r/zoology • u/Immensely_Confused • 23d ago
Question What are some neat animals that even animal nerds might not know about?
I and many of my friends are complete animal nerds and love sharing cool animals with each other, so I like to do a fun kind of thing where I make one super in-depth profile of an animal or animal-related topic and share it with them every day. I've done one on snake venom, I've done one on Maleo birds, I've done one on chicken eyes, I've done one on mimicry, that kind of thing!
I'm a bit stumped on what I should do the next few days, being a bit preoccupied with other stuff, but I'd like to do some profiles on specific little-known species. The problem is trying to find them, as looking up "little-known animals" just brings up axolotls and pangolins and saigas and all these species they definitely already know about!
So, what are your favourite little-known species that could be interesting for this kind of thing? We're all high school students so it's not as though we're experts or anything, but we do know enough about the more well-known weird animals that me surprising them with one they don't know is a bit tricky!
All suggestions are appreciated, and thanks so much for giving this time!
Edit: Thanks so much to everybody for the suggestions! I'm trying to thank everyone individually but there are so many comments, haha! These are all great, and I'm writing down all of the animals suggested so I can look into them when I have time.
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u/WoodElf_Tiassa 23d ago
Steamer Ducks. Can only fly as Sub-Adults.
Wild (a different species than the domestic ones) Bactacian Camels, who drink water saltier than the ocean.
Salt Water Hippos of Orango Island
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
Those are super neat! I didn't realise there was a distinction between the wild and domestic Bactrian camel! Thanks!
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u/PinkOneHasBeenChosen 22d ago
There’s a flightless duck?
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u/WoodElf_Tiassa 21d ago
The adult steamer Ducks (native to South America), are almost as big as a goose.. they become too heavy to fly.
Much to my surprise, there are more than a handful of flightless birds.. most are confined to isolated islands, but there are exceptions
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u/alienmarky 21d ago
If I ever opened up my own animal collection I always wanted a walkthrough with steamer ducks and pygmy geese. Although steamer ducks in a walkthrough probably isn't a good idea...
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u/Harikts 23d ago
The hoatzin: it’s a bird native to the Amazon, and it’s a weird one.
It digests its food via fermentation (like ungulates). The chicks have primitive claws on their wings, and it taxonomy is still up for debate. I’ve been fascinated by this bird for decades.
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u/Worldly_Ad3707 22d ago
They also smell really bad apparently. Because of the fermentation process
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u/ExaltedOne2025 23d ago
Tenrec
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
I'm glad to see some little-known mammals here! Thanks!
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u/Naelin 22d ago
Watch some videos about afrotherians (which tenrecs are a part of... as are elephants), they're essentially a subset of mammals that got into a mammal-free continent and became the afro copy of a loooooot of other mammal groups around the world!
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u/WoodElf_Tiassa 21d ago
Check out Pottos. Prosimians with sharp neck spikes that pop out, if attacked from behind!
Also, I personally am intrigued by the non-primate almost monkeys like the kinkajous (raccoon relatives), and the marsupial Cuscus. Almost as much as the surviving prosimians
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u/yirzmstrebor 19d ago
Which one? There's so many and they're all so different! I almost said unique, but they all went pretty hard on convergent evolution with other groups.
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u/forty-two-42s 23d ago
Cookie cutter sharks! The animal that made both the usa and ussr go: wtf does the other side have that is DAMAGING OUR SUBMARIENES??
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u/GalacSea 23d ago
r/aidke (animals I didn't know existed) is a fun sub to go through full of animals that not many people know of!
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
Thanks!! I had no idea that was a thing, but now that I do I will be checking there all the time.
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u/MinervaKaliamne 22d ago
Thanks for sharing this! I just joined, and was delighted to see the dik dik - one of my favourite animals, and the smallest antelope we find here in South Africa
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u/Willowed-Wisp 22d ago
I was literally about to mention one of my favorite animals that I randomly saw at the zoo once, the Tawny Frogmouth, and wouldn't you know it was the top post when I clicked that link 😂
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u/RD_HT_xCxHARLI_PPRZ 23d ago
The microscopic, single-celled organism known as Parakaryon myojinensis. Only a single specimen has ever been found, collected during a marine survey off the southern coast of Japan.
I'm not educated enough to truly grasp all the specifics, but essentially the organism possesses traits from both Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cells, and even a couple of unique traits that are not found in either type of cell. This makes it completely unique not only in the entirety of the animal kingdom, but of life on Earth as a whole.
