- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of the animals will make you wish you weren’t beholding.
It’s not nice to call someone ugly. Fortunately, animals won’t understand or care if we do so.
There are plenty of critters out in the wild whose looks don’t exactly align with human aesthetic preferences. Of course, each of them looks the way it does for a reason and might be very attractive to members of its own species.
That doesn’t make them any prettier to us, though.
Here’s a collection of 10 of the world’s ugliest and oddest-looking animals. Your mileage may vary.
1. Purple Frog
The purple frog is a small, rare frog from the jungles of southern India. It’s really not much to look at.
This uncomfortably wet-looking creature bears bruise-colored, slimy skin, a blobbish body, and a weird little snout-tipped face. Fortunately, it spends most of its life underground, so it usually doesn’t offend anybody with its appearance.
That said, I could see the purple frog having a bit of an ugly-cute appeal with some people. That’s why I’m kicking things off with this guy.
2. Titicaca Water Frog
Somebody might find the purple frog strangely adorable, but I doubt anyone would say the same about the Titicaca water frog. Overall, it looks like a regular frog, but it has far too much skin for its size.
The excessive skin forms saggy flaps over the frog’s body. Its appearance has resulted in the unfortunate nickname “scrotum frog.”
In all fairness, the frog does need all that skin. The excess flab helps the frog breathe through its skin in the cold waters of Lake Titicaca.
These two aren’t the only bizarre frogs out there. For more, read our list of 10 of the planet’s weirdest frogs.
3. California Condor
The California condor is the largest North American land bird, a respected figure in native American folklore, and an endangered animal worth protecting. I’m prefacing this entry with all that because it really is one ugly bird.
It’s all because of that bald, mangy-looking head. With raw, loose, inflamed-looking skin hanging off its face, the California condor is a sight to make your eyes sore.
Things really don’t get better after feeding when that scrotum-like face is covered in rotten guts.
4. Mata Mata
The mata mata is a… Unique-looking turtle from South America. It has adapted perfectly to lying on the muddy river bottoms of the Amazon Basin, waiting for edible fish to swim by.
And by that I mean that the thing looks like a piece of rotting driftwood. The mata mata’s shell has the distinct appearance of a decaying tree trunk, while its neck sprouts fleshy skin flaps that help it camouflage itself in fallen foliage.
Then there’s the bizarre tube snout. While it has a crucial function, working as a snorkel that allows the turtle to breathe, it doesn’t help the mata mata’s looks.
5. Bald Uakari
The bald uakari is a small monkey from the forests of Peru and Brazil. If you ignore the face, it looks much like any monkey with long brown fur, although its tail is uncharacteristically short.
But you can’t ignore the face because it’s completely bald and bright red.
Frankly, the bald uakari looks like it has some kind of horrible infection on its head. Yet, the redder the head, the more attractive the monkey is to other uakaris.
6. Dong Tao Chicken
The Dong Tao chicken is our only entry whose off-putting appearance is the result of human interference. These rare Vietnamese chickens are bred for their ginormous feet, which are considered a delicacy.
They sure don’t look appetizing, though. If anything, seeing the horribly malformed, scale-covered feet might put you off your meal.
The chickens are so clumsy with their giant legs that farmers have to incubate the eggs in a separate room. Otherwise, the mother hen would trample and break them.
7. Ogre-Faced Spider
You might think the ogre-faced spider’s name is a bit insulting, but it’s incredibly accurate. These eight-legged freaks have a mug not even their mother could love.
While it has eight eyes like all spiders, two of them are much larger than the others. Under them, the spider sports two fat mandibles, making their appearance real nightmare fuel.
At least I’ve had nightmares where I’ve been haunted by things that look like this. Its terrifying eyes do make the ogre-faced spider a very effective hunter, though.
If you want to read about other weird arachnids, check out our list of 9 of the world’s most bizarre spiders.
8. Frilled Shark
The frilled shark is a real prehistoric terror of the deep. This living fossil has been around for millions of years, and it hasn’t felt the need to change much with the times.
Consequently, it looks like a monster from the mists of time. Its weird eel-like body, partially external gills, and terrifying mouth full of needle teeth make this fish difficult to look at for long.
Fortunately, they live so deep in the ocean that they’re rarely sighted, so you probably never have to worry about seeing one in the wild.
9. Penis Snake
The scientific name of this animal is Atretochoana eiselti. Its more common nickname is penis snake.
However, that name is a bit misleading. The penis snake is not a snake but a caecilian, belonging to a group of worm-shaped amphibians.
It absolutely looks like a runaway penis, though.
10. Naked Mole Rat
The naked mole rat may be the ugliest creature this planet has ever seen. There’s simply not a single endearing thing about this horrible animal.
The mole rats have no hair at all, with their wrinkled, dry, pink skin on full display. The only teeth in their mouths are yellow, curving incisors. As they live underground, the mole rats’ eyes have atrophied to the point that they’re often not visible at all.
If that’s not bad enough for you, they live in an ant-like society built around infant slavery. It’s like these things are designed to be repulsive in every way.
Afterthought: Blobfish
You might’ve expected the notorious blobfish to top this list. The thing is, the blobfish really isn’t that ugly.
The swollen, misshapen creature you might’ve seen online is actually a dead blobfish that has suffered explosive decompression. In its natural habitat in the ocean depths, it’s not exactly beautiful, but it just looks like a deep-sea fish.
The next time you see the “ugly blobfish” image, just be aware that you’re looking at a horribly mangled corpse.