Fascinating Animals You Never Knew Existed

Our world is so biodiverse that alongside the creatures we all know, there are dozens of species that sound invented — animals so strange, rare, or improbable-looking that discovering them for the first time feels like finding out a myth is real. We’ve spent over a decade collecting the most fascinating of them. Here are 17 that prove nature’s imagination outpaces our own.

The Dhole

A reddish-coated dhole, Asia's wild whistling dog, standing alert in dry grassland, its bushy tail and pricked ears visible.

The dhole is a species of wild canid native to South and Southeast Asia. Highly social, dholes live in large clans which occasionally split into small packs to hunt, primarily preying on medium-sized ungulates that they tire out over long chases. Though fearful of humans, dhole packs are bold enough to take on prey many times their size — wild boar, water buffalo, even tigers.

The Babirusa

A babirusa boar in Indonesia's Sulawesi rainforest, its curved tusks growing back through the top of its snout.

Babirusa, meaning “hog-deer,” are members of the pig family found only in Wallacea — specifically the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Togian, Sula, and Buru. If a male babirusa doesn’t grind down its tusks through regular activity, they keep growing until they eventually pierce back through the animal’s own skull.

Pink Fairy Armadillo

The pink fairy armadillo is approximately 3.5–4.5 inches long, excluding the tail, and pale rose or pink in color — the smallest armadillo species alive. It’s nocturnal, burrowing near ant colonies in dry soil and feeding mainly on ants and larvae. Using large front claws to agitate the sand, it can bury itself completely in seconds, almost swimming through the ground the way it would move through water.

The Fossa

A slender, cat-like fossa perched on a tree branch in a Madagascar rainforest, Madagascar's largest predator caught mid-climb.

The fossa is a cat-like, carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar and the island’s largest predator, often compared to a small cougar. Semi-retractable claws and remarkably flexible ankles let it climb up and down trees head-first, and leap easily from branch to branch.

The Gerenuk

A gerenuk antelope standing upright on its hind legs to browse acacia leaves in the East African bush, its long giraffe-like neck outstretched.

The gerenuk, also known as Waller’s gazelle, is a long-necked antelope found in dry thorn scrub and desert across Eastern Africa. The name comes from the Somali word for “giraffe-necked.” Gerenuks rarely graze, instead browsing prickly acacia bushes by standing erect on their hind legs and stretching their elongated necks to reach branches other antelope can’t.

Irrawaddy Dolphin

The Irrawaddy dolphin is a species of oceanic dolphin found near coasts, estuaries, and rivers around the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. Genetically, it’s a close relative of the killer whale — though with its rounded head and small, gentle expression, you’d never guess it.

Yeti Crab

Also known as Kiwaidae, the yeti crab is a type of marine decapod that lives at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. It earns its nickname from the white, fur-like bristles covering its claws and legs — an eerie echo of the mythical yeti, thriving in one of the most hostile environments on Earth.

Snub-Nosed Monkey

Snub-nosed monkeys live across parts of Asia and take their name from the short, flattened stump of a nose on their round face. They inhabit mountain forests, retreating to deeply secluded regions in winter, and spend most of their lives in the trees, living in groups of up to 600. Their vocal repertoire is unusually large, calling out solo or together in choir-like fashion.

The Maned Wolf

A maned wolf with long reddish legs and fox-like face striding through tall South American grassland at dusk.

The maned wolf is the largest canid in South America, resembling an oversized fox with reddish fur and improbably long, stilt-like legs. Found in open and semi-open grasslands scattered with bushes and trees, it’s the tallest of the wild canids — its height is likely an adaptation for seeing over the tall grass of its native habitat.

Southern Right Whale Dolphin

The southern right whale dolphin is a small, slender species found in the cool waters of the southern hemisphere. Fast and active swimmers, they have no visible teeth and, unusually, no dorsal fin at all. They’re remarkably graceful, often traveling by leaping continuously out of the water.

Sunda Colugo

Also known as the Sunda flying lemur, the Sunda colugo is neither a lemur nor capable of true flight — instead, it glides between trees on a wide membrane of skin. Strictly arboreal and active at night, it feeds on soft plant parts like young leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruit, and can be found throughout Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Tufted Deer

The tufted deer is a small deer species named for the prominent tuft of black hair on its forehead — and for the small, fang-like canine teeth some individuals display. A close relative of the muntjac, it lives further north across a wide area of central China. Timid and mainly solitary, it favors places with heavy cover, where it’s well camouflaged.

Raccoon Dog

The raccoon dog, or tanuki, is a canid indigenous to East Asia, named for its resemblance to the raccoon even though the two aren’t closely related. Raccoon dogs are surprisingly good climbers and regularly scale trees — an unusual skill among canids.

Patagonian Mara

The Patagonian mara is a large, herbivorous rodent found across parts of Argentina, with the distinctive long ears and long limbs of a jackrabbit stitched onto the body of something else entirely. Its hind limbs are notably longer and more muscular than its forelimbs, built for sprinting across open scrubland.

The Amazonian Royal Flycatcher

An Amazonian royal flycatcher perched on a low branch over water, its normally folded crest hinting at the spectacular fan it can raise.

The Amazonian royal flycatcher is found in forests and woodlands throughout most of the Amazon basin, and at about 6.5 inches long, darts out from branches to snatch flying insects or pluck them from leaves. Its crest is usually folded flat and barely noticeable — but when raised, it fans into a spectacular crown. The species builds nests up to six feet long that hang over water, keeping most predators well out of reach.

Zebra Duiker

The zebra duiker is a small antelope found in Ivory Coast and other parts of West Africa. Gold or red-brown coats carry distinctive zebra-like stripes across the back, giving the species its name. Their prong-like horns run about 4.5 cm long in males, roughly half that in females. They live in lowland rainforests, mostly eating leaves and fallen fruit.

Kākāpō

The kākāpō, sometimes called the owl parrot, is a large flightless parrot found only in New Zealand. It’s the heaviest parrot in the world, weighing up to 9 pounds, and one of just two nocturnal parrot species anywhere on Earth. Though it can’t fly, it’s a strong climber, using its large feet to grip trunks and branches, and its forward-facing eyes give it an unmistakably owl-like face. It’s also one of the longest-living birds in the world, with a potential lifespan of 100 years — though today only around 200 kākāpō remain, making every one of them a small miracle.