Unusual Animals

We all know that kids love animals. For some of us, like me, that affection never goes away. We like to learn about different creatures and how they interact with humans and the rest of the world. There are plenty of great sites out there, but here is one of my favorites.


http://a-z-animals.com

Here, you can find information about pretty much any animal you can think of, and probably some that you can't. I love how this site allows you to block certain animals. That way, you won't find yourself looking at a picture of one when you do a search on animals in Africa or something else like that. Here's the tool:

http://a-z-animals.com/phobias/83/

I'm scared to death of spiders, so I am very thankful for being able to block pictures of tarantulas! 

If you like videos, here are a few unusual animals I've found. The commentary on the videos is amusing and informative, but some of the animals look pretty creepy. Still, one person's “creepy” is another's “cool!”. Most young boys I know would pick the latter. I've included them because a) I've never heard of these animals before and find them interesting, and b) they're just plain weird.

People who are afraid of insects should not watch these two videos.

This one, to quote the video, “walks the delicate tightrope between radically ugly and cute as [heck]”. It's a tiny lemur referred to as the “Aye Aye”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHs5POy8-8Y

Don't even think of trying to eat this guy for dinner.

Mantis Shrimp

I was kind of surprised that this was real because of the way parts of the video look more like a Pixar movie than a documentary but, rest assured, that's how the mantis shrimp looks. At least it has pretty colors. My husband thinks it looks “tasty”, but I'd rather just leave it alone.

Now, for something much cuter;

Olingito

Article-http://www.nbcnews.com/science/cutest-new-animal-discovered-its-olinguito-6C10925572

This adorable creature was discovered to be a separate species fairly recently. Before that, it was assumed that they were just baby or small olingos, another type of raccoon that lives in the South American rainforest. They're usually meat-eaters, but they do like to snack on fruits such as figs. For more information and a link to other similar videos, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZzay8mmkGw.

Here's the Phillipine Tarsier, the world's smallest monkey. I personally think they're adorable but, cute or not, they're fascinating animals.

http://www.arkive.org/philippine-tarsier/tarsius-syrichta/

Have fun!