Strange but true animals

[Tonguez]

They do seem very intelligent. A friend of mine had one in his salt-water aquarium and had to keep finding new ways to secure the lid to the tank because the octopus apparently wanted nothing more than to escape. It killed itself that way, because it finally managed to get out and crawl (??) over twenty feet to the kitchen, where it died.

Very considerate of it - if only it had reached the pan and grabbed the olive oil and garlic too

Yeah octopi are real intelligent, possibly on par with primates even... (Mindflayers will takeover the world)

 

[beta-ray]

Not sure if any of what I like are considered "strange but true" but how about:

The Flying Snake?
http://www.flyingsnake.org/

They are just fossils and there are a lot of strange prehistoric animals, but these always caught my fancy...

Burgess Shale fossils:
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/shale/pfoslidx.htm

Speaking of prehistoric... Megamouth shark:
http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/megamouth.htm

and one of my most favorite creatures the vampire squid:
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues96/may96/vampire_jpg.html

of course in all honesty the strangest (but true!) creatures I know is MAN.

[edit: oops forgot to mention THANKS for intro'ing me to the mimic octopus... maybe it will move up to the top of my list!]

 

[mistergone]

Oh man, the goblin shark is truly freaky. Intelligent octopi are pretty freaky too. You know why it ws going for the kitchen? To get a steak knife, then to use the phone and call it's octopod buddies to come over help hide the owner's body...

I personally find horsehoe crabs to be freaky beyond most things. They're not even really crabs... they're like alien parasites things from Hell.

 

[alsih2o]

the paddlefish- http://www.tnaqua.org/Amazing/paddlefish.html

and they are right here in the states!

 

[kenjib]

That vampire squid is straight out of a nightmare! WOW!!!

How about the basking shark?

http://www.isle-of-man.com/interests/shark/galleries/photo10.htm
http://www.isle-of-man.com/interests/shark/galleries/photo2.htm

Up to 33 feet long. It looks like some kind of prehistoric monster -- although I suppose, being a shark, it kind of is.

EDIT: Imagine a person 1/6 the length of this beast, and then compare to the mouth diameter. Sure, the real one only eats plankton, but just imagine...

 

[Aeolius]

the coelacanth is too cool:
http://www.dinofish.com

 

[Desdichado]

i've always been partial to the foosa -- a predator from Madagascar. they are related to mongooses and weasels but they're the about the size of a small mountain lion. they can climb trees as good as monkeys (they feed primarily on arboreal lemurs). imagine a dire foosa!

Ummm, that's fossa, not foosa. They're not related to mongooses and weasels because mongooses and weasels aren't particularly closely related. Weasels are arctoid carnivores, which puts them in the same clade as canids (dogs) and ursids (bears) among others. Mongooses, on the other hand, are aeruloid carnivores which puts them in the same clade as civets, genets, cats and hyenas. The fossa is, in fact, a very cat-like civet, at least in some sense. Many scientists think the creature is what very early proto-cats were like as they evolved from civet/genet-like ancestors.

You've also overstated their size somewhat -- they're not much bigger than bobcats.

 

[Krug]

The Wisconsin Cheesehead is surely one of the strangest creatures to walk the earth.

 

[mistergone]

Ummm, that's fossa, not foosa. They're not related to mongooses and weasels because mongooses and weasels aren't particularly closely related. Weasels are arctoid carnivores, which puts them in the same clade as canids (dogs) and ursids (bears) among others. Mongooses, on the other hand, are aeruloid carnivores which puts them in the same clade as civets, genets, cats and hyenas. The fossa is, in fact, a very cat-like civet, at least in some sense. Many scientists think the creature is what very early proto-cats were like as they evolved from civet/genet-like ancestors.

You've also overstated their size somewhat -- they're not much bigger than bobcats.

Hey Josh, go over to the "most geekiest moments" thread and claim this as yours!

 

[demiurge1138]

Isn't it the one that lodges there, thus providing one of the very few circumstances when the recommended course of treatment is a peonotomy?

I really don't want to know what the other circumstances are

Just recalled another oddball animal. The weta is a cricket that grows to be one inch long. They live in New Zealand. Their special trait is that they can freeze solid for months and then thaw out in the spring.

Another weird New Zealand animal is the kakapo, a parrot that has not only forgotten how to fly, but it has forgotten that it has forgotten how to fly. They often hurl themselves out of trees in a futile attempt at takeoff.

Lastly, the hoatzin is a Amazonian bird whose hatchlings have fingers. These claws allow them to grip onto trees until they are capable of flight. As adults, they are clumsy flyers, but excellent swimmers.

Demiurge out.