The devil animals I am going to list down are not the pets of some furious and ancient monsters we have been hearing about since our childhood. Clearing this out only because I myself thought of them to be some fire breathing and ugly looking wacky creatures until I finally googled to get more closer to reality. Well these animals are not even devilish by nature but their brute appearance counts for their rather unfriendly name sure to get a frowning expression for the first time you hear about them. They are weird no doubt but they are unusual devil animals and hence on my list.
Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus)
An amazing Australian reptile quite evidently owes its name to the thorns on its body. The mini dragon grows up to 20 cm (8 in) in length and can live up to 20 years. It can camouflage according to the desert shades and its thorny scales are a defense against predators. What is more interesting about the creature is that it consumes any droplet that falls on its body. The drop runs down the body of the creature and is channeled to its mouth. The small thorny devil can eat some thousands of ants in one day.
Hickory Horned Devil
The Hickory horned devil is a caterpillar of the Regal Moth, a North American moth in the saturniidae family. It looks dangerous with its horns and thorns but is harmless like any other caterpillars. The spines, though prickly, do not sting. The huge black-tipped red horns are actually borne during their sixth and final development stage and grow upto 15cm long. Just before pupation it changes its color to turquoise and burrow into the dirt to pupate in a well formed chamber.
African devil flower mantis
It is one of the largest species of praying mantis that mimic flowers. Bionomically known as Idolomantis diabolica, It is very large mantis from East Africa and is a true devil mantis. From L2 nymphs it may take up to 1 year for females to reach maturity at 25-30C. It is also referred as the “King of all mantids” for the obvious reason; its beauty, size and rarity. They feed primarily on flying insects like houseflies, moths, butterflies, beetles etc and never take to ground dwellers, such as crickets, locusts and others.
Sand devil
Sand devil, contrary to its name is an angel shark of the family Squatinidae found in the subtropical outer continental shelf and upper slopes of the western Atlantic. But both of its names have nothing to speak of its behavior. Although they are not normally aggressive and do not attack but they do bite when stepped on or handled and can inflict nasty lacerations with its trap-like jaws and pointed teeth. The scientific name of the sand devil shark is Squatina dumeril. There are a few small but prominent thorns on the snout while the creature feeds on small bottom fishes, crustaceans and bivalves.
Tasmanian devil
These are the largest living carnivorous marsupials from dry eucalyptus forests and brush in Tasmania. A Tasmanian devil is a robustly-built, small dog with powerful jaws and a set of large, strong teeth that allows it to eat almost every part of the carcass, including the hide and the skull. It is characterized by its black fur with white markings on the neck , a pungent odour when stressed, extremely loud and disturbing screech, and ferocity when feeding. It kills animals for food but prefers carrion (dead meat that it finds). If you find a devil with a thin tail it means he is probably unhealthy as these animals store body fat in their tail.
