Odd Animal Out. Which species are not like the rest of their kind?
January 4, 2016 2:00 PM
Any examples of animal species that are vastly different or behave differently, eat differently than the rest of their species.
For example we all know Penguins are monogamous animals yet some species (Emperor Penguin IIRC) like to fool around on the side.
Whale Shark's don't have teeth which makes them the odd one out of their kind and I've heard there are some species of Chameleons which don't change colour at all.
What are some other black sheep of the animal kingdom?
For example we all know Penguins are monogamous animals yet some species (Emperor Penguin IIRC) like to fool around on the side.
Whale Shark's don't have teeth which makes them the odd one out of their kind and I've heard there are some species of Chameleons which don't change colour at all.
What are some other black sheep of the animal kingdom?
Cheetahs, because they don't have retractable claws like other cats?
Axolotls, because of their neoteny, their ability to regrow limbs and their...come on, just look at 'em.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:18 PM on January 4, 2016
Axolotls, because of their neoteny, their ability to regrow limbs and their...come on, just look at 'em.
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:18 PM on January 4, 2016
The New Zealand Kakapo is the only flightless parrot.
posted by freshwater at 2:19 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by freshwater at 2:19 PM on January 4, 2016
While most birds of prey only come together to migrate or breed the Harris's hawk hunt cooperatively in packs and even collectively raises chicks together. They are sometimes called "Wolves of the Sky" for this reason.
posted by lepus at 2:24 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by lepus at 2:24 PM on January 4, 2016
The New Guinea Singer (or Singing Dog) are a dingo or wild dog that has substantially different vocalization from Australian dingos (canis dingo, like the singers) and domestic dogs (canis familiaris). They don't bark, but they do howl melodiously. They also have a few odd behaviors that're unique to the breed.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:28 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Sunburnt at 2:28 PM on January 4, 2016
Scallops can swim around in the water, unlike most of their bivalve mollusk relatives, which can only sit there or maybe burrow around in sand/mud.
posted by aubilenon at 2:31 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by aubilenon at 2:31 PM on January 4, 2016
The problem is that evolution doesn't work that way. Modern Taxonomy is organized along the line of evolutionary branching as confirmed by genetic analysis, and the kinds of behaviours you're asking about don't change all that rapidly. Assuming that what you meant was "A species that is radically different than other members of the genus" then you need a case of a species facing such a huge survival challenge that it evolved very rapidly in a geologically short period of time.
Most such cases are the result of domestication, quite frankly, which is due to "artificial selection" rather than "natural selection". Artificial selection is very efficient by comparison, and human domesticated animals and plants are usually quite a lot different than their natural cousins. The best single example of that is maize compared to teosinte. Those two look entirely different but genetic analysis has confirmed that domesticated maize is descended from teosinte, and agronomists have started using teosinte as a genetic source in cross breeding experiments.
But almost every domesticated plant are now drastically different than their nearest wild relatives. The flowers of wild roses and domesticated roses don't look at all the same. The wild relatives of apples are nothing like the ones you buy from the store. And so on.
That's also true for domesticated animals, though not to as great an extent. The wild relatives of chickens only lay eggs once a year, and a hen lays an egg only if she's been visited by a rooster. Domesticated hens lay continuously (and most never see a rooster in their lives).
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:39 PM on January 4, 2016
Most such cases are the result of domestication, quite frankly, which is due to "artificial selection" rather than "natural selection". Artificial selection is very efficient by comparison, and human domesticated animals and plants are usually quite a lot different than their natural cousins. The best single example of that is maize compared to teosinte. Those two look entirely different but genetic analysis has confirmed that domesticated maize is descended from teosinte, and agronomists have started using teosinte as a genetic source in cross breeding experiments.
But almost every domesticated plant are now drastically different than their nearest wild relatives. The flowers of wild roses and domesticated roses don't look at all the same. The wild relatives of apples are nothing like the ones you buy from the store. And so on.
That's also true for domesticated animals, though not to as great an extent. The wild relatives of chickens only lay eggs once a year, and a hen lays an egg only if she's been visited by a rooster. Domesticated hens lay continuously (and most never see a rooster in their lives).
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:39 PM on January 4, 2016
Cheetas are pretty weird cats in general -- not only the retractable caws, but also their relatively weak jaws.
The Pallas Cat (or Pallas's Cat) is also pretty weird, having round pupils and different tooth patterns than most other cats.
Lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards don't purr. All other cats purr.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:42 PM on January 4, 2016
The Pallas Cat (or Pallas's Cat) is also pretty weird, having round pupils and different tooth patterns than most other cats.
Lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards don't purr. All other cats purr.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:42 PM on January 4, 2016
Giant pandas are bears, technically in the Carnivora order. But they primarily eat bamboo.
Red pandas are not bears. Neither are they raccoons. They're actually the only living member of their taxonomic family.
But bears, raccoons and red pandas are all related to seals and sea lions.
DUDE.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:42 PM on January 4, 2016
Red pandas are not bears. Neither are they raccoons. They're actually the only living member of their taxonomic family.
But bears, raccoons and red pandas are all related to seals and sea lions.
DUDE.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:42 PM on January 4, 2016
Among other things, Fea's viper is egg-laying, whereas most viperids are live-bearers.
The Mexican burrowing python is the only New World python.
posted by Nyx at 2:43 PM on January 4, 2016
The Mexican burrowing python is the only New World python.
posted by Nyx at 2:43 PM on January 4, 2016
PBS Nature has a series (2 or 3 episodes?) called Animal Misfits (I think?) About this very topic. A flightless parrot? Check! A penguin that lives in the Forrest? Check! And other critters too. I think it is from 2014.
posted by futz at 3:25 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by futz at 3:25 PM on January 4, 2016
Eclectus Parrots are not only the only sexually dimorphic parrots, they are so spectacularly sexually dimorphic that for many years the male and female were thought to be completely different species.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:29 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:29 PM on January 4, 2016
Anabas testudineus, the climbing perch - which is quite literally a fish out of water?
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:33 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:33 PM on January 4, 2016
There are three species of bat that drink blood, but there are over 1,200 species of bat that don't.
posted by ejs at 4:22 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by ejs at 4:22 PM on January 4, 2016
Polar bears eat during the winter when they can get out on the icepack and starve/hibernate during the summer.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:06 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:06 PM on January 4, 2016
What's most unique about cheetahs is a nearly complete lack of genetic diversity.
Every leopard has a unique set of spots. (They're like fingerprints.) Every zebra and ever tiger has a unique set of stripes. But every cheetah has the same set of spots.
If you take two randomly chosen rats (not lab rats) and graft a piece of skin from one onto the other, in a few weeks it will turn brown and fall off because of tissue rejection. But if you do that with cheetahs, the graft will take.
The hypothesis is that at some time in the past cheetahs had a near brush with extinction, possibly being reduced to as little as a single breeding pair, and then rebounded from it. But as a result their genetic diversity collapsed.
In the long run it means the species is doomed. It's playing the game of life with the same card hand every generation, and if it is ever seriously challenged it won't have any genetic variation to fall back on to save it. (For instance, if a disease shows up that any of them are susceptible to, they will all be susceptible to it.)
It has some serious challenges even now. All other big cats are happy consumers of carrion if they can get it, but not cheetahs. They have to eat from a fresh kill; they don't have the liver enzymes to cope with carrion.
And they are optimized for a single style of hunting. Most prey are out of their league. They are not, in fact, particularly dangerous; their jaws are small and weak, and as a result they often get chased off of their kills. (Leopards do this a lot, but also lions and hyenas and hunting dogs will do it if they get the opportunity, because they know the cheetahs cannot fight to defend the kill. The cheetahs will just run away.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:38 PM on January 4, 2016
Every leopard has a unique set of spots. (They're like fingerprints.) Every zebra and ever tiger has a unique set of stripes. But every cheetah has the same set of spots.
If you take two randomly chosen rats (not lab rats) and graft a piece of skin from one onto the other, in a few weeks it will turn brown and fall off because of tissue rejection. But if you do that with cheetahs, the graft will take.
The hypothesis is that at some time in the past cheetahs had a near brush with extinction, possibly being reduced to as little as a single breeding pair, and then rebounded from it. But as a result their genetic diversity collapsed.
In the long run it means the species is doomed. It's playing the game of life with the same card hand every generation, and if it is ever seriously challenged it won't have any genetic variation to fall back on to save it. (For instance, if a disease shows up that any of them are susceptible to, they will all be susceptible to it.)
It has some serious challenges even now. All other big cats are happy consumers of carrion if they can get it, but not cheetahs. They have to eat from a fresh kill; they don't have the liver enzymes to cope with carrion.
And they are optimized for a single style of hunting. Most prey are out of their league. They are not, in fact, particularly dangerous; their jaws are small and weak, and as a result they often get chased off of their kills. (Leopards do this a lot, but also lions and hyenas and hunting dogs will do it if they get the opportunity, because they know the cheetahs cannot fight to defend the kill. The cheetahs will just run away.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:38 PM on January 4, 2016
(I just looked up cheetahs in Wikipedia and I was wrong: there are indeed certain variations in color patterns, but only a few.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:44 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 7:44 PM on January 4, 2016
Naked mole rats (and Damaraland mole rats)! These critters are the only known eusocial mammals.
There are only a few known poisonous birds.
Dendrogramma doesn't fit into any known phyla.
The flic-flac spider is the only known spider to use forward and backward flips to escape threats.
Instead of laying eggs, members of the Hippoboscoidea insect superfamily reproduce by laying a single pupa.
Only in Syngnathidae (seahorse family) do males carry the eggs after the female lays them.
This fanged frog is the only frog species to give birth to live tadpoles.
This animal is the only sea anemone species that lives on the underside of ice, in Antarctica.
posted by foxjacket at 9:28 PM on January 4, 2016
There are only a few known poisonous birds.
