The worst animals in the world. The most terrible animals on the planet

Nature is beautiful in its diversity; it creates all its children – living beings on the planet – with equal inspiration. But the tastes of nature and humans do not always agree, so some of her creations cannot evoke anything but fear or disgust in the soul. The most terrible and creepy animals can be found in any element of the planet: in water, in the air or underground. You can’t hide from them even in your house or apartment.

Of course, people’s opinions about appearance or subjective fears that are caused by the memory of generations leave their mark. Some even find spiders and snakes very cute and attractive, but most people like kittens and puppies, and scorpions do not evoke affection.

Aye-aye

The animal, whose name perfectly demonstrates the first reaction when looking at it, does not even dream of beauty contests. The aye-aye, or Madagascar bat, lives only in Madagascar, and on at the moment belongs to endangered species. The fur growing in tufts and crooked fingers do not add to his attractiveness.

Aye-aye leads predominantly night look life, so you can understand the feelings of lonely travelers who come across this primate in the dark. The local population is superstitiously terrified of the Madagascar little arm, so it is forbidden to touch it or even say its name out loud. According to legend, any person on earth who kills an aye-aye is doomed to a quick and painful death.

The middle elongated fingers on the forelimbs resemble the dry hands of a witch and perform almost the same function as the beak of a woodpecker: by tapping a finger on a tree trunk, the animal identifies voids in which tasty and nutritious larvae or insects can be found. Despite the terrible appearance, Madagascar little hands devote a lot of time to caring for themselves: with the same long finger they carefully and selflessly comb the pieces of fur that grow unevenly over the surface of the body, but, alas, this does not make them any more beautiful.

Seeing the star-nosed mole for the first time, you might think that it is a mutant mole, disfigured by nature. However, star-nosed fish represent a separate species, perfectly adapted to life underground.

Their main distinctive feature is the presence of a large number of leathery nasal projections not covered with hair. To some they resemble ubiquitous fingers, while to others they resemble creepy tentacles. In fact, the animal's face looks unusual and scary. The most unpleasant thing is to watch how the star-nosed bird probes the soil in front of it with these outgrowths: they move so quickly that you don’t always have time to follow them. The fact is that a huge number of nerve endings are concentrated in the tentacles, replacing the animal with almost complete absence vision. By touching any object with them, the mole can analyze the temperature, hardness, and most importantly, the edibility of the object in a split second.

The fear caused by the star-nosed bird in the human soul is not unfounded: in case of danger, the animal can bite with its long front teeth, which dig deep into the flesh. But he can do this only for the purpose of self-defense and will not attack just like that.

Monkfish

The scary face of an monkfish or an angler fish seems to have been created like a character from a horror movie: sharp teeth and the predatory gaze of the inhabitant depths of the sea evokes memories of man-eating fish. And although the sea devil does not eat people, it is still a predator that has acquired a special device for successfully hunting large prey.

On the front of its head it has a movable luminous organ, which begins to glow with an attractive light only when the fish gets hungry. In deep water, where angler fish live, such bait is very attractive, and a huge number of marine animals react to it. However, only females have such a mechanism. Males are much smaller in size and lead an independent life for a very short time.

When the time comes for reproduction, they bite into the female’s body and gradually grow together with it, uniting the circulatory systems. Only the sexual testes remain in their original form. The unsightly appearance of females does not bother male monkfish and does not make them less attractive to the opposite sex. As they say, love is evil.

This disgusting animal looks at least not cute. It got its name not from its appearance, but from unusual image life. The fish live in the Amazon, so all the locals know that peeing in the river is extremely dangerous.

The fact is that urine serves as a beacon signal for this inhabitant of the local waters. It easily makes its way along the stream into the slightly open opening of the urethra, where it moves higher and fixes itself by releasing sharp spines. For short time The penis fish grows onto human tissue, feeds on blood and grows actively. It can only be removed from the body through a complex surgical operation, so it is better not to let it get to that point, but to take preventive measures.

Despite its disgusting appearance, penis fish is considered a delicacy in Japan and Korea. It is consumed here pickled, boiled and fried.

Not all snakes are poisonous, but most people are very scared when they meet these reptiles in nature. The Egyptian cobra not only looks scary in appearance, in addition, it carries real threat life.

Its bite is significantly different from the bite of a viper. The fact is that the teeth, which contain the poison, are much shorter than those of other snakes, so in order to inject the poison, the cobra must hold its victim longer. This is the reason why the Egyptian cobra never bites without warning, “hypnotizing” the victim with its gaze and head-bobbing dance, which brought it fame as a noble snake.

