Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,676 · Stories: 19,540

• Minahasa Masked Owl Tyto inexspectata

  

  A forest owl endemic to Sulawesi. Accounts describe a dark-edged facial disc and dark bars across its cinnamon-colored plumage.

• Ladak Pika Ochotona (Conothoa) ladacensis

  The Ladak Pika is a large pika living in groups in open high-elevation habitats of Ladakh. A study in Changthang observed it gathering plants and storing them in haypiles.

• 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.

• Red-nosed Armored Tree-rat Makalata didelphoides

  A South American tree-dwelling rodent with a conspicuous red muzzle and spiny hairs on its back. It feeds in trees on plant material and fruit, and is recorded active from dusk into the night.

• White-faced Storm Petrel Pelagodroma marina

  The New Zealand breeding population of the White-faced Storm Petrel is marked by a white face and a bounding, pattering way of feeding at the sea surface.

• Chilean Myotis Myotis (Pizonyx) chiloensis

  The Chilean myotis is a small bat found in Chile and Argentina. It catches flying insects around dusk and uses forests, riparian scrub, caves, and buildings.

• Narrow-billed Tody Todus angustirostris

  This small tody has a clear white streak behind the eye, a gray breast, and pale irises. It lives in Hispaniola's mountain forests and catches flying insects.

• Desert Spotted Skunk Spilogale leucoparia

  This skunk has black and white back stripes of nearly equal width in the Texas account. Most Texas capture records are from rocky bluffs, cliffs, or brush-lined canyon streams.

• Violet-backed Starling Cinnyricinclus leucogaster

  The male has a shining violet back while the female has brown plumage; the birds eat fruit and insects in trees.

• Long-tailed Tuco-tuco Ctenomys fulvus

  This burrowing rodent lives in dry areas of northern Chile and adjoining Argentina. The Chilean assessment records different habitats for named subspecies, including desert and oasis settings.

• Andean Potoo Nyctibius maculosus

  Fine gray, brown, and black markings and yellow eyes stand out on this nocturnal bird of Andean cloud forest.

• Northern Pocket Gopher Thomomys talpoides

  A burrowing rodent widespread in western and midwestern North America. It lives in tunnels and uses grasslands, mountain meadows, and farmland.

• Arctic Loon Gavia arctica

  A waterbird that breeds on large lakes in northern Europe and Asia. Its breeding plumage is boldly patterned, and outside the breeding season it also uses sheltered coastal waters.

• Blanford's Jerboa Jaculus blanfordi

  Cream-colored fur above, a white underside and a black-and-white tail tuft distinguish this jerboa. It forages at night and excavates burrows in sandy ground across arid parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• Inland Dotterel Peltohyas australis

  This sandy, mottled plover blends into open plains. It forages in small flocks by day and alone or in pairs at night.

• South American coati Nasua nasua

  A coati of South American forests, with an elongated flexible snout and a long ringed tail.

• Blue-cheeked Jacamar Galbula cyanicollis

  The Blue-cheeked Jacamar has glossy green upperparts and chestnut underparts, with blue cheeks and crown. In humid lowland forest, it feeds on beetles, wasps, bees, and ants.

• Rufous Dog-faced Bat Molossops neglectus

  This bat has reddish dark-brown fur and feeds on flying insects. Its records are separated between northern and southeastern South America, and southern specimens have tended to be smaller than northern ones.

• Red-keeled Flowerpecker Dicaeum australe

  A Philippine flowerpecker that feeds on fruit and nectar.

• Eastern Forest Hedgehog Mesechinus orientalis

  This hedgehog was described from eastern China in 2023. Its short spines have bands of white, black, and pale color.

• Dupont's Lark Chersophilus duponti

  Dupont's Lark has a pale eyebrow and a short, white-edged tail. It feeds on seeds and insects on the ground in dry grassland.

• Common Yellow-toothed Cavy Galea musteloides

  The common yellow-toothed cavy, or cui, is a guinea pig-like rodent from South America. Its coat varies from light to dark brown, and its white underside has a sharp boundary along the flanks. It is most active at dawn and dusk and lives in mixed-sex groups.

• Fischer's Turaco Tauraco fischeri

  A turaco whose red feather pigment contains copper. It moves through forest and thicket using feet adapted for gripping branches, and often eats fruit.

• Giles's Planigale Planigale gilesi

  Giles's planigale is a small marsupial with a flattened triangular head. It shelters in cracks in clay soil and eats arthropods.