4 of the World’s Weirdest & Most Unusual Mammals!

Some are impossibly cute, looking like cartoon characters, while others are such bizarre combinations of animal features they were thought to be frauds at first glance. These six mammals are among the world’s weirdest, with highly unusual looks, bodily features more commonly found in reptiles or birds, and surprising defence mechanisms.

The Incredibly Adorable Loris

This creature is so cute it doesn’t seem real. The Slender Loris is a nocturnal primate with long, thin limbs and opposable thumbs found in the rainforests of Sri Lanka and Southern India. They curl up in little balls to sleep in groups of two to four, high in the treetops. A close relative, the Slow Loris, is just as cute: watch these two videos and you’ll understand. But be careful, because the Slow Loris possesses a trait that’s highly rare in mammals: a toxic bite.

The Suit Of Armor : Pangolins

Pangolins look like anteaters, but they’re covered in overlapping scales made of keratin, with fur on their undersides. They have long, pointed snouts, and roll into balls as a defense mechanism, with the sharp-edged scales acting as armor. They can also spray a foul acid from glands near the anus, similar to a skunk. The long claws on its front legs enable climbing but make it difficult to walk, so they tuck them under when on all fours. They have extremely long tongues for lapping nectar, which retract deep into their abdominal cavities when not in use.

Sunda Colugu Lemur 

Flying lemurs look like a bizarre mix of bats and squirrels, but they’re actually the closest relatives of primates. The Sunda Colugo lemur is equipped with ‘skin wings’ that enables it to glide from tree to tree in its forest habitats of Southeast Asia including Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java. This membrane is much larger than those of similar ‘flying’ mammals, like flying squirrels. It makes it possible for them to travel over 100 meters (328 feet) in a single glide.

Sagia Antelope

The strange, complex wrinkled faces of this particular bat species (Centurio senex) have a number of functions you might not expect. The flaps of skin, which are more pronounced on males than females, contain storage pouches to hold fruit. The males have extra flaps containing scent glands that help them attract mates. The unusual shape of their skulls produces bite forces up to 20% higher than other bats of a similar size, so they can eat tougher fruit. The wrinkle-faced bat is technically classed as a leaf-nose bat, but doesn't have a leaf nose.