Seeing such a snake in the wild, it is impossible to maintain composure: its size reaches 2 meters, and a wide hood opens around its neck. The venom produced by the Egyptian cobra has terrible destructive power: it can kill an adult in an hour, and a huge elephant in 3 hours. All the time after the bite, excruciating pain continues, and death occurs from slow suffocation.

Goblin Shark

From the name it is clear that the scientists who discovered this shark did not find it cute at all. The scary fish has a reddish color. This is due to the fact that her skin is extremely thin and transparent, so all the blood vessels are visible through it and the pulsation of blood through the veins and arteries is visible. The nose is a long and large beak-like projection on the front of the snout, which contains a huge number of electrosensitive cells for searching for prey on great depth where eternal darkness reigns. But it's not even the nose that is the scariest part of the goblin shark.

The oral apparatus of this animal consists of labial folds and a retractable jaw, which, while pursuing the victim, is instantly thrown forward at a distance of up to 30 cm. It looks truly terrifying. Inside the retractable mouth there are 50 sharp teeth, curved back, which do not leave the slightest chance for prey to escape. Considering that the largest specimen reached 4 m and weighed almost 350 kg, one can imagine with what force it holds the victim with its terrible retractable jaw.

Almikvi

The Almiqui or Cuban slittooth is a very scary rodent that is not as harmless as it seems at first glance. It is active mainly at night, as it is a nocturnal hunter.

The quarrelsome nature and aggressive disposition of this creature is known to all local residents: the Cuban slittooth attacks not only large animals, but also humans. For most of the year, the almiqui behaves calmly and unnoticed, but everything changes with the onset of the mating season, when the rodent turns into an aggressive attacking animal. He can sneak up completely silently, and then squeal sharply loudly at the one who dared to invade the territory that the animal considers its own. Most often he attacks first and bites his opponent.

When a Cuban slittooth bites, it injects poison into the victim. This dose cannot kill a person, but it causes a very violent and painful reaction: within 10 minutes a fever begins, nausea and dizziness appear. These symptoms pass slowly and completely disappear only after a few hours. The almiqui themselves do not have an antidote for their poison, so they often die after being bitten in fights with their relatives.

Tasmanian devil

This animal does not owe its name to its appearance. The first colonists who settled in Australia heard a terrible and ominous howl that rang out at night throughout the entire area. This sound was so terrible and loud that it made your blood run cold. Such eerie screams belong to the Tasmanian devil. During the day, as a rule, this creature is silent all the time, and howls and squeals are heard only in the dark.

The animal has an insatiable appetite and behaves quite aggressively. Although most of its diet consists of carrion, it eats with pleasure and small kangaroos, lambs, birds, wombats, snakes and fish. It can pursue its victim for a very long time.

The Tasmanian devil is the most large predator among marsupials. He has a habit that often frightens people: he opens his mouth wide, showing off his terrible teeth, which are capable of cutting through the spine or skull of his victim with one movement. Among all mammals it is Tasmanian devil has the most powerful force bite is proportional to body size. But this is not the only defense mechanism: in case of danger, it releases a jet that has an extremely bad smell like a skunk. This maneuver can scare off the most persistent enemy.

Hagfish

This animal reaches a length of about half a meter, but the largest specimens were able to grow up to 1.27 m. The second name of hagfish - witch fish - was formed due to the creepy way of feeding of this creature. She hunts at night, tracking down her future victim. Having eyed its future treat, the hagfish sharply bites into its body, gnaws a hole inside and eats everything first internal organs and then proceeds to muscle tissue. After the witchfish finishes its meal, only skeletal remains remain of the victim.

This scary creature not even very afraid large fish, can hit and kill a weakened shark or other large sea creature. Always present on the body of the hagfish large number mucus, which is constantly produced by the pores of her body. At the same time, the witch fish is very tenacious: it can live for a long time without water, with severe lesions and wounds, and endure prolonged starvation.

One more thing amazing property The hagfish lies in the fact that before puberty this terrible animal has in its body the rudiments of the genital organs of both sexes, but then acquires the sex that is less abundant at the moment in the population.

Flycatchers

Many people panic when they see a house flycatcher in their house or apartment. She actually looks unattractive, resembling both a spider and a scorpion. Even more frightening is the speed with which the flycatcher runs away in case of danger, and how quickly all its legs move.

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The Top 10 with the most terrible animals in the world opens with an animal called aye-aye. It's about about the Madagascan hand-foot, which is easily distinguished by big eyes, and, attention, a very long middle finger. Using a large limb, the animal taps different trees to find out if there are larvae there. We considered the animal the most disgusting animal among primates. However, in this competition of unattractiveness he is clearly the favorite, because there are no others like him left in the family of hand-footed animals.