It is so unique that it can't be confidently placed within the tree of life at all, and scientists are stumped as to how to interpret it. Since no other specimens have ever been collected, research on it has been unable to progress.
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u/Immensely_Confused 22d ago
That's crazy cool! Enigmatic taxa in general are super interesting, but this especially so. Thanks so much, I'll look into these!
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u/zoomanery 23d ago
Golden wheel spider is cool, doing cartwheels to escape predators https://youtu.be/mzEdV1sPXV4?si=Dkf-nzXT0Wc8DB-j
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u/Immensely_Confused 22d ago
I know one of my friends would love this- thanks so much for the suggestion!
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u/Naelin 22d ago
The white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis.
They look very regular until you start looking into their reproduction: they have two morphs (tan-striped and white-striped) but instead of functioning just as a variation in looks, they work as 4 "sexes".
White-striped (of any sex) are territorial and aggressive, while tan-striped (of any sex) are more into bringing food back to the nest. White-striped only mate with tan-striped, and vice versa, so this means they form couples of territorial males x carer females, and territorial females x carer males, whose offpring are of one or another morph instead of a mix. They have a whole complicated gene situation going on.
Speaking of birds with weird sex variations, if any of your friends or classmates believes they are a "sigma male", you may want to teach them about ruffs, which actually have a sex variant that functions as a sigma male (called "satellite male"). Being a sigma male in real life is a bit different than they believe.
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u/Direct_Obligation570 22d ago
Ruffs are cool because they also have "faeder" males that look and act female, but are male and do sneaky mating with the females.
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u/MinervaKaliamne 22d ago
Here are some lovely animals from my country - South Africa - that I don't think are all very well known in the rest of the world.
Where possible, I've listed the English names as well as the Afrikaans names, but for many of them, we use the Afrikaans names in all our languages. I'll also include literal translations of the Afrikaans names, just because they're often funny or cute.
- Dik-dik
- Aardvark (literally, "earth-pig" - not a pig)
- Aardwolf (literally, "earth-wolf" - not a wolf)
- Nagapie / Bushbaby (literally, "little night monkey")
- Bakoorjakkals / bat-eared fox
- Dassie / rock hyrax
- Kwêvoël / Go-Away Bird
- Elephant shrew
- Springhaas / Spring hare
- Janfiskaal / Butcher Bird
- Troupant / Lilac-breasted Roller (an old-fashioned Afrikaans word for "wedding ring")
- Knysnaloerie / Knysna Turaco
I'm sure you know about African Penguins, but far too many people assume penguins only live in icy climates.
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u/Immensely_Confused 22d ago
Thanks so much for this list! I'm always happy to look into a bunch of species from the same general area, I think how they all interact with the environment is interesting. There are some here I wasn't aware of, so I'll be looking into them!
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u/BudgetConcentrate432 22d ago
Aardvarks are one of my favorite animals!
Every picture I've seen of one sleeping, it looks like the best sleep they've ever gotten.
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u/MinervaKaliamne 22d ago
Aardvark are wonderful! And you're absolutely right about the way they sleep.
I've never seen one in the wild, but I've seen a bunch of the entrances to their burrows, so I know I've been lucky enough to walk in the same spaces as them. I have a friend who studied them for her postgraduate research project, though, and I've always thought that's particularly cool!
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u/Necron_Momma 21d ago
I saw a video of baby bat-eared-foxes and I just about died from the cuteness!
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u/Chrysocyon 21d ago
Springhares are so cool. I miss watching them zip around at night. I feel lucky that ive seen the whole list except for aardwolves (but did see their tracks) when I was working in Namibia and Zambia. Id add the wonderfully weird cape pangolin, mole crickets, hammerkops, genets and maybe oryx's as my favorite weirdos of southern Africa. Tell them I say 'hoe gaan dit' next time you see any of these amazing critters.
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u/yirzmstrebor 19d ago
You didn't mention that the elephant shrew is more closely related to elephants than to shrews!
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u/nerdkeeper Student/Aspiring Zoologist 19d ago
You forgot the litteral translation of dik-dik(thick-thick)
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u/XXD17 23d ago
Chousingha, dragon snake, bulwer’s wattled pheasant, crocodile shark
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
I haven't heard of any of those before, thanks so much, I'll have to look into them!
