Tweetingdonal's Stump: mental_floss Blog » 6 Animals That Show Mother Nature’s Sense of Humor

2010-02-25

mental_floss Blog » 6 Animals That Show Mother Nature’s Sense of Humor

6 Animals That Show Mother Nature’s Sense of Humor
by Miss Cellania - December 22, 2009 - 8:12 AM

You’ve heard jokes like these all your life: What do you get if you cross an octopus with a cow? An animal that can milk itself. I didn’t find such an animal, but the world has plenty of strange species that at first glance appear to be hybrids of unrelated species because they have attributes that surprise us. However, we are only surprised because our personal experiences don’t encompass all that nature offers.

1. Turtle + Hedgehog = Armadillo

Rudyard Kipling wrote the story The Beginning of the Armadillos, in which the animal came from a tortoise and a hedgehog. They didn’t join to give birth to armadillos; instead, they taught each other their talents. The hedgehog helped the tortoise learn to curl into a ball, and the tortoise taught the hedgehog to swim, which toughened up his spines into armor. Before they knew it, both had turned into armadillos.

Here in the real world, armadillos are related to both sloths and anteaters and are native to Latin America except for the nine-banded armadillo we see in the US. In certain states they are called “speed bumps”. Armadillo image by Flickr user Ben Cooper.

2. Giraffe + Zebra = Okapi

The okapi (Okapia johnstoni) appears to be a short giraffe with a zebra’s legs tacked as an afterthought. The animal, which lives only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and in zoos), is actually related to the giraffe but was “shorted” in the neck department. To make up for that oversight, the okapi has a tongue long enough to lick its own ears! The zebra stripes are thought to be used as camouflage, and to make it easy for okapi young to follow their mothers through the rain forest. Okapi image by Raul654.