Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Common Mole-rat Cryptomys hottentotus

  

  The common mole-rat has a cylindrical body, small eyes, and a white spot on the head. It digs underground tunnels and lives in groups centered on a breeding pair.

• Japanese waxwing Bombycilla japonica

  

  A winter visitor to Japan with a red tail tip.

• Long-tailed Spiny-rat Proechimys longicaudatus

  

  A spiny rat from inland South America, including dry forests. Its reddish or yellowish back is mixed with dark-brown hairs, its belly is white, and its tail is sparsely haired.

• Oriente Warbler Teretistris fornsi

  

  This forest-dwelling bird is endemic to Cuba; its species page says it is most often seen in the eastern half of the island. The crown and back are gray, with yellow on the face and breast.

• Nelson's Coarse-haired Pocket Mouse Chaetodipus nelsoni

  

  Nelson's coarse-haired pocket mouse occurs in the Chihuahuan Desert of the Mexican Plateau. This long-tailed pocket mouse feeds on seeds and insects in rocky or sandy habitat.

• Western Reef Heron Egretta gularis

  

  Western Reef Herons occur in pale and dark plumage forms; the dark form is marked by a white throat. They hunt along coasts and estuaries.

• Malagasy giant rat Hypogeomys antimena

  The Malagasy giant rat lives in a restricted area on Madagascar's western coast. Family groups use underground burrows, are mainly active at night, and are thought to feed mostly on fallen fruit.

• Green-headed Oriole Oriolus chlorocephalus

  The Green-headed Oriole has green across its head, throat, upper breast, and lower mantle. A forest survey in Tanzania often recorded pairs feeding on fruit high in the trees.

• Sooty Mustached Bat Pteronotus (Chilonycteris) quadridens

  The Sooty Mustached Bat is a small bat of the Greater Antilles. It roosts in large groups in caves and feeds on insects.

• White-bellied Go-away-bird Crinifer leucogaster

  A large grey bird about 50 cm long, with a white belly and wing patch and a white band across the tail. It lives in East African woodland and savanna, often in small groups, and eats fruit and acacia buds and seeds.

• Central American Silky Anteater Cyclopes dorsalis

  This small anteater ranges from Central America into northwestern South America. Its yellowish-brown body has more yellow on the tail and limbs, with a broad chest stripe. It is nocturnal and arboreal in mangroves and tropical rainforest.

• Flammulated Owl Psiloscops flammeolus

  The Flammulated Owl is a small owl that breeds in mountain conifer forests of western North America and winters in Mexico and Central America.

• Herbert's Rock Wallaby Petrogale herberti

  Herbert's rock wallaby lives among rocky sites and woodland in southeastern Queensland, Australia. A comparison describes it as grayer and less shaggy-tailed than the brush-tailed rock-wallaby.

• Wattled crane Grus carunculata

  An African crane with feathered wattles hanging beneath its chin.

• Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena

  A hyena with a mane-like ridge along its back and dark stripes across its coat.

• Black Bee-eater Merops gularis

  This African bee-eater lives in forests and at forest edges. It can look black from a distance, but red and blue stand out in good light.

• Felou Gundi Felovia vae

  The Felou gundi is a West African rodent associated with rocky places. A habitat model found suitable sites more often on steep, rocky ground near water.

• White-bellied Nothura Nothura boraquira

  The White-bellied Nothura is a small tinamou recorded in Bolivian savannas and grasslands. The source gives a body length of 22–24 cm.

• Schmidt's Big-eared Bat Micronycteris (Leuconycteris) schmidtorum

  Schmidt's big-eared bat is a small bat with conspicuous ears and a leaf-like nose feature. It gleans insects from leaves at night and roosts in tree hollows.

• Brown Mesite Mesitornis unicolor

  A ground-dwelling bird of eastern Madagascar's evergreen rainforests, it walks through leaf litter as it searches for food.

• Coast Mole Scapanus orarius

  The coast mole lives in underground tunnels. It has large, spade-shaped forefeet for digging and velvety dark-gray fur.

• Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla

  The Short-toed Treecreeper is a small bird of mature European woodlands. It searches bark crevices for tiny invertebrates with its curved bill.

• Thongaree's False-vampire Eudiscoderma thongareeae

  This rare bat is known from Bala Forest in southern Thailand. The original description was based on three specimens, and little is known about its natural history.

• Cabot's Tern Thalasseus acuflavidus

  Cabot's Tern occurs along the Atlantic coast of South America. At the Cardos Island breeding colony in Brazil, adults were studied carrying fish and other food to chicks. The black bill with a yellow tip describes breeding adults of the nominate subspecies, T. a. acuflavidus.