STRANGE ANIMALS:

The Komodo Dragon’s Filthy, Disgusting Mouth

Being stuck on an island with no natural predators, the Komodo dragon already has a
good evolutionary hand, growing to become the largest living lizards on earth, reaching
almost 10 feet long. But as many lizards will be happy to tell you, “size doesn’t matter,”
so the Komodos also evolved a quite nasty way to bring down their prey.

To start with, the Komodos have two small venom glands in their lower jaw that can
release toxins that can cause swelling, lowered blood pressure, reduced blood clotting ,
paralysis, shock, hypothermia and extreme pain. But that’s not enough for these foul
lizards. They also have some of the all-around most disgusting mouths of any animal on
earth. In fact, their saliva contains E. coli, Staphylococcus, Providencia and other deadly
bacteria. Each dragon may have up to 57 different strains of bacteria in their mouth at
any given time! While Komodos don’t have any problems hunting smaller animals on
their island with a simple bite of the neck and maybe a quick tail whip, they also have it
easy when hunting larger creatures like water buffalo (or, occasionally, humans). In
fact, the dragon will simply bite the buffalo and then follow it around for a day or two
until the prey succumbs to the venom and infections resulting from the Komodo bite.

Scientists still don’t know how the dragons survive with so much nasty stuff in their
mouths and they can’t run experiments on the captive populations, because the bacteria
die out on dragons that aren’t wild.

The Spotted Hyena’s Strange Sex Organs

If you’re a mother, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that giving birth is no picnic
–but just be thankful you aren’t a spotted hyena mother. These poor creatures have a
vagina that is fused shut, so intercourse, urination and birth are all performed through
the female’s massively large clitoris. The strange organ matches the male’s penis in
both size and hardness.
Scientists are still struggling to understand why the female hyena would have evolved
this trait. It certainly doesn’t seem beneficial given that one out of every ten births
results in the death of the mother and that almost every first-born cub suffocates during
birth.

On the upside, while birth may be a serious challenge for female hyenas, they are one of
only a handful of creatures that live in a matriarchal society, so at least they have that
trade off going for them.

The Anglerfish’s Extreme Sexual Dimorphism

By now, most of you are at least a little familiar with the anglerfish and its strange
dangling light orb. Heck, we even sell a cute anglerfish nightlight in the Neatoshop. But
what you might not know is that you’ve probably only ever been introduced to the
female anglerfish. While plenty of animals display sexual dimorphism to some level,
it’s never been quite as drastic as the differences between the male and female
anglerfish. In fact, when scientists first discovered the male anglerfish, they thought he
was some kind of parasite that fed off of the female …and in a way, they were right.

The male anglerfish is drastically smaller than the female and he does not have a
glowing lure on his head and many are so stunted that they can’t eat at all, which means
he has to find a female ASAP if he wants to survive. So the male quickly finds a female,
bites down on her side and releases an enzyme that dissolves the skin of his mouth and a
little of her body so the two can fuse together. Slowly the male atrophies until all that is
left of him is a pair of gonads which release sperm whenever the female’s hormones
announce that eggs are being released. Scientists have found some anglerfish females
with as many as 8 pairs of male gonads attached to their side.

In a small handful of anglerfish species, things can get even weirder if a male can’t find
a mate. In these cases, the male will start growing and increase drastically in size,
eventually becoming a female himself.
The Pistol Shrimp’s Shooting Claw

Unless you have some sort of rare phobia, chances are, you’ve never found shrimp all
that intimidating. If you met the pistol shrimp though, you might change your mind.
This crazy crustacean has one disproportionately large claw with two interlocking parts
in place of pinchers. When he pulls it back and releases the pressure built up in his claw,
it releases a wave of bubbles that contain so much energy that they are as hot as the
surface of the sun. The resulting shock waves knock out predators and prey for the
shrimp, making his life pretty chill for a small shrimp in the big ocean.

