40 Animals So Rare, Most People Have No Idea They Exist

Okay, goats are hardly rare, or especially exciting. At least not until you meet the Damascus goat. With its weirdly compressed face, this strange creature is in the running as the world’s ugliest animal. They’re actually useful beasts, though, domesticated in Middle Eastern countries such as Syria and Lebanon for their hides, meat, and milk.

Despite the name, the shoebill storks of East Africa aren’t storks at all. These peculiar birds, with their ferocious-looking bills, exist in a family all of their own. They’re formidable creatures that can grow up to 5 feet in height and boast an 8-foot wingspan. When it comes to meal times, they make good use of those razor-sharp beaks, gobbling down everything from snakes to small crocodiles.

With a name that makes them sound like some kind of dietary supplement, the nutria’s an unusual aquatic rodent with webbed feet that can weigh up to 22 pounds. Also known as coypus, these animals are omnivores that concentrate on wetland vegetation but are also happy to chow down on mussels and snails. While they’re actually native to South America, runaways from fur farms mean they’re to be found almost world-wide.

If you know your Spanish, you’ll be aware that vaquita means “small cow.” But the vaquita we’re talking about here’s no cow — it’s actually a very rare 5-foot long porpoise. This species, also sometimes known as the smiling panda, lives only in a limited region off the Mexican coast. Tragically, their numbers have been hugely reduced by commercial fishing. In 1997 there were some 600 vaquita in the wild. But now it’s believed that the population has dwindled to just 10 individuals.

The purple frog has a peculiar face that gives it the unflattering nickname “pig-nosed frog.” This burrowing amphibian lives in the Western Ghats mountain range, which extends for around 1,000 miles along the western edge of India. There are only two members of the Nasikabatrachidae family, and the purple frog’s one of them. It’s reckoned that they’ve evolved as a separate species over the past 100 million years, though scientists didn’t identify them until 2003.

This African critter’s close to the size of a shrew but has a nose that resembles an elephant’s trunk. So that explains the apparent contradiction of its name. But it gets more complicated, because the elephant shrew isn’t actually a shrew. In fact, in evolutionary terms they’re closer to elephants and aardvarks than to actual shrews. Yes, we’re confused, too.

If you travel through south-west Somalia or north-east Kenya, you might see a hirola. But you’d be really lucky if you did, since this is one of the most critically endangered antelope species in the world. Their population is believed to be less than 500. And you certainly won’t find one in your local zoo as the number in captivity is zero.

The kakapo’s a parrot unlike any other. This New Zealand native’s the only parrot that isn’t able to fly. The bird’s other unusual characteristic isn’t quite unique. It’s a nocturnal parrot, and there’s one other that only comes out at night: the rare night parrot, which lives in Australia. The kakapo is also an uncommon bird — indeed, it’s on the critically endangered list.

This tiny primate — it weighs just a couple of ounces — is found solely in the coastal region of the East African nation of Tanzania. And even there, it’s been observed in just eight small sections of woodland. In fact, this insectivore’s only been known to science at all since 1996. Its future is gravely threatened by deforestation.

Queensland, Australia is home to the world’s sole population of northern hairy-nosed wombats. There they survive in a securely fenced area protected from predatory dingoes. They live in burrows, only appearing above ground at night to feed on grasses. These animals, weighing around 65 pounds, split from the main marsupial herbivore family some 40 million years ago.

The dik-dik’s an antelope that’s found in the arid lands of East Africa. Three species live in the Horn of Africa, while a fourth is located in Namibia. They’re some of the smallest antelopes on the planet, with Kirk’s dik-dik only growing to a height of about 18 inches. And their strange name? It’s derived from the creatures’ characteristic alarm call.

The tanuki, known to many as the Japanese raccoon dog, is indeed a native of Japan. It’s a member of the canid family, which also includes dogs, wolves, and coyotes — but not raccoons. Tanuki actually have one very un-doglike behavior as well: they hibernate in a burrow during winter. Other species of raccoon dogs are found elsewhere in Asia, but the tanuki lives only in its Japanese homeland.

The pangolin was in the news recently as a suspected vector for the Covid-19 virus, though research has so far failed to confirm this. In any case, we can hardly blame the pangolin, an innocent creature that obviously knows nothing of epidemiology. In fact, the animal, which lives in both Africa and Asia, has suffered much at the hands of humans. According to the World Wildlife Fund, no other creature is illegally trafficked as much as the poor pangolin.

The gharial’s a kind of crocodile, but its improbably elongated snout makes it easy to distinguish from its cousins. In fact, the evolutionary journey of the gharial split it from the main crocodile family 40 million years ago. At one time they were to be found throughout the Indian subcontinent, but today they’re restricted to just five areas in Nepal and India. As a result of habitat depletion and human persecution, gharials are now classed as critically endangered.

Considering their strange and even grotesque looks, it comes as something of a surprise that many view these mollusks as an unrivaled delicacy. That’s why you’ll see people eagerly collecting them at low tide in places such as Washington’s Puget Sound. But geoducks aren’t just tasty, they’re also the largest burrowing clam in the world. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, these creatures can weigh more than 8 pounds and may live for in excess of 160 years.

The binturong has an alternative name: the bearcat. It’s a well-chosen nickname, because if you happened to see one of these elusive creatures in their natural habitat of South East Asian jungle, you’d probably wonder if it was a bear or a cat. In fact, though, it’s neither — it’s actually a viverrid. Binturongs live in the treetops, and they’re a particularly unusual animal since they’re one of only two carnivores with a prehensile tail. That means they can use their tail as if it were a fifth limb.

About the size of a medium dog, the Tasmanian devil’s the largest animal that’s both a marsupial and a carnivore. They used to live all over Australia but now are only present on the island of Tasmania. These animals have a reputation for being exceptionally fierce. In fact, it’s said that considering their dimensions, Tasmanian devils have one of the strongest bites among all mammals.

If you ever come face to face with a saiga antelope, the first thing you’ll notice is its weird nose. It looks as if someone’s taken a pump and inflated the creature. So what’s the point of this strange adaptation? Scientists believe that it acts as a filter, a useful attribute in the dusty summers of Central Asia where the animals live. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that saiga numbers have dropped dramatically in recent decades because of poaching and disease.

The wolverine has some rather unflattering alternative names, including glutton and skunk bear. In truth, it’s neither a skunk nor a bear, but a member of the Mustelidae family of animals, which includes weasels, otters, and mink. Weighing up to 66 pounds, the wolverine has the look of a small bear and it’s found in cool, northern regions. They hunt at night and are capable of taking deer as well as livestock such as sheep.

If you ever encounter a caecilian, you’ll likely think that you’ve stumbled across a snake or a worm. There are some 200 species of caecilian living in tropical regions around the world, and they’re actually legless amphibians. The different types can range in length from 3.5 inches long to — in the African country of Cameroon — an unsettling 5 feet. They’re burrowing creatures and are underground for most of their lives.

A lot smaller than the more familiar giant panda, the red panda was at one time considered to be a relative of its bigger namesake. According to National Geographic, though, in recent years scientists have come to believe that the red panda belongs to its own unique family. They might be unrelated, then, but pet-cat-sized red pandas do live in the same Asian mountain habitats where giant pandas are found.

Also known as a javelina, the peccary’s found in the southern deserts of the U.S. and southwards all the way down to Patagonia. Though it has the look of a wild hog, the peccary actually isn’t a true pig, according to the Britannica website. It states that “certain skeletal and dental features” distinguish the animals from pigs. But like their porcine cousins, they’re omnivorous — they’ll eat just about anything.

The snowflake moray eel lives in the seas off East Africa right across the planet to the Central Pacific. While it can grow to a length of 50 inches, a more typical specimen tends to be about 20 inches long. They live in depths of up to 100 feet, and they’re voracious predators with a liking for various kinds of fish and crustaceans.

There’s no getting away from it — the tapir’s a bizarre creature. Somewhat resembling a pig, these mammals have an extended, drooping nose rather like a trunk. An animal of ancient lineage, the tapir’s evolutionary history places it close to both the rhino and the horse. They can actually use their noses to grasp branches so that they can feed on fruit and foliage. There are four tapir species in all, with the largest native to Southeast Asia and weighing as much as 800 pounds.

The only place in the world that you can’t see the martial-sounding bombardier beetle is Antarctica. With hundreds of different species, these insects inhabit grasslands and forests, hiding beneath rocks and dead leaves. They get their name from the unusual means of defense used by a number of species. When disturbed, they can shoot a jet of toxic liquid with explosive force from their rear ends. Worth avoiding.

The narwhal’s sometimes known as “the unicorn of the sea,” and just a glance at the long, spiraled horn they sport explains the nickname. Strictly speaking the protuberance, which can be 10 feet long, is neither a horn nor a tusk — it’s actually an elongated tooth. These marine mammals, which sometimes weigh more than 4,000 pounds, live in Arctic waters, spending around five months each year beneath the ice.

