HAMMERHEAD BAT

With a face that wouldn't look out of place among the Notre Dame gargoyles, the hammerhead bat is what the French would call 'jolie laide'.

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The phrase, which literally translates as 'pretty ugly', refers to a beauty that defies conventional standards. With the ears of Yoda, the face of the racehorse Desert Orchid and nostrils that resemble some kind of sea creature, the hammerhead bat's face is one messed-up mash-up. Until you realise that this oddly proportioned animal is an evolutionary triumph.

It lives in the lowland rainforests of West and Central Africa, where it feasts on fruit and flies at night. It is unusual because it's the only bat species known to operate a lek mating system, a kind of competition where males show off to impress the females, a bit like The X Factor.