Meet the world’s animals.

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• House sparrow Passer domesticus

  

  A small bird of towns and farms. Males and females differ in facial and chest markings; males have a black throat bib.

• 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.

• 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.

• Gray whale Eschrichtius robustus

  A mottled gray whale of the North Pacific, with a low hump in place of a dorsal fin.

• 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.

• Common frog Rana temporaria

  A long-legged frog of damp woods and meadows that lays its eggs in water.

• 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.

• 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.

• Choirboys Pycnoclavella narcissus

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

• Nine-banded Armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus

  An armadillo active around dusk and at night that searches leaf litter for insects. It also occurs in parts of the United States east and north of Texas.

• Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena

  Males have a blue head and back with an orange-red breast, while females are subdued brown. It breeds in western North America and winters in Mexico.

• 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.

• Common Crane Grus grus

  A large crane that breeds from Europe across northern Asia and winters in southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia and other regions.

• 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.

• Lesser Dog-like Bat Peropteryx (Peropteryx) macrotis

  The lesser dog-like bat is a small bat with long ears and a pouch-like structure on the wing. It flies at night and eats small beetles, flies, and other insects.

• Brown rat Rattus norvegicus

  A rat widely found around human settlements, using sewers, warehouses, fields and other places with water and food.

• Broad-headed Skink Plestiodon laticeps

  This lizard sometimes moves and basks around alligator nests.

• 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 coot Fulica atra

  A swimming waterbird of lakes and ponds with a conspicuous white forehead.

• Venus flytrap sea anemone Actinoscyphia aurelia

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

• European Tree Frog Hyla arborea

  In a survey in western Zealand Flanders, the maximum number of males calling in one night helped estimate the seasonal male population in pools.

• Colombian Red Howler Alouatta seniculus

  The Colombian red howler lives in forests of northern and western South America. Its reddish coat and grasping tail stand out; it eats leaves and its group's calls carry far.

• Sunbittern Eurypyga helias

  The Sunbittern is reported in watery habitats in Guatemala and northern Brazil. When frightened, it spreads its wings and tail to reveal hidden orange and chestnut patches.

• Troglohyphantes pedemontanus

  A small spider of caves in north-western Italy, known from three caves in Piemonte.