Tag Archives: freaky animals

Electric Eel vs. Alligator (Caiman)

So who would win a battle between an electric eel and an alligator?

Well, actually a smart alligator would leave an electric eel all alone.

Nature provides all sorts of defenses – poison, camouflage, big brains combined with opposable thumbs. For the eel, it’s a shock of electricity that can save its life from a predator.

Here’s visual evidence of an entanglement between the two captured by a Brazilian fisherman.

The eel’s effort was more successful than this python which tried to eat an alligator.

Photo credit for arm-raising alligator – Funny Junk

I Want A Trained Drinking Monkey

Oh where oh where can I order one of these?

I don’t care so much about the pickpocket option, but I would be interested in one that doesn’t fling its own poo. Or anyone else’s poo for that matter. No poo flinging in general, just to be clear.

Oh, and non-smoking of course.

Via: Sober in a Nightclub

Snake Foot

What’s more rare than hen’s teeth?

How about a snake leg?

Oh, wait. They found a snake with one leg and a clawed foot in China.

The woman who found it in her home beat it to death, but preserved the body.

Freaky stuff.

The Telegraph has the whole story of the legged snake.

Photo: CEN/Europics

Wobbly the Dancing Squirrel

It’s Wobbly the Dancing Squirrel.

Actually, though, I believe it’s Wobbly the Squirrel with Parkinson’s Disease. Can squirrels get Parkinson’s?

This just doesn’t look normal to me.

Maybe he’s been eating fermented fruit like the drunk squirrel I posted another time.

Freaky Sheep

One of my readers here at the Squirrel Queen’s abode is aware of the fascination with the bizarre that causes me to post things like anatomically correct knitting and time-warped album covers.

He gave me the heads up (thanks David) and left a link on my About Page (which I highly recommend that everyone should read so they know all the pertinent info on why I tick the way I do).

David’s link directed me to one of those uncommon freaks of nature –  a five-legged lamb.

The Australian sheep has a small leg dangling from the back of its neck that should remind Newscoma of one of her all-time favorite bad movies Basket Case.

Not only does it have an extra leg, its extra leg has an extra hoof. That’s right. One sheep = five legs, six feet.

The wooly one appears to be doing fine and is just another sheep in its flock.

Here’s the visual evidence.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Who greenlighted this piece of dreck?

The first time I saw this trailer, I thought it was a joke, but alas, it’s an actual movie.

Even the SciFi channel would have issues with the believability of this premise.

And, as I’ve presented to you before, the SciFi network has no shame.

However, kudos to the producers for bringing together two 80s icons – Deborah Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas – who are trying to carry this off with apparently straight faces.

I present to you – Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.

Humanzee – Oliver the Chimp

So the dogs woke me up at 3:45 a.m. to go out for a urinary jaunt.

Upon opening the door and getting a face full of cold air as I let them out and back in, I was immediately wide awake.

Trying to find something on the TV to knock me back out again, I watched the end of a MacGyver episode. (For the big finale, he used two silver candlesticks wrapped in bare wires to conduct electricity and defibrillated a man’s heart to bring him back to life. So what did you do at work today? Top that.)

When the mulleted magician was done, I was still wide awake. Surfing the channels, I found a show on the grid entitled “Humanzee” on the Science network. I thought to myself, that will do the trick. I’ll be conked out in 8 minutes.

Instead I was fascinated by the story of this chimpanzee brought from Africa in 1960. It turned out to act differently from all other chimps. Oliver preferred to walk upright. His cranial features were more humanoid than the average Zippy the Chimp. The animal trainers it lived with said it was capable of doing tasks and that other chimps shunned it.

Strange indeed.

At around the age of 16, Oliver’s libido took over and resulted in his being sold by his original owners, beginning an odyssey around the globe. There was talk that Oliver was a hybrid between a chimp and a human.

I still can’t believe I fell back to sleep with this animal mystery on the TV screen, but I did.

So, thanks to Youtube, I tracked down the rest of the episode in six parts.

Here is the first of the videos, so you can see why I wanted to know more.

Oliver image, MacGyver Image, upright Oliver image

My New Nature Boy Crush – Nick Baker

Move over Jeff Corwin.

There’s a new nature boy on the horizon – Nick Baker.

I realize I’m probably behind in finding him as his show has been on the Animal Planet network before, but I caught two hours of “Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures” this morning on the Science Channel and fell in TV love all over again.

Newscoma and I have always enjoyed Corwin’s sense of humor, his pop culture references and his sensitivity to the animals’ habitats and well-being. Unlike Brady Barr‘s proclivity to wrestle and subdue each and every creature he encounters, Corwin was as gentle as possible with the animals he introduced us to – all the while smiling and making me laugh.

Now Baker has a similar take on his show. I also enjoyed the fact that he looked for the exotic right here in North America. One of the two episodes I watched dealt with hellbenders, a giant member of the salamander family. Also known as devil dogs, this ugly swimmer can be found in the rushing streams of Appalachia but is in trouble in the waters of the Ozarks.

Baker does a good job of mixing the science with the curious facts, entertaining and informing at the same time.

I think I’ll tune in again.

Goldfish Survives 13 Hours Out Of Water

Talk about a will to live.

A goldfish managed to survive outside its bowl for at least 13 hours.

During the night, the swimmer named Ginger leapt out of its home and landed on the floor behind the cupboard upon which its tank was placed.

The following morning, the owner noticed the goldfish missing, but couldn’t find it. Having to leave for work, her search for the thought-to-be-dead fish was called off.

After returning home after a day’s labor, the owner moved the cupboard and found Ginger on the floor.

Upon being scooped up, the goldfish began to show signs of life by moving its mouth. Ginger was returned to its bowl where it began to swim.

And we all thought that Nemo had great adventures.

For the full story and more goldfish trivia, visit the Telegraph.

Kung Fu Squirrels

Nature photographer David Slater has come across a dojo family of very aggressive squirrels in Etosha National Park, Namibia.

These members of my legion throw down with some nasty fu and fighting forms.

Metro has the full story and more Fight Club pics.

Here’s a little extra squirrel action for you. No stuffed real squirrels were harmed in the making of this video.

H/T