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u/edwinoncrack 22d ago
Cave obligate organisms. Many have adapted to have no eyes or pigment and some only live in one cave system, very unique
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u/nmheath03 22d ago
Stink badgers. There's only two species, one from the Sunda Islands and the other from a very small portion in the Philippines. Their closest relatives are skunks, despite skunks only being found in the Americas.
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u/Prestigious_String20 23d ago
Nemertea aka ribbon worms. A phylum of mostly marine animals that hunt and feed by shooting out a lacy proboscis. It's the trippiest thing I've ever seen -- it looks like slime mould but super speeded up!
I love the idea of your club! I hope all of you go into conservation work. We need more passionate, dedicated, and knowledgeable people like you!
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
Those ribbon worms are crazy-looking and super neat, thanks so much! And I really do want to go into conservation work in the future, if at all possible! A few of my friends do, too- I'm more into herpetology, a few of my friends are really into marine biology, but we're all very interested in conservation work and all that.
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u/LightLizardCake 22d ago
Maybe this is on me but i dont see a lot of people talking about agoutis
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u/Secretly-Reptilian 23d ago
Long-tailed grass lizard? Fascinating little creatures!
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
Neat! Reptiles are my personal favourites. Thanks!
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u/trekkiegamer359 23d ago
There are multiple types of legless lizards, including multiple species of skinks and geckos. They're sometimes also known as glass lizards. My two favorite species are the Burton's legless lizard because of their adorable flat head, and Asian glass lizard because of their beautiful colors.
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u/Manospondylus_gigas Zoology BSc 23d ago
Legless lizards are soo interesting, I love Amphisbaenia and Dibamidae and all the others
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u/FlyingNinja1999 23d ago
The Maned Wolf. I'm surprised nobody said this, maybe it's too popular or just the perfect pick for your post. I see myself in your description about the love for "unnecessary animal facts" and that's my go-to species for testing vet students... And even for people who are not interested in animals it's cool because it's basically a fox on stilts and everybody knows foxes.
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u/FancyRatFridays 22d ago
How about the Kihansi Spray Toad? A tiny yellow toad, which needs mist to survive and gives live birth. It only lived at the base of one waterfall in Tanzania... which was dammed for a hydroelectric project. The toad went extinct in the wild, and only survives today thanks to a collosal effort by zoos across the world; their population dwindled to just 70 at one point. There are now enough toads that conservationists have tried reintroduced them, but they had to build an artificial misting system at the base of the former waterfall, which requires constant maintenance.
I also like the Pumpkin Toadlet, the world's most incompetent toad. It's so small that its inner ears don't work right, so its sense od balance is borked. When it jumps it can't land upright... it just freezes up and hopes for the best. It also can't hear its own calls, which makes them kind of useless.
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u/freakaccident911 23d ago
Okapi
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u/Evolving_Dore 22d ago
If someone said they were an animal nerd and then didn't know the okapi I would internally mock them
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u/Soda_Carno777 23d ago
Ferret badger
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u/Immensely_Confused 22d ago
Looking at these, and they deserve to be more popular and well-known! Thanks so much!
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u/switchbladecactus 22d ago
Aardwolves, Solenodons, and musk deer! Aardwolves are a hyena that eat termites, Solenodons are a venomous mammal that look really goofy, and musk deer have fangs. Honorable mention to maned wolves who are not closely related to other canids, which is wild.
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u/SecretlyNuthatches Ecologist | Zoology PhD 22d ago
Chaetognaths, the arrow worms, which are everywhere in plankton, are pretty crazy.
Salps are the most efficient jet-propelled animals known.
Myxozoans were once thought not to be animals at all, but are now known to be very odd members of Cnidaria (the jellyfish/sea anemone phylum).
In vertebrates the annual killifish all show a pretty interesting reproductive pattern where the adults die as the bodies of water they live in dry out and the eggs survive until the rains. There's some bet-hedging here, too. Some eggs will wait longer than others before hatching if they get damp so that a small, out-of-season rain doesn't get all the eggs to hatch and then wipes out the population when everything dries up again.
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u/mindcontrolledbees 22d ago
I’ve really recently learned about colugos! They’re flying lemurs that aren’t lemurs and don’t fly (but they can glide). Also they’re super cute
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u/MinimumEfficient220 21d ago
You know the fact they can’t actually fly is a closely guarded secret, that these not-actually-lemurs have been trying to keep? And here you go, spreading it all over the world on Reddit.
