Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Greater Blind Mole Rat Spalax microphthalmus

  

  This subterranean rodent has small eyes covered by a skin membrane and digs with its front teeth. It makes underground passages and food stores, and eats plant parts from below the ground.

• Crimson-rumped Waxbill Estrilda rhodopyga

  An East African waxbill of grassland and scrub. The male has a grey head and red rump; it feeds on grass seeds and insects.

• Southern River Otter Lontra provocax

  A South American otter found in southern Chile and parts of Argentina.

• 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.

• Golden-crowned Sifaka Propithecus tattersalli

  A sifaka with mostly white fur and a golden crown. It lives in limited forests in northeastern Madagascar and leaps between trees.

• Black Curassow Crax alector

  The Black Curassow is a large bird of northwestern South America that uses humid forest and riverine thickets. Pairs or small groups search for fruit on the ground and retreat into trees when alarmed.

• Simon's Spiny-rat Proechimys simonsi

  Simon’s spiny-rat is a large rodent with an elongated body, long face and ears, long hind feet, and a long tail. A Peruvian reserve study found only two individuals, both in undisturbed forest.

• Seychelles Owl Otus insularis

  This small owl uses the remaining and secondary forests of Mahé. Short ear tufts, a rufous-brown back, and a low raspy call help identify it.

• African Taphozous Taphozous (Taphozous) perforatus

  A tomb bat with specimen records from India and Pakistan. Sources describe its gray-brown coat and, in a genus account, large roosting groups.

• Madagascan Buttonquail Turnix nigricollis

  This small ground bird resembles a quail, and females are more colorful than males. The male incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks.

• Spix's Howler Alouatta discolor

  Spix's howler occurs south of the Amazon River in Brazil. In a studied small group, fruit made up much of the diet, and use of seasonally flooded forest changed with the season.

• Grey crowned crane Balearica regulorum

  An African crane with a golden crown of stiff feathers. Adults have a mainly grey body and prominent white cheeks.

• Indian hare Lepus nigricollis

  The Indian hare is a hare of grasslands, scrub and other open habitats in India and Sri Lanka.

• Spectacled Longbill Oedistoma iliolophus

  This small honeyeater is about 11 cm long. It is grayish olive, with a short tail and yellowish eye ring, in New Guinea forest and forest margins.

• Arfak Ring-tailed Possum Pseudochirulus schlegeli

  The Arfak ring-tailed possum is a rare possum known from the Arfak Mountains in northwestern New Guinea. Its coat is orange-brown, without dorsal stripes or facial markings.

• Helmeted Pygmy Tyrant Lophotriccus galeatus

  This small flycatcher has a black crest and yellowish olive upperparts. It forages in the understory of forests on nutrient-poor soils.

• Ross Seal Ommatophoca rossii

  The Ross seal breeds in dense Antarctic pack ice. Six seals tracked off Queen Maud Land moved into open water after their February moult and returned to the pack ice in October.

• Banded Barbet Lybius undatus

  The Banded Barbet has a red forehead and a black head and breast. It occurs in Eritrea and Ethiopia, feeds mainly on fruit—especially figs—and also catches flying insects.

• Peters's Squirrel Sciurus (Sciurus) oculatus

  This squirrel lives in Mexican forests. Its white ears and underside stand out against its mostly gray coat, with a black stripe running from the back toward the tail. It is most active around sunrise and before sunset.

• Australian Bustard Ardeotis australis

  The Australian Bustard is a large bird of dry plains, grassland, and open woodland. It eats both plant and animal foods.

• Sijin Pika Ochotona (Ochotona) sikimaria

  This small pika is recorded in the mountains of Sikkim. Its winter coat is brown, with mixed brown and grey underneath. Surveys in 2010–2014 sampled it in subalpine Rhododendron forest and farmland.

• Subantarctic Snipe Coenocorypha aucklandica

  The Subantarctic Snipe lives on islands south of mainland New Zealand. Its brown and blackish back feathers have buff edges, and it hides among dense vegetation during the day.

• Demidoff's Dwarf Galago Galagoides demidoff

  This small galago has a white stripe from between the eyes down the nose. It moves among branches at night and rests in a leaf nest by day.

• Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles orientalis

  This sandgrouse feeds on seeds in dry, open country. The black belly belongs to the male; females have fine barred and speckled plumage.