The northern bald ibis is a truly strange-looking bird. It sports a long, downward-curving beak, an entirely featherless face, and a crop of erect feathers sprouting from the back of its head. Its black plumage also has a marked iridescence in sunlight. The creature’s critically endangered, though, with most of the surviving population living in Morocco, where they nest on rocky crags.

You might be able to guess what a liger is. Yes, it’s a cross between a lion and a tiger. Specifically, it’s the product of a union between a male lion and female tiger. There’s also a ligon, which comes from the mating of a female lion and a male tiger. Yet you won’t find these animals in nature — they only result from zoo breeding programs.

The saola was unknown to scientists until 1992, and in the time since there’ve been just four confirmed sightings. Seeing one, you’d probably guess that it was an antelope, but in truth it’s related to cattle. The creature, also known as the Asian unicorn, has only been spotted in the Annamite Mountains, which straddle the border between Laos and Vietnam.

Residents of the Southern U.S and Mexico could be forgiven if they thought the banded ground-cuckoo was a roadrunner, since the two birds have a definite resemblance. But the banded ground-cuckoo’s a different species and lives further south in the jungle foothills of Colombia and Ecuador. And despite its name and the fact that it prefers to stay on the ground, this very rare cuckoo can actually fly.

The black-spotted cuscus is a marsupial that lives solely in the northern forests of New Guinea. Active at night, the animals can grow up to about 2 feet in length and weigh in at around 15 pounds. Their life among the trees is aided by their prehensile tails, which can grip onto branches. Unfortunately, though, this blameless species has been driven to near-extinction by one especially ruthless predator: homo sapiens.

The northern Darwin’s frog, named after the great naturalist Charles, has one highly distinctive habit. The male looks after the tadpoles by keeping them safe in its mouth as they develop. Only one other frog does that: the southern Darwin’s frog, a close cousin of the northern. The latter’s found only in Chile, while the southern lives both there and in Argentina. Or at least they did. Some scientists believe that these rare frogs may already be extinct.

People in the U.K. find hummingbird hawk-moths particularly surprising. That nation’s home to no species of hummingbird, yet this moth so closely resembles the bird that it’s often mistaken for one. These large moths can hover very much like a hummingbird while they drink nectar from flowers. As well as in Britain, they’re found right across the Mediterranean and all the way east to Japan.

The Colombian dwarf gecko was first described in 1964. Then it wasn’t spotted again for so long that some assumed it’d become extinct. That nobody found a specimen for many year’s hardly surprising, though, since this gecko’s less than an inch long, not counting its tail. But thankfully the creature’s shown up again. Dwarf gecko species are to be found across South America, and they parted company with the lizard family over 70 million years ago.

If ever an animal looked like something from outer space, it’s surely the axolotl. This tongue-twister of an amphibian spends its whole life in water and can grow to 12 inches in length. Sadly, these critters are close to extinction in the wild, though there’s a large captive population in aquariums. They have the astonishing ability to regrow everything from their hearts to their brains and spines. And the name, by the way, is derived from Xolotl, the Aztec deity dedicated to lightning and fire.

By the late 19th century, naturalists had found just two populations of these birds, both on Cebu Island in the Philippines. After that, no Cebu flowerpecker was spotted for decades, so it was assumed to have become extinct. But, thankfully, in the early 1990s the creatures were spotted again. Even so, the Cebu flowerpecker’s critically endangered, though there are now organized efforts to conserve the species.

Sir James Hector has the honor of a dolphin being named after him, as he was the first scientist to examine one of these creatures in 1873. Hector’s dolphin is a small species of the marine mammal that lives mainly in the waters around New Zealand’s South Island. Happily, the current adult population of these dolphins, which only grow to a length of 5 feet, is estimated to be around 15,000.

As it can grow to a length of nearly 6 feet, the Chinese giant salamander certainly lives up to its name. It’s actually the largest of the salamanders and the biggest amphibian in existence. The creature’s considered a delicacy in China, and even though it’s now reared on farms, the wild population has decreased so drastically that it’s become a highly endangered species.

Weighing up to 90 pounds, the Chacoan’s the largest of the different peccary species. It’s so rare that researchers had decided it was actually extinct, until some were discovered early in the 1970s. Scientists reckon that this species of peccary’s evolved separately for more than eight million years. It’s only found in an area located across the borders of Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay.

The addax is an antelope with impressive spiral horns than can be as long as 45 inches, and it lives in the Sahara Desert. Or it did until the latter part of the 20th century. By then, though, humans had almost hunted it to extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that there are only around 100 individuals left in the wild, but thankfully others live in captivity.