Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Lesser Roadrunner Geococcyx velox

  

  This ground-dwelling cuckoo has a long tail and crest. It ranges from Mexico into Central America and eats grasshoppers and caterpillars in dry scrub and open country.

• Pygmy Rock Mouse Petromyscus collinus

  This small rodent lives in rocky dry country in Namibia and southwestern Angola. Adults have gray-brown fur, and rocky outcrops provide places to shelter.

• Spot-flanked Barbet Tricholaema lacrymosa

  This African barbet is marked by a yellow eye and spotted flanks. In damp highland woodland of eastern Africa, it feeds on figs, berries, and insects.

• Western Pocket Gopher Thomomys mazama

  This pocket gopher occurs in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It spends much of its life in burrow systems and is recorded in prairies, meadows, orchards, and abandoned farms.

• Rufous-winged Cisticola Cisticola galactotes

  The Rufous-winged Cisticola is a small cisticola of grassland and wetland edges in southeastern Africa. Its rufous back feathers help identify it.

• Namib Round-eared Sengi Macroscelides flavicaudatus

  This sengi lives in the arid Namib and Pro-Namib of Namibia.

• Black Pitohui Melanorectes nigrescens

  This whistler relative inhabits mid-mountain forest on mainland New Guinea. Males are black, females olive-brown to rufous, and the birds forage for arthropods.

• Panamanian Night Monkey Aotus zonalis

  This nocturnal monkey has a coat mixed with brown, cream, and black. It lives among the trees of forests in Panama and northwestern Colombia.

• Von Schrenck's Bittern Botaurus eurhythmus

  Von Schrenck’s Bittern is a small heron of reed beds, broad marshes, and rice fields. Males and females have different plumage.

• Amur Hedgehog Erinaceus amurensis

  The Amur hedgehog has spines along its back and sides and lives around forests, fields and orchards in East Asia.

• 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.

• Large Asian Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros lekaguli

  This bat has a large noseleaf. In 2019, six were caught and released after measurements near a cave on Negros Island, Philippines.

• Madagascar Flufftail Sarothrura insularis

  This rail hides in dense vegetation around wet grassland and woodland edges in Madagascar. The male has a rufous head and breast and pale streaks on the dark back.

• 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.

• Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacea

  This waterbird walks on floating plants with its long legs and exceptionally long toes. Its red forehead comb and black, white, and olive-brown pattern are also distinctive.

• African Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus africanus

  The African brush-tailed porcupine is a nocturnal rodent of West and Central African forests. It uses burrows during the day.

• Rufous Sibia Heterophasia capistrata

  The Rufous Sibia is a rufous-colored bird of Himalayan forests. It forages mainly in the canopy and may move to different elevations with the seasons.

• Brazilian Bristle-spined Porcupine Chaetomys subspinosus

  This porcupine climbs trees in Brazilian forests. Most of its body has bristly hair, with stiffer spines around the head and forelegs.

• Black-faced Woodswallow Artamus cinereus

  The Black-faced Woodswallow occurs in Australian grasslands and open woodland. Its black face and grey body stand out, and it catches insects while flying.

• Western Spotted Skunk Spilogale gracilis

  This black-and-white skunk is active at night in Washington and uses cover such as thickets and fallen wood.

• 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.

• 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.

• Taiwan Thrush Turdus niveiceps

  This thrush is endemic to Taiwan. It breeds in montane forest at about 1,000–2,500 m and may descend to foothills and lowlands in winter.

• Northern Naked-tailed Armadillo Cabassous centralis

  The northern naked-tailed armadillo has bands of armor on its back but no protective plates on its tail. It digs with large claws and feeds mainly on insects.