Evolution has the ability to mould creatures into an infinite array of shapes and configurations. What makes many of these animals unique is not so much because they are different – they undoubtedly are – but due to the fact that many of them combine features of disparate geneses and species.

The incomparable David Attenborough has introduced me to a few especially the star-nosed mole which has feelers protruding from where its nose should be positioned and the disgusting naked mole rat which even at birth has the body of a wrinkled superannuated rat on its death bed.

Main picture: The star-nosed mole which only its mother could love

Even the insightful Charles Darwin would have been fascinated by these wonders of nature.

The Pink Fairy Armadillo

Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise in courtship mode

The Blob Fish in blobby mode

The Blob Fish in cartoon character mode

Cantor’s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle

The Dugong with its sucker like mouth

The long-legged Gobi Jerboa

The Gobi Jerboa imitating a rabbit

The playful Irrawaddy Dolphin

The Japanese Spider Crab

The Sunda Colugo

The Babirusa

The Fossa

The Gerenuk

The Maned Wolf

The Aye-Aye

The Aye-Aye

The Dumbo Octopus

The Dumbo Octopus

A school of Irrawaddy Dolphins

Lamprey eel

The Fossa

The Gerenuk

The Patagonian Mara

Yeti Crab

Naked Mole Rat

Tufted Deer

Zebra Duiker

All of these specimens are probably the last of their line and unless rigorously conservation efforts are embarked upon and vigorously pursued, all will face the prospect of extinction within this century. With the world’s population doubling during this period, the competition for the available space and resources will allow for only one winner – MAN