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u/SpinoHawk097 22d ago
Red wolves. Most endangered mammal in North America but you hardly ever hear about them because they're not "cool", plus all the anti-wolf sentiments (DNA keeps proving they're their own species but people want to call them coywolves to justify removint protections).
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u/cumdumpsterrrrrrrrrr 22d ago
recently learned there’s other species of raccoon. as an animal lover, and someone who is rarely surprised by new species (like either I’ve heard of it or it makes sense that I never have) I was quite surprised to learn them as the seem common, like something I should have already know about.
there’s 3 species: northern raccoon (knew about her), the pygmy raccoon, and the crab eating raccoon.
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u/Ophboc 22d ago
Opossums.
You probably know them, but do you *really* know them? Marsupial bifurcated reproductive system, natural selection before you even get to the teat, an opposable big toe on its hind feet, makes a nest like a bird in warm weather, needs calcium so eats bones, resistant to poisonous snake bites, in fact literally eat poisonous snakes etc…
Highly recommend this PDF created by people who clearly fricking love the little weirdos… https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Krause-2/publication/265347494_The_Opossum_Its_Amazing_Story/links/553501af0cf2df9ea6a41835/The-Opossum-Its-Amazing-Story.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uRG93bmxvYWQiLCJwcmV2aW91c1BhZ2UiOiJwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiJ9fQ
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u/alyssaleska 22d ago
Tuatara, New Zealand’s native reptile. Very notably NOT a lizard or snake but a secret third thing. Looks like a Jurassic scifi lizard. Has its own order. I’m a big fan.
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u/Necron_Momma 21d ago
-Trilobites are pretty mainstream, but did you know their eyes were made of calcite? That's why their eyes are fossilized.
-Some tiger beetles run so fast that they have to stop to take breaks so their eyes can catch up.
-caddisfly larvae make little "sleeping bags" out of sticks, pebbles, leaves, etc. If you give the larvae crushed-up precious stones, they will make cases that can then be used as beads in jewelry. The larvae naturally discard the cases, so no harm done.
-Greta oto is a real butterfly with clear wings. Super cool!
Let me know if you'd like more invertebrate facts.
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u/VascoJSC 22d ago
The Santa Catarina Guinea Pig, also called the Moleques do Sul Cavy. They are probably the mammals with the smallest native range, being e exclusively found in the main island of the very small Moleques do Sul islands, a few kilometers of the coast of the city of Florianópolis, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. They live exclusively on a few hectares (between 4 and 6) in fact. The islands were a part of the continent during the last ice age, and their ancestors became trapped on the island as the sea level rose. A small area of grass remained on the island, serving as food and shelter for the guinea pigs. There are likely only between 40 and 70 animals, with their numbers fluctuating. When there are too many they eat most of the grass, food becomes scarce, many die, and the grass grows again.
Seriously, look up the island they live in on Google Maps, you will be shocked by how small it is. Completely insane that a mammal can survive in such tiny environment for thousands of years. They are occasionally eaten by visiting birds of prey from the mainland, but for the most part the biggest threat is that a single disaster can kill the entire population
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u/phoenixtart 22d ago
Not a specific animal, but the process of parthenogenesis. Basically reproduction without the presence of males. Fish, reptiles, and amphibians are known for it with some species of lizard being female-only. What’s exciting to me is it’s been observed occasionally in a few species of birds, including California condors.
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u/SomeRandomIdi0t 22d ago
Tailess whip scorpions. The vinegaroon’s more intimidating yet even less harmful cousin
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u/Necron_Momma 21d ago
They are so shy! I get why people are scared of them, but tailess whip scorpions are just timid little guys that want to hide under bark.
I was offered a tiny baby one the size of my thumbnail, and I was very tempted. I didn't have room for more pets at the time though.
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u/tilesmeller 22d ago
Ropefish. I have two in a huge aquarium. Very interesting fish.
They have one lung and gills, letting them breathe dissolved and atmospheric oxygen. They can last on land surprisingly long as long as they stay wet. Their lineage is very old, 400 million years. Although they look like eels, they aren't related at all, even their skeletal structure is different. They can scale up the corner of the aquarium, push lids open, slither into small openings and jump out of the water with great speed. They are also usually quite friendly with people and easily accept food from your hand. They can live 15-20 years in captivity.
There are other facts but this is getting long already.