Continuing the conversation about scary animals, one cannot ignore the real horror of trypophobia. We are talking about a frog called Surinamese pipa. For about two and a half months, this toad carries its offspring. Do you know how the child lives? In a cluster of holes located on the back of a vile frog. However, the rest of the body does not look so unsightly. However, even one photo will be enough to prevent you from wanting to see this miracle of nature in person.

For a long time, many experts believed that representatives of the slittooths were extinct. In (relatively) recent times, almiqi have been discovered. It's about terrible beasts, which resemble in their appearance something between a rat and a shrew. Fortunately, you can only meet disgusting animals in Cuba. There are rumors that some members of the family have already managed to reach Haiti. It is worth adding that the animal’s behavior is completely consistent with its behavior. Extremely poisonous, dangerous and aggressive.

Another name is starfish. There are many species of moles, but the star-nosed mole is different from any of them. Have you seen the movie "Resident Evil"? So, the appearance of this beast is quite reminiscent of the zombie from the film. I would not like to see this terrible creation of nature in reality. But it is quite likely, because starfish are rapidly spreading throughout the world. There are 22 movable tentacles on their face. With their help, the unpleasant animal catches larvae and hunts worms.

Do you think turtles are cuddly animals? Not always! A clear confirmation of the words is the fringed turtle, also called matamata. It is distinguished by the presence of sharp growths that cover almost the entire neck of the animal. Growths can also be seen on the head. Their task is to protect the animal, that is, the growths act as natural camouflage. Unlike most representatives of this genus, the matamata sucks food rather than swallowing it.

A very scary animal that lives on our amazing planet! Many people know the monstrously scary animal as the angler fish. Always hungry, disgusting and dangerous creature poses a danger to deep sea inhabitants of our planet. Disgusting monkfish quickly destroys targets due to the presence fast-acting poison. However, angler fish are not dangerous for people, except perhaps for their psycho-emotional state.

For a long time Zoologists could not understand what role the proboscis monkey plays in the food chain, the key organ from whose name reaches monstrous sizes. As a result, it was concluded that the size of the male nose plays a role in the attractiveness of male monkeys. But this spreads exclusively among monkeys of this species. The rest of the terrible animal is unlikely to be affected in the same way. People will certainly be frightened by such an animal.

By far the most disgusting insect is the gadfly larva. Not a gadfly, but its larva. As a rule, it reaches a size of 2 centimeters. Adults only touch animals, but their larvae are able to gnaw their way through human blood. Thus, they enter the bloodstream, where they gain access to the nutrient medium. They can live inside until they grow and cause terrible damage to the health of the body.

Looking at these animals living on planet earth, it becomes scary. Many have a strange and even ugly appearance. Having seen them once, you most likely will not want to repeat it. Check out the 10 ugliest animals in the world.

Little hand ah-ah

When scientists discovered this in Madagascar in 1780 strange creature with huge eyes, protruding ears, strange teeth and long fingers, they did not know which order of animals to classify him in. They wanted to consider it a rodent, but aye-aye has the weight of a cat, and the tail is fluffy, like a squirrel.

After a detailed study, scientists agreed that this strange animal belongs to the order of prosimians and is the largest among nocturnal primates.

The little hand looks a bit like a monster because of its elongated, clawed fingers. The third finger on the forelimbs is especially valuable: the animal combs its fur with it, gets larvae, drinks with it, dipping the finger in water and sucking thoroughly.

Skillful clawed paws also help the little arms to weave shelter nests from branches and leaves high in the treetops.

The development of the lands of Madagascar by people has led to a decrease in the population of bats. There were only fifty of them left in 1972. To restore the species in Madagascar, 16 reservations were created where the bats could live and reproduce in peace. This is how we managed to save these not the most beautiful, but priceless animals - they live only in Madagascar and are the only representatives of the family of arms.

purple frog

In 2003, an amazing underground frog was discovered in the jungles of the Western Ghats mountain range in India.

Biologists knew nothing about her, since she lived almost all year round underground and only in one place with an area of 14 km². Thanks to its pointed nose, it received the Latin name Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (nasika means “nose” in Sanskrit). Due to its dark purple coloration it is also called the lilac (or purple) frog.

The jelly-like slimy amphibian grows up to 9 cm, lives underground, feeding on termites, and comes to the surface only for a couple of weeks for dating and procreation.

