Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,584 · Stories: 19,526

• Four-toed Elephant Shrew Petrodromus tetradactylus

  

  This sengi has a long, flexible snout and four toes on each hind foot. It follows runways through dense brush.

• Brown Mesite Mesitornis unicolor

  

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

• Yellow-throated Marten Martes flavigula

  

  The yellow-throated marten lives in forests of southern and eastern Asia and stands out for its dark head and golden throat.

• Phainopepla Phainopepla nitens

  

  This bird lives in dry habitats and woodlands of the southwestern United States and nearby areas. Males are glossy black and females gray; it perches high and eats berries and flying insects.

• Emilio's Tuco-tuco Ctenomys emilianus

  

  Emilio's tuco-tuco is a subterranean rodent known from dune areas in Neuquén, Argentina. Its pale fawn back contrasts with whitish sides and belly.

• La Perouse's Megapode Megapodius laperouse

  

  La Perouse's Megapode is a megapode of the Mariana Islands that lives on the forest floor. Its grey head, red facial skin, and yellow legs are distinctive.

• Australian Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus nudicaudatus

  This cuscus occurs in Cape York, Australia. It spends time in the canopy and has been seen wrapping palm fronds around its body to hide its fur.

• Oriental Darter Anhinga melanogaster

  This waterbird swims with its long neck above the surface and spears fish underwater with its bill. After leaving the water, it perches on rocks or other supports and spreads its wings to dry.

• Campbell's hamster Phodopus campbelli

  A small hamster with a narrow dark stripe down its back that lives in dry steppes and deserts.

• White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis

  The White-cheeked Pintail is a duck with conspicuous white cheeks and orange at the base of its bill. It uses coastal lagoons and mangroves.

• Chinese Dormouse Chaetocauda sichuanensis

  The Chinese dormouse was described from subalpine forest in northern Sichuan. Its original description notes large eyes and a tail ending in a tuft of dense fur.

• Rufous-crowned Emu-wren Stipiturus ruficeps

  This small bird lives in stony spinifex habitat in the southern deserts of Australia’s Northern Territory. It has a blue face and wispy tail, and flits between tussocks.

• Leopard seal Hydrurga leptonyx

  A seal of the pack ice around Antarctica. Usually solitary, it eats fish, penguins, krill and other prey.

• Feline Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles insignis

  The Feline Owlet-nightjar lives in New Guinea’s montane evergreen rainforests and eats beetles and other insects. Its fluffy rufous-to-brown plumage has two white head stripes and white bars on the tail.

• Shepherd's Beaked Whale Tasmacetus shepherdi

  Shepherd's beaked whale is a beaked whale with functional teeth in both upper and lower jaws in both sexes. It lives in deep, cool offshore waters of the Southern Hemisphere, but is rarely seen at sea and much about its biology remains unknown.

• Sooty Thicket Fantail Rhipidura threnothorax

  This 16–18 cm fantail uses lowland forest undergrowth and wet grasslands. It is active by day and eats invertebrates.

• Giant Atlantic Tree-rat Phyllomys thomasi

  A spiny rat known only from São Sebastião Island off southeastern Brazil. Its back bears reddish-brown spines, and much of the island is Atlantic rainforest.

• American Black Oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani

  The American Black Oystercatcher has a black body, long red bill, and yellow eyes, and searches for shellfish in the intertidal zone.

• Sugar glider Petaurus breviceps

  A marsupial that glides between trees in eastern Australian forests.

• 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.

• Gursky's Spectral Tarsier Tarsius spectrumgurskyae

  This small nocturnal primate occurs on the northern peninsula of Sulawesi. It has a long black tail pencil and lives in forests, mangroves, and forest gardens. It is active at night and feeds on live prey, mainly insects.

• Goldcrest Regulus regulus

  A very small woodland bird with a yellow crown stripe.

• Black-headed Night Monkey Aotus nigriceps

  The black-headed night monkey is a small monkey of Amazonian forest, active mainly at night. Its large eyes and the black line running between them are distinctive.

• Red-shouldered Vanga Calicalicus rufocarpalis

  The Red-shouldered Vanga is a small bird of dry, thorny scrub in southwestern Madagascar. Its reddish shoulder feathers help distinguish the sexes.