Two of the photographs in this collection: an armadillo girdled lizard curled into a ball, and a pale Asian elephant with its keeper.
This gallery brings together 21 photographs of animals that look unlike anything you would expect: a pale elephant, a jet-black jaguar, a pink grasshopper, a sea slug that eats jellyfish-like prey and a lizard that rolls into a ring. For each one we explain what you are actually seeing, whether the animal is genuinely rare, and the biology behind its colours or shape.
Most of these pictures were shared on Reddit, Instagram, Pikabu and Imgur around 2017 and 2018, so the credit under each photo points to the person who posted it. A few of the original Instagram posts have since been deleted; where that happened we kept the description so you still know what was there. A good rule when you meet viral animal photos is to ask two questions: what species is it, and is the unusual feature a rare mutation or simply how the species normally looks? Several animals below are perfectly ordinary for their kind, just unfamiliar to most of us.
The original 2019 version of this gallery linked to a post about an annual competition for unusual catches; the pictures here come from many different sources, not from a single contest.
Animals with rare colours
Colour mutations are the most common reason an animal photo goes viral. Albinism removes melanin pigment almost completely, usually giving pink or red eyes. Leucism reduces pigment but leaves the eyes dark. Melanism does the opposite and floods the coat with dark pigment. Each of these can appear in almost any species, but they tend to be rare in the wild because unusual colours can make camouflage harder.
A pale Asian elephant
Shared on Reddit as an albino, this elephant is pinkish-brown rather than white, which is what so-called "white elephants" in Asia usually look like. Fully albino elephants are extremely rare; most pale individuals have reduced pigment, light eyes and pink patches. In Thailand and Myanmar such elephants have long been treated as royal and sacred animals.
A puppy with a cookies-and-cream coat
The poster called this fluffy puppy a "rare Oreo cloud", and the nickname fits. Its patchy black-on-white pattern resembles merle, a coat pattern found in breeds such as Australian Shepherds and Great Danes. Merle is not rare in those breeds, but breeding two merle dogs together is discouraged because it raises the risk of deafness and eye problems.
A black jaguar in a Slovak zoo
Klaudia (@malkiaq) on
This jaguar, photographed in a zoo in Slovakia, is melanistic: its coat is full of dark pigment, yet in good light you can still make out the rosettes underneath. In jaguars, melanism is caused by a dominant gene variant, so a black parent can easily have black cubs. People often call these cats "black panthers", but that is a nickname, not a separate species.
Miko, a champagne-coloured fox
miko.the.fox on
Miko is a red fox in a colour morph that does not normally survive in the wild. Pale shades like "champagne" or "platinum" were selectively bred on fur farms over the last century, and some of these foxes now live as pets, mainly in the United States. Keeping a fox is legal only in some places and is far harder than keeping a dog, so most experts advise against it.
A giraffe without spots
Lovejoy Kisali (@lovejoy_kisali) on
A giraffe with an almost plain coat is genuinely unusual, and this photo was shared on Instagram in 2018. The best-documented case is Kipekee, a reticulated giraffe born without spots at Brights Zoo in Tennessee on 31 July 2023, described at the time as possibly the only one alive. Spot patterns are inherited and are thought to help with camouflage and temperature control, which may be why plain giraffes are so rarely seen.
A piebald fawn
Northeast Hunting (@northeastern_hunting) on
This white-tailed deer fawn has piebaldism, a genetic condition that leaves patches of white hair on an otherwise normal coat, so it looks as if it is wearing a mask. Piebald deer make up a small fraction of the population, commonly estimated at under two percent. Some piebald deer also have short legs or a curved spine, because the same genes can affect skeletal development.
Birds with faces you will not forget
The lilac-breasted roller
Praveen Siddannavar (@praveensiddannavar) on
The lilac-breasted roller lives in open woodland and savanna across eastern and southern Africa, and its turquoise, lilac and blue plumage makes it a favourite of safari photographers. Its name comes from the rolling, tumbling dives males perform during courtship. It hunts from a perch, dropping onto insects, lizards and small rodents.
The secretary bird's eyelashes
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
The secretarybird is a long-legged African bird of prey that hunts on foot, killing snakes and rodents with fast, powerful kicks. Up close, its face shows long, dark lashes, which are modified feathers that help shade and protect the eyes. The species is now listed as Endangered, largely because of habitat loss across its grassland range.
A harpy eagle's almost human face
Leon Moore (@leonmoore6353) on
Harpy eagles live in the rainforests of Central and South America and are among the largest and most powerful eagles alive, able to snatch sloths and monkeys from the treetops. The grey feathers around the face form a disc that can be raised, which is thought to help channel sound to the ears. That flat face is why photos of harpies so often look strangely human.
Small creatures, big surprises
The "piece of glass" catch
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
The Instagram post in this spot showed an animal so transparent that the person who caught it said they first mistook it for glass. The post has since been deleted, so we cannot confirm the species. Common culprits in viral "see-through" catches include salps, which are jelly-like filter feeders, and the flat, clear larvae of eels.
