I’d Love To Read About: Real-Life Monsters

Have you ever learned a strange fact or seen an unusual thing and thought, I wish there were more books about that? It happens to me all the time. Authors, if you’re listening, here are eight scary animals that I wish somebody would write about. (Or take inspiration from. I’m not picky!)

I'd Love To Read About . . .

Two-Headed Shark

What’s scarier than a shark? Two sharks. You can thank Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight for making me Google “Parasitic Head Twins.” Now I can have nightmares about double-headed sharks.

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Some scientists believe that two-headed sharks are becoming more common, but nobody is sure why. It could be because of genetic disorders, infections, pollution, or overfishing, which leads to smaller gene pools and inbreeding. (Weird things happen when sharks have sexy times with their close relatives.) Luckily for my nightmares, two-headed sharks usually don’t survive to human-munching age.

Titanoboa

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Technically, these snakes have been extinct for millions of years, but that doesn’t stop them from being freakin’ terrifying! Guys, I think this is the real-life version of the snake from Harry Potter. Native to South America, Titanoboas could grow to 42 feet (12.8 m) long and 2500 pounds (1135 kg). It’s the largest species of snake ever discovered. Titanoboas lived in swampy coastal forests and probably ate large turtles and crocodile-type animals.

Box Jellyfish

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Most species of box jellyfish are fairly harmless, but there are a few jellies that you don’t want to mess with. Even though they don’t have teeth or claws (or even a brain), they can kill you in minutes. A sting from a box jellyfish causes extreme pain and muscle cramping. It raises the victim’s blood pressure and makes their heart beat erratically. Victims of jellyfish stings die from heart attacks or from drowning because they are unable to swim to the surface. A tiny jellyfish is one of the most dangerous animals in the ocean.

Quetzalcoatlus

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As a child, I had several memorable nightmares about giant birds. Good thing I didn’t know about Quetzalcoatlus. Now extinct, it’s the largest known flying animal of all time. They stood about 9.8 feet (3 m) tall and had a 33-36 foot (10-11 m) wingspan. What did they eat? Good question. They lived in North America but not near any large bodies of water. Most likely, they were terrestrial stalkers, like modern storks. Really, really horrifying storks.

Saltwater Crocodile

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Saltwater crocodiles are the largest living reptile and extremely capable of eating a human (and most other animals). On average, they’re around 17 feet (5 m) long and weigh 1000 pounds (450 kg). They hunt by ambushing their prey, dragging it into the water, and drowning it. Then they often swallow it whole. Pleasant, right?

Liopleurodon

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This extinct carnivorous ocean reptile appears to be at least 50% teeth. In addition to teeth, they had four powerful paddle-like flippers that made them fast swimmers. With a mouth like that, they were definitely an apex predator that ruled their environment. No complete skeletons have been found, so it’s hard to know exactly how big they were, but scientists estimate that they were around 21 feet (6.39 m) long.

Redback Spider

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The redback spider is native to Australia and is highly venomous. A bite will initially cause pain, swelling, and redness. After that, a victim can experience vomiting, chest pain, agitation, headaches, and sweating. The bite isn’t the only thing that’s unfortunate about the redback. Everything about this spider is gross. It’s one of the species that practices sexual cannibalism. Yep. The female eats the male while they’re in the process of banging! If the male doesn’t die during sex, he crawls away afterward and dies from his injuries. That’s girl power . . . I guess. Yuck. Why do these exist?

Mosquito

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I can hear you right now: “Aj, mosquitoes aren’t scary. They’re just itchy. What is wrong with you?” Well, I’m here to tell you that mosquitoes are scary. They’re probably the scariest animal on Earth today. Their bites cause itchy lumps, but that’s not the problem. Mosquitoes are excellent at spreading deadly infections. These little bugs are responsible for malaria, yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile, dengue fever, filariasis, Zika, and a few other diseases. Mosquitoes kill more humans than any other animal. If one critter can cause the apocalypse, it’s the mosquito.

Is there an animal that you’d like to see in fiction?