Najbrzydsze zwierzęta świata

Abstract

In recent years there appeared a lot of various web contests aiming to indicate the ugliest animal in the world. Giving us a thrill of seeing oddly looking animals, they also contribute to widening every man’s knowledge about biological diversity, as many of the animal mentioned in these contests are highly endangered. A short essay presents the biological profiles of a few animal species which most often appear in such contests. Author makes an attempt to explain the strange look of those creatures by means of evolutionary adaptation to living in various, sometimes extreme environments. Simultaneously, he seeks for the answer on the origin of our fear or disgust felt at the sight of those strangely looking animals. An interesting journey through anatomical or physiological extrema leads to various interesting observations, for example: we fear what looks human-like, but in distantly related sort of animal. For example: who would expect human looking teeth in a squid?