Claws. Scales. Horns. Teeth. Lots of animals are equipped to look, and
act, downright terrifying. But a lot of the time, these appearances are
deceiving. And they’re deceiving on purpose! Defense mechanisms exist, after all, to help
animals evade predators when they really don’t have much else going for them. If you’re the kind of creature that just
wants to be left alone so you can eat bugs or plankton or whatever, then your best bet
might be simply to look like someone that no predator would ever mess with. So, make yourself look big. Or spiky. Or, if there are some truly dangerous characters
in your neighborhood, just look and act like them. And hope for the best. There are all kinds of fascinating adaptations
that animals have developed to help them find food, or to protect them from becoming someone
else’s food. Here are just 8 creatures that have perfected
the art of looking and acting creepy, to cover up for the fact that they’re basically harmless. The aye-aye is the world’s largest nocturnal
primate, found in the rainforests of Madagascar. It has oversized ears and haunting large yellow
eyes, but its creepiest feature, by far, is its long, bony middle finger, which could
put any haunted skeleton, or embittered punk rocker, to shame. In part because of its creepy appearance,
some folklore has described the aye-aye as a “Harbinger of Evil.” There are stories that warn of aye-ayes attacking
people in the night by piercing their victims through the heart with their middle fingers. Which ... what a way to go. But the fact is, these bug-eyed primates have
no interest in you, or your heart, or in punk rock. Instead, aye-ayes spend their time climbing
on tree trunks, tapping the wood like a drummer to startle insects that live inside. Then it uses its long middle finger to dig
into the trunk and scoop out its prey. So don’t be offended if an aye-aye points
his middle finger at you -- he’s just out hunting for a late night snack of nutritious
bugs. We all know how terrifying wasps and hornets
can be. But before you run away from this next creature,
look closely. It’s not a wasp; it’s a hoverfly. Also known as flowerflies, hoverflies are
harmless insects that can be found in flower beds the world over. These flies are an especially prevalent example
of what’s known as Batesian mimicry. That’s the type of mimicry that’s used
by a harmless species to imitate the appearance of a harmful species. In this case, hoverflies sport the same black-and-yellow
bands that wasps and hornets do, but they can’t sting! Some hoverfly species even mimic the stinging
behavior of wasps. If one is caught, it’ll push the tip of
its abdomen into the flesh of a predator … even though it doesn’t have a stinger. And not only are they not harmful, hoverflies
are actually beneficial to gardens. They’re active pollinators, and they prefer
to prey on aphids, a notorious garden pest. So think twice before you bat away a black
and yellow insect...it may just be a hoverfly! Octopuses are well known for their skills
at camouflage. But the mimic octopus take the art of deception
a step further. It can use Batesian mimicry to make itself
look like not just one, but several different species -- most of them poisonous predators. Normally a light brown and beige color, the
mimic octopus can change its pattern to show black and white bands, and swim with its arms
waving behind to mimic the poisonous spines of a lionfish. Or it can hide six of its arms and stretch
into a long thin shape, to help it resemble a venomous banded sea snake. It’s also been reported to mimic jellyfish,
flatfish, giant crabs, and sea anemones. But again ... harmless! Mimic octopuses are bottom-feeders that live
in tropical rivers, and they’d rather feast on sea worms or small crabs than you or anything
like you. Sharks, of course, have a bad reputation,
thanks in large part to basic cable. And oftentimes, bigger is interpreted as scarier. Enter the basking shark, which lives in temperate
oceans all over the world and can reach up to 12 meters in length. After the whale shark, it’s the planet’s
second largest living fish species. And with its giant size also comes a giant
mouth, filled with rows and rows of teeth. But despite this threatening appearance, basking
sharks are are only interested in eating tiny zooplankton, their primary source of food. They’re slow and passive filter feeders,
using their cavernous gills and tiny hook-like teeth to catch plankton, small crustaceans,
and fish as they move gently through the water. And unlike many shark species, basking sharks
are thought to be downright social. Pairs have been observed swimming around each
other in a kind of courtship dance, and while other sharks tend to be loners, baskers have
been found in small schools, and even in groups as large as a hundred! A little spooky to see, but as long as you’re