Naked mole rat

This unattractive underground creature lives in the arid savannas and semi-deserts of African countries: Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. The naked mole rat is a long-lived rodent - it lives for about 30 years and spends almost no day on the surface.

The animal surprised scientists with a number of characteristics: it does not drink water, is insensitive to pain, cuts, burns, and easily tolerates high concentrations carbon dioxide and is completely not susceptible to the formation of cancerous tumors.

The specific appearance is the result of the rodent's adaptation to underground life, the purpose of which is to dig, dig and dig again. Quarter muscle mass in mole rats it is on the muscles of the jaws. They have poor eyesight, sharp claws and a bald oblong body up to 10 cm long; their teeth are separated from the oral cavity by special lip growths, so that earth does not enter their body during underground work.

It is curious that these animals live in colonies, like ants, and perform various roles depending on size. The largest mole rats protect the colony of relatives from predators, and the smallest ones are engaged in obtaining food and raising cubs, and also maintain in order a complex tunnel system up to 3–5 km long. There is one queen queen in the colony; she mates with only two or three males and can give birth to up to 900 cubs in her life, while the rest of the males and females do not have intimate life, remaining exclusively workhorses.

Blob fish

This deep-sea fish often tops the list of nature's most bizarre creatures. In 2013, she was chosen as the mascot of the British Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The jelly-shaped fish with an unhappy expression on its “face” then scored 10,000 votes, beating out the proboscis monkey, the world’s largest frog living on Lake Titicaca, the flightless kakapo parrot from New Zealand and the aquatic “monster” axolotl.

The blobfish, also called the psycholute goby, is a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than that of water - this allows the fish to swim without any expenditure of energy. Her “face” seems sad to a person because of her wide-set eyes and drooping corners of her mouth.

The fish is very caring: it sits on the eggs, like a hen on the eggs, and after the birth of the offspring, it looks after the cubs. The species has been poorly studied and is endemic to Australia, that is, it is not found anywhere in the world except off the coast of the Green Continent and Tasmania. IN lately The blobfish is in danger of extinction due to the expansion of deep-sea fishing. In Asian countries, the psycholute goby is considered a delicacy, hence all its troubles.

Star-nosed

He's a starburst. Found only in the east North America. Around each nostril of this mole there are 11 skin growths, which are organs of touch.

There are 22 of them in total, and they are capable of moving faster than the human eye can notice.

Only with the help of a camera were scientists able to calculate that this animal can examine up to 13 small objects per second with its “tentacles.” When the starfish eats, it collects its “rays” into a bunch, and when it drinks, it immerses them in water.

Two of the 22 antennae of the starfish do not bend, but are always directed forward. Photographers like to take macro shots of the starfish, focusing on the "tentacles," which makes it look especially ugly.

Vietnam bat

In 2012, scientists announced a new species of bat, Hipposideros griffini. These animals with unattractive faces have been found in several areas of Vietnam. The mice turned out to have completely different DNA than their relatives. Scientists have concluded that unusual shape The nose, formed by a fold of skin, helps mice use echolocation. The species was named H. griffini in honor of Professor Donald Redfield Griffin, an echolocation specialist. bats- it was his work that helped determine that it was completely found new look.

Marabou

Due to its appearance and habits, the marabou has a reputation as an ugly, angry and treacherous bird, meeting which is a bad sign.

The marabou has a bald head, a massive beak, and a fleshy, leathery sac hanging from its chest, the purpose of which is still unknown to scientists.

Marabou is the largest representative of the stork family, performing the function of a scavenger. This bird feeds on carrion, but can also feast on eggs and baby crocodiles, as well as eat its fellow birds.

The digestive system allows marabou to digest even large bones.

Deep sea anglerfish

This is who you can film in horror films without makeup. The second name of this ominous fish is monkfish. It lives at enormous depths of up to 3 km and hunts with the help of a special fishing rod with a “beacon” at the end: the light attracts prey, and the fish can open its toothy mouth wider.

Until recently, people thought of anglerfish as particularly ugly, with bloated bodies and bulging eyes. But this is how they look on the surface when fishermen take them out from the bottom, and in the depths, where tons of water press on them, they look a little different. Capture an anglerfish in natural environment succeeded only at the end of 2014: with the help of an underwater robot in Monterey Bay, American scientists took rare footage of one of the varieties of this scary fish- Johnson's black anglerfish.

Baboons

Animal standards of beauty do not compare well with those of humans. For example, baboons. Even in normal times they look... specific.

But even more “beautiful” is the female baboon during the mating season: her backside, devoid of vegetation, swells to incredible sizes and becomes bright red.

