Probably one of the most successful video game franchises in recent years, Monster Hunter has always been a series that has captured the imagination of many people with its fantastical yet realistic creatures. From the scary Vaal Hazak to the goofy...
The world has a huge menagerie of creatures. From truly massive Titanodracons, to the tiny yet indestructible tardigrades. Our world is filled with unbelievable species, all of which are perfectly adapted to their habitats.
But despite this incredible variety of lifeforms, there are some environments that have produced animals that are borderline alien. Although these habitats with unique wildlife can be very different from one another, they all have one thing in common that has forced the native species to become so bizarre: isolation.
The deep sea and islands are the environments that usually get the spotlight; however, the many caves that dot our planet contain their very own endemic species. Due to the lack of lighting and food, most cavern dwellers are incredibly specialized to their unfavorable habitats.
Some of the most common features seen in troglobites are lack of pigmentation, giving them completely white skin or exoskeletons; being eyeless, which of course makes them blind; having incredibly heightened senses to compensate, such as smell or taste; and being capable of going without food for a long time.
However, there are species that have evolved some extreme abilities to survive in the darkness of the underground, and very few creatures can compete with the Spelunosuga ozarki when it comes to their strangeness.
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Better known as Khezu, a name given by the locals, these incredibly bizarre Amphibians can grow to be half a meter long and stand between 23 and 28 centimeters in height. Part of a very illusive order of Amphibians known as the Antrupermorphs, these unsettling looking animals have convergently evolved many features that resemble those of True Wyvern, such as wings and a bipedal stance.
First appearing near the end of the Jurassic, ancient Antrupermorphs seemed to have had a more owl-like appearance, possibly filling a similar niche. However, when the K-T extinction struck, almost all of the members of this order were wiped out. Yet despite this cataclysmic event, the Antrupermorphs managed to pull through. But this leaves the question of how owl-like Amphibians became cave crawling experts.
One of the most popular theories suggests that during the K-T event, some species escaped extinction by taking cover inside cave systems. Over millions of years, these creatures increasingly became more specialized in splunking. Eventually, this evolutionary path gave rise to the Khezus of the Ozarks.
Khezus themselves are perfectly designed to take advantage of the Ozark mountains, both inside and outside the subterranean catacombs they call home. Even though these Amphibians don't have any claws, Khezus are amazing climbers, capable of sticking to a range of surfaces, and even move upside down. These seemingly supernatural climbing abilities work similarly to those of geckos.
The hands, feet, and even the tips of their tails, are covered in tiny hair-like structures called setae which have even smaller bristles know as spatulae. These maximize the amount of surface contact, leading to the activation of the van der Waals force.
