The AxolotlAlso known as the "water monster" and the "Mexican walking fish," is a peculiar but versatile foot-long aquatic creature that can use its four stubby legs to drag itself along lake bottoms, or else swim along the surface. It also has a strange, lizard-like face with plume-like gills and a mouth that seems to curl into a smile.

DingisoImagine a tiny black-and-white kangaroo that lives in trees, and you've got the basic description of the Dingiso. The animal, which lives in the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea, grows to as much as 2.5 feet in length, has a long tail, well-developed back legs and a habit of moving both its hind feet at the same time in a hopping motion, just like the bigger Australian kangaroos.

Golden Lion TamarinYou probably won't see one as a guest judge on the Xfactor any time soon, but golden lion tamarins are the rock stars of the Amazonian rain forest. These small creatures, whose bodies can stretch to nearly 9 inches in length plus a tail of up to 13.5 inches, have a striking mane of lush, golden fur, which frames a gray-black face with startlingly anthropomorphic features.

Giant OarfishSlithery giant sea serpents have inhabited the nightmares of sailors since ancient times. It turns out, however, that the real-life creature that resembles them most closely, the giant oarfish, actually isn't a snake but rather the largest bony fish in the sea. The rare creatures, which are found in tropical and temperate waters at depths as low as 3,000 feet, have shiny, silvery bodies, bright red crests on their heads, and toothless mouths, which they use to suck up and filter small fish & shrimp. Relatively little is known about the fish, which is probably because they only come to the surface when they are injured or dying.

Tasmanian DevilSome might think the Tasmanian devil is a fictional creature, cooked up by an imaginative animator for the Warner Bros. But it's actually a real animal, which is indigenous to Tasmania, an island southwest of the Australian mainland.

The size of Tasmanian devils varies considerably, depending on diet, habitat and age, but large males can grow as long as 2.5 feet. The scavenger gnaws on the already dead carcasses of wombats, wallabies, sheep and rabbits, though devils will eat insects, larvae, snakes and vegetation when the opportunity presents itself.