Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Angolan Giant Mole-rat Fukomys mechowi

  

  Mechow's mole-rat is an African rodent that excavates underground tunnels. Family groups are known to cooperate in daily life.

• Jamaican Owl Asio grammicus

  The Jamaican Owl lives on Jamaica. It uses habitats ranging from forest and farmland to parks, and takes small birds and animals as prey.

• Eastern Spotted Skunk Spilogale putorius

  White stripes on the black body break into spots toward the rump. A 2015 survey in South Carolina recorded it at night in mixed and conifer-dominated forests.

• Cape Grassbird Sphenoeacus afer

  The Cape Grassbird uses dense grass, restio, and fern cover in southern Africa. The BDI species account describes adults' rusty head and long tail, as well as their ground foraging.

• Diani Dwarf Galago Paragalago cocos

  This small nocturnal primate lives from coastal Kenya into northern Tanzania. It rests with others in tree holes by day and searches for fruit and invertebrates at night.

• Toucan Barbet Semnornis ramphastinus

  The Toucan Barbet is stout and medium-sized. Males have a glossy black nuchal tuft that females lack. It occurs in the mountains of southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador and mainly eats fruit. At the study site, territorial groups bred in tree cavities.

• Javan Hollow-faced Bat Nycteris javanica

  A 1993 study of Southeast Asian specimens recognized this bat as a distinct Nycteris species. It concluded that the species occurs mainly on Java and nearby islands.

• Yellowhead Mohoua ochrocephala

  A small songbird endemic to New Zealand's South and Stewart Islands that now remains mainly in beech forest.

• Caspian Seal Pusa caspica

  The Caspian seal lives only in the Caspian Sea. Newborn pups have a white coat, and many are born on winter ice in the north.

• Japanese sparrowhawk Tachyspiza gularis

  A small hawk that breeds in woods and even city parks in Japan.

• Mongolian Gazelle Procapra gutturosa

  The Mongolian gazelle is a steppe animal whose coat changes with the seasons. In eastern and southeastern Mongolia, large herds move seasonally in search of pasture and water.

• Sooty Bushtit Aegithalos fuliginosus

  A small bird of the mountains of central China, it has grey cheeks, a dark breast band and a white collar. It searches among foliage for insects and berries.

• Caribbean Least Funnel-eared Bat Chilonatalus micropus

  The Caribbean Least Funnel-eared Bat is a small bat with pale yellow-brown fur. It is recorded on Caribbean islands and Colombian islands, where it roosts in humid caves.

• Wattled Ploughbill Eulacestoma nigropectus

  The Wattled Ploughbill is a small bird of New Guinea's mountain forests. Males have pink wattles on both sides of the throat, while females lack them.

• Guianan Long-nosed Armadillo Dasypus guianensis

  Dasypus guianensis is an armadillo described after populations on the Guiana Shield were separated from a close relative. The original paper combined genetic data and museum-specimen morphology and places the range from northern Brazil through the Guianas to eastern Venezuela.

• Australian Logrunner Orthonyx temminckii

  Adult Australian Logrunners differ in throat color by sex. On the floor of moist eastern Australian forests, they use their stiff tails for support while scratching through leaf litter for food.

• Southern Aardwolf Proteles cristata

  It can raise the long hairs along its back and feeds mainly on termites. It occurs in southern Africa, where records include karroid country, grassland and scrub, open savanna woodland, and inland gravel plains.

• Usambara Hyliota Hyliota usambara

  The Usambara Hyliota has a blue-black back and a white wing patch. A 1999 survey recorded it singly or in pairs, usually in the canopy of mature trees at forest edges in Tanzania’s East Usambaras. That paper used the older subspecies name Hyliota (australis) usambarae and said its status as a separate species was unresolved at the time.

• Reticulated giraffe Giraffa reticulata

  The reticulated giraffe has a network of white lines and occurs mainly in northern and northeastern Kenya.

• Yellow-throated Leafbird Chloropsis palawanensis

  A forest bird of the Palawan islands with a green body, yellow throat, and blue wing markings.

• Pygmy Hog Porcula salvania

  A small wild pig of the tall grasslands of Assam, India.

• Indian Pitta Pitta brachyura

  The Indian Pitta is a colorful ground-dwelling bird of scrub and forest in the Indian subcontinent. It moves between regions seasonally.

• 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.

• Brown-backed Honeybird Prodotiscus regulus

  This small honeybird has a patchy range south of the Sahara. It searches leaves and branches for insects and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.