Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,584 · Stories: 19,526

• Goliath Heron Ardea goliath

  

  A large heron that waits for fish in shallow water. Its grey body contrasts with its chestnut head, neck, and belly.

• Bare-rumped Sheath-tailed Bat Saccolaimus saccolaimus

  

  The Bare-rumped Sheath-tailed Bat ranges from South and Southeast Asia through Australia to islands of the western Pacific. It is an insect-eating bat active at night that roosts in tree hollows and rock crevices.

• Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus

  

  The Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture is a vulture of the Americas recorded in wetlands along Guatemala's Pacific coast. It feeds mainly on carrion, but may also take live fish, reptiles, and insects.

• Day's Shrew Suncus dayi

  

  Day’s shrew is a small shrew from humid montane forests in southern India. Its back is dark brown and its underside has a silvery sheen.

• White-capped Dipper Cinclus leucocephalus

  

  This bird lives along mountain streams in the Andes. Its pale head and throat contrast with a dark back and belly, and it feeds on small animals near water.

• Rock Ring-tailed Possum Petropseudes dahli

  

  This marsupial lives among rocky outcrops in northern Australia. It shelters in sandstone crevices by day and goes to nearby trees to feed at night.

• Red-backed Mousebird Colius castanotus

  The Red-backed Mousebird lives in western Angola, including forest edges, and feeds on fruits, buds, and leaves. A brown-red patch on its lower back is distinctive.

• Ground Cuscus Phalanger gymnotis

  This cuscus has a dark stripe down its back and a tail suited for gripping branches. It searches for fruit at night and can climb.

• Broad-billed Tody Todus subulatus

  The Broad-billed Tody is a small bird found only on Hispaniola. It hunts insects and also occurs in lowland woodland, thorn scrub, and coffee and cacao farms.

• Northern Short-tailed Gymnure Hylomys peguensis

  This small gymnure ranges across hills and mountains of Indochina. Records include forest-floor cover and sites beneath fallen logs.

• Tawny Grassbird Megalurus timoriensis

  The Tawny Grassbird hides among grasses and shrubs. This entry presents behaviour recorded by a local field guide on Cebu in the Philippines.

• 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.

• White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea

  The White-throated Treecreeper forages along tree trunks in the moist forests of southeastern Australia.

• Gray Four-eyed Opossum Philander opossum

  At Paracou in French Guiana, most adult and subadult specimens had a grizzled-gray back contrasting with a blackish head. The 2001 field report records animals at night, on the ground and in trees.

• Moustached Treeswift Hemiprocne mystacea

  Males are grey with long white eyebrow and moustache-like stripes, chestnut ear patches, and white underparts. They launch from high perches to catch flying insects.

• Red-handed tamarin Saguinus midas

  A small forest monkey of northern South America with brightly coloured hands and feet.

• Sagebrush Sparrow Artemisiospiza nevadensis

  This sparrow breeds in open sage-dominated shrubsteppe in western North America. During migration and winter it also uses dry scrub with creosote or saltbush.

• Rufous Elephant Shrew Galegeeska rufescens

  This sengi has a long snout and large ears. It is mainly active by day and eats ants and termites.

• Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps

  The Great Indian Bustard is a large bird that walks through grassland while foraging. Its pale neck and black crown stand out, and breeding males display to females in grassland.

• Oriental Basin Pocket Gopher Cratogeomys fulvescens

  This pocket gopher is recorded in central Mexico. Surveys found it in second-growth vegetation or scrub depending on the site, and reported a preference for flat, sandy ground with few rocks.

• Satin Berrypecker Melanocharis citreola

  A berrypecker described from western New Guinea. At the Kumawa Mountains locality in West Papua, adult males have glossy blue-black upperparts and satin-white underparts washed with lemon yellow.

• Asian Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus

  The Asian brush-tailed porcupine has a slender body with relatively short quills and a tuft of bristles at the end of its tail. It forages at night and rests with family members in holes during the day.

• Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus

  A pipit whose adult breeding plumage has a rusty-red throat and breast. It breeds on northern tundra and moves south seasonally.

• Pale Kangaroo Mouse Microdipodops pallidus

  The pale kangaroo mouse is a small rodent with pale fur and long hind legs. It hops on its hind feet at night and carries seeds to its burrow.