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Nature is more often a display of  majestic beauty: Imagine peacocks fanning their feathers in the sunlight, graceful cheetahs racing across the savannah and technicoloured fish basking in warm waters.

But alongside these exquisite displays is a dark underworld of misfits – creatures so ugly and strange they have been described as the 'counterculture of the natural world.'

From the 'hipster toad' with a weaponised moustache to a 'werewolf mouse' who howls at the moon, these animals are the antidote to nature's show-offs.

The hardest bat in the world: This long-eared bat has a taste for scorpions. After killing the scorpion, the bat carries it back to a roost and eats it head-first. Usually it eats the whole thing, including the stinger and poison gland

Now, some of the most bizarre examples of these creatures have been compiled in New Scientist's 'Mavericks and Misfits of the Animal Kingdom' publication.

Take, for instance, 'the hardest bat in the world.' Lurking in isolated patches of desert across Morocco and the Middle East, desert long-eared bats seem to be fearless.

In one experiment a team of scientists from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, caught eight bats and watched them hunt scorpions in their lab.

The bats ignored dead prey, only attacking live ones that moved. They also showed an interest in boxes containing live scorpions, suggesting they were homing in on sound.

Misfits: On the left is a hipster toad that boasts a weaponised moustache and on the right is a unique turtle that urinates through its mouth

The mouse that howls at the moon: In the dark expanses of the Sonoran desert in the US, a terrifying creature stalks the night, searching for fresh meat. Anything will do: crickets, rodents, tarantulas – the nastier the better

Fish with its genitals on its head: The male fish, a Phallostethus cuulong, his reproductive organs by his face. He weaves between drifting vegetation in the sluggish waters of a canal. He closes in on a female, swims alongside her and tries to mate

When a bat landed on a scorpion, it immediately tried to bite the scorpion's head. Once the scorpion was dead, the bat carried it back to a roost and ate it head-first.

Another oddity is the Texas horned lizard. To scare other creatures, it first turns side-on advertising both its length and the spines running down its body.

If that's not enough, it inflates its body like a balloon and shows off the two horns on its head.

As a last resort, the lizard will assault the predator by squirting a jet of blood out of its eyes. This extreme weapon confuses the predator allowing the crafty lizard to escape.

Emei moustache toads, meanwhile, grow spines on their upper lip to spike rivals males. Just like a human moustache is meant to signify masculinity, these toads display their upper lip with pride.

The hipster toads can be found showing off their moustaches in New York's Williamsburg, London's Hackney and San Francisco's Mission district.

Then there is the turtle that urinates through its mouth. When the Chinese soft-shelled creatures need to urinate, it does so by sticking its heads into a puddle of water and wiggling its tongue.

Several years ago, scientists discovered that the turtles carry a gene that produces a specialised protein to help expel urine. However, this gene was expressed in their mouths, rather than their kidneys. 

Horror lizard squirts tears of blood: If ever there was an animal that said 'don't even think about eating me', it would be the Texas horned lizard. It has more defences than the Death Star, ranging from camouflage to bony spines on its head. It can also squirt a jet of blood out of its eyes

Super-sensing sea cow: Manatees' hairs, it turns out, are like whiskers turning them into super-sensors. However, their sensitive hairs can only pick up objects within a few metres, which doesn't stop them from being attacked by speeding boats

Bigger eyes than its brains: The eyes are the most distinctive thing about tarsiers, rivalling those of orangutans for size. A tarsier's eyes are truly enormous in proportion to the rest of the body, typically 1.5cm in diameter, whereas the entire tarsier is only 12cm long

THE LIZARD WITH AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK:  REPTILE USES BRIGHT BLUE HEAD TO HIDE FROM BIRDS OF PREY

The male Iberian emerald lizard has a blue head and green body which helps them blend into their background when viewed from above

It's the holy grail for Harry Potter and Star Trek fans, but it seems a bright blue headed lizard has already developed its own invisibility cloak.

Biologists were baffled as to how male Iberian emerald lizards have evolved their vivid blue and green colouring. While the brightly coloured skin it useful for attracting a mate, it should also make them easy for predators to spot.

However, researchers from the University of Valencia in Spain and the Unviersity of Porto, Portugal, have found that these 15 inch long lizards have a secret weapon against hungry birds of prey - their own cloaking device. 

They discovered that the lizards' skin is iridescent and reflects light in different ways depending on the angle it is viewed from. When viewed from above, the creatures blend into their background and become almost invisible to birds.

However, when viewed from ground level, the lizards still stand out brightly - meaning fellow lizards can easily spot those looking for mate.

Dr Guillem Pérez i de Lanuza, a biologist at the University of Porto, say their findings are the first evidence of iridescent colours being used by animals to alter their visibility depending on viewing angle. 

He said: 'Our results suggest that the blue heads are less striking for a bird above the lizard than a lizard in the same plane. Birds see a less UV pure colour that is more whitish and less chromatically conspicuous when seeing the lizards from above.'

But the Chinese soft-shelled turtle isn't as bizarre as the 'werewolf mouse'. In the dark expanses of the Sonoran desert in the US, the creature stalks the night, searching for fresh meat.

Dubbed the southern grasshopper mouse, it has a habit of standing on its hind legs and letting out a dramatic, high-pitched howl once it has killed its prey.

Another creature to make the list of misfits is the male fish, a Phallostethus cuulong, which is just 2cm (0.7 inches) long.

When attempting to mate with a female, a Phallostethus cuulong swims alongside her, with his head is right next to the female's head.

This might seem like a misguided tactic, but actually he's doing it right – because the fish's genital are on his head.

The spotted salamander, meanwhile, have eggs that often contain single-celled green algae. Biologists strongly suspect it is a symbiotic relationship. 

The embryos release waste which the algae feed on, while the algae photosynthesis and release oxygen. This makes it the first solar-powered vertebrate.

These oddities of evolution have survived for millions of years, and in many cases they have been around far longer than humans have.

They are also a treasure trove of information for scientists. In their genes they carry records of past evolution, of how life on Earth has changed over millions of years.

They may not be as graceful as a gazelle or as beautiful as a hummingbird, but they are just as fascinating.

First solar-powered vertebrate: The spotted salamander have eggs that often contain single-celled green algae. Biologists strongly suspect it is a symbiotic relationship. The embryos release waste which the algae feed on, while the algae photosynthesis and release oxygen

Paradise with a twist: Coconut crabs - also known as robber crabs for their habit of stealing food - is the largest arthropod to prowl the land

World's biggest mouth with an erectile secret: Bowhead whales sometimes swim with their mouths slightly open. This is for them to cool off as they have an organ in their mouths, bizarrely similar to a penis, which releases heat into the cold water