo correlation comes from its elephant ear like fins above the eyes.
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But, just to be clear on this…they are not ears, they are fins!
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And these fins actually play a crucial role, because the Dumbo octopus uses them for swimming.
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These fins serve as propellers, which the animal flaps in order to gain speed.
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And they are pretty effective, because this animal can move in all directions and even
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hover above the seabed.
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Number 4: Giant Soft-Shell Turtle.
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Well, you can figure this one by yourself.
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A turtle isn’t a turtle unless it has a hard shell…expect this one!
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This is a real species of turtle, and it’s named “soft shell” because of obvious reasons.
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It lives in the region of Southeast Asia and it’s one of the biggest freshwater turtles.
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The animal is characterized by a broad, yet quite small head and tiny eyes.
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Its shell is soft and smooth.
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The absolute crazy thing about it is that it remains motionless for 95% of the time,
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and only moves in order to breathe some air and eat, otherwise spending time buried in
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the sand.
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Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the future of this amazing animal is uncertain,
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and it has been classified as endangered.
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Fingers crossed, soft-shelled!
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Number 3: Naked Mole-Rat.
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As if a regular rat wouldn’t be gross enough, we give you…the naked mole-rat.
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This not-so-pretty rodent lives in East Africa, where it is known as the sand puppy.
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Although it really doesn’t look nice, it’s truly a wonder of nature, in the evolutionary
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sense of the word.
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The naked mole-rat is the only animal from the mammalian kingdom that is a thermoconformer,
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meaning it has the ability to adapt its body temperature to any kind of environment, in
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spite of the predominant temperature.
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Furthermore, it has low metabolic and respiratory rates, and it has practically no pain sensors
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in its skin.
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This animal doesn’t have strong vision, but it can move quite fast, backwards and forwards,
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and it’s very effective when it comes to living below ground and digging up tunnels.
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This is absolutely necessary, because it spends most of its life underground; it can be deprived
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of fresh air for quite a long time, being able to survive several hours in a place where
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there is only 5% oxygen.
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And in an environment without any oxygen, it can survive more than 15 minutes.
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All of this makes naked mole-rat the ultimate survivor.
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Number 2: Aye-Aye.
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Probably one of the ugliest, if not THE ugliest land creature, the Aye-Aye is an animal from
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the lemur species, and finds its native natural habitat in Madagascar.
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Apart from being on the opposite side of the word “beautiful,” aye-aye is also the largest
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nocturnal primate in the world.
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This animal has also been the subject of a lot of debate, when it comes to its origin
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and biological classification.
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Because of its incisor teeth, some classify it as a rodent, but on the other hand…because
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of the shape of its eyes, ears and nostrils, it’s also very similar to the cat family.
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The Aye-Aye spends most of its life high up in the trees, where they eat, sleep and mate.
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Number 1: Long-Beaked Echidna.
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This is one of the strangest creatures on the planet, and it lives in New Guinea.
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As you might have guessed, there is also a relative called the short-beaked echidna,
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but the long-beaked version is far stranger looking.
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If we were to describe the animal in one short sentence, it would be: the combo between an
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aardvark and a hedgehog.
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Long-beaked echidna belongs to the group of egg-laying mammals, which is known under the
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name of monotremes.
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The eggs are kept in a pouch, like a marsupial’s, as they incubate.
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The long-beaked echidnas are also interesting because they are the world’s mammal with the
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lowest body temperature.
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Many scientists are of belief that these animals are the remains of the earliest mammals that
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walked the planet, thus offering us a glimpse into what it was like to be a mammal millions
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of years ago, where they were slowly evolving into a group of their own, quite separate
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from reptiles.
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Tell us what you thought was the strangest animal in the comments below and…take care!
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This post was previously published on YouTube.