We’re starting out relatively low on the weirdness scale, though if you look closely at enough bats you might disagree with me. The reason I chose bats for this list is that they are an example of a familiar anatomy—that of a hairy, warm-blooded mammal—taken to extremes. While other ‘flying’ mammals like flying squirrels can in fact only glide, bats have evolved true powered flight, utilizing hairless skin stretched between grotesquely elongated fingers. Unnerving, huh?

Wings aren’t the only weird anatomy bats have; almost everything is at least a little off. Their legs are turned around, so that their knees point backwards. Their nipples are in their armpits. They spend their lives hanging upside-down, and in fact get dizzy if they spend too much time with their heads elevated.

But my favorite ‘alien’ part of bat anatomy is their faces. Few groups of animals have as much diversity of facial features as bats do. Some look nearly normal, like little flying mice or foxes. But others look as though they were mangled in an episode of Monster Factory, with ridiculously huge ears, squashed or stretched snouts, and noses that defy understanding. Take a look through ecologist Merlin Tuttle’s bat portrait gallery to see some of the greatest extremes that mammal faces can be pushed to.

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