Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Crested Auklet Aethia cristatella

  

  The Crested Auklet breeds on rocky islands in the Bering Sea and dives underwater for crustaceans and other prey.

• Gray-tailed Hare Lepus oiostolus

  

  This hare lives in highlands such as the Tibetan Plateau, using grassland and scrub and feeding on grasses and leaves. Its coat varies with age and place.

• Tanimbar Corella Cacatua goffiniana

  

  Mostly white with yellow and orange in its plumage, this cockatoo is native to Indonesia’s Tanimbar Islands.

• Lesser Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros turpis

  

  This leaf-nosed bat occurs on islands of the Yaeyama group. Its noseleaf lacks a central projection, and females raise their young in a separate cave after birth.

• Green pheasant Phasianus versicolor

  

  A long-tailed bird of open woods, grassland and farmland in Japan. Males and females differ markedly in colour.

• Chilean Dolphin Cephalorhynchus eutropia

  

  The Chilean dolphin is a small dolphin found along Chile’s coast. Records are patchy, and it often uses sheltered shallow waters such as bays and fjords.

• Seychelles Black Parrot Coracopsis barklyi

  Despite its name, the Seychelles Black Parrot is pale brown-grey, not black. It lives on Praslin, where native palm fruits are a preferred food.

• Great Stripe-faced Bat Vampyrodes major

  This fruit-eating bat ranges from Central America into northwestern South America. Its back is dark brown, and long hairs fringe the rear edge of its tail membrane.

• Andaman Treepie Dendrocitta bayleii

  The Andaman Treepie is found only in the Andaman Islands. It has a large white wing patch and a long black tail, and is seen in small groups.

• Tufted capuchin Sapajus apella

  A monkey that spends much of its time in trees but also comes down to forage on the ground.

• Oaxaca Sparrow Aimophila notosticta

  A sparrow of interior Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Its black bill and black facial markings around a broken white eyering are distinctive.

• Northern Red Muntjac Muntiacus vaginalis

  Muntiacus vaginalis is a muntjac listed in Nepal's mammal Red List. The account describes it in dense forest and wooded hills, feeding on fruit, buds, and new grass shoots.

• Patagonian Mockingbird Mimus patagonicus

  About 23 cm long, this bird has grey-brown upperparts, a white eyebrow and throat, and an ochre belly. It uses shrub steppe and searches the ground for insects and worms.

• Arctic Shrew Sorex arcticus

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

• Elliot's Woodpecker Dendropicos elliotii

  This woodpecker occurs in forests of western and central Africa. Red on the rear crown is a male trait; females lack it.

• 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.

• Brown-backed Honeybird Prodotiscus regulus

  This small honeybird has a patchy range south of the Sahara. It searches leaves and branches for insects and lays its eggs in other birds' nests.

• Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat Dipodomys spectabilis

  This North American rodent moves in long bounds on its hind legs. It carries grass seeds in its cheek pouches and stores them underground.

• Barred Buttonquail Turnix suscitator

  The Barred Buttonquail is a small bird that eats grass seeds and small invertebrates. Females are described as more brightly colored than males, and the birds are often solitary or in small groups.

• Mexican Mouse Opossum Marmosa (Exulomarmosa) mexicana

  The Mexican mouse opossum is a small marsupial recorded from eastern Mexico through much of Central America to eastern Panama. A dark mask surrounds its large eyes.

• Pallas's Sandgrouse Syrrhaptes paradoxus

  Pallas's Sandgrouse lives in dry grasslands of Central Asia. Males and females have different plumage, and flocks fly to water and feed on seeds.

• Southern Pig-tailed Macaque Macaca nemestrina

  This macaque lives in Southeast Asian forests. Fruit is a major part of its diet, and it also forages on the ground. Its short tail is partly upright, and its crown is dark.

• Straw-necked Ibis Threskiornis spinicollis

  The Straw-necked Ibis is a large ibis widely distributed in Australia. It moves in search of suitable habitat and forages in shallow water and on the ground.

• Brown's Pademelon Thylogale browni

  This small-to-medium wallaby is native to northern and eastern New Guinea, where it occurs in forest and grassland. Populations thought to have been introduced to islands such as New Ireland have contracted.