Unlike the oceans, almost every corner of Earth's land has been visited by people. Using the latest technology, scientists can even explore remote places that are difficult for us to travel to, such as areas that are very cold, very wet, very dry, or very high.
But take a regular person a bit further away from their home, and we will soon start feeling as if we're entering the great unknown. Terra incognita for our knowledge and experience.
So in an attempt to accentuate the beauty of Mother Nature, let's take a look at the wonderful creatures who inhabit it. The Twitter account 'Weird Animals' is excellent for such a task. It posts photos of species most have never even heard of, and they really help to achieve the goal of 'Weird Animals,' specified in the account's bio section, which is to highlight the wonders of evolution and the extraordinary diversity of life.
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As you can see, our planet really is home to an incredible diversity of creatures.
According to the team at Our World in Data, a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, existential risks, and inequality, there are several ways we can answer the question of how much life is on Earth.
We could, for instance, count the number of species, population sizes or the number of individual organisms, but these metrics can make it difficult to compare between taxa: small organisms may have a large population but still account for a very small percentage of Earth's organic matter.
and this solves the ancestral question: they are black with white stripes
For a meaningful comparison, we can, instead, look at biomass—it is measured in tonnes of carbon as it is a key building-block of life. In this case:
- plants – mainly trees – dominate Earth: they account for more than 82% of biomass;
- surprisingly in second place is the life we cannot see: tiny bacteria sum up to 13%;
- whilst our perceptions are often focused on the animal kingdom, it accounts for only 0.4%;
- humans make up just 0.01% of biomass, so we'd need about 70 trillion of us to match the Earth’s collective biomass.
These are the kittens! Adults look fierce and fabulous. caracal-62...47ee80.jpg 
But if we want to get more specific, then we can start with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. It tracks the number of described species and updates the figure annually based on the latest work of taxonomists.
In 2021, it listed 2.13 million species on the planet, including 1.05 million insects, over 83,000 mollusks, over 11,000 birds, and over 6,000 mammals. These figures, however, might be a bit too high. This is because some species end up being synonyms – the description of already-known species, simply given a separate name.
If this is really that big and adorable, why have I not heard of it before!!?!?!?!
They also blend in really well, looking like tree stumps.
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Real life MEME Bird. I mean, no need for a joke, the thing is hillarious!
Looks like a creature in the background of a sci fi movie that they made look similar to one of our animals yet different enough to be alien. Oh and it would talk to the hero and give them a clue on their journey.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one here old enough to think it looks like a Sleestak. Or maybe a Sleestak crossed with a Pokemon!
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Scrolling down to see the pictures, I'm like "Look an owl." "That's not a bird its an otter." "What kind of lizard is th-same bird."
Night hawks and night jars are pretty cool and can be found in various different parts of the world 🥰
They are actually night creatures like the owls. That's why their eyes are like that in daytime.
I recognize this is very cool. It also looks like something from a nightmare O_O
Look up the noise it makes and imagine hearing it in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere.
I thought the same. Is it a member of the Nightjar family?
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There is a continual evaluation process to remove synonyms (and most are eventually), but often, species are added at a faster rate than synonyms can be found and removed.
To get a sense of how big this problem is, consider this: one study estimated that around 20% of the described species were undiscovered duplicates. The paper estimated that the 1.9 million described species at the time was actually closer to 1.5 million unique species.
If we were to assume this 20% figure to be true, our 2.12 million described species might actually be closer to just 1.7 million.
Either way, academics believe that these numbers are still an underestimate. One of the most widely-cited figures comes from Camila Mora and colleagues. They suggest that there are around 8.7 million species on Earth today, with 2.2 million of them living in the ocean.
As Robert May said in a paper published in Science:
"If some alien version of the Starship Enterprise visited Earth, what might be the visitors' first question? I think it would be: 'How many distinct life forms—species—does your planet have?' Embarrassingly, our best-guess answer would be in the range of 5 to 10 million eukaryotes (never mind the viruses and bacteria), but we could defend numbers exceeding 100 million, or as low as 3 million."
At first, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but the fact that there are so many species that we've yet to discover has real consequences for our ability to understand changes in global biodiversity and the rate of species extinctions. If we don't know that certain species exist, we also don't know that they might have, or will soon, disappear. Some animals will inevitably go extinct before we realize that they existed.
Not rodents, closely related to moles, exclusively found in Africa, lifespan of 4 - 5 years.
I hope they aren't endangered because of us. Because how could anyone hurt something so beautiful?
This is the only picture I have found where it's body is flat. Yet the picture looks real, so I guess the snake is able to flatten if the are scaling an edge and need to keep balanced.
Note: this post originally had 130 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
I didn't see the Dumbo octopus on here. Please check them out they are so cute
The ravine trapdoor spider creeps me out. Ugh I wish I could unsee that!
So are we voting for things because we genuinely had no idea they existed? Or because they are cute? Regardless, I’ve been watching wildlife documentaries for decades and it still blows my mind that there are creatures out there I have never heard of. I’m looking at you, bobbit worm, Blue planet 2017.
Pro tip: If you want something otherworldly for your next sci-fi media (book, movie, game, what have you) look no further than your own planet!
Actually I found least of the animals weird, but I follow that Twitter account now.
Such a resplendent list... It also confirms my suspicion that my demise will more than likely happen whilst trying to pet something I shouldn't...
I didn't see the Dumbo octopus on here. Please check them out they are so cute
The ravine trapdoor spider creeps me out. Ugh I wish I could unsee that!
So are we voting for things because we genuinely had no idea they existed? Or because they are cute? Regardless, I’ve been watching wildlife documentaries for decades and it still blows my mind that there are creatures out there I have never heard of. I’m looking at you, bobbit worm, Blue planet 2017.
Pro tip: If you want something otherworldly for your next sci-fi media (book, movie, game, what have you) look no further than your own planet!
Actually I found least of the animals weird, but I follow that Twitter account now.
Such a resplendent list... It also confirms my suspicion that my demise will more than likely happen whilst trying to pet something I shouldn't...
