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Creepy Creatures?

 

Glowing pumpkin toads are hiding out in the forest. Vampire bats are in search of blood to drink. And Gila monsters have deadly bites. Read on to find out how these animals earned their spooky-sounding names.

October 2021
By Stephanie Warren Drimmer

reptiles4all/Shutterstock.com

GILA MONSTER

Location: Southwestern U.S. and Mexico

GILA MONSTER

Monsters are real! The Gila monster is the largest lizard in the United States. It’s also one of the few venomous lizards in the world. The animals can weigh more than four pounds and reach nearly two feet long.

Gila monsters kill by biting a victim and holding it tight. As they chew, toxins move through grooves in their teeth and into their victim’s body. Though they eat mostly eggs and baby mammals, they do sometimes bite people if they feel threatened. No human has ever died from a Gila monster bite. But those who have experienced one say it’s extremely painful. OUCH!

BARRY MANSELL/NPL/MINDEN PICTURES

Common Vampire Bat

Location: Mexico, Central America, and South America

COMMON VAMPIRE BAT

Barry Mansell/NPL/Minden Pictures

Deep within caves sleep hundreds of vampire bats hanging upside down. When the darkest hour of night approaches, the creatures open their eyes, rustle their wings, and soar into the night. They’re hungry—for blood!

Vampire bats are the only mammals on Earth that feed entirely on blood. While they do occasionally bite people, their main victims are cattle, sheep, and horses.

The bats pierce skin with their razor-sharpteeth. Then they lap up the flowing blood for about 30 minutes with their tiny tongues. In one year, a colony of vampire bats can drink enough blood to equal that of 25 cows!

Edelcio Muscat

GLOWING PUMPKIN TOADLET

Location: Brazil

GLOWING PUMPKIN TOADLET

In the light of day, this tiny toad is the bright-orange color of a Halloween pumpkin. When night falls, this amphibian has a trick to play: It glows in the dark! Ivan Sergio Nunes Silva, a herpetologist, discovered the toadlet in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil in 2021. Spotting the animal for the first time was “an amazing feeling,” he says.

The newly discovered Brachycephalus rotenbergae is just one of 36 species of pumpkin toadlets in Brazil. Their brilliant hue warns predators that the frogs have a deadly poison in their skin. Three species of pumpkin toadlets—including the newly discovered one—also glow when placed under ultraviolet light. Humans can’t see the glow without a special light, but other toadlets can. Why they glow is still a mystery.

More Creepy Creatures

Atlantic Ghost Crab

Luciano Candisani /Minden Pictures

Location: Off the Atlantic coast of North America and South America

These shoreline dwellers have shells that you can almost see-through. They also have the ability to change their color to match their surroundings. This makes them nearly invisible—just like ghosts!

Atlantic ghost crabs dig burrows up to 4 feet deep, where they shelter from predators and hibernate during the winter. The crabs emerge from their underground homes to hunt for food. They mostly look for turtle eggs, other crabs, and dead animals. At any sign of danger, they dart back to their burrows and seem to disappear from the beach. Boo! 

Blood Python

dwi putra / Alamy Stock Photo 

Location: Several islands in Southeast Asia

Blood pythons get their name from the deep-red color of their scales. And these snakes are fierce predators too. Blood pythons are ambush hunters that lie perfectly still as they wait for an unsuspecting rat or mouse to pass by. Then the snakes strike, wrapping their bodies around their victims and squeezing them to death.

All pythons kill their prey this way, a behavior called constriction. They hold tight to their prey, wrapping their bodies a little tighter each time it lets out a breath. When their victim is dead, the snake swallows it whole.   

Life Science
Animal Anatomy & Physiology, Adaptations, Animal Behavior

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