Weirdest Animals on the Planet

by National Geographic Kids

Overview

Meet the most unusual, most fantastical, creepiest, and—yes—grossest creatures that call Earth home in this lively, fact-filled guide to the world’s oddest animals.

Did you know that the axolotl can regrow nearly any body part? Or that the hagfish can fill a bucket with slime in less than a minute? Get ready to say “WHOA!” in this wacky book about the most bizarre animals in the world!

Readers will encounter hundreds of far-out facts about animals with bizarre behaviors, strange superpowers, and mind-blowing mannerisms. They’ll learn where these animals live, how their strange skill sets help them survive, and what makes them so wonderfully weird. There are animals of all shapes and sizes to ogle here—from the spindly-fingered aye-aye to a sea slug shaped like a fuzzy bunny to a shrimp that launches bubbles from its claws. With jaw-dropping photos and upbeat, straightforward text, this fast-paced book will delight animal-obsessed readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426375873
Publisher:	Disney - RHCB
Publication date:	02/04/2025
Series:	Animals on the Planet
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.43(w) x 6.44(h) x 0.46(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

National Geographic Kids inspires young adventurers to explore the world through award-winning magazines, books, apps, games, toys, videos, events, and a website, and is the only kids brand with a world-class scientific organization at its core. This book and series is created by National Geographic contributors, including researchers, photographers, content experts, and educational specialists.

Editorial Reviews

2024-11-23
A colorful guide to oddities in the animal world.

This album of animal photographs and facts follows the format of previous titles in this National Geographic series, such asDeadliest Animals on the Planet (2023). From the blue-ringed octopus, whose “shiny blue rings light up,” to three birds with astonishing hairstyles—the hoopoe, the Victoria crowned pigeon, and the cock of the rock—every page has a critter or group of critters with a surprising habit, characteristic, or appearance. Each unusual creature is shown close up, either filling the page or within a circular frame. Text boxes and more circles describe each animal’s peculiarities. Sometimes an animal has a brief exclamatory comment, such as “bizarre!” or “no way!!” The wordweird also appears often. While the text is fairly challenging to read, there isn’t much of it, and those attracted by individual images may be willing to work to puzzle out the short paragraphs. The facts are engaging: The tapir, a land animal, likes to poop underwater, and the goblin shark has jaws that move like a slingshot. There’s no apparent organization underlying the presentation of the myriad creatures, both vertebrates and invertebrates, although the index does group them into broader categories (“marine mammals,” “rodents,” “worms”) as well as listing some animals individually.

An animal-loving browsers’ delight. (photo credits)(Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews