Sea Unicorn

Narwhal 

Monodon monoceros

If you're ever looking for a narwhal, your best bet would be to look in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. I know that's super general. Narwhals like to move around from looking for polynyas, which are openings in the ice where they can swim around and do narwhal stuff. They look for their food in these openings in the ice; they eat phytoplankton, little crustacean creatures, squids, shrimp, and fish found in the Arctic. Narwhals like to travel with their homies, usually around 20-30, but when they migrate, you'll see thousands of them.  The narwhal's lack of a dorsal fin facilitates swimming under ice. The males grow as long as 15 feet, while the females grow up to 13 feet. They  are also known as the corpse whale because their skin resembles that of a dead body and because of their fondness for the band Cannibal Corpse (though there is no scientific evidence supporting that claim.) Despite looking like they're rotting, one narwhal was known to be 115 years old. 

Narwhals' most distinct feature is their tusk! It isn't a horn, contrary to popular belief. It is actually on of two teeth that spirals out of their upper lip and is hollow on the inside. Sometimes, the second tooth will also grow out. The tusks have been known to grow up to 10 feet. Which is pretty huge considering the males only grow up to 15 feet. Normally, it is only the males who have the tusk, but few females have also been known to grow one as well. Scientists aren't entirely sure what the purpose of the tusk is. Many theories have been thrown around, but none of them check out one hundred percent. The narwhal's tooth can be seen as the opposite of a human tooth. Our teeth are hard on the outside and have all the nerves and what not on the inside, however, the narwhal's tusk has all the sensitive parts on the outer part of the tusk as opposed to the inside. Theories have stated that the purpose of the sensitivity being on the outside is so that the narwhal can detect water pressure, salinity, and temperature. But if that were the case, why don't all females have them? Older theories suggest that the tusk was for jousting and mating purposes, or breaking through ice, but such behaviour has never confirmed. It's a mystery. 

Narwhals are not endangered...yet. They are a threatened species, however. Since they are so hard to study, it can only be estimated that there are about 50,000 left, and those numbers are steadily declining for a number of factors. Climate change will soon be the biggest danger to these whales for obvious reasons. Ice serves as their protection from animals such as polar bears, walruses, and orcas, without it, they are vulnerable and easy to hunt. The changing climate might also disrupt their migrations. Inuit hunters make a living off of narwhals; they eat the skin and blubber and sell the tusks. I don't really blame them since there aren't very many Walmart stores in the Arctic, they have to make a living and find food somehow, and its their custom and tradition to hunt these whales. Furthermore, they can only hunt a specific number of them each year, so I don't blame them as much as climate change for the shrinking numbers. Unfortunately, mercury and other sorts of pollution are making it dangerous for these Inuit people to eat the whales.   

Here's a video that regurgitates pretty much everything I just wrote.

SAVE THE SEA UNICORN

Big Ass Bat!

Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox

Acerodon jubatus

Wanna hang out?

The Philippians is home to one of the world's largest bats! They have a wingspan of 5 freakin' feet and weigh no more that 2.6 lbs! They spend most of their time sleeping, hanging upside down in the tree tops during the day, and at night, they go out and hunt for...fruit. That's pretty much all they eat. They are a vital part to the ecosystem because they disperse the seeds of the fruit they eat. Unfortunately, deforestation is killing them, just like every other cool animal. Out of all the bats I have see on the internet, this is probably the most normal looking one. Mostly because it looks like a fox with wings. Oddly, they are genetically nowhere near related to foxes or any sort of canine.

But of course, like all good functioning things on this planet, people had to go ruin it. These bats have been hunted very close to extension. Instinctively, they all sleep in big numbers to keep warm and protected from predators. They were even known to sleep around a different kind of bat, the Malaysian Flying Fox. But sleeping in big numbers only made it simpler for poachers to slaughter them for their furs. "Grooooooss, bat furrrr." No, not really. These bats have been known to take their time grooming themselves and bathing in the rivers. They probably take more time in keeping themselves clean than you do. 

SAVE THE BIG ASS BAT!

Moloch

Thorny Dragon

Moloch horridus 

Rawr

This little guy is native to Australia (home to everything scary, poisonous, and dangerous). But this little dragon doesn't fall under any of those categories; this lizard is actually very gentle-natured. It's appearance serves more for defense purposes. The "thrones" all over its body are actually modified scales that make them hard for predators to swallow. Furthermore, since the Australian desert is very dry, the scales around its body have a capillaries system that move water into the mouth, please see picture below (because I suck at explaining things).

