As a naturalist, we love nature and believe that the world along with its unique living creatures is astounding. We've selected 50 examples of species most of us have never even heard of. Don't miss the bonus at the end of the article since it may be the coolest part!

Fennec fox: The fennec fox's unique build helps it thrive in the desert. Its huge ears are its signature characteristic, and its paws are covered in thick fur to protect it from the hot sand. What they lack in size they make up for in personality. They even purr like a cat when they are happy. These foxes dwell in small communities, each inhabited by perhaps ten individuals. Like other canids, male fennecs mark their territory with urine and become aggressive competitors when mating season arrives each year. Fennec foxes are opportunistic eaters. They forage for plants but also eat rodents, eggs, reptiles, and insects. Like most desert dwellers, the fennec fox has developed the ability to go for long periods without water.

Axolotl: Axolotls are critically endangered and can only be found in one place - in some lakes and canals in Mexico. You most likely noticed the funny branches growing on its head, they may look silly but they are actually functional, the filaments attached to them increase the area for gas exchange.

Giant Isopod: Giant Isopods prefer to live between 550 to 7020 feet deep underwater. They are called giant for a reason, some of these creatures can grow absolutely gigantic! Scientists believe that this enormous size helps them to compromise the pressure of the deep ocean. They nearly exclusively eat carrion, and when something edible is found on the ocean's floor, they eat a lot of it because they don't always know when their next feast will be. Since they live in such depth and getting food can be challenging, Isopods have extremely slow metabolisms. They may not need anything to eat for a few years thanks to this unique ability.

Goblin shark: The goblin shark is often called a vampire shark because it doesn't like light and prefers living deep in the sea. Although it looks very freaky, it's not as scary as it seems. This shark is absolutely not interested in people and mainly eats fish, crabs, and mollusks. And, unlike other sharks, this one is a pretty bad swimmer.

Golden poison frog: This pretty little frog is one of the most poisonous creatures in the world. They are not born poisonous, they get it from what they eat. They only use the poison for defense and it's so strong that the toxins from just one frog can kill two elephants. These creatures are very rare and only live in the rainforest in Colombia.

Pink fairy armadillo: Despite their very delicate size, these little creatures have very powerful claws that make them exceptionally good diggers. Their shell looks pink because the blood vessels in the shell are so close to the surface. In the deserts of Argentina dwells the remarkable pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus), a 5-inch-long, quarter-pound critter with a rosy shell atop silky white hair. This smallest of all armadillos spends almost its entire life burrowing through the earth, hunting various invertebrates and chewing up plant matter.

Tube-nosed fruit bat: The tube-like nostrils are the reason for this bat's name. It likes to eat fruit and these unique nostrils allow it to breathe while it pushes its face into the fruit to suck the juice. This tube-nosed fruit bat is just one of the roughly 200 species encountered during two scientific expeditions to Papua New Guinea in 2009—including a katydid that "aims for the eyes" and a frog that does a mean cricket impression

Star-nosed mole: These animals are almost completely blind but that doesn't affect them that much because they have 22 tentacles around their nose, which have 25,000 sensors, and that makes their sense of smell extremely sensitive. They can even smell underwater. Sniffing brings molecules in the air around us into our nose, where they are detected and manifested in our brains as smells. But try the same trick underwater and you would rapidly choke or drown. Nonetheless, smell is a tremendously important sense for most mammals and at least two species have found a way to safely sniff in water.

Blobfish: The blobfish doesn't have bones, teeth or much muscle either. This is why they have a very slow lifestyle and spend their whole life crawling along the sea floor sucking small sea creatures like shellfish or crabs. A blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) may be the ugliest animal you've ever seen. In fact, the title is official: in a 2013 competition held by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, the blobfish was actually voted as the World's Ugliest Animal. The blobfish has small eyes, a gelatinous appearance, a large mouth, and a relatively small body and fins to go with it.

Irrawaddy dolphin: If you were to draw a dolphin, you would normally include their well-known beak. Well, not for this one! the Irrawaddy dolphin has a very unique look to it, and its round face is one of its main characteristics. Although they are not considered to be in danger of extinction, they are relatively rare and only live in a few areas of the world.

Hairy-chested yeti crab: The hair which gives this crab its name is not just scary but also practical. They actually eat the tiny microbes that grow on it. They live near the very hot hydrothermal vents in Antarctica which make their life a constant adventure, as one wrong move could mean being boiled or frozen.

