The next time a particular aspect of your own appearance gets you down -- like an expanding waistline, or a larger than normal nose -- remember what our mom used to say to us as children: "You could've been born as a star-nosed mole, or a blobfish. Now shut up and eat your tacos!" (Love ya, mom!)

Joke's on you mom -- we kind of think these so-called ugly animals are kind of cute. Probably cuter than fatty big-nosed us. (Sigh. So many therapy bills...) Anyway, see what we mean about so-strange-they're-cute animals below.

  • 1

    Axolotl

    YouTube
    YouTube
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    The Axolotl is one weird-looking salamander, though they are sometimes referred to as the "Mexican Walking Fish." Let's pretend that isn't terrifying and ooh and ahh over the cute little guy above.

  • 2

    Blobfish

    Blobfish live at incredible depths in the Southern Pacific Ocean. Since they literally live under tons of pressure, their bodies are jellylike bulks without muscle, which allows them to float about with ease. Why they look like grumpy filing clerks is anyone's guess.

  • 3

    Angora Rabbit

    Bethany Clarke, Getty Images
    Bethany Clarke, Getty Images
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    Rumor (and history) has it that French sailors first encountered these incredibly hairy rabbits in the port of Angora, Turkey. Whether this is true or not, a fun thing to do is rub one all over the face of a person with asthma. Just kidding. Never do that.

  • 4

    Aye-Aye

    Rob Cousins/Bristol Zoo, Getty Images
    Rob Cousins/Bristol Zoo, Getty Images
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    These bug-eyed lemurs are only found on the island of Madagascar and are reclusive tree-dwellers, which is nice, because can you imagine one sneaking up next to you while you're trying to relax on the patio? Madagascar vacation ruined.

  • 5

    Platypus

    Just to make it a little bit weirder, the platypus is the only oviparous mammal. Fun fact of the day: oviparous means it lays eggs.

  • 6

    Star-Nosed Mole

    The star-nosed mole has 22 tentacles around its nose that basically act as its eyes. Fortunately, they spend most of their time underground, which is nice, because can you imagine one sneaking up next to you while you're trying to relax on the patio? Canada vacation ruined.

  • 7

    Sun Bear

    Sun bears are the smallest bears. In fact, one was eaten by a python once. While the bear was inside the python, that snake was officially the scariest animal on the planet.

  • 8

    Chinese Giant Salamander

    edgeofexistence.org
    edgeofexistence.org
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    The Chinese giant salamander is the biggest salamander in the world. Is it big enough to eat a sun bear? Probably not.

  • 9

    Leafy Sea Dragon

    Jacopo Werther, Wiki Commons
    Jacopo Werther, Wiki Commons
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    The Leafy sea dragon uses their leaf-like "limbs" as a protective camouflage. Despite its name, you shouldn't try to order it at your local sushi restaurant.

  • 10

    Tarsier

    Sakurai Midori, Wiki Commons
    Sakurai Midori, Wiki Commons
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    The tarsier's eyes are about the same size as their brain, but they must be bigger than their stomach -- did you see how much food he got at the buffet???? No, but seriously, their eyes are the same size as their brain.

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