10 Creepy Animals That Science Loves.
Number 10.
Since its discovery in 1836, only thirty-five specimens of almiqui have been caught.
The family that it belongs to, the solenodons, have been around for seventy-six million years.
That rarity, and the fact that it is considered an endangered species, means that scientists
love this strange-looking little guy.
The rest of us, however, are simply terrified of it.
Besides the fact that it looks like a genetic experiment gone wrong, its saliva is also
toxic.
It uses that toxic spit to catch prey.
Number 9.
This creepy purple blob is definitely not something that you would want to touch you.
Its main claim to fame isn't a bad one, however: it used to hop around with dinosaurs.
As it turns out, the purple frog is a scientific anomaly that caused one scientist to call
it a "once in a century" discovery.
The purple frog was found only a decade ago, in the mountains of India.
While the discovery of new species is more common that most people think, this frog is
undoubtedly a rarity, as it is not related to any known species.
It is truly one of a kind.
Number 8.
As disturbing as it looks, this subterranean East African native is a fascinating animal
that science is studying closely.
The naked mole rat ages remarkably slowly.
Compared to the average life span of other rodents, the naked mole rat lives a long time;
about thirty years.
Also, its body shows little wear and tear due to aging when compared to humans.
It seems to maintain bone health, reproduction rate and cognitive health throughout its entire
life.
Naturally, this means that scientists use them in the study of aging.
The naked mole rat is also seemingly immune to cancer.
Maybe we could swap their secrets for a makeover or two.
Number 7.
Most fish are ugly, but some fish are uglier than others.
Case in point: the Plainfin Midshipman.
Scientists love these fish for a very strange reason.
The Plainfin sing in order to attract females during mating season.
They somehow manage to create this droning love song without vocal chords.
In fact, the sound they make is so loud that human residents who lived near these fish's
love nest complained that the drone would drown out human conversations and keep them
up at night.
Until it was discovered that this supposedly voiceless fish could sing, rumors swirled
that the drone sound was made by a submarine or a secret government experiment.
Now scientists are studying the Plainfin Midshipman to see how they make their eerie calls.
Number 6.
There are a few different species of lamprey, but the most well-known (and most terrifying)
is a species that would best be described for laymen as a giant leech.
The combination of the words "giant" and "leech" sounds like the title of a B-horror movie,
but these things are very real.
The lamprey latch onto anything they can get a hold of, and proceed to suck whatever blood
they can find.
In 2006, a 360 million-year-old fossil of a lamprey was discovered.
This means that the lamprey is a living fossil, and is used to study everything from evolution
to primitive behaviors in biology.
Regardless of its importance to science, it is hard to swim comfortably knowing that these
bloodsuckers are mooching around nearby.
Number 5.
The recently-discovered and aptly-named forcepfly has been the talk of the scientific community,
this bug's genitals are shaped like forceps, which look like they could take a chunk out
of your flesh.
Scientists are in an uproar over the discovery of a new species of these creepy bugs.
Why?
This is only the third species discovered that belongs to this particular family of
insects.
For those of us who are not big fans of insects, three is three too many.
Number 4.
Hagfish are gross, period.
They are covered in slime, and knot themselves up in a horrifying way to confuse predators.
Even sharks have a hard time coping with the grossness of the hagfish.
No one in his or her right mind would want to get near one.
Except scientists.
Scientists love hagfish because they know that we all have them to thank for our existence.
If its ancestors did not survive the mass extinction event of the Cambrian Period, we
would not be here.
These ancestors were among the first animals that could be classified as chordate (or having
a backbone) meaning that without them, backbones would likely not have evolved.
Number 3.
Scientists would love to study a living specimen of the rare Goblin Shark.
One creature was caught in Japan in 2007, and scientists were ridiculously excited.
Unfortunately, itdied a few days later.
The shark stays near the bottom of the ocean and has a similar body structure to that of
ancient sharks.
Very little is known about this prehistoric left-over, and that is why scientists love
it.
Number 2.
The frilled shark is another one of those living fossils we talked about earlier.
It has remained relatively similar for over a million years.
It is also a rarity to see.
So rare, in fact, that any photograph of it is big news in the science world.
As well as looking decidedly creepy, this shark has three hundred trident-like teeth
in twenty-five rows, and can be as long as five feet.
Number 1.
Santino is a chimpanzee at Sweden's Furuvik Zoo.
Santino is a normal chimp, except that he's a bit of a jerk.
In 2010, Santino began throwing rocks at zoo patrons, which, to be fair, isn't too far
out of the ordinary.
What is strange, however, is that Santino started getting better at it.
He began hiding rocks around his enclosure, under hay and behind boulders that were within
striking distance of patrons.
He would then wait for the zoo to get busy and begin hurling rocks at people.
Scientists love to study Santino's behavior because he exhibits foresight, an understanding
of cause and effect, and the ability to plan; traits that are often thought of as exclusively
human.
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