It is a creature of the night, living in the deadliest of jungles.  It can run, it can fly, and it can see in the dark.  It can detect its prey using both infrared and sonar.  It feeds on the blood of the living, and is one of the most feared creatures on the planet.  It is the common vampire bat.

Contrary to popular belief, vampire bats don’t ‘suck’ the blood out of anything, nor do they prey only on humans.  What happens instead is that a vampire bat will sniff out a large mammal (such as a tapir, cow, or horse) and land near it.  The bat then uses the heat sensors on it nose to find a spot where the blood vessels are closest to the skin of the animal, and then make a small cut. The anticoagulants in the bats saliva keeps the blood from clotting, and the bat laps up the blood from the cut, sometimes enough that the bat will double in weight.

Vampire bats are a little different from most other bats.  They have very few teeth (the fewest among all other bats) due to their liquid diet, and their teeth have no enamel, which helps keep them razor sharp. The common vampire bat the only bat that can actually run, and are among the only bats that share food.  There are only three species of bats that drink blood, including the common vampire bat, and all of them have a limited sense of taste.

The common vampire bat lives in the rain forests of Central and South America.  While it prefers to leave humans alone, it is considered a pest, because they carry rabies and are constantly infecting livestock, which have to be killed.  However, these bats don’t just cause death and destruction.  There is a medicine derived from the anticoagulants in the vampire bat’s saliva that is used to increase blood flow in stroke patients, which in turn can save lives.

Think of a creature that has a tooth that can be ten feet long.  A creature that lives in some of the coldest waters on the planet, and frequently swims more than a mile beneath the surface in search of prey.  A creature that derives its common name from ‘corpse’, yet reminds people of a unicorn.  This beast is none other than the elusive narwhal.

Narwhals live in the Arctic Ocean, where they hunt for halibut, cod, and various sea going invertebrates.  They live in small groups and are thought to communicate via clicks and whistles, although they are not nearly as vocal as their cousins, the belugas.  Unlike beluga whales, narwhals are a mottled black and white, which led ancient Norse sailors to refer to them as ‘nar’, or corpse, due to the coloration being similar to the skin of drowned people.  These aquatic mammals can grow up to 18 feet long, not counting the massive tusk.  

Speaking of tusks, nobody is quite sure why narwhals have them.  The tusk is filled with nerves, and can be used as a sensory device, but most females lack one.  Some believe that males use them to battle for mates, while others think that the tusks can are used as a method of communication.  A few females have tusks, while some males are without, and some narwhals even have two.  Medieval Europeans once thought that narwhal tusks were actually unicorn horns, and would pay exorbitant prices just to own one.

There really isn’t that much known about narwhals, since they live in such remote regions and cannot be kept in captivity.  We do know that they can live at least 50 years, that they go grey with age, and that their neck bones are not fused like most other dolphins or whales.  We also know that climate change and pollution are great dangers for these mysterious animals.  Fortunately, changes are being made, and, with luck, will benefit the narwhals and many other animals of the Arctic.

What a sinister name. Upon hearing it, you must wonder if the face of this creature is worthy of all of the shivers that it sends down your spine.  The answer? Yes, yes it is.

Despite its scientific name, the spectral bat is neither a vampire, nor a ghost.  It is, however, carnivorous, which is why it has those imposing fangs.  This large bat (the largest carnivorous bat in the world, with a maximum wingspan of over 3 feet) lives in Central and South America, where it feeds on birds, reptiles, and small mammals.  Unlike most other bats, which use echolocation to find prey, the spectral bat sniffs its prey out, and then swoops on it like an owl, using its enormous claws to grab it.

The spectral bat isn’t evil, though.  This bat is monogamous, and the males participate in the raising of the offspring. When the female goes out to find food for the two of them, the male stays at home and watches their baby.  Male spectral bats are also know for wrapping his mate and child up in his wings when they sleep, to keep them from getting cold.  It may be sweet, but you still wouldn’t want to run into one of these toothy predators any time soon.

Like all lemurs, Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur lives in Madagascar.  Unlike all lemurs, Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur is extremely small; only 3 and a half inches long.  In fact, it is so small, that it is classified as the smallest primate in the world.

Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur is omnivorous, as are most other lemurs.  Depending on the season, they will eat fruit, flowers, insects, or small lizards.  They make nests in the vines of the trees of the Kirindy forest, and occasionally sleep in large groups.  Other than that, this lemur is mostly solitary.

While most people may have never heard of Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, the species as a whole are famous for inspiring the role of Mort in the Madagascar films, as well as helping to prevent Alzheimer’s disease (they develop brain lesions like those found in humans, and scientists are studying the plants that they eat to see if any halt the progression of the disease).  There are seven other species of mouse lemur, and all of them are tiny enough that they can be held in the palm of your hand, as seen in this picture of Shaquille O’Neal.

Armadillos are an ancient species.  They were among the first mammalian species to evolve, and have remained relatively unchanged.  The giant armadillo is no exception to this rule.  At three feet long (not counting the tail, which adds another 20 inches) it is the largest living species of armadillo.  Only the extinct glyptodonts were bigger.  

Interestingly, giant armadillos are the toothiest mammal that lives on land.  These giants have an average 80-100 teeth in their mouths, which is unusual, since giant armadillos feed almost exclusively on ants and termites.  This diet of subterranean insects has led to another odd adaptation.  The giant armadillo has the largest claw to body ratio of any animal ever (the claws are about as 22% as long as their entire body).  They use these claws to dig up their prey and create the burrows that they live in.

