Although some people (you know those annoying facebook friends) think that everything that isn’t human is cute, fun and fluffy, nature has its own grotesqueness, and quite a lot of it. Here are the select few who rose above the ugliness with their extreme lack of anything attractive – the World’s ugliest animals.
Naked Mole Rat
The naked mole rat is also known as a sand puppy, but there’s nothing even remotely cute about the rodent who is found only in East Africa, and is one of only two species of mammals (along with another kind of mole rat) that have a euosocial hierarchy. Despite being quite small (8-10 centimeters long) they can live up to 28 years, and have shown a resistance to cancer, never being observed in one of them.
Pangolin
Ant eaters aren’t especially attractive in any case, but the Pangolin, a scaly anteater that spends most its time rolled up into a ball, asleep, is extremely unattractive, helped by being the only mammal with Keratin scales covering its skin. It’s found in both Africa and Asia.
Proboscis Monkey
What’s is his nickname? The long nosed monkey. Easy guess, right? I don’t think there has ever been one good looking member of this genus, with one of its Malay names translating into Dutch monkey, as Indonesians remarked that the Dutch colonizers often had a similarly large belly and nose.
Lake Titicaca Frog
Telmatobius culeus for the Latin reader, the Lake Titicaca frog is critically endangered, found only in the South American lake and the rivers the flow into it. While the lungs are greatly reduced, this frog has excessive amounts of skin, used to help the frog breathe in the high altitude in which it lives.
Saiga Antelope
Once again, it’s the nose. The Saiga Antelope is found in the foothills of the Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. It’s another critically endangered species, also suffering from the value of its horn, with some value in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching prices of up to $150.
The Sea Pig
Actually, this is just a pink sea cucumber, but with Pinkish color and those tube-like feet, who are we to argue with the common nickname?
Warthog
Forget about the Lion King and all that Timon & Pumba crap in your head. Warthogs are a nasty piece of business, who are often eaten by anything in Africa but also can inflict a whole lot of pain and blood, known to sometimes give Lions fatal wounds. They also let mongooses clean them from time to time.
Angora Rabbit
Even if it a rabbit, and a pet, popular with French Royalty back in the day when there was still such a thing, anything that has too much wool to actually see its face is ugly in my book. It’s not a pretty sight when it’s all shaved as well.
Axolotl
The translation of the name in Zapotec is water monster, but you can also call this little dude, who can regrow his organs the smiling Salamander, and is only found near Mexico City, where the urban growth and water pollution has driven to species to near extinction.
Star Nosed Mole
Again with these moles. This one has an ass looking face, which is actually eleven pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing their snout, used as a touch organ with over 25,000 minute sensory receptors, making it extremely helpful in detecting earthquakes.
Philippine Tarsier
The eyes, the hypnotizing eyes. One of the world’s smallest primate despite the misleading look (barely six inches long) is found in the southeastern part of the Philippines and yes, you guessed it, is on the endangered species list.