What may shock zoo visitors is a mating call for the male. The larger and redder the butt, the better the female is ready for pregnancy and motherhood.

Warthog

The warthog is perhaps the ugliest member of the pig family. Its flattened head is covered with growths resembling warts, and frightening fangs up to 60 cm long protrude from its mouth.

Its fur grows unevenly: a kind of mane of hard and sparse bristles covers only the back of the head and the ridge. He, like other pigs, loves to dig in the dirt and always looks dirty, and has large calluses on his limbs from constant digging.

The warthog is cautious and timid; in case of danger, it raises its tail upward, for which it received the nickname “Radio Africa”.

Cuban slittooth

Most of you have probably never heard of Takuah before. They are also known as the Cuban snaptooth, an endangered species of mammal listed in the Red Book. They live only in the eastern mountains of Cuba.

Sometimes among the animals you come across quite strange specimens, which perhaps especially impressionable people should not look at. Don't believe me? Then take a look at the 20 ugliest animals on the planet...

1. Purple frog

The purple frog is a species of large ground frog that was discovered in 2003. It looks like a piece of purple jelly-like mass. The frog is notable for its small head and trunk. It is often found in the Western Ghats.

2. Goblin Shark

The goblin shark got its name for its bizarre appearance: the muzzle of this shark ends in a long beak-like outgrowth, and its long jaws can extend far. The largest known specimen reached a length of 3.8 meters and weighed 210 kg.

3. Hawaiian Ash Bat

Hawaiian Ash bat is an animal with short rounded ears, a yellow-brown mouth that resembles a cow's. She lives on the islands of Hawaii, in humid and places at an altitude of 4 thousand m above sea level.

4. Sucker-footed bat

The new sucker-footed bat is a new species discovered by scientists in Madagascar. It has suction cups, which are located on the hind legs, and thumbs, with which the mouse grabs onto smooth and shiny surfaces.

5. Hairless mouse

The hairless mouse has very thin, one might say, translucent skin, and its entire body is covered with wrinkled folds. Only big ears remain smooth.

6. Frogfish

Frogfish reaches maximum length 40 cm. This creature can survive in different conditions, because NASA in 1997 chose among other animals to send into space. There, the influence of microgravity was studied on a frog fish.

7. Almikvi

The almiqui - a black, brown or dark brown nocturnal animal - has short legs, an elongated head, tiny eyes, a mobile nose, and its skin glands secrete a smell reminiscent of a goat. It is also called a slittooth. This is a large animal, whose body length is 32 cm. Outwardly, it can be confused with rats and shrews.

Almiqui is found in Haiti and Cuba. This is one of the few types poisonous mammals. And it is their saliva that is poisonous. The most interesting thing is that they have no immunity to their own poison. That is why, in battles with other almiquis, they often die from even light bites.

8. Frilled shark

The ancient Japanese shark lives at depths of more than 600-1000 meters. Reminds me of a huge eel with needles in its mouth. It has practically not changed over many millennia of its existence.

9. Wolf fish

This large, growing up to 50 cm, predator from South America It’s not for nothing that it has the common name “wolf fish”. Just look at his teeth and everything becomes clear.

10. Rattails or Grenadiers - and this is something from the realm of “horror films”...

11. Drop fish

Drop fish - very unusual creature, which can be seen at least from her photograph. It lives in deep waters off the coast of Australia and Tasmania.

12. Matamata Turtle

This turtle's name Matamata means "I kill" in Spanish. And indeed, it seems that she can kill with just her appearance - a creature with a flat head and a neck covered with numerous bulges, warts, and humps...

13. Armadillo

The armadillo (armadillo) has short legs with sharp claws, with the help of which it obtains food for itself: ants, beetles, caterpillars. It also feeds on carrion and plants.

14. Coridal larva

The larva of the coridal, or vislocryl, has a truly terrible appearance under an electron microscope. The coridal lives in northern and central America, Australia and Africa. And men's and women's individuals can be up to 12.5 cm long.

15. Monkfish

Monkfish is also known as the "poor man's lobster", anglerfish, angelfish. This fish species lives in the northwestern Atlantic coastal zone.

16. Echidna

The echidna looks like a hedgehog. Like another “Australian”, the platypus, lays eggs, but feeds its offspring with milk. The echidna has two layers of fur - one for warmth and the other for protection.

17. Elephant cat

An elephant seal can gain weight up to 4 tons. Its diet consists of fish, squid and other marine life. They call him Elephant because he mating season the cat inflates its nose, and it becomes like a trunk.