Which animals are silly

On top of their funny name, their straggly hair, bulging eyes, continually growing incisors, and oversized ears combine to make them one of the ugliest primates around.

A blob fish out of water — say what you see! The boops boops is a species of seabream fish native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black seas.

Its name supposedly refers to its very large eyes which they use to hunt down crustaceans and plankton. Rather than looks or behaviour, the name relates to the fact that this turtle from the Southeast United States apparently tastes like chicken, and used to be a popular food source.

One of the most unflattering names in the animal kingdom? The colon rectum is a rounded fungus beetle found worldwide, and seems to have done nothing whatsoever to deserve its name, poor thing. This is an example of a beetle with a great name! Are we being immature including the dik-dik on this list of funny animal names? Perhaps, but the name of this small antelope from eastern and southern Africa makes us smile.

Pretty obvious why this jellyfish is called the fried egg jellyfish. Each sunnyside up jellyfish has an orangy yellow dome surrounded by a white ring, and can grow up to 40 centimeters across.

Kind of a funny name, but suitably descriptive for this lizard that does indeed have a large frill around its neck. Most of the time the frill is kept folded down, and used only to intimidate predators or other males. So good they named it twice thrice. A well-camouflaged hellbender. The hellbender is the largest amphibian in North America, growing up to 75 centimeters long. One of the least tasty ice creams around, the aquatic ice cream cone worm lives in a home that it makes from sand and shell fragments.

They secrete a kind of glue from their glands that is used to stick the sand and shell pieces together to eventually create a tube to live in. Is it a plant? Though the leafy seadragon may look like some sort of fairy tale sea dragon it is actually a fish. Their leaf-like appendages act as camouflage, allowing them to look like a piece of floating seaweed.

Some leafy seadragons take their camouflage even further, with the ability to change their colour to match their surroundings. A straightforward name for a chicken… but the mountain chicken is actually a frog!

Another example of an amusingly descriptive animal name. The pink fairy armadillo is pink, and as the smallest armadillo species in the world grows to just 15 centimeters long. As well as having a funny name, the pink fairy armadillo makes it onto our list of the smallest animals in the world. The pleasing looking pleasing fungus beetle. There are over 2, different species of pleasing fungus beetle, named after their habit of feeding on fungus, along with plant matter.

A few of these species have gained notoriety as significant pests. Why pleasing? Your guess is as good as ours! These ants do have a reddish tinge, but are actually named after an exterminator — Tom Rasberry — who first noticed the increasing prominence of this invasive species from South Africa in Texas. The wide open mouth of a sarcastic fringehead. Funny name, but aggressive looking fish! It has a flattened tail that looks like a leaf, and the satanic part of its name is likely related to its strange appearance, and occasional red colouring.

Another example of a straightforward descriptive — if unattractive — name for a species. The screaming hairy armadillo is hairier than most other armadillo species, with thick, bristly hairs all over its body and shell. When threatened handled by humans it has a tendency to squeal loudly in distress, hence the funny name.

A big slippery dick with a mouthful of crab. The wonderfully named — and coloured — sparklemuffin. Two stunning new species of peacock spiders were found in Australia in Some species also have spines on them, leading to the full name of spiny lumpsucker. In recent years, psychologists came up with a different theory. Benign violation can explain why a number of things make us laugh, including being tickled: That is, tickling benignly violates someone's physical space.

You can't tickle yourself because that doesn't constitute a violation and complete strangers can't tickle you to the point of laughter because you won't see it as a benign act. Research in showed that our primate relatives — chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans — all produce laughter-like sounds when tickled as well as when they're wrestling and play-chasing.

This suggests that humor and our ability to laugh likely came from humans and great apes' last common ancestor. And in a follow-up study in , scientists showed that chimpanzees can make silent "laugh faces" just like humans. Interesting, the animal that has gained the most research attention for its ability to be tickled and laugh are rats.

When tickled by people or engaged in rough and tumble play with rats of similar size , the rodents emit long, 50 kHz ultrasonic chirps. They enjoy being tickled so much that they actually chase researchers' tickling fingers.

Original article on Live Science. Live Science.