Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Pygmy Ring-tailed Possum Pseudochirulus mayeri

  

  The pygmy ringtail lives in trees in the forests of New Guinea's central highlands. It is active at night and builds nests of leaves and moss in tree forks.

• Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume

  The Japanese Murrelet breeds on islands of Japan. Adults have a prominent crest during the breeding season.

• Spotted seal Phoca largha

  A spotted seal of the North Pacific and southern Arctic. It lives around seasonal sea ice.

• Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark Eremopterix griseus

  The male has a gray crown, a white patch on the nape, and a dark face and underside. The female is paler brown. This small lark searches for food on dry open ground.

• Sierra Madre Ground Squirrel Callospermophilus madrensis

  The Sierra Madre Ground Squirrel has a pale coat with subdued dark stripes. It lives in high-elevation pine forest in northwestern Mexico, is active by day, and hibernates in winter.

• Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla

  A tiny bird with a brown cap, blue-gray back, and whitish underparts. It lives year-round in mature pine forests of the southeastern United States.

• Large-eared Pika Ochotona (Conothoa) macrotis

  The large-eared pika lives among rocky high mountains in Central Asia. Its large ears and thick fur stand out, and it is active during the day.

• Variegated Fairywren Malurus lamberti

  This small bird is widespread across mainland Australia. Breeding males have blue heads and chestnut shoulders, while non-breeding males, females, and young birds are generally brownish gray.

• Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Stenella frontalis

  This dolphin lives in warm Atlantic waters. Its spots develop with age and become darker and more widespread, while groups usually number fewer than 50 but sometimes reach about 200.

• Broad-billed Motmot Electron platyrhynchum

  This forest bird ranges from Central America into northwestern South America and catches insects and small animals.

• Greater Bamboo Lemur Prolemur simus

  A bamboo-eating lemur, it moves among branches with long hind legs and tail and can be active both by day and at night.

• Western Black-headed Batis Batis erlangeri

  This entry follows the 2005 treatment of Batis erlangeri as a separate species. Males have a dark crown and back; females have a maroon breast-band.

• Buffy-tufted Marmoset Callithrix aurita

  It has a black body, short tufts extending from the ears, and a white to light tan face. It occurs in montane rain forests of southeastern Brazil.

• White-browed Woodswallow Artamus superciliosus

  The White-browed Woodswallow is an Australian bird with a striking white eyebrow. It moves in large flocks between seasonal ranges and catches insects in flight.

• Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse Heteromys australis

  This pocket mouse ranges from eastern Panama through Colombia and western Venezuela to extreme northwestern Ecuador. It has dark-gray dorsal fur and lives in very wet evergreen forests.

• Slaty Bunting Emberiza siemsseni

  The Slaty Bunting breeds in central China and moves southeast for winter. Males and females have different plumage.

• Mexican Big-eared Bat Corynorhinus mexicanus

  The Mexican big-eared bat is a nocturnal bat with long ears. It occurs in Mexico’s highlands and eats insects, although detailed diet studies remain limited.

• Asian Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis

  The Asian Green Bee-eater is a green bee-eater with a slender bill. The details here are limited to the account of the nominate subspecies in India.

• 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.

• Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius pomarinus

  A large, heavy-bodied seabird with broad wings. Breeding adults have long, twisted, spoon-shaped central tail feathers.

• Russet Oryzomys Euryoryzomys russatus

  This rice rat lives in forests of eastern South America. It builds an egg-shaped nest from leaves and grass under or inside fallen logs and among palm roots.

• Spotted Quail-thrush Cinclosoma punctatum

  The Spotted Quail-thrush blends into the ground of dry, open woodland. Males have a black face and throat with a white eyebrow, and birds are usually seen alone or in pairs.

• Bat-eared fox Otocyon megalotis

  A canid of African grasslands with enormous ears, a yellow-brown body, a dark face mask and black feet.

• Sunda Frogmouth Batrachostomus cornutus

  It is active at night. On Bangka Island, parents take turns warming the chick and bring it insects.