Living in the forests of South America can make something difficult to find, but this armadillo takes it up a notch.  They spend most of the time sleeping (18 hours a day), and when they do decide to get up and move around, they do it at night. Because of this, very little is known about the behavior of giant armadillos in the wild, so most information comes from captive specimens.

When you type ‘aard’ into any search engine, one of the first suggestions to pop up will be ‘aardvark’. This isn’t about aardvarks, though. This is about a small creature called an aardwolf.  Like the similarly named aardvark, aardwolves live in Africa, are nocturnal, and subsist entirely on termites.  This, however, is where the similarities end.  

Aardwolves aren’t wolves at all.  They’re actually a relative of hyenas, which are more closely related to cats than they are to dogs.  However, the aardwolf is very different from the other hyenas.  For one, it is much smaller, less than three feet long, not including the tail.  Another difference is that aardwolves have five toes on their front feet, while hyenas only have four.  The main difference between the aardwolf and the hyena is their diet.  Hyenas are carnivores, feeding on the carcasses of any animal that was unfortunate enough to die nearby.  The aardwolf is an insectivore; it only eats termites, about 250,000 every night, which it catches by licking a termite mound with its long sticky tongue.

Because aardwolves didn’t evolve to eat only insects, they come across the occasional problem. Since they never use their teeth (bugs don’t need to be chewed), a lot of them simply fall out.  This can be problematic when it comes to defense. They can’t run fast, since termites don’t really generate that much energy, and they can’t fight, since they’re so small, so the only option they have left is intimidation.  When frightened, the aardwolf puffs up its mane in order to look bigger, a behavior that is found in many mammals.  But, instead of just looking puffy like most mammals, the aardwolf looks absolutely fabulous.  It still scares away potential predators, though.

There are eight species of pangolins and Smutsia gigantea is the biggest out of all of them.  The aptly named giant pangolin is more than four feet long from head to tail and resides right in the middle of Africa.  To beat the heat, this pangolin only comes out at night to hunt for prey with its massive set of claws.  What is it that this creature feeds on?  Bugs.  Lots and lots of bugs.

Pangolins are basically anteaters with scales (they are sometimes called scaly anteaters because of this).  They use their large claws to tear down termite mounds and dig up ant colonies to expose the insects within, which they then slurp up using their long sticky tongues. Because they are so big, adult giant pangolins have no trouble breaking apart termite mounds, and can often knock one over just by leaning on it.  It’s the little ones that have a hard time of it, but they’ll survive, since they stay with their mothers until they reach sexual maturity at age 3.

If threatened, a pangolin will curl up into a tight ball, completely protected from any potential predator by its thick keratin scales.  But since scales can really weigh giant pangolins down (the only specimen ever measured was 72 pounds), this mammal has developed an interesting means of locomotion. To protect their claws, pangolins don’t walk on all fours, instead using their long tail to help balance them on their two hind legs.  This makes the giant pangolin one of the few mammals to be fully bipedal.

The okapi is an elusive herbivore that lives in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  It was not formally described until 1901, possibly because the okapi was often mistaken for a zebra, due to the striking stripes on its rear.

While the okapi may have stripes like a zebra, it is actually the closest living relative of the giraffe.  It isn’t nearly as tall (5 feet at the shoulder versus 10 feet on a giraffe), but the males do have ossicones (short fur-covered horns), and all okapi have a very long, flexible tongue used to forage for foliage.

Because they’re fairly large, okapi have to eat a lot.  They have been known to eat more than one hundred types of plants and fungi, including some that are poisonous to other animal.  Along with the leaves, twigs, and berries, okapis also ingest clay, which provides minerals that aren’t found in any of the vegetation they eat.

The sun bear is the smallest living species of bear.  This bear is less than five feet long, doesn’t even reach 3 feet at the shoulder, and can weigh anywhere from 60 to 176 pounds.  Their petite (relative to other bears) frame is beneficial to the sun bear since it lives in the dense tropical forests of Southeast Asia.

Despite their name, sun bears are mostly nocturnal; their name comes from the white crescent shaped mark on their chest, which is thought to resemble the sun.  It is probably a good thing that these bears shun the sun, since high temperatures (averaging 80°F in the region) plus a thick coat (to protect their skin from the foliage) could easily overheat the sun bear.

Another, more fitting, name for this bear is the honey bear.  Sun bears absolutely adore honey.  They use their powerful noses to sniff out beehives and then gorge themselves, not only on the sweet stuff, but the bees and their larvae as well.  The sun bear also feeds on figs, eggs, birds, small mammals, and various other insects, using its claws to tear open nests and its long tongue to slurp them out of their hiding places.   Since there is such a plentiful food supply year round, sun bears don’t hibernate.

What if I told you that there is an animal that can be found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, is carnivorous, has 15 sets of legs, and is probably IN YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW AND IT LOOKS LIKE THIS!!

Although it may look like some sort of alien monster, it’s actually the humble house centipede. They’re relatively harmless (most of these arthropods couldn’t hurt you if they tried due to their tiny teeth) and eat the bugs you should really be worrying about (aka cockroaches, termites, silverfish, and bedbugs).  House centipedes don’t carry disease, don’t destroy your property, and try to stay out of people’s way.  

The body of a house centipede is only about an inch long, but thanks to those ridiculously long legs and antennae, it can look much bigger.  It also spends a significant amount of time keeping those legs clean. Like a cat, it will groom itself, meticulously making sure that everything is in proper order.  So next time you see one of these centipedes crawling out of your drain, try not to scream or panic, and remember that this is one bug that you don’t want to squish.