The Weirdest Dog You've Ever Seen

No, actually that's not a dog. Herpetologist Brady Barr of Nat Geo WILD's Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr is hugging a Japanese Giant Salamander.
David Braun, editor of National Geographic's Tales of the Weird blog (he and co-editor Amy Briggs have also published a very neat book with the same name), interviewed "Gator Doc" Barr back in 2009 about his job:

I asked Barr what he thought was the most dangerous moment in a career of wrestling crocs and catching giant snakes by the tail.
“It’s a really tough question,” he said, “because it always seems like the most recent experience was the most dangerous.”
Apparently there have been many such moments, including when a hippo, reputably the most dangerous animal in Africa because it kills more people than any other animal, chased Barr. “I was out in the open, no trees, and the hippo was bearing down on me. I thought I was going to be killed. It’s a miracle it didn’t get me,” he recalled.

More over at National Geographic: here.