The Hippopotamus’ Blood Sweat

Being the most deadly animal in Africa, the hippo doesn’t have much to worry about in
terms of predators. Sure, an occasional lion, croc or hyena might munch on the babies,
but once these river monsters grow up, they’re pretty much at the top of the food chain.
That’s why their biggest defenses aren’t against other creatures, but against the ravaging
African sun and disease-causing bacteria. While rolling around in the mud can work as
a natural sunscreen, it’s simply not enough when the majority of their day is spent
wading through the river. Instead, hippos have developed their own natural sunscreen,
which oozes out of their pores in a shocking, bright red color. This strange secretion has
earned the appropriately horrific nickname of “blood sweat,” although it contains
neither bodily fluid. Instead, it is made up of a number of highly acidic compounds that
absorb ultraviolet light, preventing sunburn, and that inhibit the growth of bacteria.
While we usually think of the blood sweat as bright red, it actually comes out clear,
turns red and then fades to brown as it becomes exposed to the air.
The Texas Horned Lizard’s Blood Shooting Defense

Generally, when you’re being attacked by something that wants to eat you, the last thing
you want to do is let them get a taste of your delicious, delicious blood to further entice
them. But for critters that aren’t as tasty as us humans, this rule applies less and less. In
fact, the Texas horned lizard has blood that tastes so gross that it voluntarily gives
predators a taste just to show them that they won’t find any pleasure snacking on the
lizard. As if that weren’t strange enough though, the source of the lizard’s blood buffet
is even weirder …it launches its fluid sample straight from its eye. Even if the taste of
the little critter’s blood wasn’t enough to turn away a potential predator, this horrifying
scene certainly is!

Aye-aye

The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a strepsirrhine native

to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the
same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and
is characterized by its unique method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then
gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its elongated middle finger to pull the grubs out.
The Aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and dwells predominantly in
forest canopies. It weighs about 2.5 kilograms, with the female weighing in slightly less
(by an average of 100 grams) than males. Other than weight and sex organs, aye-
ayes exhibit no sexual dimorphism of any kind. They all grow from 30-37 cm from
head to body, with a 44-53 cm tail.

The adult Aye-aye has black or dark brown fur covered by white guard hairs at the neck.
The tail is bushy and shaped like that of a squirrel. The Aye-aye’s face is also rodent-
like, the shape of a raccoon’s, and houses bright, beady, luminous eyes. Its incisors are
very large, and grow continuously throughout its lifespan. These features contrast its
monkey-like body, and are the likely cause of why scientists originally deemed it to be a
rodent.
The Aye-aye’s hands are arguably its most unique feature. Much like other primates, it
possesses opposable thumbs, but both the hallux and the fingers are long and thin, and
appear to be in a curved position somewhat similar to that of a fairy-tale witch when the
muscles are relaxed. The middle finger can be up to three times longer than the others.
The Aye-aye lives primarily on the east coast of Madagascar. Its natural habitat is
rainforest or deciduous forest, but many live in cultivated areas due to deforesting.
Rainforest Aye-ayes, the most common, dwell in canopy areas, and are usually sighted
upwards of 700 meters altitude. The Aye-aye sleeps during the day in nests built in the
forks of trees.
AYE AYE:

Star-nosed Mole

The Star-nosed Mole (Condylura cristata) is a small North American mole found in

easternCanada and the north-eastern United States. It is the only member of the
tribe Condyluriniand the genus Condylura.
It lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and
molluscs. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds.
Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these
tunnels exit underwater. It is active day and night and remains active in winter, when it
has been observed tunnelling through the snow and swimming in ice-covered streams.
Little is known about the social behavior of the species, but it is suspected that it is
colonial.
The Star-nosed Mole is covered in thick blackish brown water-repellent fur and has
large scaled feet and a long thick tail, which appears to function as a fat storage reserve
for the spring breeding season. Adults are 15 to 20 cm in length, weigh about 55 g, and
have 44 teeth. The mole’s most distinctive feature is a circle of 22 mobile, pink, fleshy
tentacles at the end of the snout. These are used to identify food by touch, such as
worms, insects and crustaceans.