Thorny Dragons have the ability to change colors depending on what the color of the sand around them is or the temperature of their body. They live up to 20 years and grow up to 20 cm. It takes them about three years to reach maturity. 

Australia is like the Salty Spitoon of the Earth, if you want to survive, you gotta be tough! But if you're not tough and you don't run very fast, you have to think of creative ways to survive. Aside from being spiky as on of its defenses, these guys grew an false head to throw off predators. When if feels threatened, it will tuck its real head between its legs and leave the fake head to be poked at. 

Thorny Dragons are easy to please. They eat ants, maybe some termites, and more ants. They'll eat up to 3,000 ants in one meal! 

Not here Khaleesi...

Pucker up!

Red-lipped Batfish

Ogcocephalus darwini

Maybe it's Maybelline?

Today's interesting creature comes to us sporting Maybelline's new Color Sensational Lip color in Red Revival 645! But seriously, no photoshop has been used on this fish, it actually has red lips. (Hence the "red-lipped") That's all natural beauty right there! Scientists can't really figure out what why this fish has such bright red lips, but they speculate that they use them to attract mates. Other than then the fact that they exist, not much is known about these guys. They live 100+ feed deep in the ocean around the Galapagos Islands.

The second half of the name seems like a misnomer to me. It was given the name because apparently, someone thought it looked like a bat. I find that a bit insulting to bats. Bats are br00tal and cool. This guy looks like he's wearing lipstick and is a totally different freak all on its own  beautiful in its own way. The reason why this little fella's body is so strange is because it has taken being a bottom dwelling fish to a whole other level. They love the bottom so much, they decided they would rather walk around awkwardly with their leg-like fins instead of swim like a normal fish! 

I know what you're thinking: "Wow, these guys have really funny noses!" BUT FISH DO NOT HAVE NOSES, YOU SILLY GOOSE! So what is that strange nose-looking device on its face for? It called an illicium and works like a fishing rod lure. Its like the one that angler fish has in Finding Nemo, except it doesn't glow. He waves it around until an unlucky little fish goes up to it thinking it just found something to eat but ends up getting eaten instead.

Heres a video of one of these guys in action!

Welcome!

Anyone who knows me would know that most days I can be found wandering around outdoors, flipping over rocks or poking dead things with a stick (only to find that they're still alive and run away screaming). Needless to say, I love all things in nature; plants, animals, bugs, and whatnot. So I figured, why not dedicate my blog to showing off some of the cool creatures we happen to share this planet with. Again, if you know anything about me, you know I won't be posting about any generic animals like pandas, tigers, dogs, and whatever. I feel the the internet is already saturated with enough videos of cats playing pianos and such, so I would rather shift my focus to animals that don't get much attention due to... their unconventional looks, I guess you could say. 

With that being said, I would like to kick of this series of the strangest creatures mother nature has to offer with one of my favorites...

Surinam Toad

Pipa pipa

Aren't I TOAD-ally adorable?

This interesting little fella can be found chilling at the bottom of muddy slow-flowing bodies of water in South America. Unlike other toads, these guys don't sit on their front limbs. Instead, they spend their days lying flat as a pancake. These guys like to munch out on small fish and invertebrates. They don't have tongues, so I guess they're not very picky. When it eats, it uses its front limbs to scoop its food into its mouth. 

 

Cute couple <3

Now, what really makes these guys unique is the the way they reproduce! (As if being weird looking wasn't enough of a burden.) It's kinda cute at first, the male will wrap his little toad arms around the female and try to determine if she's DTF. If she's not, she'll just wiggle until he gets off. But if he gets a green light, they'll go at it for up to 12 hours! Because let me tell you, fertilizing these guys' eggs is hard work! First, the female lays a few eggs and lets them fall onto the male's cute little tummy. Then, he'll put them on her back, where they get stuck, and fertilizes them. They'll do this until they have fertilized 60-100 eggs. Once they're done, the female's back will begin to swell and suck in the eggs where she will incubate them. That's right, THE BABY TOADS GROW IN HER BACK! THEN FOUR MONTHS LATER, THEY'LL BLAST OFF INTO THE WORLD... and you thought having a pimple was bad. 

Of course, the only way to truly experience this marvelous reproductive phenomenon is to see it for yourself, so here's a lovely video. Be warned! This video is not for the faint of heart.

  

Amazing...

I have obviously left you wanting more...