Amazing animals — A look at the weird and wonderful species that live on our planet

The northern sea robin is a strange-looking fish with legs that it uses to "taste" the seafloor.

Babirusas are believed to have diverged from their pig ancestors between 26 million and 12 million years ago after getting isolated on Sulawesi when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age.

This little lizard can fire blood up to 5 feet from its face, has spiky horns and inflates itself to choke predators.

This living fossil can grow as large as an alligator, has two rows of needle-sharp teeth, and such strong armor that it survived predatory dinosaurs.

Siphonophores are unusual animals made up of individual organisms called "zooids," which each have a distinct function — despite being genetically identical.

All species in the antechinus genus have the same frenzied mating system, where males have sex until they die from organ failure, then the females gobble up their corpses.

An angular roughshark pulled from the water near Elba, an Italian island near Tuscany.

In mythology, giant oarfish are said to foreshadow earthquakes, although evidence shows this is not the case.

Thorny devils have a plethora of defenses against predators, including a fake head and a weird jerky walk.

In just 48 hours, salps can reach maturity, making them the fastest-growing multicellular animals on Earth, with a significant impact on ocean health.