Author: Samwise | Total views: 62 Comments: 0
Word Count: 856 Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 7:31 PM

Nature's Unloved: The Fascinating World of Ugly Animals

Some animals are photogenic and easily loveable, from camera-hogging dolphins to the primping, preening big cats, the animals that people love are usually the pretty ones. This leaves the slimy, the ugly and the weird as the unloved denizens of the animal kingdom. However, on closer inspection, the animals you'd think twice about inviting into your home or garden are often the most interesting.

These three critters are by no means pretty, you'd hesitate to cuddle any one of them, but they are amongst the most fascinating creatures on the planet.

1) - Axolotl
The Peter Pan of the Mexican lakes, the axolotl never grows up. It is a salamander which fails to undergo metamorphosis into its adult form, the adults remain aquatic and gilled - features normally associated with larval salamanders.

By remaining in this juvenile state the axolotl is able to live longer than those who have been forced by circumstance or scientific intervention to metamorphose. The life span of a axolotl in its normal neotenic state is up to 15 years, those who take on their adult form are lucky to live for five years.

The axolotl is also capable of impressive regeneration, they do not heal by scarring but can instead fully repair injuries. Whole limbs can be regrown and portions of the brain can also be regenerated. This has made the axolotl a very heavily researched species. Scientists have discovered they can readily accept transplants of limbs and organs, even brains.

These incredible little creatures are often kept as pets and have been known to live for up to 25 years in captivity.

2) - Hagfish
Sometimes referred to as the 'slime eel' despite not being an eel at all, the hagfish is a truly disgusting but undeniably interesting primitive deep-sea fish. They are the only animal to have a skull but no vertebral column and their lineage is so ancient that there is some debate if they should even be classed as fish at all.

Rather than having vertically articulating jaws like you or I, the hagfish has an unusual pair of horizontally moving structures they use to pull and saw at their food. Their meals are composed mainly of worms and the dead and dying creatures (often far larger than themselves) they come across on the ocean floor.

When the hagfish stumbles upon large pieces of carrion it often enters the corpse to feed from the inside out. This is usually accomplished by entering through existing openings; a wound, the mouth or even the anus of the dead creature. They have also been known to make their own openings by holding onto their prey and tying their bodies in knots in order to gain greater leverage, effectively tearing themselves a doorway into the dead animal.

The hagfish is capable of producing massive amounts of slime which is thought to clog the gills of predatory species. After it releases this goo into the water it ties itself in knots to clean itself and restore its own gill function. The hagfish can produce so much of this slime that when they are stressed and contained in small areas such as tanks or buckets they can turn the water to a thick gel in minutes.

3) - Naked Mole Rat
The naked mole rat, also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent from East Africa. It is almost unique amongst mammals as it lives in a hive-like eusocial society similar to ants and has an almost cold-blooded metabolism similar to reptiles.

Typical specimens are about four inches long and weigh 30-35g. They are quite similar in size to a large hamster. They are almost completely hairless with tiny, almost useless eyes and massive front teeth which they use to dig. Their lips close behind these teeth so as they burrow their mouths do not fill with soil.

The skin of the naked mole rat lacks a neurotransmitter called substance P, this is the neurotransmitter than sends pain signals to the central nervous system, so in effect the naked mole rat feels no pain. As if this was not remarkable enough, the little hairless critters can also live for an incredible 28 years, making them the longest living rodents on the planet. When compared to the common brown rat, the naked mole rat has almost ten times the lifespan, that's equivalent to you or I living for 700 years.

Baby naked mole rats are nursed by the queen (who is often almost double the size of other members of the colony) for only one month, after that they are fed faeces by the other members of the colony until they can eat solid food.

So there we have it, a salamander that never grows up, a fish that's so ancient it might not actually be a fish at all and a cold-blooded rat that has more in common with bugs than other mammals. Much more interesting than that showboating killer whale off the TV!

About the Author

Samantha is an expert Research and Theatre consultant. She is currently writing for Show and Stay and is very excited about the upcoming West End revival of Oliver!