Animals are known to be graceful and beautiful to watch, but some animals have bizarre features. Most of the ugly animals are endangered species and are highly under threat. Their features might be weird but this does not make them less fascinating than the other animals. These animals are known to have interesting facts about them.
1. African Bullfrog
They are large, olive green with a light-yellow belly throat found in arid and semi-arid areas in Africa. It has three large projections that look like teeth on its front lower jaw. The bullfrog vocalizes with bellows and roars. They also have ridges on their backs and heads.
The African bullfrog is the most giant frog in southern Africa. They are widely found in Africa from South Africa to Tanzania. They have a huge mouth which they use to attack their prey. Their large mouths allow them to feed on amphibians, reptiles, birds, and even smaller rodents.
2. Hippo
Hippos are the third largest mammals in the world. They have barrel-shaped bodies with short tusks. They live in semi-aquatic environments enabling them to survive on both land and water. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils are located high on their heads with the eyes bulging on the sides. Hippos have short stumpy feet with four-webbed toes.
Hippo skin is purple-grayish in color with a brownish-pink color around their eyes and rears. They are almost hairless with a few bristles of hair on their heads. They have a flat tail and their mouths can open up to 150 degrees showing their teeth. They have large canines and incisors that are always growing.
3. Baboon
Baboons are monkeys that live on the ground of the primate family that is mostly found in Africa. They have a snouted, hairless face, a coarse coat of light gray or brown fur, a bare bottom, and a medium mouth with long and sharp canines. They have a long mane that extends over their shoulder to the sides of their cheeks and brows. They also have a long bent tail that they use when jumping from one tree to another.
They are mostly inhabiting the savanna, woodland, plains, rainforests, and hilly regions. They are mainly active during the day but sleep at night and eat both plants and animals
4. African Scops Owl
It is a gray-brown nocturnal bird with small ears. It is mostly found in the savanna and woodland where there are trees for them to rest. They are mostly active at night when they repeat a hoot after every 6 to 8 seconds. They have feathers that resemble wooden stumps which keep them hidden during the day. They are mostly found in the south of the Sahara.
Owls have very large yellow eyes which are highly distinguishable and scary to some people. They have small gray-whitish faces with a black edge with long ear tufts. They also have large ear holes. When disturbed, the scop owl can elongate their body and lean on tree branches helping them to blend perfectly with tree branches.
5. Giant African Land Snail
They are animals that are under the classification of mollusks. These snails are nocturnal meaning that they are mostly active during the night. They are native to East Africa but have now spread to other African regions.
They live on land and are considered to be very destructive to plants. The snail is 20cm long in addition to its shell. It also has a light brown shell with both brown and cream stripes. Snails feed on plants, fruits, and vegetables.
6. Buffalo
Buffalos are large, enormous cow-like animals. They are black, reddish, or dark brown. They are covered in coarse dark brown fur and also have long curved horns. These horns first grow straight then curve downwards then curve upwards. They use these horns to protect themselves and even fight or attack their prey.
The color of their fur, sizes and the shape of their horns vary from one buffalo subspecies to another. Buffalos live and survive in varying areas as long as the area has water. Buffalos inhabit grasslands, savannas, and wetlands that are near water sites. The Buffalos are a common animal in Africa. They are herbivorous grazers- they feed on grass.
7. Naked Mole-rat
Despite being ugly creatures, the naked mole rats are unique creatures. They are known for their almost naked bodies that are hairless. Their bodies have few hairs on their bodies that help them to feel their environment.
These rats have weak eyesight and are nearly blind because they spend most of their life living underground. They are mostly found in deserted areas and woods. They live in complex underground tunnels which they dig using their front teeth.
They also have a unique feature because they do not feel pain. Their skin is wrinkly which appears pinkish and can be yellowish at times. These rats also have small eyes, protruding front teeth, and thin eyes.
8. Aye-Aye
The Aye-aye is a primate animal that originated in Africa and is only found in Madagascar. They are the largest nocturnal primates. These animals love to stay in dark places and move through trees. The Aye-aye is an endangered species since it can only be found anywhere else in the world.
They have oversized ears and growing incisors. Their wide orange eyes make them look wildly strange like witches. The Aye-aye is known to have long and bony fingers, large ears, and long fangs. Their third and middle fingers are the longest among their fingers. They use this finger to tap on tree bark to check if there are any larvae in them. They then use their sharp incisors to make holes in the tree barks then use their finger to get the larvae from the tree barks.
9. Catfish
They are a type of fish with whisker-looking features called barbells. These whickers resemble those of the cats, hence the name catfish. They have 4 pairs of barbells- two on the chin, one nasal, and the other maxillary. The nasal and chin barbells might be absent in some of them. These barbells help them in tasting and smell while in water.
The catfish do not have scales, their body is covered with bony plates called scutes or they may be naked. Catfish have sharp spines on their pectoral and dorsal fins that they use to sting and attack their prey. Their heads are flat-shaped.
The catfish is said to have originated from Africa and is mostly found in freshwater waterbodies. They live at the bottom of the water where they feed on aquatic weeds, insects, and other small fish because they are omnivores.