A caterpillar like a Chinese dragon
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
The post does not name this caterpillar, and many species could fit the description. Caterpillars with horns, spikes and bright markings, such as the hickory horned devil of North America, use their fierce appearance to put off predators. Despite the look, most horned caterpillars of this kind are harmless to touch, although a few hairy species can sting.
A creature that seems unreal
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
This post from the same nature account was shared with a question about whether the animal could really exist, but without a species name. If the embed does not load for you, treat the image with the same two questions as the rest: what is it, and is this its normal appearance? Many unbelievable-looking animals turn out to be ordinary insects, nudibranchs or deep-sea fish photographed close up.
A pink grasshopper
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
Pink grasshoppers and katydids are real. The colour comes from erythrism, an inherited condition that produces too much red pigment and too little of the usual green or brown. Pink individuals are easy for birds to spot, which is one reason so few reach adulthood in the wild.
The blue sea slug
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
The blue sea slug, Glaucus atlanticus, is about three centimetres long and floats upside down on the ocean surface, kept up by a bubble of air in its stomach. It feeds on the Portuguese man o' war and stores the prey's stinging cells in the tips of its finger-like cerata, which means it can give a painful sting. If you find one washed up on a beach, admire it without touching.
Reptiles that look like dragons
A marine iguana
The marine iguana of the Galápagos Islands is the only lizard that forages in the sea. Large males dive for algae, sometimes as deep as 30 metres, and the white crust on this one's head is salt it has sneezed out through glands near its nostrils. During El Niño years, when algae become scarce, these iguanas can shrink by up to a fifth of their body length.
A red-eyed crocodile skink
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
Red-eyed crocodile skinks come from the rainforests of New Guinea and get their name from the orange rings around their eyes and their bumpy, crocodile-like scales. They are one of the few skinks known to make sounds when distressed, and females lay a single egg at a time, guarded by both parents. They are kept as pets, but in captivity they are prone to bone and respiratory problems if their care is poor.
An armadillo girdled lizard
The armadillo girdled lizard lives only in the dry western regions of South Africa. When threatened it bites its own tail and curls into a spiky ring, protecting its soft belly, which is exactly the pose in this photo. It gives birth to live young, eats mainly termites, and is listed as Near Threatened after years of collection for the pet trade.
Under water and at home
A multicoloured lobster
Robinson Russell (@robinsonfrankrussell) on
Lobsters come in more colours than the familiar red, which only appears after cooking. The animal in this post is most likely a tropical spiny lobster, such as the painted or ornate rock lobster, whose blue, green and orange patterns are normal for the species. In the cold-water lobsters sold as seafood, odd colours such as blue or split-coloured are rare genetic variations, and the odds often quoted for them are rough estimates rather than measured figures.
An oranda goldfish
(The Instagram post originally embedded here is no longer available.)
The oranda is a fancy variety of the common goldfish, bred in China and Japan over centuries for its bubbly head growth, called a wen or hood. The Instagram post here, which has since been deleted, showed a black oranda, whose dark, bumpy hood looks remarkably like a blackberry. Orandas need clean, well-filtered water, because the folds of the wen can trap bacteria.
A very black pit bull
This dog was shared on the Russian site Pikabu under the name Vanta, after Vantablack, one of the darkest materials ever made. Its glossy solid black coat, light eyes and muscular build give it the look of a big cat. Solid black coats are common in pit bull-type dogs, but the photo's lighting makes the effect especially striking.
A punk-maned striped hyena
Natureisfuckinglit (@_natureisfuckinglit) on
The striped hyena lives in North and East Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia as far as India. When it feels threatened it raises the long mane along its back, which makes it look much bigger and gives it a punk hairstyle. Unlike the spotted hyena, it is mostly a quiet, solitary scavenger, and it is listed as Near Threatened.
How to tell a rare animal from an unfamiliar one
Going through these photos, a pattern emerges. Some animals are genuinely rare individuals: the pale elephant, the spotless giraffe, the piebald fawn and the pink grasshopper all carry uncommon genetic variations. Others, such as the lilac-breasted roller, the marine iguana and the blue sea slug, are completely normal for their species and simply live where few of us go.
When you see a viral animal picture, look for a species name, a location and the original photographer. If none are given, a reverse image search often finds them. And if you come across a wild animal with unusual colouring yourself, the best response is to take your photo from a distance and leave it be; many of these animals already face higher risks than their ordinary relatives.
For more unusual species, see our gallery of 22 unfamiliar animals for curious readers.
Sources: Wikipedia: Glaucus atlanticus; Wikipedia: Armadillo girdled lizard; Wikipedia: Marine iguana; Wikipedia: Red-eyed crocodile skink; NBC News: Spotless giraffe born at Tennessee zoo. Photo credits: olygarchyoligarchy and mac_is_crack (Reddit), asherbarasher and Ksufka (Pikabu), BlackChoppyDown (Imgur), and the Instagram accounts shown in each embed.
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