Satanic leaf-tailed gecko: These creatures have excelled in their camouflaging skills. It is almost impossible to see them in wild. But they don't rely on this skill when hunting, they look like a leaf only when they rest. They are also very fussy about where they live and Madagascar is the only place where they can be found.

Giant spider crab: There's a reason why it's called the Giant Spider Crab, it has a leg span of up to 3.8 meters which makes it seem like it came straight from a horror movie. They live in very deep waters and are very good at camouflaging, they even learned how to decorate themselves with sea sponges and anemones to stay safe.

Desert rain frog: These frogs are tiny and don't even grow to 1cm, which makes them the smallest frogs in the world. Unfortunately they are an endangered species, mainly because of people moving in on their desert territory. They make a very interesting sound reminiscent of a kid's squeaky toy.

The blue dragon: This pretty sea slug developed the perfect coloring for hiding while floating on the sea surface. The sapphire side of the body faces upward and blends perfectly with the blue water, while the silver part faces downward so it can't be seen by predators from below. The blue dragon is not poisonous but it can gather poison from what it eats, concentrate and store it, and use it if it gets attacked.

Proboscis monkey: When you see this monkey, the first thing you notice is the nose. It can be up to 7 inches long. The males generally have larger noses than the females. Monkey researchers believe that the larger the male's nose is, the more attractive it looks to females. Proboscis monkeys are endemic to the jungles of Borneo, never straying far from the island's rivers, coastal mangroves, and swamps. They are a highly arboreal species and will venture onto land only occasionally to search for food. They live in organized harem groups consisting of a dominant male and two to seven females and their offspring. Various groups often congregate near water at night to sleep.

Wolf fish: This is another example of the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover." The wolf fish may look scary and aggressive, but it is actually very shy most of the time. It has learned how to produce its own internal antifreeze which allows it to live in very cold conditions. Wolffish, any of five species of large long-bodied fishes of the family Anarhichadidae (order Perciformes), found in northern Atlantic and Pacific waters. The largest species may grow to a length of about 2.3 metres (7.5 feet). Wolffishes have a large head and a long tapered body surmounted by a single long dorsal fin. Their formidable teeth consist of large canines and heavy molars capable of handling a diet of crabs, starfishes, sea urchins, and other prey.

Dugong: They are very big, but very gentle and peaceful animals. Dugongs are the only marine mammals which are 100% vegetarian. To support their size, they have to eat about 50kg of sea grass every day. The shape of their face and upper lip are perfectly designed for grazing on sea grass from the ocean floor.

Boxer crab: These crabs became famous because of the way they move. They always carry a small sea anemone in each claw, like boxing gloves, which is how they got their name. They do this for 2 reasons - defense and food catching. Boxer crabs feed sea anemones in exchange for defense from danger — serving as a prominent example of symbiosis in the animal kingdom. Lybia tessellata is a tiny crustacean native to the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean. These crabs are usually patterned with pink, brown, or yellow and reach about an inch in width. They bear slim claws and a front pair of walking legs that are longer than the other three pairs.

Red-lipped batfish: This very strange looking fish can be easy recognized by its bright red lips. It really looks like this fish is wearing lipstick! They also have a very unique way of "walking" on the bottom of the ocean using their modified fins. Red lipped batfish is unique in the world with a feature. This fish is only fish species in world that can walk with 4 feet. Although its fins are designed to walk, sometimes it can swim as shaking its tail but this doesn´t happen everytime. Maybe its discontented facial expression is because it has to walk over.

Hispaniolan solenodon: These funny looking animals have a unique signature look with their unusual, elongated, and very flexible snouts. They have a ball-and-socket joint at the base of their snout, just like a human shoulder joint. It increases the flexibility of their snout which plays a key role in helping them find food.

Shoebill: This is an incredibly large bird, half-stork, half-pelican, with wings that may span up to 2.5 meters. They often live close to hippos and when those massive mammals bulldoze water and force fish to the surface the shoebills are able to catch them easier. They were named after their beak which is very effective for catching fish. The shoebill is also reported to have a gargoyle-like ability to stand motionless for hours while hunting.

Saiga: This antelope can be easy recognized by its head with a very mobile nose and long colored horns. Unfortunately, saiga are listed as critically endangered and there is a high chance of the full extinction of this beautiful animal in the wild. The population of a rare type of antelope has more than doubled since 2019, in a remarkable turn around in fortunes. According to the first aerial survey in two years, the number of saiga in their Kazakhstan heartland has risen from 334,000 to 842,000. There were fears the animal was on the brink of extinction following a mass die-off in 2015.