Our planet is home to some of the most interesting and incredible species that often take all the credit. However, I plan to highlight some of the underappreciated animals who don’t quite make the cut of being considered “cool”. I present to you, the top 10 silliest animals.
1. Elephant Seals
I don’t think elephant seals being on the top of this list surprises anyone. Seals in general are some of the most silly animals, and I’m sure we have all seen the videos of them playing and being silly. The reason I picked specifically elephant seals is because of how lazy they are and their absolutely comical appearance. The name elephant is surely fitting with their huge noses and large amount of blubber.
2. Koala
While very cute, Koalas are extremely silly specifically for their questionable diet. Eucalyptus is almost exclusively the food that they eat. Eucalyptus is incredibly non-nutritious and actually poisonous in large quantities. Considering it’s their main food source, they have to spend most of their days eating to make up for the lack of nutrients and have developed a resistance to the poison of the eucalyptus. I think the fact that they have picked possibly the worst food source is silly in its own right.
3. Blobfish
I mean this one is pretty self explanatory. If you have ever seen a photo of a blobfish then you should understand why they are here. They are literally as the name suggests, a blob. Their gelatinous, low-density body is meant to allow them to float just above the sea floor and gulp its prey while conserving energy. The weird appearance in photos is actually the result of decompression when brought to the surface.
4. Secretary Bird
Many might not know what this animal is or why it’s here but allow me to explain. The secretary bird is an African bird of prey that uses its long, powerful legs to stomp on snakes. The reason this strategy is somewhat silly is the fact that if they slip up and mistime the stomp, a particularly venomous snake can easily bite them.
5. Giant Panda
Pandas are incredibly silly, they play and mess around 10% percent of the time, and the other 90% they eat. Bamboo is their main food source and it is very non-nutritious. Pandas have to spend around 10-16 hours a day just eating to keep up their calorie intake.
6. Horned Lizard
The horned lizard is one of the most unique on this list because of its odd defense mechanism. The horned lizard has one go to when confronting predators, squirting blood out of its eyes. When approached by any predator the horned lizard relies solely on the startling factor of squirting blood out of its eyes to scare off any potential threat.
7. Echidna
Echidna’s are small spiny mammals native to Australia and New Guinea. They are almost like a cross between an ant eater and a porcupine. Echidna’s are rather silly looking and have very poor eyesight, relying almost entirely on their sense of smell to find food. Their only survival tactic when faced with a threat is to curl up into a ball and hope their spines scare off any predator.
8. Goblin Shark
The goblin shark is a deep sea predator with very poor eyesight. I consider it silly because of its appearance and also because of the fact that it relies on instincts to grab anything that comes in front of it. It has zero decision making and is completely instinct driven and lacks any awareness of its surroundings.
9. Opossum
More often than not, people see opossums on the side of the road rather than actually living in the wild. Their only survival strategy is to play dead when faced with threats. Unless their predator ends up having less cognitive function than they do, I would expect this strategy to fail.
10. Sea Cucumbers
Sea cucumbers are on this list because of the fact that they literally resemble a vegetable more than an animal. They don’t have a brain or eyes or any other obvious features. They sit on the sea floor and appear almost motionless all the time.
