Some anglerfishes employ an unusual mating method. Because individuals are presumably locally rare and encounters doubly so, finding a mate is problematic. When scientists first started capturing ceratioid anglerfish, they noticed that all of the specimens were females. These individuals were a few inches in size and almost all of them had what appeared to be parasites attached to them. It turned out that these “parasites” were highly reduced male ceratioids.

The Komodo dragon is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang.

aka Calliophis bivirgatus

The Bay Cat is a small feline endemic to the island of Borneo. Nearly everything that is known about this cat is based on just twelve specimens, the first of which was collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1855 in Sarawak. A total of seven further skins surfaced over the following decades, but it was not until 1992 that a living specimen was obtained, and there were no photographs of the animal until a second living specimen was captured in 1998. [via Featured Creature]

The Cordoba Fighting Dog is an extinct breed of dog. The Cordoba was a crossbreed of Mastiff, Bull Terrier, Boxer, and Old English Bulldog. The Cordoba Fighting Dog originated in Córdoba, Argentina. The breed had such strong aggression toward other dogs that the males and females would rather fight than mate. In addition, many members of this breed died in the dog fighting pits, contributing to the breed’s extinction.

The arapaima is a South American freshwater fish. It is a living fossil and one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world. Because the arapaima produces large, boneless steaks, it is considered a delicacy. Commercial fishing of the arapaima has been banned by the Brazilian government.

Oarfish are found in all the world’s oceans at depths of between 300 and 1000 meters. Its total length can reach 17 m, and it can weigh up to 300 kg.

The argonauts are a group of octopuses unlike any other. The females secrete a thin, white, brittle shell called the paper nautilus. Nestled with their arms tucked inside this beautiful, translucent home, they drift through the open ocean while other octopus species crawl along the sea floor.

Unknown to Europeans until 1901, today there are approximately 10,000–20,000 okapis in the wild and only 40 different worldwide institutions display them.

Read about it in this article from The Guardian.

The spotted handfish is unusual in that it has highly adapted pectoral fins, which appear like hands (hence the name) and allow it to walk on the sea floor.

Ocelot

Aloys Zötl

The Altiplano is a cold, harsh habitat, ranging from about 12,000-18,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America. At this elevation, there are no trees to block strong winds, and very little rain, though nightly fog and dew provide water. The land is covered with low, tough shrubs and hardy grasses, neither of which provides places to hide. This inhospitable area is home to a species of animal with the finest fiber in the world: the vicuna.

During the height of the Incan empire, the animals were plentiful and numbered approximately 2 million. Their fleece was so valuable (vicuna fabric currently sells for $1,800 to $3,000 per yard) that only royalty could wear garments made from it.