Dendrogramma doesn't fit into any known phyla.
The flic-flac spider is the only known spider to use forward and backward flips to escape threats.
Instead of laying eggs, members of the Hippoboscoidea insect superfamily reproduce by laying a single pupa.
Only in Syngnathidae (seahorse family) do males carry the eggs after the female lays them.
This fanged frog is the only frog species to give birth to live tadpoles.
This animal is the only sea anemone species that lives on the underside of ice, in Antarctica.
posted by foxjacket at 9:28 PM on January 4, 2016
Also check out wtfevolution for more weird and wonderful animals!
posted by foxjacket at 9:34 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by foxjacket at 9:34 PM on January 4, 2016
Black-eyed Satyr
Yellow-breasted Chat
Leopard Seal
posted by Lycaon_pictus at 10:18 PM on January 4, 2016
Yellow-breasted Chat
Leopard Seal
posted by Lycaon_pictus at 10:18 PM on January 4, 2016
New Zealand is great for weird species.
Tuatara - seriously weird animals that look like lizards but aren't. There are only two species left in the whole family, which is very unusual.
Skinks - all NZ skinks give birth to live young, one species lays eggs (Suter's skink).
Fish - most fish lay eggs, but there are a few species and families that give birth to live young (google 'viviparous fish species'). That's quite weird for a fish.
In most species, the female incubates eggs and does the pregnancy thing. In sea horses, the male broods the eggs.
Strictly speaking, humans are a weird form of fish. There's a book that explains it well ('Your Inner Fish').
posted by Stephanie_Says at 11:08 PM on January 4, 2016
Tuatara - seriously weird animals that look like lizards but aren't. There are only two species left in the whole family, which is very unusual.
Skinks - all NZ skinks give birth to live young, one species lays eggs (Suter's skink).
Fish - most fish lay eggs, but there are a few species and families that give birth to live young (google 'viviparous fish species'). That's quite weird for a fish.
In most species, the female incubates eggs and does the pregnancy thing. In sea horses, the male broods the eggs.
Strictly speaking, humans are a weird form of fish. There's a book that explains it well ('Your Inner Fish').
posted by Stephanie_Says at 11:08 PM on January 4, 2016
Holy heck guys these are great.
Seriously I don't think I can give a Best Answer here. This is exactly what I was after without having to do some serious google-fu.
Keep it up!
posted by thelloydshow at 4:02 AM on January 5, 2016
Seriously I don't think I can give a Best Answer here. This is exactly what I was after without having to do some serious google-fu.
Keep it up!
posted by thelloydshow at 4:02 AM on January 5, 2016
CP is bang on about echindnas.
They're much prettier than platypuses too.
How about I make it "only aquatic mammals who lay eggs" as a desparate save?
posted by pompomtom at 7:15 AM on January 5, 2016
They're much prettier than platypuses too.
How about I make it "only aquatic mammals who lay eggs" as a desparate save?
posted by pompomtom at 7:15 AM on January 5, 2016
I got more!
This looks like the only poisonous rat.
This fungi is the only bioluminescent one in its order (lots of other mushrooms glow in the dark, who knew?).
The olm is just weird. And it's the only aquatic salamander that lives in Europe.
This huntsman spider has no eyes, unlike its eight-eyed kin.
Only two bird species echolocate. The Aerodramus swift, and the oilbird.
This frog species is the only one whose tadpoles have fangs.
Here's the deepest living animal found.
Looks like water fleas are the only animal to have one eye.
Horned lizards squirt blood from their eyes when threatened.
Mantis shrimps can break aquarium glass and create sonoluminescence (pistol shrimp are the only others to do this too), but they're also the only trinocular animal out there.
I could do this all day.
posted by foxjacket at 11:04 AM on January 5, 2016
This looks like the only poisonous rat.
This fungi is the only bioluminescent one in its order (lots of other mushrooms glow in the dark, who knew?).
The olm is just weird. And it's the only aquatic salamander that lives in Europe.
This huntsman spider has no eyes, unlike its eight-eyed kin.
Only two bird species echolocate. The Aerodramus swift, and the oilbird.
This frog species is the only one whose tadpoles have fangs.
Here's the deepest living animal found.
Looks like water fleas are the only animal to have one eye.
Horned lizards squirt blood from their eyes when threatened.
Mantis shrimps can break aquarium glass and create sonoluminescence (pistol shrimp are the only others to do this too), but they're also the only trinocular animal out there.
I could do this all day.
posted by foxjacket at 11:04 AM on January 5, 2016
In Richard Dawkins's The Ancestor's Tale, he places the toothed and baleen whales in the even-toed ungulates, with camels, pigs, deer, and sheep. The hippopotamus, also an even-toed ungulate, is more closely related to the whales than to any of its terrestrial kin.
So whales are bizarre ungulates, and hippos are bizarre whales.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 2:27 PM on January 6, 2016
So whales are bizarre ungulates, and hippos are bizarre whales.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 2:27 PM on January 6, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:11 PM on January 4, 2016