Which one of these bizarre creatures and critters are you meeting for the first time? Some of these animals seem like they’re characters from a Sci-Fi movie, others look like they’re from another dimension.

Look4ward has collected for you top 10  list of  jaw-dropping creatures, which proofs that it’s a wild and wonderful world we live in.

1. Tufted deer

The Tufted deer has an appearance like a vampire because of the incredibly large canines sticking out of their mouth. This species exists in mountainous forests of Myanmar and central parts of China.

Tufted Deer (Elaphodus cephalophus), mature male with small tusks (Image Source)

2. Mantis Shrimp

The Mantis Shrimp (or ‘Stomatopod’) is a small, aggressive marine Crustacean, that inhabit tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans between Eastern Africa and Hawaii.

They are beautiful and vibrant in colour, but also deadly, able to club prey with the force of a bullet, or spike them with their sharp claws.

Mantis Shrimp - Odontodactylus scyllarus (Image Source)

3. Sunda Flying Lemur

The Sunda flying lemur is found throughout Southeast Asia in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The Sunda flying lemur is not a lemur and does not fly. Instead, it glides as it leaps among trees. It is strictly arboreal, is active at night, and feeds on soft plant parts such as young leaves, shoots, flowers, and fruits.

Sunda flying lemur. Photo © David Cook (Image Source)

4. Desert Rain Frog

he desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) is a endangered species of frog which resides in desert and sandy areas. It is mainly known for its unusual squeaking, behaviour and sound compared to its appearance.

5. Goblin Shark

The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is a rare species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a ” living fossil “, it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old.

Head of a goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) with jaws extended. Photo © Dianne Bray / Museum Victoria (Image Source)

6. Dumbo Octopus

Dumbo octopuses live at extreme depths in oceans around the world—up to 13,000 feet below the surface—and are the deepest-living octopuses known.

The name “dumbo” originates from their resemblance to the title character of Disney’s 1941 film Dumbo, having a prominent ear-like fin which extends from the mantle above each eye.

Dumbo Octopus. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. (Image Source)

7. Indian Purple Frog

The purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis) is a frog species belonging to the family Sooglossidae. It can be found in the Western Ghats in India.

It is very unusual among amphibians. Whilst most frog tadpoles hatch into streams and swim, the Indian Purple frog’s young instead cling to rocks underwater. Then, unlike most amphibians which spend their adult life on land and in water, the adult frogs dig underground and spend their life there, only emerging to reproduce in forest streams.

Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis (Image Source)

8. Okapi

The okapi (pronounced oh-COP-ee) is a beautiful and unusual animal. With its white-and-black striped hindquarters and front legs, it looks like it must be related to zebras! But take a look at an okapi’s head, and you’ll notice a resemblance to giraffes. The okapi is indeed the only living relative of the giraffe.

An Okapi. Taken at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Photo © Raul654 (Image Source)

9. Jerboa

Jerboa is a small mammal that belongs to the group of jumping rodents.

Jerboas have the ability to hop huge distances relative to its size, an ability that evolved as an adaptation to help them escape from predators, and to aid with long journeys and foraging in its desert environment. It does not drink at all, relying on its food to provide enough moisture for survival. You can find Jerboas in both the sandy and stony deserts of North Africa, Arabia and Iran.

Lesser Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus jaculus) (Image Source)

10. Hummingbird Hawk-Moth

The hummingbird hawk moth is hairy with a dark, white-spotted abdomen, mousey-grey forewings and golden-orange hindwings.

It is so named as it can be easily mistaken for a hummingbird as it hovers, probing flowers for nectar with its long proboscis. In fact, it is smaller than any hummingbird. The hummingbird hawkmoth is abundant and resident all around Mediterranean countries, and across Central Asia to Japan.

Hummingbird Hawk-Moth. Photo © IronChris (Image Source)