Star-Nosed Mole: AKA The Guy From That M. Night Shyamalan Movie

A cross between those not-so-real creatures in The Village and the eyeball-hand-man from Pan’s Labyrinth, the star-nosed mole is something straight out of a nightmare. The scary reality is that the thing is a real animal.Star-Nosed Mole

Crawling through the darkness of the northeastern United States and Canada with his creepy scaled feet, sir star-nose is even weirder than the average mole because of the same feature that gives him his name: a set of 22 tentacles—yes, fleshy, pink tentacles, like the kind you might find on an octopus or squid or a bloody kraken, for Artemis Fowl’s sake—surround his nose.

Given that the animal is a good swimmer, has thick, water-resistant fur, can smell underwater, and often digs its tunnels beneath water, perhaps it’s no surprise; maybe mama mole had a fling with a cuttlefish and boom, lo and behold, the star-nose mole was born to be an outcast forever, banned from any mole-games for eternity, or at least until Santa Clause could find a suitable job for his freaky schnoz on Christmas Eve.

Though these tentacles are supposed to help the mole feel around for food, it’s probably also a way to freak out the little creatures he stalks and eats, like crustaceans, worms and bugs. Petrified, staring the only known tentacled-mammal in the face and frozen in what can only be described as sheer terror, his prey just doesn’t stand a chance. It just sits there, a few “you so ugly” jokes running absently through its deranged brain, seconds before it is consumed. After all, the star-nosed male has also been named “Fastest Eating Mammal,” a well-earned title for a creature who can both find and eat his prey in as little as 120 milliseconds.

The tentacles aren’t just freaky; they could also be described as the mole’s superpower. Extra sensitive and full of touch receptors called Eimer’s organs, the nose is only a centimeter in diameter. That said, the tentacles have about 25,000 receptors! Other moles actually have these too; they just don’t have the wacky tentacles to go with it. Functionally blind, the star-nosed mole really relies on the sensors to live.

A squid-like mole may not sound very appetizing to most people, but it’s on the food chain of quite a few predators, including skunks, mustelids, the Great Horned Owl, the Red-Tailed Hawk, and even some big fish. I know I wouldn't want that thing on my dinner plate.

But you've got to hand it to the star-nosed mole: for one weird critter, it sure can eat fast, swim well, and do other things that less weird (albeit prettier) animals cannot.