Nature is full of creatures beautiful, terrifying, strange and funny. Every time we find out something about them we are left with no other choice but to be amazed or shocked by the eccentricities of Mother Nature. No matter how many bizarre facts about animals we learn there is always one more lurking round the corner of evolution’s vast plans to surprise us. Here we have collected 21 of such strange and bizarre animals facts that will make you say WTF!

21 Horn sharks make egg cases that look like huge corkscrews to protect her offspring. She fixes the corkscrew eggs into rocks to make it hard for predators to get at them.

The horn sharks are solitary night hunters and their habits depend on external environmental factors. They become active when it’s dark and inactive during light. During a study done on captive horn sharks, they were able to go on being active for 11 days under light before stopping from fatigue. The sharks are preyed upon by many large fishes that eat adults, young and even the eggs. To protect the eggs, the horn sharks carry them in their mouths until the shells become hard and they find a good location to safely keep them.(source)

20 Researchers at Penn States University have found that pigs can play video games using joystick and excel at it. They were said to enjoy it so much they’d beg to play.

Apparently the animals that were thought of to be anything but intelligent show far better abilities than other animals such as dogs or cats. According to professor Stanley Curtis pigs have very long memories. He conducted studies in which he gave the joystick controllers to the pig and taught them to play a small game that involved moving a dot. He was able to teach the pigs various actions such as fetching and found that they were able to remember and distinguish between the objects. There were also many instances in which domesticated pigs were able to learn actions such as turning the shower on or even save people.(source)

19 Elephants are often bisexual creatures. Almost 45% of their sexual activity observed in Asiatic elephants wasbetween the same sex.

The elephants are very open and playful when it comes to sex. Unlike in other species, their interest in homosexual behavior is much stronger than in heterosexual behavior. The male and female attraction is very brief and is limited to just copulating. But, when it comes to a male-male relation, they develop very strong bonds that often last a long time. They males engage in playful sexual teasing, affectionate behavior, kissing and forming companionship. The females as well use their trunks to masturbate each other, though it has only been observed while in captivity.(1, 2)

18 Black Panthers, jaguars and leopards are actually the same species of animals. Black Panthers are black due to Melanism, the development of dark pigmentation.

Melanism in felines is a common occurrence and is seen in almost 11 of the species, not counting cross breeding of those in captivity. For a long time black jaguars were thought to be a different species, but in fact they are the same as panthers. Upon close inspection of the skin color of black panthers you can observe small light colored stripes that are virtually unnoticeable because of the fur’s dominant black color. There has also been breeding between a black jaguar named Diablo and a lioness named Lola who gave birth to a charcoal black female and a spotted tan colored male.(source)

17 Lobsters never age. The only common reasons for their death are being food for humans, parasites and growing too large.

Lobsters have an enzyme called telomerase that repairs the parts of DNA called telomeres. In most vertebrates, telomerase is present only during the embryonic stages of their life. It does not continue into their adult stage which is why the body ages as the telomeres are shortened with each cell division and until finally its deplete. However, this is apparently not so in the case of lobsters. They are known to live as long as 70 years after which they end up growing so large that they don’t have the metabolic energy required to create their exoskeleton. So, instead of aging lobsters die because they get too exhausted.(source)

16 The blood of starfishes is just filtered seawater. They have no brains and their nervous system is spread through their arms.

Starfishes have an extremely remarkable body. Their skin is just a bony calcified surface with extraordinary colors that prevent predators from attacking them. No wonder starfishes don’t die that easily. Though some kinds require the central body part to be present to regenerate when cut, some kinds can grow into a entirely new body from the cut arm. They also have the ability to eat their prey by bring the stomach out of their body. When that’s done they just retract the stomach back inside.(source)