When Animals Get Strange

Have you ever heard an adult say something like, “Truth is stranger than fiction”? You know what? When it comes to animals, that’s definitely the case.

Dogs, horses, cows—all those seem pretty normal. But you don’t have to look too far into the animal kingdom for things to get strange. Really out of the ordinary!

God made an incredible variety of animals during the Creation Week. All of them are unique and wonderful in their own way—and they filled the earth with all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors (Genesis 1).

But some animals truly show us how huge our Maker’s imagination really is. You just can’t help but marvel at their striking appearance—even if they’re “strange.” They clearly didn’t come from any other kind of animal. Instead, God designed them this way.

Take the echidna, for instance. Is it a mammal? A reptile?

The echidna (i-KID-nuh) waddles through Australia and doesn’t seem to realize just how odd it is. This strange creature has spiky hair that makes it look like a porcupine, and it’s warm-blooded. But unlike most other mammals, it lays reptile-like eggs in a pouch on its body, where the baby hatches. Pretty nifty little pocket, huh?

Echidnas use their long, sticky tongues like anteaters. But they also find their food much like a shark by sensing electric pulses. Want more strangeness? These spiky creatures can change the temperature of their bodies like a bear in winter hibernation, so they can sleep when food is hard to come by. They can even survive forest fires that way.

Did You Know . . .

Over the course of a year, one echidna churns up enough soil to bury more than 100 full-size refrigerators!