Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus

  

  A whale with a large head and a white chin, living in icy northern seas.

• Rufous Bristlebird Dasyornis broadbenti

  This ground-dwelling bird has a rufous head and a pale, scalloped breast. It occurs in coastal scrub and heath from South Australia to Victoria.

• Spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta

  A carnivore of sub-Saharan Africa, with dark spots on a pale coat, rounded ears and a back that slopes down toward the rump.

• Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus

  A long-necked waterbird known for its showy breeding feathers.

• Yellow-winged Tanager Thraupis abbas

  This 17 cm tanager is included in a field guide to the Pacific of Guatemala. It has a yellow wing band, eats fruit and insects, and forages in pairs.

• Cape Dune Blesmol Bathyergus suillus

  The Cape dune blesmol is a stocky rodent that digs tunnels below sandy ground with its strong forefeet. It lives alone along the southwest coast of South Africa.

• West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus

  A large aquatic mammal that eats plants, with a rounded body and broad tail.

• Whiskered Treeswift Hemiprocne comata

  The Whiskered Treeswift is a forest-dwelling treeswift with long, whisker-like white feathers and a long tail. Males and females differ in ear-patch color.

• Malayan porcupine Hystrix (Acanthion) brachyura

  The Malayan porcupine is a nocturnal rodent with long spines on its back. It occurs in forests of mainland Southeast Asia, Sumatra and Borneo.

• European robin Erithacus rubecula

  A small bird seen in British gardens and parks. Adults have reddish breasts, and males and females look alike.

• Lesser Melampitta Melampitta lugubris

  The Lesser Melampitta lives in New Guinea's montane forests. This account separates an early description of an adult male from one survey record in eastern Papua New Guinea.

• Greater Cane Rat Thryonomys swinderianus

  The greater cane rat is a stocky African rodent with a rounded nose and short ears. It lives near marshes and riverbanks, feeding mainly on grasses and cane.

• Long-tailed macaque Macaca fascicularis

  A long-tailed monkey that lives in forests and mangroves around Singapore and nearby parts of Southeast Asia.

• Mountain Wheatear Oenanthe monticola

  This bird occurs in the rocky uplands and open grasslands of southern Africa. Some current accounts use the genus combination Myrmecocichla.

• Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine Coendou mexicanus

  This porcupine ranges from southeastern Mexico through Central America to western Panama. Long quills hide beneath coarse black hairs, and its long tail can grip branches.

• Eurasian Jackdaw Coloeus monedula

  A small crow with a pale grey nape and light eyes, seen year-round around towns and farmland in the UK.

• Vogelkop Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles affinis

  It lives in lower montane forest on the Bird’s Head Peninsula of western New Guinea, with brownish plumage and a pale collar.

• African Palm Civet Nandinia binotata

  The African palm civet is a nocturnal forest-dwelling mammal of Africa. It eats fruit often, but also takes small animals, making it an omnivore.

• Northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus

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

• Yellow Rail Coturnicops noveboracensis

  The Yellow Rail is a small rail that hides among wetland grasses. It probes the ground and vegetation for small animals and seeds; males give faint clicking calls on spring nights.

• Molina's Hog-nosed Skunk Conepatus chinga

  A South American skunk with a black coat, white back stripes and a broad nose.

• Great tit Parus major

  A small bird with green and yellow body plumage and a glossy black head. In Britain it is familiar in gardens as well as woodland.

• Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus

  The flightless Kagu lives in the humid forests of New Caledonia's Grande Terre. During the day it searches leaf litter and soil for small live prey.

• Pacarana Dinomys branickii

  The pacarana is a large rodent of Andean rainforest slopes and valleys from Colombia to Bolivia, with conspicuous pale markings on its back and flanks.