Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Hill's Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hilli

  

  This horseshoe bat is known from a very small area in Nyungwe National Park, southwestern Rwanda. The species treatment lists two localities.

• Beautiful Sibia Heterophasia pulchella

  A laughingthrush relative of the eastern Himalayas. Its blue-grey head and back, black face, and broad dark tail band help identify it.

• Japanese hare Lepus brachyurus

  A hare endemic to Japan, including Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. It uses forest edges and other areas with grasses and shrubs.

• Variable Oystercatcher Haematopus unicolor

  The Variable Oystercatcher is a coastal bird endemic to New Zealand. Its plumage ranges from all black to pied, but these forms are variation within one species.

• Trowbridge's Shrew Sorex trowbridgii

  Trowbridge’s shrew tunnels through the forest litter. Its sooty back, paler underside, and long two-toned tail help distinguish it.

• California Gnatcatcher Polioptila californica

  This small gray bird often moves its long, narrow black tail. It lives in scrubby dry habitats from southern California to Baja California, Mexico.

• Korean Field Mouse Apodemus peninsulae

  This mouse has a reddish-brown back and white underside. It lacks the dark stripe seen in a close relative and has relatively long ears and hind feet.

• Shaft-tailed Whydah Vidua regia

  The breeding male is striking for its long black tail and buff-orange body. After breeding, the birds join other seedeaters and reproduce by laying eggs in a host's nest.

• Southern Giant Pouched Rat Cricetomys ansorgei

  The Southern Giant Pouched Rat is a large rodent that carries food in its cheek pouches. It often lives alone in a burrow and may store food there.

• Great frigatebird Fregata minor

  A tropical seabird with long wings and a deeply forked tail.

• Prehensile-tailed Hutia Mysateles prehensilis

  This large rodent lives in Cuba and is an accomplished climber. Its tail can curl around branches to help it grip.

• Junin Grebe Podiceps taczanowskii

  The Junin Grebe is a flightless grebe found only at Lake Junín in central Peru. It changes the parts of the lake it uses between the breeding season and the rest of the year.

• Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Stenella frontalis

  This dolphin lives in warm Atlantic waters. Its spots develop with age and become darker and more widespread, while groups usually number fewer than 50 but sometimes reach about 200.

• Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo Chalcites basalis

  Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo is a small cuckoo with a bronze-green sheen and a white eyebrow. It eats insects and lays its egg in another bird's nest.

• Banggai Cuscus Phalanger pelengensis

  The Banggai cuscus is a marsupial of the Banggai Islands, with an orange-brown back and a yellowish belly. Its behavior is described here at the genus level where the source groups two species together.

• Blyth's Reed Warbler Acrocephalus dumetorum

  Blyth's Reed Warbler is a small reed warbler that lives among grasses and shrubs. It breeds across northern Eurasia and migrates to South Asia for winter.

• Southern California Pocket Gopher Megascapheus nigricans

  This pocket gopher ranges from southern California across the Baja California Peninsula, where four subspecies are recognized in a 2025 review. The male type specimen collected at Witch Creek, San Diego County, in 1893 was described with a dark brown back and tawny sides and chest.

• Rufous-tailed Antthrush Chamaeza ruficauda

  This antthrush walks along the forest floor. It has a long rufous-brown tail and is recorded in highland forest and scrub of southeastern Brazil.

• Brown Mouse Lemur Microcebus rufus

  The brown mouse lemur is a small mouse lemur found in rainforest and swamp habitats in southeastern Madagascar.

• Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum

  The Mistletoebird is widespread across Australia. Males have striking black, red, and white markings, and the birds use high tree canopies where mistletoe grows.

• Petter's Sportive Lemur Lepilemur petteri

  Petter’s sportive lemur lives in the spiny forests of southwestern Madagascar. Its grayish body, pale rings around the eyes, and whitish underside are described in the original species account.

• Golden-cheeked Warbler Setophaga chrysoparia

  The Golden-cheeked Warbler is a small bird whose adult male has golden cheeks against black plumage. Its breeding grounds are juniper-oak woodlands in central Texas.

• Spix's Night Monkey Aotus vociferans

  Spix's night monkey is active at night. A feeding study in Peruvian river basins found fruit to be its main recorded food, with flowers and nectar also used.

• Buff-bellied Hummingbird Amazilia yucatanensis

  The Buff-bellied Hummingbird is notable for its red bill and throat that can look blue-green in the right light. It feeds in South Texas, and some birds move to Louisiana for winter.