Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Laxmann's shrew Sorex caecutiens

  

  Laxmann's shrew (Sorex caecutiens) occurs from Europe to East Asia.

• Pale Rockfinch Carpospiza brachydactyla

  

  A pale sand-colored sparrow-like bird of sparsely vegetated hills and rocky valleys; it also eats insects during breeding.

• Peters's Gazelle Nanger petersii

  

  This gazelle occurs along the coast of Kenya through northeastern Somalia. Its horns are relatively short and straight. A specialist catalogue describes a coastal-plain habitat and tolerance of drier conditions.

• Blue-billed Curassow Crax alberti

  

  The Blue-billed Curassow is a large forest bird of Colombia. It feeds mainly on the ground, and its remaining wild habitat is limited to a few small forest remnants.

• Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat Sturnira hondurensis

  

  This bat is recorded from Mexico to northern Nicaragua. Its fur is dark gray to dark brown, with a paler underside. Many individuals, especially adult males, have reddish or yellow shoulder patches. It mainly eats fruit.

• Rosy Minivet Pericrocotus roseus

  

  A minivet with rosy patches. Chinese populations migrate, while some birds in other populations also move seasonally.

• Dong Bac Trident Bat Aselliscus dongbacanus

  This bat is known from limestone karst in northeastern Vietnam. The original description named it Aselliscus dongbacana; this entry uses the current Mammal Diversity Database spelling, Aselliscus dongbacanus.

• Javan Pond Heron Ardeola speciosa

  This heron changes its head and breast plumage between breeding and nonbreeding seasons. Its white wings stand out in flight, and it moves within Southeast Asia.

• Indian Brown Mongoose Urva fusca

  The Indian brown mongoose is a dark-brown mongoose found in the Western Ghats and parts of Sri Lanka.

• Black-headed Penduline Tit Remiz macronyx

  The Black-headed Penduline Tit is a Central Asian migrant.

• Persian Jird Meriones (Parameriones) persicus

  The Persian jird lives in dry parts of western Asia, using rocky hills and grasslands. A tuft of fur marks the tip of its tail.

• Fiji Woodswallow Artamus mentalis

  The Fiji Woodswallow lives on islands in Fiji. An older paper recorded it as the subspecies A. leucorhynchus mentalis and described aerial insect hunting and cooperative care of young.

• Southern Grasshopper Mouse Onychomys torridus

  Its back ranges from gray to cinnamon, while the underside and tail tip are pale. At night it uses burrows in dry grassland and scrub and hunts insects and scorpions.

• Lesser Jacana Microparra capensis

  The Lesser Jacana is a small jacana of shallow freshwater wetlands with grasses and sedges. It may move as water levels change.

• King Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus rex

  The king horseshoe bat is recorded from southern China. It has very large ears and darker fur above than below.

• Geomalia Zoothera heinrichi

  Geomalia is restricted to Sulawesi, Indonesia. The account identifies it as Zoothera heinrichi and notes that it was formerly placed in its own genus, Geomalia.

• King Colobus Colobus polykomos

  The king colobus is a West African forest monkey with a black body and conspicuous white chest, whiskers, and tail.

• Village Indigobird Vidua chalybeata

  This small bird ranges widely across Africa. Breeding males vary in plumage and bill color among regional forms, and they mimic the songs of their firefinch hosts.

• Andean Saddle-back Tamarin Leontocebus leucogenys

  This saddle-back tamarin occurs in forests east of the Andes in Peru. Records include primary and secondary forest, forest edge, and riparian forest.

• Maguari Stork Ciconia maguari

  The Maguari Stork lives in South American wetlands. It has contrasting black-and-white plumage and searches for prey while walking through shallow water.

• Black Jackrabbit Lepus insularis

  The Black Jackrabbit is native to Espiritu Santo Island, Mexico. It is recorded in dry valleys and lower slopes with shrubs and cacti, and its glossy black back is especially distinctive.

• Fan-tailed Berrypecker Melanocharis versteri

  This bird lives in New Guinea’s mountains. Males have white pectoral tufts, females are olive-colored, and the species eats small berries and arthropods.

• African Sheath-tailed Bat Coleura afra

  A 2014 first-country record found about 5,000 bats in a cave in lowland rainforest southeast of Edea, Cameroon. Two captured females had deep sepia-brown backs and paler undersides.

• Coraya Wren Pheugopedius coraya

  This wren occurs in northern South America. It has a rufous-brown body with black-and-white markings on the head and tail, and searches for food in riverside forest undergrowth.