20 Unique and Rare Animals That Deserve a Closer Look

Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor

May 23, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

No matter how much we try, how much time we spend learning and researching and reading, somehow, every once in a while, we still manage to learn something new about animals. Because there are just so many things to know. Endless things. Endless discoveries to be made, truths to be learned. Like what pregnancies look like in the animal world, and the truth about fossils in the Appalachian mountains, and the real size of animals in comparison to us. You think you know stuff, and then, just like that, you manage to be surprised and amazed by mother nature all over again.

And today is no different. Today is yet another day that we learn something new about animals. Or rather, some new animals. We, as self-proclaimed animal experts, thought that we knew… the vast majority of animals. And so we challenged ourselves to find some that we have not yet seen, and even though we knew that it would not be easy, we found a whole twenty of those animals.

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01
Prionailurus planiceps (Flat-headed cat)

via Frupus, Alex Sliwa
Okay, cats we thought we knew. We thought we knew all of them. We're a little obsessed with them. How we missed one is beyond us. How we missed one that is so cute and huggable is even more of a mystery. But no more, we have found it, and we think this cat might be our current favorite one.
02
Pseudolaureola atlantica (Spiky Yellow Woodlouse)

via Frupus
03
Toxodera (dragon mantises)

via Frupus
04
Myzopoda aurita (Madagascar sucker-footed bat)

via Frupus
05
Patagona gigas (Giant hummingbird)

via Frupus
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06
Strophurus wellingtonae (Western Shield Spiny-tailed Gecko)

via Frupus, Stofan Brech
07
Virgularia spec. (Purple Sea Pen)

via Frupus
08
Trichobatrachus robustus (hairy frog)

via Frupus
09
Theopmpa servillei

via Frupus
10
Probosciger aterrimus (Palm cockatoo)

via Frupus
11
Euchoreutes naso (Long-eared jerboa)

via Frupus
12
Telmatobius culeus (Titicaca water frog)

via Frupus
13
Anableps (Four-eyed fish)

via Frupus
14
Rhinochimaera pacifica (Pacific spookfish)

via Frupus
Now, if there is one area that we knew we would find animals we haven't heard about, it's the area of the ocean. But we don't think that is entirely our fault. We know so little about the ocean and what's in it that still, to this day, we make new discoveries about it all the time. And apparently, there are some cool (and slightly spooky) creatures down there.
15
Cyclopes didactylus (pygmy anteater)

via Frupus
16
Automeris larra

via Frupus
17
Dracaena guianensis (Northern caiman lizard)

via Frupus, Quolibet
18
Platymma tweediei (fire snail)

via Frupus
19
Solenostomus paradoxus (ornate ghost pipefish)

via Frupus
20
Neopetrolisthes maculatus (Spotted Porcelain Crab)

via Frupus