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

Rather than throw its old head cases away, the gum leaf skeletonizer wears them like a hat to protect itself from predators.

Researchers are only beginning to understand the cryptic lives of the earless monitor lizards of Borneo.

Darwin and fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace predicted the existence of Wallace's sphinx moth from an orchid with an extremely long nectar tube.

These weird-looking stocky mammals roam Alpine zones and forested valleys in Asia, using their specially adapted split hooves help them traverse the steep, rocky terrain.

This frilly slug lives in the mangroves of southeastern Asia and Australia, lounging in shallow pools of water and scraping up algae from which it gains the ability to photosynthesize.

This parasitic worm crawls into the eyestalks of snails, takes over its brain then pulsates to make the mollusk look like a dancing caterpillar.

Lampreys belong to an ancient group of fish called Agnatha that evolved 450 million years ago, predating both dinosaurs and trees.

The maned wolf, a gorgeous canine from South America, is neither a wolf nor a fox, despite resembling both.

The "yeti" crab is white and hairy, as its nickname suggests, and it thrives in hydrothermal vents in Antarctica's frigid waters.

These tiny crustaceans, also known as boxer crabs, use the venomous anenomes to protect themselves from predators and to eat with. They also wave them around while fighting with each other.