Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Madeira Firecrest Regulus madeirensis

  

  A small bird of Madeira's forests and uplands. Its crown is a key mark, and it searches among leaves for tiny insects.

• Silky Mole-rat Heliophobius argenteocinereus

  The silky mole-rat is a solitary rodent that digs underground burrows. In a Malawi study, its burrowing pattern changed as the soil hardened during the dry season.

• Eurasian Treecreeper Certhia familiaris

  The Eurasian Treecreeper climbs tree trunks to find small animals in the bark. Its brown, white, and golden plumage blends into the tree.

• Asian Long-tailed Porcupine Trichys fasciculata

  The Asian long-tailed porcupine is a small porcupine with short spines on its back. It is active at night in the moist forests of Southeast Asia, walking on the ground and climbing trees.

• Northern Brown-throated Weaver Ploceus castanops

  This weaver lives in East African wetlands. The breeding male is bright yellow with a chestnut face.

• Bahia Porcupine Coendou insidiosus

  The Bahia porcupine has sharp quills and a long tail that can grasp branches. It is active in trees at night and eats fruits, bark, and other plant matter.

• Madagascar Sandgrouse Pterocles personatus

  The Madagascar Sandgrouse feeds on seeds on dry open ground. Groups may fly to water, and males carry water to chicks in their soaked belly feathers.

• Plains Spotted Skunk Spilogale interrupta

  In Texas, this small, striped skunk is mostly nocturnal and may stand on its forelegs to warn a threat.

• Carp's Tit Melaniparus carpi

  This tit inhabits dry woodland and savanna from southwestern Angola through western and central Namibia. It searches among mopane and acacia trees and shrubs for small invertebrates.

• Selayar Tarsier Tarsius tarsier

  The Selayar tarsier is marked by a black spot over the nose and a short, sparse tail tuft. It is active at night and lives in trees on Selayar Island.

• Green-bearded Helmetcrest Oxypogon guerinii

  The Green-bearded Helmetcrest is a hummingbird of the high páramo grasslands of Colombia's Eastern Andes. Males stand out for a crest and an iridescent green throat patch.

• Southern Naked-tailed Armadillo Cabassous unicinctus

  This armadillo is marked by a gray, banded shell and an unarmored tail. It lives mostly alone underground and feeds on ants and termites.

• White-throated Manakin Corapipo gutturalis

  The White-throated Manakin is a small bird of humid forests in the northern Amazon. During breeding, males gather to display.

• Common Dunnart Sminthopsis murina

  The common dunnart is a small marsupial of eastern and southern Australia. It searches for insects at night and rests in a nest or shallow burrow by day.

• Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus

  The Cactus Wren has a white stripe over the eye and a spotted chest. It uses cacti and thorny shrubs in dry country and builds a rounded grass nest among them. Its range extends from the southwestern United States into central Mexico.

• Geoffroy's Cat Leopardus geoffroyi

  A cat of southern South America, living in grassland, scrub, wetlands and woodland.

• Wattled Broadbill Sarcophanops steerii

  The Wattled Broadbill is a resident bird of Mindanao and nearby Philippine islands. Males have a purplish back, rusty tail, pink underparts, and a pale blue wattle around the eye; females have white underparts.

• Northern Bettong Bettongia tropica

  The northern bettong is a nocturnal marsupial of northeastern Queensland forests. It feeds heavily on underground fungi in the wet season and also uses grass tubers in drier periods.

• African Darter Anhinga rufa

  This diving waterbird catches fish. In South Africa, the subspecies present swims with only its long neck and head above the water.

• Grevy’s zebra Equus grevyi

  A Grevy’s zebra has large ears and a long, narrow head. It lives in dry parts of Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

• Spot-fronted Swift Cypseloides cherriei

  The Spot-fronted Swift occurs in Costa Rica and scattered areas of northern South America. It has a short, square tail and a distinctive pale pattern around the eyes.

• Long-tailed chinchilla Chinchilla lanigera

  A chinchilla of dry rocky habitats in Chile, with dense soft fur and large ears. Rock crevices provide shelter.

• Gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua

  A penguin recognized by a red-orange bill and conspicuous white patches above its eyes.

• Bearded Seal Erignathus barbatus

  The bearded seal lives in shallow Arctic and subarctic seas where seasonal sea ice forms.