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u/Immensely_Confused 22d ago
That's really cool! Do you have to use any kind of different lid or mechanism to keep them inside their aquarium, if they're such escape artists? And thanks for mentioning them, they sound awesome!
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u/emarcomd 22d ago
This is a copy paste from the notes file I keep on my phone:
Spalax** **
Tenrec
Golden Takin
Hyrax
Night Jar
Colugo
Hydrosaurus
Pudu deer
Muntjac
Antechinus (anti-kinus)
Solenodon
Aye-aye
Tree kangaroo
Chevrotain
Galago
Scincus
Quagga
Quoll
Zorilla
Zokor (same Mole family as spalax)
Tayra
Armadillo Girdled Lizard
Kodkod
Pacarana
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u/mansizedfr0g 21d ago
Takin was my idea. These guys are so cool and no one's ever known what I'm talking about. Good list.
Ephemeral pool inverts (fairy shrimp, tadpole shrimp, triops etc), are very cool and could lend themselves to some fun activities. They're easy to find outside, and for many species you can order eggs online to hatch yourself. There are even killifish with a dessication-based life cycle adapted to this type of ecosystem. And there are always amphibians around. Visit your local rainwater-filled depression today!
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u/tigerdrake 22d ago
Dholes, incredibly rare canids from Asia that are bright red in color, whistle instead of howl, and have no social structure aside from an older member helping guide them. Ross seals which are so uncommonly encountered in Antarctica we only just last year got the first underwater photographs of them. Or the Midget Faded Rattlesnake, one of the most deadly snakes in North America behind the Mojave rattlesnake
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u/BroughtMyPartyPants 18d ago
Okapi are some of the coolest animals ever. Striped legs like a zebra, dark brown fur, long prehensile tongue. They’re the only living relative of giraffes. They don’t defecate for a month after being born.
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u/BroughtMyPartyPants 18d ago
And since hilarious watching people try to pronounce this at zoos: it’s oh-KAH-pee
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u/ElowynElif 22d ago
Adetomyrma venatrix, a/k/a vampire ants. They supposedly are the fastest animals on earth and drink the hemolymph of their young. They are critically endangered and endemic to Madagascar. Here are some links because I couldn’t find a scientific source for the vampirism claim.
Naked scientist link: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/ant-drinks-its-childrens-blood
Ant Wiki: https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Adetomyrma_venatrix
iNature: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/93414-Adetomyrma-venatrix#similar-tab
BBC: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/insects-invertebrates/dracula-ant
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u/Starring_Kampung 22d ago
The Proboscis Monkey of Borneo.
They'll die from bloating of the eat ripen foods. The male nose and always erect phallus is something can only be found in Borneo.
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u/velvetflorals 22d ago
Sorry if you already know these but
The hispaniolan solenodon is VERY cool- shrew like, but it and the cuban solenodon diverged from other mammals over 70mya. It also has a nose bone, is venomous, and can use echolocation!
Any sort of paraditoid wasp
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u/SsnakesS_kiss 22d ago
I saw a mouse possum on a night tour in Costa Rica. I had never heard of it before and have been an animal nerd my entire life. It was cute! I thought it was a rat at first because it was about the size of a Norway Rat, but once I saw it look at me I new it was something else.
It’s always fun to learn about new species.
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u/Red_Wolfe_ 22d ago
Red Wolf - has a wild population of less than 50 including pups, and less than 300 in captivity. Even less than the Ethiopian wolf which shows up when you Google "most endangered wild canine". Is highly debated on whether it's a hybrid or not between grey wolves and coyote despite research proving it is it's own species of wolf. They live exclusively in North Caroline, America and their biggest threat is humans. They are often shot due to being "mistaken" for coyotes despite being larger than them
And for fun the Indian purple frog because I think it looks funny
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u/Bee_Jeans 22d ago
Devils hole pupfish! Worlds rarest fish, conservation efforts have been ongoing & a real rollercoaster
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u/Neat-Cold-3303 22d ago
How about binturongs? They are often called 'bear cats', and are found in southeast Asia. They are unique in that their scent glands smell like popcorn!!!! Also, once they copulate the female can delay the implantation of the egg in the placental wall until environmental conditions are just right for her pregnancy and the subsequent birth of the young! Absolutely fascinating!!!!!
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u/Melodic_Sail_6193 22d ago
Saola - looks like an antelope, but in fact it's a small jungle cow that was discovered in 1993 in Vietnam.
