The World's Ugliest Animals

By Savannah Cox | Edited By John Kuroski

Published January 5, 2014

Updated November 9, 2023

Ugliest Animals: The Woolly Bat

Known by a slew of names including the common woolly bat and Hardwicke’s forest bat, Hardwicke’s woolly bat looks like it belongs in a horror film. This bat, which resides in parts of Asia and China, usually lives in the forest understory, building its home in hollow trees and piles of dead leaves. While little is known about the Hardwicke woolly bat, scientists have recently noticed these creatures roosting above the digestive fluids within carnivorous plants.

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While it’s easy to see why the Hardwicke woolly bat made our list, this creature’s ugliness might actually be a family trait! Other woolly bat species like the big eared woolly bat boast similarly odd appearances.

Source: Project Noah

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author

Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.

editor

John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.

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Cox, Savannah. "The World’s 7 Ugliest Animals." AllThatsInteresting.com, January 5, 2014, https://allthatsinteresting.com/ugliest-animals. Accessed March 31, 2025.