Absurd Creatures
Photograph: Dan Skinner/Getty Images01ABSURD CREATURES
From an invisible gecko to a blorpie fish, these atypical animals are a testament to natural selection.
Photograph: Daniel Botelho/Getty Images02Mola Mola Ocean Sunfish
Ah, the ocean sunfish. At 10 feet long and 5,000 pounds, it's the [biggest bony fish on Earth](https://www.wired.com/2013/12/absurd-creature-of-the-week-3/). Also, it looks like a swimming face. The sunfish is actually related to the pufferfish, but its ancestors long ago headed out into the open ocean because who are you to say they couldn't. (Recent sunfish development: Check out [this giant one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SpxY5OLLxc) caught on camera off Portugal.)
Photograph: Jim Zuckerman/Getty Images03Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko
[The satanic leaf-tailed gecko](https://www.wired.com/2014/07/absurd-creature-of-the-week-satanic-leaf-tailed-gecko/) is one of Wired's favorites not because of its epic name, but because it so elegantly reveals the wonders of evolution. Over millions of years, geckos with mutations that helped them blend into their environment survived to pass along those genes. And voila, a gecko that today looks exactly like a leaf. Oh, also, it can scream to ward off predators.
Photograph: Paul Starosta/Getty Images04Axolotl
The axolotl is not only weirdly cute for an amphibian but it can also regenerate its own limbs. Scientists are studying how the salamanders regrow legs and how humans might someday do the same.
Photograph: Jiri Hrebicek/Getty Images05Spectral Tarsier
Just look at those eyes. [They belong to the tarsier](https://www.wired.com/2015/01/absurd-creature-of-the-week-tarsier/), a small primate that can bound 15 feet from tree to tree, hunting primarily insects. Rumor even has it that the tarsier was the inspiration for Yoda. Unfortunately, any number of humanity's ills have put the tarsier in serious danger: deforestation, hunting, etc. Rising awareness of the creature, though, may help keep it from doom.
Photograph: Yerbolat Shadrakhov/Getty Images06Jerboa
What do you get when you combine a kangaroo and a rodent? The jerboa, in all its adorable glory. Those legs have highly elongated foot bones, giving the jerboa one hell of a spring in its step. Just ... don't cut off its tail. I have to mention that because a ["cruel Frenchman" once actually did that as an experiment](https://www.wired.com/2015/09/absurd-creature-week-tiny-adorable-critter-half-kangaroo-half-velociraptor/).
Photograph: Getty Images07Bobbit Worm
What strikes so powerfully and quickly that it can chop fish in two? A worm, obviously—specifically the bobbit worm. Want to see it in action? [Of course you do](https://www.wired.com/2013/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-bobbit-worm/).
Photograph: Kimie Shimabukuro/Getty Images08Jewel Wasp
The incredible jewel wasp stings a cockroach in [two specific spots in the brain](https://www.wired.com/2014/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-jewel-wasp/), zombifying it. Then the wasp drags the victim into a den and lays an egg and seals the two inside. When it hatches, the larva consumes the still-alive cockroach. So how's your day going?
Photograph: KERRY SHERIDAN/AFP/Getty Images09Giant African Snail
Florida is overrun with snails. Giant African Snails. That wouldn't be such a big deal if they weren't [a foot long](https://www.wired.com/2014/01/absurd-creature-of-the-week-foot-giant-african-land-snail/). And they eat the stucco off houses to build their shells. And they lay waste to agriculture and spread disease.
Photograph: Getty Images10Nake Mole-rat
Life is tough for the naked mole rat. First off, being naked all the time [isn't as fun as it sounds](https://www.wired.com/2014/09/absurd-creature-of-the-week-naked-mole-rat/): The rats, which live in subterranean societies, have to huddle together for warmth. But the upside is that the naked mole rat's stretchy skin, which probably evolved to help it better squeeze through burrows, is packed with a starch that seems to make them immune to cancer.
