Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Big-eared Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus macrotis

  

  The big-eared horseshoe bat is a small horseshoe bat with relatively large ears. In a summer study in southwestern China, most detected insect food belonged to Lepidoptera, the group that includes moths and butterflies.

• Mentawai Scops Owl Otus mentawi

  This island owl lives in lowland forest on the Mentawai Islands. It has reddish-chestnut and dark brown plumage morphs, with pale eyebrows and ear-tufts.

• Alaska Hare Lepus othus

  This hare lives in western Alaska's tundra and changes coat color with the seasons.

• Red-faced Crombec Sylvietta whytii

  The Red-faced Crombec is a small bird with a very short tail. In Zimbabwean miombo woodland, it moves quickly among branches and leaves while searching for insects.

• Arctic Shrew Sorex arcticus

  The Arctic shrew lives in moist grasslands and wetlands. Its winter coat has three distinct color zones.

• Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus

  The Hooded Vulture is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. It feeds mainly on animal carcasses and also occurs near human settlements.

• Striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius

  A small mouse marked by a dark stripe down its back. It lives in places ranging from grassy fields and farms to woodland.

• Crested Tit-warbler Leptopoecile elegans

  This bird is about 10 cm long. By day in the Himalayas, it searches for small invertebrates among conifers, dwarf juniper scrub, and birches at high elevations.

• Gorgona spiny rat Proechimys semispinosus

  The Gorgona spiny rat has stiff fur and fine spines, with a chestnut to gray-brown back. It forages at night, eating fruit and other foods, and ranges from Central America to northwestern South America.

• Lesser Green Leafbird Chloropsis cyanopogon

  The Lesser Green Leafbird blends with foliage, while the male has a black face and blue throat. It searches for food in the canopy of Southeast Asian lowland forest.

• Hector's dolphin Cephalorhynchus hectori

  A small coastal dolphin found around New Zealand, with a rounded dorsal fin.

• Azure-breasted Pitta Pitta steerii

  This pitta is conspicuous for its bright blue breast and red lower belly. It lives in lowland forest on a limited group of Philippine islands.

• 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.

• Yellow-rumped Honeyguide Indicator xanthonotus

  The Yellow-rumped Honeyguide occurs in Asia, mainly along the Himalayan foothills. Its orange forehead and rump stand out, and it feeds on beeswax and insects.

• Cape Fox Vulpes chama

  A small fox of southern Africa and the smallest member of the dog family.

• Swahili Sparrow Passer suahelicus

  Adults are grayish brown, with a chestnut-red shoulder and a small white wing-bar. In grassland with some trees and light woodland, they feed mainly on seeds.

• Perote Deermouse Peromyscus bullatus

  The Perote deermouse has tawny upperparts, a pale underside, and a tail longer than its head and body. It is recorded in a highland basin of central Mexico.

• Plumbeous Vireo Vireo plumbeus

  This vireo lives in forests and mountains of the western United States and Mexico. It is dull gray above, white below, and forages in pine forests.

• North-eastern Woolly Mouse Opossum Marmosa (Micoureus) demerarae

  The North-eastern Woolly Mouse Opossum is a small marsupial with long, soft fur and dark rings around the eyes. Its tail is longer than the body and furred only near the base.

• Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami

  The Australian Brush-turkey is a large bird with dark plumage, a bare red head, and a yellow wattle. It rakes leaf litter for food, and males use mounds of vegetation to warm the eggs.

• Gaumer's Spiny Pocket Mouse Heteromys gaumeri

  Gaumer's spiny pocket mouse is endemic to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Records show it eating land snails as well as seeds.

• African Jacana Actophilornis africanus

  The African Jacana walks on floating plants with its long toes and forages in wetlands. During breeding, the male incubates the eggs and cares for the chicks.

• Striped polecat Ictonyx striatus

  A carnivore of Africa with striking white stripes on a black body. It is active alone at night and eats small animals and insects.

• Andean Snipe Gallinago jamesoni

  The Andean Snipe inhabits wet grassland and waterside habitats high in the Andes. Pale stripes on its back and dark bars underneath help identify it.