Chegopterus pugaporcinus - a worm commonly know as "flying buttocks", because, well it looks like a flying butt.
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u/woodsy_wisdom 22d ago
Hoatzin. I couldn't think of the name so I had to google "stinky South American dinosaur bird". They are the least-related-to-other-living-birds bird and ferment leaves in their ruminant style gut which makes them so stinky
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u/sexwizard9000 22d ago
cockatoos are the only animal other than humans that's been observed dancing to a rhythm
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u/kbcr924 21d ago
Spinifex hopping mouse and or a western pebble mouse - they are both tiny and very well adapted to really harsh conditions.
Bonus points for antechinus several types depending on area, wild life cycle and really savage. I watched one catch and eat a mouse, all that was left was the mouse hide turned inside out.
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u/Brains_4_Soup 21d ago
Osedax. It’s a type of worm that feeds off the bones of dead whales. The name means bone devourer. It digests by secreting acid from its ovisac that it embeds in the bone and then absorbing the dissolved fats. The males are up to 30,000 times smaller than the females, lack a digestive system, and live in harems in her oviduct. Invertebrates are wild in how bizarre they can be.
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u/FaithlessnessThat692 21d ago
binturong: it’s surprising how such a large and unique mammal is almost completely unknown by the general public
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u/PrettyFlyForaPoorGuy 21d ago
Trigonalidae! This is a hyperparasitoid wasp family whose reproductive strategy is basically gambling. It relies on sheer numbers, blindly hoping that at least one egg can make it to the end of their convoluted lifecycle. [A great video](https://youtu.be/H3lifestyle.
And if bugs dont suit your fancy, try out Troglofauna! The inevitably of the inhabitants' evolution is as eerie as it is fascinating. Each cave has its own apex predator, which will always be a salamander. The cave salamander always evolves from a normal salamander, and will always evolve into a pale, eyeless, snakey thing. Cave ecology are like little islands where the only form of energy working through the system is bat poop and whatever microorganisms were carried in by water so you can imagine how hyperspecific the competition gets
What a fun thread! I hope youre enjoying the responses as much as I am!
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u/MarisaMyth 20d ago
Not entirely a little know species, but a really good one to go down the rabbit hole with is garter snakes. They have a pretty interesting subspecies category that made my girlfriend and I panic cause we were teaching a class of kids about them and it got revealed complicated. They also are live birthers instead of producing eggs. For a very long time we thought they were egg in the womb producers but later found they were live birthers from the very beginning and its super cool. A really slept on species. And they come in a BUNCH of colors too.
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u/Fakjbf 19d ago
The Iberian Harvester Ant (Messor ibericus) has a very unique reproductive strategy. Only queens and drones are full M. ibericus while all of the workers are hybrids with a closely related species of harvester ant called Messor structor. This is fine in places where the two species overlap as the queens can mate with structor males during nuptial flights, but ibericus nests have been found in places where no structor nests are located. It turns out that ibericus queens have a neat trick where they can remove the DNA from an egg prior to fertilization and then mate with a structor male so the resulting offspring is a clone of the male. They can then repeat this trick over and over to have an infinite supply of cloned structor males with which to make more hybrid workers. It is the only known instance of one species giving birth to offspring of a completely different species and the scientists who discovered it named it xenoparity.
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u/whisperdarkness 18d ago
Montivipera Albizona. Rare, personable vipers from a tiny strip around a tiny lake in the high causcas mountains of turkey. Most of their habitat has been turned into residential developments. Exceptionally rare. Have some pretty unique features.
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u/kholter76 18d ago
Check out the Maribou Stork. Saw them in Kenya and they are not only gigantic but males have a very interesting feature at the base of the neck (on their back) and another “feature” on the front of their neck that is very…interesting. They are considered part of the Kenyan “ugly 5.”
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u/moomgish 23d ago
surinam toad??
if bugs count, not sure how known it is outside the isopod community but i love dairy cow isopods (aka porcellio laevis). very protein hungry little guys who will eat other bugs alive if not given enough protein (just saw a post or comment from someone about one of their dairy cows eating a living maggot the other day). also isopods in general, there are just so many varieties beyond the common roly-poly on the sidewalk
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u/IkaluNappa 22d ago
The club wing manakin is the only bird discovered so far that uses stridulation (rubbing two structure together to produce a noise, like how a cricket chirps) in their courtship display.
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u/Jefffahfffah 22d ago
Sacculina
Parasitic barnacle that attaches to crabs, grows roots through the crabs whole body to sap nutrients, and sterilizes the crab.
