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32 Normal-Looking Animals That Are Actually Kinda Frightening

Yes, we are about to ruin penguins for you

32 Normal-Looking Animals That Are Actually Kinda Frightening

November 10, 2023

Have you ever seen a normal-looking animal and thought, “Oh, that’s cute!” And then, upon further inspection, realized that it’s actually kinda frightening? No? Well, you’re in for a treat because, I’m going to share with you some of the most normal-looking animals out there that are actually pretty creepy. Keep reading to see what I mean…

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PENGUINS WILL KIDNAP OTHER PENGUINS' CHICKS. Emperor penguins whose chicks have died will kidnap other penguins' offspring. CRACKED.COM — Journal of Experimental Biology

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ANTS DRINK THEIR OWN BUTT ACID. The formic acid in their butts serves as a purpose fluid, as a chemical disinfectant and a weapon against predators. CRACKED.COM — Science Alert

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RING-TAILED, LEMURS HAVE STINK FIGHTS. Male lemurs have scent glands on their wrists and shoulders and use their tails to flick their scent at sexual competition. CRACKED.COM — Duke

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CAPUCHIN MONKEYS WASH THEIR BODIES WITH THEIR URINE. This process attracts mates. Marcel on Friends was grosser than you thought. CRACKED.COM — BBC

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EURASIAN ROLLER CHICKS PROJECTILE VOMIT TO DEFEND AGAINST PREDATORS. The smell discourages being eaten and alerts the parents. CRACKED.COM — Daily Mail

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Slow Lorises CRACKED.co These Beanie-Babies-made-real are actually the only venomous primate. By rubbing their poison armpit secretions onto their teeth, they deliver a bite that rots flesh, if it doesn't send you into anaphylactic shock first. — 5 Super-Adorable Animals That Can Kill The Hell Out Of You

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MARGAYS MIMIC THE CRIES OF INFANTS TO LURE ITS PREY. These large cats have been observed imitating the vocalizations of its prey species in order to attract its attention CRACKED.COM — Lamar

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Nazca Boobies GRACKED. Male boobies that haven't found a mate take it out on younger boobie chicks, pecking and kicking them, who then grow up to be just as abusive. Could it be the ridiculous name humans have given them? We may never know. — 5 Adorable Animals Who Are the Biggest Assholes on Earth

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Elephants

Elephants CRACKED.COM These giants love nothing more than flexing on the animal kingdom by using their trunks to fling rocks and logs at passersby. Seeing as how they're the heaviest land animal, this just seems like overkill. — 5 Super-Adorable Animals That Can Kill The Hell Out Of You

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Lions GRACKED Don't start thinking these majestic kitties are all singing disney songs either; male lions will maul young cubs in order to mate with their mother, who suddenly finds herself in the need for more kids. — The 6 Biggest Assholes in the Animal Kingdom

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PLATYBELODON Dead for 5 million years. 20'LONG,9,000 LBS CRACKEDGO Too lazy to use a trunk to bring food to its mouth, so it brought its mouth to the food. Platybelodons were early ancestors of elephants with fused lower tusks that acted either like a shovel or a saw, but definitely made them look like demonic platypus-hippos. — NPR

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Crows CRACKED.COM Crows will remember you, and why they hate you, for years! If you slight these highly intelligent birds they will memorize your face and attack you on sight. They'll even snitch on you to other crows, meaning you'll BE watching over your shoulder forever. — National Geographic

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LIVYATAN Dead for 13 million years. 57', 100, 000 LBS CRACKED.COM A literal leviathan, Livyatan melvillei was an apex predator with teeth the size of artillery shells. Unlike the similarly robust Sperm Whale which feeds by sucking in water and all the organisms that come with it, Livyatan used those foot long teeth to chomp down on other whales as a food source. — New York Times

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32 Normal-Looking Animals That Are Actually Kinda Frightening — Wired

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TITANOBOA Dead for 56 million years. 45', 2500 LBS CRACKED .COM After the extinction of the dinosaurs, a new heavyweight slithered out of Hell to coil around its throne - in the form of a gigantic, 1.25 ton snake. Constrictors like the anaconda can manage to take down and swallow much larger prey, which would mean few creatures would have been off Titanoboa's menu. — Wired

