Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,028 · Stories: 19,472

• Western Tree Hyrax Dendrohyrax dorsalis

  

  This hyrax has short ears and legs and thick fur ranging from gray-brown to black. It feeds at night on leaves, fruit, and other plant material and usually lives alone.

• White-necked Puffbird Notharchus hyperrhynchus

  

  The White-necked Puffbird occurs in Costa Rican tropical forest, including edges and clearings. It has a short rounded body and a thick, straight bill; its black cap and breast band stand out against white markings. It waits quietly on a perch before taking insects or small lizards.

• Southern Woolly Lemur Avahi meridionalis

  

  The southern woolly lemur is nocturnal. Researchers studied its leaf-eating behavior in the lowland rainforest of Tsitongambarika in southeastern Madagascar. During the season with more young leaves, feeding time and daily travel distance increased.

• Burchell's Sandgrouse Pterocles burchelli

  

  This sandgrouse feeds on seeds in dry grassland around the Kalahari. Flocks gather at waterholes, and adults carry water to chicks in their belly feathers.

• Anosi Mouse Lemur Microcebus tanosi

  

  This small lemur is recorded in the Anosy region of southeastern Madagascar. Its back is dark brown and its head is reddish. Night transects at Sainte Luce from 2011 to 2018 recorded it in all four study fragments in littoral forest.

• Crested Francolin Ortygornis sephaena

  

  This francolin walks through shrubland and semi-open areas in southern Africa, searching for seeds and insects. It may raise its tail when excited.

• Burmeister’s Porpoise Phocoena spinipinnis

  Burmeister’s porpoise lives along the coasts of South America. Small, thorn-like bumps line the front edge of its dorsal fin.

• Verdin Auriparus flaviceps

  The Verdin is a tiny bird with a yellow head and grey body. It lives mainly among thorny shrubs in deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico.

• White-cheeked Spider Monkey Ateles marginatus

  This spider monkey has a white forehead triangle and pale lines on its face against black fur, and uses calls to stay in contact with its group.

• Crested Treeswift Hemiprocne coronata

  This swift is marked by a forehead crest and long wing tips that cross over its back when it perches.

• Slender Tree Shrew Tupaia gracilis

  The slender treeshrew has a slim body and long tail. In Bornean forest it forages alone on the ground and in low undergrowth, feeding on insects.

• Ornate Pitta Pitta concinna

  The Ornate Pitta occurs on Indonesia’s Lesser Sundas. It is more frequent at forest edges and in selectively logged forest, with striking blue-green and reddish-buff plumage.

• Six-banded armadillo Euphractus sexcinctus

  An armadillo of South American savannas that digs its own burrows with strong claws.

• Southern ground hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri

  A large black hornbill that walks over the ground searching for small animals.

• Harp seal Pagophilus groenlandicus

  A seal of cold North Atlantic and Arctic waters. It gathers on pack ice during breeding and molting seasons.

• Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi

  Richard's Pipit is a pipit recognized by its long hind claw. Hong Kong observations often record it in grassland.

• Eastern gorilla Gorilla beringei

  A large ape with black fur that travels through forests in groups.

• Blue-footed booby Sula nebouxii

  A booby with striking blue feet that dives into the sea to catch fish.

• Boodie Bettongia lesueur

  The boodie is a burrowing member of the kangaroo family that searches for plants and underground fungi.

• Western Whipbird Psophodes nigrogularis

  This bird searches for insects on the ground and in low vegetation. This entry describes the lashmari subspecies on Kangaroo Island.

• Schreibers's Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus schreibersii

  Recent DNA studies split the former broad complex. Miniopterus schreibersii is now treated as a species of Europe, North Africa, and part of the Near East; former sub-Saharan African, East Asian, and Australian populations are separate species.

• Brown Mesite Mesitornis unicolor

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

• Arctic Shrew Sorex arcticus

  The Arctic shrew lives in moist grasslands and wetlands. Its winter coat has three distinct color zones.

• Ash-throated Gnateater Conopophaga peruviana

  The Ash-throated Gnateater feeds on small arthropods in humid lowland forest. The described male has brown upperparts and white tufts behind the eyes.