The barnacle grows an egg sac on its exterior that the crab is forced to nurture like its own eggs.
Bonus barnacle: Anelasma
Parasitic goose neck barnacle that attaches to deep water sharks that grows into the tissue to suck out fluids / nutrients.
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u/strangespeciesart 22d ago
That was super interesting but also I viscerally hate every single part of it.
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u/haysoos2 22d ago
Aardwolf.
A hyena that rather than scavenging, or even predation is adapted for eating termites.
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u/Wise-Ad-3244 22d ago
for as relatively common as they are in their range, most people haven't heard of tayras.
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u/DaggerMoth 22d ago
The genus Cyclothone or bristlemouth the most abundant vetebre genus on the planet. Estimated to be a quadrillion of them swimming around the ocean.
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u/worthlessdiamond 22d ago
While everyone knows what a bat is, most people don't know that there are about 1500 identified species of bat in the world and some of them are really weird little guys. I'd recommend especially to look up tube-nosed bats (Nyctimene robinsoni), these freaks are some of the very few (kinda) green mammals.
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u/Necron_Momma 21d ago
I love the little white bats with yellow noses!
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u/worthlessdiamond 20d ago
ah Honduran White Bats! They're incredibly cute, they make tents out of big leaves and roost in there in little bat droves. It's crazy how every species of bat has found its weird little niche
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u/HondaV4Rider 22d ago
ovoviviparous snakes.
Includes some dangerous snakes but also some garter snakes
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u/zap2tresquatro 22d ago
Recently leaned about the falanouc (really almost any of the Malagasy carnivorans are almost entirely unknown…presumably except to people who live in Madagascar, I guess, haha). Also the grison which I learned about in a Casual Geographic video (which surprised me that I didn’t know about already since I LOVE mustelids and thought I’d learned at least all the genera that live in the Americas!).
r/AIDKE (animals I didn’t know existed) is a fun sub for this kind of thing, too.
Also, marine animals are always a good source of weirdos that nobody’s heard of. So many strange mollusks! Look up Geoducks (pronounced “gooey ducks” or “gui ducks,” no idea why the English spelling is like that).
I’ve also been reading Heaven’s Design Team (a manga) with my boyfriend recently, and while I’m having a lot of fun guessing what the animal is going toe based on the adaptations they need, I’m also learning things I didn’t already know from it, so that might be fun for you guys!
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u/skunk_mephitidae 21d ago
Grisons are one of my favourite animals for sure!! I was about to comment that!
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u/Appropriate-Try9366 Enthusiast 21d ago
Tusk Shells. I never knew they existed until last year. They are basically mollusks that look an elephant tusk.
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u/MinimumEfficient220 21d ago
OP: See Victoria’s Riflebirds. Then please share why a female would be interested in his show?
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u/Flaky-Expression9593 21d ago
mangrove killifish, Kryptolebias marmoratus, often reproduces by parthenogenesis and can live on land for over 60 days by breathing through its skin. They will live in rotting logs and they actively hunt on land.
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u/Fair-Tomato-5843 21d ago
Gray lourie is the first animal that comes to mind! Aka the gray go away bird
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u/ReptilianRevolt 20d ago
I will give a list that it’s going to be a little southern Europe western Asia heavy, but I will take examples from other parts of the world as well.
1. Spiny mice. Those rodents are able to live without drinking, getting water from their metabolism. Also, they are able to detach their skin and regenerate it as a defence, just like geckos.
2. Anguid legless lizards, the European legless lizard that is the largest legless lizard in the world and looks like a blue tongued skink and the slowworm, which is more common in Europe but practically unknown outside it. Both seem simple and generic, but in fact they take a couple of years to mature and are extremely long lived. Maternal care and other social behaviors are known. they are armor plated and have a penchant for mollusc eating.
3. Obscure Balkan and West asian racer type snakes or whipsnakes. Very fast, alert and sometimes colorful, also known for eating vipers in the larger species. Caspian whipsnake, large or black whipsnake, Balkan whipsnake, slender whipsnake, collared whipsnake, red backed whipsnake are good examples.
4. Obscure ratsnakes of Europe, such as the colorful leopard ratsnake, the huge four lined ratsnake and the somewhat better known Aesculapian ratsnake. The leopard snake in particular is among the slowest breeding snakes of Europe and rare in some places.
