I can’t find any cool pics, but the pre-cambrian explosion has got to be the best place for weird animals. Creations that couldn’t compete. 5 eyes, long noses, odd numbers of legs, things that just don’t work well were all tried back then. What we see now are the successful lineages. Do some googling and see what didn’t work!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html
There are some very weird critters out there!
First up–Tardigrades!
These guys can survive just about anything! Maybe even outer space!
Velvet worms (onychophora) are pretty cool, too. Velvet worms catch their prey by spitting glue! How much weirder can you get?
I’m not sure, but predaceous fungi count as pretty weird. There are fungi that grow cells in a ring shape under the ground. When nematodes come wandering through the rings, the rings tighten, and fungal hyphae grow into the nematode to digest it. Yowza!
Going back to animals, we have the prime weirdness of bdelloid rotifers. These things are completely parthenogenetic and have been for a long time. As a result, they no longer have matching sets of chromosomes, since there’s been no mating to make sure the chromosomes match up generation after generation. Mutations in DNA and chromosomes that would be impossible for populations of sexually reproducing organisms to support have been allowed to pile up in bdelloid genomes. The end result is an amazing amount of genetic and chromosomal diversity within this one order of Rotifera. (For an entertaining and thorough account of the surprising population genetic effects of bdelloid parthenogenesis, check out the chapter on bdelloid rotifers in The Ancestor’s Tale, by Richard Dawkins. That’s where I heard about bdelloids in the first place.)
Besides, rotifers look really weird. They’re like little spinning drill bits or tops! (There’s a species that my mom once dubbed “The Dreidel Monster.”)
For whatever reason, Meganeura just came to mind. They’re basically giant proto-dragonflies, with two-and-a-half foot wingspans! No, I’m not making this up. (The most likely reason, as far as I know, that modern dragonflies are small is that birds showed up on the evolutionary scene. Being small and maneuverable meant that you could escape winged dinosaurs biting chunks out of your wings.)
I can’t possibly improve upon the above, but hopefully this is helpful. . .
I always find that the best “new” creatures come not from seeing what is, but from imagining the customs/environment and then extrapolating the evolutionary result.
i.e. eusocial + mammal = Naked mole rat.
What are the elements of your world, and how would they affect the development of species?
How about a venomous mammal that lays eggs?
Or this creepy looking chap (quite small in real life!)
And finally the tapeworm :eek:
The mola mola, or sunfish. Gad, what a weird creature.