Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,028 · Stories: 19,472

• Spectacled bear Tremarctos ornatus

  

  An Andean bear known for pale markings on the face.

• Elkhorn coral Acropora palmata

  

  These branching structures belong to an animal, not a plant. Elkhorn coral grows in shallow Caribbean waters; thickets shelter fish and other creatures.

• Choirboys Pycnoclavella narcissus

  

  A colonial sea squirt described from Algoa Bay, South Africa, with swollen tips on branching stalks.

• Eurasian wren Troglodytes troglodytes

  

  A tiny brown bird with a loud, extended song. In Japan it breeds in habitats such as woodland beside mountain streams.

• Western Japanese skink Plestiodon japonicus

  

  A smooth-scaled lizard of woodland edges and stone walls that basks during the day.

• Manuel's Cellar Spider Pholcus manueli

  

  Recorded widely in Asia and the United States, females of this spider have slightly more closely spaced eye groups than males.

• Northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus

  A whale of the deep North Atlantic, recognized by its rounded forehead and projecting, bottle-shaped beak.

• Common Cuttlefish Sepia officinalis

  The common cuttlefish has a broad oval body with fins along its sides. It lives in shallow seas and offshore waters, with records from the North Sea region to southeastern Africa.

• Laotian Rock Rat Laonastes aenigmamus

  The Laotian rock rat has long whiskers and a densely furred tail, and lives in limestone forests. In a study in central Vietnam, it hid in rock crevices by day and foraged on the forest floor at night.

• White wagtail Motacilla alba

  A bird that walks in search of insects along watersides and farmland in Japan. Birds commonly seen there have white faces with a dark line through the eye.

• Roman Snail Helix pomatia

  Helix pomatia has a large rounded shell, cream-colored with faint brown bands. Its native range is in central and southeastern Europe, and it lives in woods, hedgerows, and tall vegetation.

• Least Seedsnipe Thinocorus rumicivorus

  The Least Seedsnipe is a small ground-dwelling bird of South American grasslands and steppes. It feeds on shoots, leaves, and seeds in pairs or small groups.

• Greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis

  The greater one-horned rhinoceros lives along rivers in northern India and southern Nepal.

• Plotocnide borealis

  This animal has a swimming medusa and a minute mud-dwelling polyp. DNA research connected forms that had been treated as separate species.

• Common earthworm Lumbricus terrestris

  An earthworm that makes deep burrows, feeding on leaf litter at the surface and sometimes pulling it underground. It connects life above and below the soil.

• Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus

  Often hidden high in trees, this bird has an adult male with a bright yellow body and black wings.

• African Clawed Frog Xenopus laevis

  In captive trials, tadpole growth and development changed in water treated with pesticides.

• Tri-spine horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus

  A coastal animal of East and Southeast Asia with a hard shell and long tail. It lays eggs on sandy shores, and young animals grow on tidal flats.

• Nutria Myocastor coypus

  A large, rat-like animal from South America that lives by water. It was brought to Japan for fur and has established in several prefectures.

• Venus flytrap sea anemone Actinoscyphia aurelia

  A deep-sea anemone observed on sandy and muddy seafloors during a Gulf of Alaska survey.

• Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta

  A genome study reported about 2.13 billion base pairs in the loggerhead sea turtle assembly.

• Common cuckoo Cuculus canorus

  A bird arriving in Japan in late spring, when males give the familiar cuckoo call.

• Zora silvestris

  A small spider with dark bands on the front part of its body, recorded from Europe, the Caucasus and Turkmenistan.

• Eurasian Water Shrew Neomys fodiens

  A shrew that lives beside fresh water and dives to search for prey.