“Stylish” can mean many different things: striking colours, elegant silhouettes or unusual patterns. One thing is for certain – these animals don’t need months of styling to be Met Gala-ready. They were born like this.
Here are some of the most stylish animals in the world.
Most stylish animals
Indian peafowl, Pavo cristatus
It’s no surprise the Indian peafowl made this list with its well-known, striking feathers: inspiration for many a red-carpet gown.
The colourful long feathers actually grow from the peafowl’s back, not the tail – and they are longer than the bird’s body at 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.
What’s interesting is that the vibrant colours are not primarily pigments, but structural colouration. Slight changes to the spacing of the barbules (fiber-like components) of the feathers produce the peafowl’s colours.
- Survival of the fittest? Why flashiness is best for the mating game – if you’re a peacock, that is
- Faking it: Watch what happens when BBC cameras capture a peacock faking a mating call to try and entrap females
White peafowl, Pavo cristatus
White peafowl are a rare colour mutation of the Indian peafowl, characterised by pure white plumage and blue eyes.
Contrary to popular opinion, they’re not albino but leucistic – meaning they have reduced pigmentation but retain their regularly-coloured eyes, whereas albinos have pink eyes.
Their beautifully striking white feathers of course bring a wedding dress to mind, but unlike us, this peacock doesn’t need to pay a fortune for their gown.
Mandarinfish, Synchiropus splendidus
This splendid fish is native to the Pacific, ranging approximately from the Ryukyu Islands south to Australia.
The Mandarinfish is one of only two vertebrate species known to have blue colouring, and its patterned appearance could definitely be inspiration for many runway-ready gowns. Its Latin name, splendidus, derived from the Latin for “bright” or “glittering”, is certainly fitting.
- Most beautiful fish: Are these 8 species are the ocean's most stunning fish?
- 10 prettiest sea animals in the world: Meet some of the most beautiful - and sparkliest - creatures in the ocean
Peacock spider, Maratus volans
The striking scales on the male’s abdomen aren’t just beautiful – some male peacock spiders are able to change their scales from red to green to violet with slight movements, since the scales contain three-dimensional reflective diffraction grating structures. The colours are made from shape, not pigment.
- Can spiders really be beautiful? Oh yes... meet the 5 prettiest spiders on the planet, from metallic-blue tarantulas to dancing peacock spiders
- This metallic blue tarantula is the most beautiful spider in the world – and it's also one of the world's rarest
Wilson’s bird-of-paradise, Diphyllodes respublica
Wilson’s bird-of-paradise is rather small and boasts many colours of the rainbow. The male’s body is red and black, with a yellow mantle on its neck, light green mouth, blue feet and two well-styled (by nature), curved violet tail feathers.
The first footage of the Wilson’s bird-of-paradise ever to be filmed was recorded in 1996 by David Attenborough for BBC’s Attenborough in Paradise – he achieved this by dropping leaves on the forest floor, which irritated the bird into clearing them away. Stylish and neat!
- Powerful images show beauty and brutality of birds like you've never seen them before
- “It’s surreal coming face-to-feathers with a bizarre bird you've waited half a lifetime to see”: An epic quest for the world’s most elusive birds
Orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus
The orchid mantis is as stylish as it is deadly. It’s evolved to mimic orchid flowers as a hunting and camouflaging strategy, even going as far as swaying in motion, as if blown by the breeze.
Delicate pink and white, the orchid mantis is definitely red carpet-ready – but don’t be fooled, as it’s known to grab its prey with blinding speed. Showbiz is brutal but it’s got nothing on nature.
- World's 10 most beautiful killers: where stunning looks and lethal power collide...
- 7 prettiest - and possibly weirdest - insects in the world that you might not know
Emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri
Penguins had to make the list with their tuxedo-like appearance. The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species, and lives exclusively in Antarctica.
What’s interesting is that the emperor penguin doesn’t wear the same ‘tuxedo’ all year – their dark plumage fades to brown from November until February (the Antarctic summer), before the yearly moult (shedding).
- Emperor penguin and Antarctic fur seal declared Endangered
- They can jump, lay half-eggs and never get cold feet: 14 penguin facts that prove just how incredible these seabirds are
Glasswing butterfly, Greta oto
While we could’ve chosen many butterfly species, the glasswing butterfly is particularly striking. This butterfly gets its name from its transparent wings, of course. It uses the wings to camouflage without relying on colour at all.