not a plankton, you have nothing to worry about! Now, rays are closely related to sharks -- both
are types of cartilaginous fish, whose skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone. And the largest species of ray is the manta
ray, with an average span of 6.7 meters between the tips of its graceful pectoral fins. Its intimidating size and its similarities
to stingrays have given the manta a fearful reputation. But despite its close evolutionary relationship
to sharks and stingrays, the manta ray is not a predatory species but a benign filter-feeder. It has a whip-like tail similar to stingrays,
but it lacks the stingray’s venomous barb. Apparently, the manta’s enormous size is
enough to scare away most potential predators. OK, so maybe sharks and rays and creepy primates
aren’t you’re phobia. Maybe you’re more of an arachnophobe. In that case, what would you do if you saw
a spider about the size of a puppy? The Goliath birdeater is a tarantula species
that’s considered the largest spider in the world, with each of legs stretching up
to 30 centimeters! Its size keeps most predators away, as well
as three other pretty snazzy mechanisms: For one thing, it can rub its legs against
its abdomen to shed tiny barbed hairs, which can wind up in a predator’s face and eyes. Rubbing its hairs together also makes a hissing
sound, which is enough to scare most people, or non-people animals. And finally, there are those 5 centimeter
long fangs, which exert a strong bite and can release venom to kill its prey. The birdeater gets its name from the fact
that scientists have witnessed one specimen of this spider, in South America, eating a
hummingbird! So, not exactly harmless! But the birdeater mostly sticks to a diet
of insects, earthworms, and frogs that are easily found on the ground. And its bite isn’t harmful to humans. In fact, reported human bites have been found
to be defensive “dry bites” -- meaning no venom was released. Now, the hairy barbs can cause irritation
and itching, so … you might not want to cuddle with one. And here’s one more for you arachnophobes
-- or arachnophiles! The whip scorpion -- found in hot, dry habitats
-- has a long whip-like tail that makes it look like a scorpion, but it’s actually
a totally different kind of arachnid. The whip scorpion’s tail lacks the dangerous
venom that makes a sting from a true scorpion so dangerous. But it does have this going for it: When provoked,
it can spray acid from a gland near its tail. This acid smells like vinegar, so the whip
scorpion is sometimes known as the “vinegaroon.” Its bite can hurt, but its smelly acid doesn’t
do any harm to humans. Finally, there’s the reptile with the awesome
name of the thorny dragon lizard. It lives in the deserts of Australia where
it patiently waits in the sand for ants or other small insects to wander by. But its foraging behavior makes it easily
spotted by hawks, coyotes, and other predators. So these lizards evolved several defense mechanisms,
like spiny skin and bony horns protruding from their heads. AND they can even inflate themselves to appear
larger and spikier, when a threat comes around. But perhaps most terrifying about this reptile? It can squirt blood out of its eyes when provoked. This is usually the last line of defense when
the lizard is about to be eaten -- the blood apparently tastes terrible to predators, so
they hopefully won’t get more than one bite before deciding to find another meal. But despite its prickly appearance, thorny
dragon lizards are quite docile when handled by humans. And these guys wouldn’t hurt a fly. Although they would definitely hurt, and eat,
an ant. Usually, thousands and thousands of ants in
a day. So, just because something looks scary doesn’t
mean that it is. For many harmless animals, looking big and
prickly and fierce is just the cheapest, easiest ways to ward off predators. And, if anything, it could be that these evolutionary
tricks work a little too well, at least on us. Many of these species -- from the aye-aye
to the basking shark -- have been hunted intensively by humans, because they’ve been so feared
and reviled. Today, several are considered vulnerable or
endangered species. But, as we’ve come to learn more about the
animals’ true behaviors, conservation efforts have helped many of them rebound, and their
reputations are getting rehabbed too. Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow,
which was brought to you by our patrons on Patreon. If you want to help support this show, just
go to patreon.com/scishow. And don’t forget to go to youtube.com/scishow
and subscribe!
Side effects of high intimidation, when encountered with in the range of 10 the enimy has a very high chance of receiving the status effect "heartattack" or "clear inventory"