Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,584 · Stories: 19,526

• Gray mouse lemur Microcebus murinus

  

  A small lemur of Madagascan forests. It forages at night and sleeps in sites such as tree holes by day.

• Crimson-fronted Barbet Psilopogon rubricapillus

  

  The Crimson-fronted Barbet is a small forest barbet in Sri Lanka. A male of the nominate subspecies has a red forehead and orange-golden throat, and visits fruiting trees.

• Maranhão Red-handed Howler Alouatta ululata

  

  The Maranhão red-handed howler lives in open, dry vegetation in northeastern Brazil. Museum specimens have been described as showing sex-related coat differences, but the original study called for further research to confirm them.

• Great Stone-curlew Esacus recurvirostris

  

  The Great Stone-curlew has a large bill that curves upward. It lives on open ground near water, such as sandbars and tidal flats.

• Pygmy Tree Shrew Tupaia minor

  

  The pygmy tree shrew is a small, squirrel-like animal with a long, pointed snout. It is active by day and spends much of its time in the forest canopy.

• Golden-headed Manakin Ceratopipra erythrocephala

  

  The Golden-headed Manakin is striking for the male's golden head and black body. Males perform courtship displays in the forest, and the birds eat fruit and small arthropods.

• Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina

  A seal of the seas around Antarctica that dives deep to find food.

• Black crowned crane Balearica pavonina

  A crane with a golden crown of stiff feathers. Adults have a dark body and red and white cheek patches.

• Crowned Shrew Sorex coronatus

  The crowned shrew is a medium-sized shrew with three areas of color on its back, sides, and underside. In northern Iberia, it searches for small invertebrates in forests and open places with moist soil.

• Long-toed Stint Calidris subminuta

  The Long-toed Stint is a small shorebird with long toes. It breeds in northern Asia and migrates south for winter, using shallow wetlands and similar habitats.

• Derby Eland Taurotragus derbianus

  A large antelope of western and central Africa's savannas and sparse woodlands. Its sandy-gray coat has pale vertical side stripes, and it feeds in grassland during cooler mornings and evenings. The current MDD name is Tragelaphus derbianus.

• Striated Thornbill Acanthiza lineata

  The Striated Thornbill is a medium-sized thornbill with greenish upperparts, an orange-brown crown, and a streaked pale underside. It searches branches for insects in southeastern Australian eucalypt woodland.

• Southern White-Breasted Hedgehog Erinaceus concolor

  The southern white-breasted hedgehog occurs in the Mediterranean region. Like other Erinaceus hedgehogs, it searches for food at night and protects itself with its spines.

• Black Butcherbird Melloria quoyi

  The Black Butcherbird has deep bluish-black plumage and a large silver-grey bill. It occurs in rainforests, mangroves, and nearby open or settled areas.

• Arfak Ring-tailed Possum Pseudochirulus schlegeli

  The Arfak ring-tailed possum is a rare possum known from the Arfak Mountains in northwestern New Guinea. Its coat is orange-brown, without dorsal stripes or facial markings.

• Blue-winged Leafbird Chloropsis cochinchinensis

  In the Chinese subspecies C. c. kinneari, males have blue wings and a black throat, while females have a blue-green throat.

• Southern Pocket Gopher Megascapheus atrovarius

  A pocket gopher from Mexico's Pacific-side mountains. The Mammal Diversity Database places it in Megascapheus; a 2011 redescription reports dry thornscrub along the western Sierra Madre Occidental.

• Eastern buzzard Buteo japonicus

  A raptor with a brown back and paler brown underside, distributed from Siberia through Mongolia and China to Japan.

• 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.

• Vanuatu Megapode Megapodius layardi

  The Vanuatu Megapode has bare red skin on its face and yellow legs. It lays eggs in burrows and uses heat from volcanic soil or sun-warmed ground.

• Turuchan Pika Ochotona (Pika) turuchanensis

  The Turuchan Pika eats plants and gathers them into stores. Research describes its coat and feeding choices, while taxonomists continue to debate whether it should be treated as a separate species.

• Golden-spangled Piculet Picumnus exilis

  The Golden-spangled Piculet is a tiny woodpecker ranging across northern and eastern Brazil, eastern Venezuela and Colombia, and Guyana. It lives in forest and feeds on small invertebrates.

• Namib Round-eared Sengi Macroscelides flavicaudatus

  This sengi lives in the arid Namib and Pro-Namib of Namibia.

• Green-billed Toucan Ramphastos dicolorus

  This toucan has a green bill, eats mostly fruit, and also takes insects and small birds.