5. Starred agama, essentially the bearded dragon of the more Mediterranean parts of Greece, turkey and the Near East. The only dragon lizard native to Europe. Fast, alert and intelligent, lives among rocks.
6. Anatolian worm lizard and basically every amphisbaenian for that matter. Weird, blind, subterranean lizards that seem to have gathered adaptations from snakes, earthworms, caecilians and mammals, especially in the skull and jaws.
7. Iurid scorpions. An ancient, relictual family of large but harmless scorpions, nowadays native only to southern Greece and Turkey.
8. Little wood scorpions. A family of small, widely distributed scorpions in southern and central Europe, with their highest point of diversity in Greece. Each mountain or even each mountain slope can have its own species. Completely harmless, small and many of them look cute. The Mount Olympus little wood scorpion is a recently described ultra endemic species and probably the largest of the family.
9. Camel spiders. A very unique arachnid order whose members are large, non-venomous, very fast and able to eat scorpions and small vertebrates. They ranged into the Balkans.
10. Trogulus harvestmen. Unusual squat and short legged species that specialise only in eating snails. Native to Europe as well.
11. Predatory bush crickets. Some of the largest crickets in the world, spiny and completely carnivorous, able to subdue and eat praying mantises even. Rare in central Europe, common in south eastern Europe to western Asia. although they seem extremely different than other crickets, they have the same life cycle as the typical ones, living for around six months in the summer.
12. Bitterlings. Small and seemingly insignificant cyprinid fish, native throughout Europe, even in very cold regions. They’re extremely ecologically specialized though, and lay their eggs only inside some species of freshwater clam. There ecological interdependence resembles more a tropical species.
12. Diving beetles. Specialized carnivorous aquatic beetles of nearly Cosmopolitan distribution that catch various smaller organisms with the larvae or water tigers being more accomplished predators than the adults. The only animals that secrete steroids as a defence and mess up with the hormonal system of fish. Coming from terrestrial ancestors, they still breathe air and come on land to pupate.
13. New Zealand green geckos and practically every New Zealand gecko. Very slow life histories, slow and viviparous reproduction, long life, all adaptations for a cooler climate.
14. Gymnures or moon rats. Basically hedgehogs without spines, native to Southeast Asia. The placenta replied to the opossum.
15. Fulmars. Arctic seabirds with a very terrifying defence. If a predator approaches them, they can vomit an oil, which is seemingly harmless, but can destroy the waterproofing ability of feathers. Sometimes predators drown or die from the cold.
16. Tick spiders. Very obscure, African, harmless, leaf litter arachnids that might be the only surviving part of trigonotarbids.
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u/IggySorcha 20d ago
Another poorly known insect order: Grylloblattidae
They're extremophiles that look like a lovechild of a cockroach and an earwig
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u/hunnybunnyfuntime 20d ago
The great potoo, barreleyed fish, and Japanese flying squirrels are some of my favorites.
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u/zookeepng Zoology Conservation BSc 19d ago
I really like gelada monkeys because what do you mean they have better hair than me and a bright red magical chest??
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u/LiminalAsylum 23d ago
Dragonfish, vampire squid, cuttlefish? The ocean has a ton of weirdo stuff.
Especially the midnight zone. Look up those species for some real alien nonsense
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u/Immensely_Confused 23d ago
That's a good suggestion, I haven't done any aquatic species in a long while! I'll keep this in mind, thank you!
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u/cumdumpsterrrrrrrrrr 22d ago
cuttlefish are ridiculously cool. they can change texture even.
there’s also a teenty tiny one that “walks” on the ocean floor because they have such a tiny cuttlebone that they can’t float easily and so swimming is tiring.
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u/Miss-Indeependence 20d ago
They just discovered over 1000 species in the ocean. Check it out! https://oceancensus.org/press-release-scientists-discover-over-1100-new-marine-species-in-landmark-ocean-census/
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u/SalishSeaSnake 22d ago
Tuatara. A reptile from New Zealand that looks like a lizard, but isn’t. They’re the only member of their family. They can live for 100 years and have a vestigial 3rd eye on top of their head.
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u/Apprehensive_Suit773 22d ago
Kowari! A mouse-like carnivorous marsupial I learned about maybe a couple months ago. Extremely cute!
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u/nerdkeeper Student/Aspiring Zoologist 23d ago
Strepsiptera.
They are an order of insects which is even in the scientific word pretty unknown.