The marsh-dwelling star-nosed mole – the weirdest looking creature I’ve ever seen in my life, and the fastest.

“A study published this week in the journal Nature reveals that this mysterious mole has moves that put the best magician to shame: The energetic burrower can detect small prey animals and gulp them down with a speed that is literally too fast for the human eye to follow.

It takes a car driver about 650 milliseconds to hit the brake after seeing the traffic light ahead turn red. In only half that time, the star-nosed mole, operating in the Stygian darkness of its burrow, can detect the presence of a tasty tidbit, such as a small insect larva or tiny worm, determine that it is edible and gulp it down.”