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THE WELS GATFISH CAN GROW TO 12 FEET LONG. They have voracious appetites, and have been known to gobble up birds out of the air. CRACKED.COM http ://www vw.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fisherman-lands-19-stone-catfish-5215760 — 25 Animals IRL That Will Haunt Your Dreams

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BRONTORNIS Dead for 1.8 million years. 10', 1,000 LBS CRACKED.COM Colloquially named 'Terror Birds' for a reason, brontornis belongs to a genus of enormous, flightless birds that roamed South America. These giant raptors used their beaks like a cudgel, swinging the head at the end of their long necks down like an axe to wound and tear apart prey. — BBC

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THE SEA PIG JUST WANTS TO EAT DIRT. It's a variety of sea cucumber, and spends its time gulping up mud in the deeper parts of the ocean. CRACKED.COM https://www.wired.com/2015/04/absurd-creature-of-the-week-sea-pig/ — 25 Animals IRL That Will Haunt Your Dreams

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ARCTODUS Dead for 11,000 years. 11.4;2,204 LBS CRACKED.COM The enormous Short Faced Bear was alive so recently it could have interrupted a Puebloian from basket-weaving in what is now New Mexico. Although similar to today's large bears, there is a noticeable difference: the long limbs that enabled it to run at 40 mph. — National Geographic

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THE BARRELEYE FISH HAS A TRANSPARENT SKULL. The green globs visible through its skull are actually eyeballs, gazing upward. CRACKED.COM http://wwwourbreathingplanet.com/barreleye-fish/ — 25 Animals IRL That Will Haunt Your Dreams

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UPSIDE-DOWN The CATFISH, goes belly up while still alive. This catfish swims bottom up, defying all conventions of polite fish society. It's available at fish shops- which means that you can have a freak of nature at your own home. CRACKED.COM — Scotcat.com

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GIGANTOPITHECUS Dead for 300,000 years. 10', 1, 100 LBS CRACKED.COM The only thing that could stop this 10' tall Orangutan from taking over the world was its own picky eating habits. When the changing landscape of Southern China transformed a lush jungle into a savannah, Gigantopithecus simply looked at the grass and roots on his plate and said no thank you. — Live Science

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HONEYBEES CAN RECOGNIZE HUMAN FACES Also, wasps can facially recognize one another. CRACKED.COM — Scientific American

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Australian Lobster

Dinochelus Ausubeli CRACKED.co .COM The name of this Australian lobster translates aptly as terrible claw. It's blind, and it uses that elongated saw claw to catch and dice up prey. — Australian Geographic

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Torpedo Rays

The Torpedo Ray CRACKED.COM Electric torpedo rays can dispense 220 volts of electricity at any given moment, easily enough to knock an adult over. Saltwater amplifies the effect. — Florida Museum

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The GIANT ISOPOD is- wait, what the Hell is this? This foot-long relative of the woodlice in your garden lives deep in the ocean - meaning that kaiju movies are more real than you ever wanted to believe. CRACKED.COM — Natural History Museum, London

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The Amazonian Wolf Fish CRACKEDO It can weigh over 80 pounds and has been known to jump onto land or into canoes, trying to catch prey. Also, it has antifreeze in its blood. — Animal Planet

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The Giraffe Weevil CRACKED.com The giraffe weevil can crane its neck. It lives in Madagascar, and that long neck helps the male fight off rivals and build nests. — San Francisco Zoo

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CRACKED.COM The BABIRUSA has a serious overbite problem. This Indonesian pig has tusks that never stop growing - right through its snout. — San Diego Zoo

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AN OCTOPUS'S ARMS CAN MAKE DECISIONS WITHOUT ITS BRAIN. The arms (yes, arms, not tentacles) can coordinate together without the brain even knowing. CRACKED.COM — Science Alert

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The Paralysis Tick CRACKED.COM This Australian bug dispenses a toxin that can paralyze you. This doesn't help the tick-as a parasite, it prefers you healthy and mobile-but it does it anyway. — Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology

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BATS CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE Well, the future movement of its prey. The bat can anticipate when and where its food will be, using more than direct echolocation information. CRACKED.COM — Science Daily

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