Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,025 · Stories: 19,293

• Square-tailed Drongo Dicrurus ludwigii

  

  The Square-tailed Drongo is a black bird of forests and thickets in eastern and southern Africa. It catches insects by flying out from a perch.

• Baturite Porcupine Coendou baturitensis

  

  This porcupine is recorded from Ceará in northeastern Brazil. Its back has white-and-brown spines. A nighttime thermal-drone survey recorded it in an Atlantic Forest fragment at Mulungu within the Caatinga.

• African wild ass Equus africanus

  

  A wild ass of Northeast Africa. This entry treats it as a wild species, separate from the domestic donkey.

• Rufous-capped Babbler Cyanoderma ruficeps

  

  The Rufous-capped Babbler is a small bird marked by a bright rufous crown. It works through forest undergrowth and often travels with mixed flocks of small birds.

• Mountain Pygmy Possum Burramys parvus

  

  The mountain pygmy possum is a small mammal adapted to Australia's alpine zone. It is known to store food and hibernate for long periods.

• Eurasian teal Anas crecca

  

  A small duck seen on Japanese waters in winter. Breeding males have a chestnut head with a dark green band around the eye.

• Blue-capped Ifrit Ifrita kowaldi

  This small bird inhabits mountain forests on New Guinea. Its blue crown stands out, and it searches moss and branches for insects and other small prey.

• Greater Bulldog Bat Noctilio (Noctilio) leporinus

  The greater bulldog bat can forage for fish near the water surface. In a Panama account, it responded to surface ripples and dipped its feet into the water.

• Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus

  A pig of savannas and open woodlands, the common warthog feeds on grasses and roots. Its range records include several subspecies.

• Black Tinamou Tinamus osgoodi

  This ground-dwelling tinamou lives in humid foothill forest along the eastern Andes. Its known populations are separated, and Colombia also has a recorded population whose classification remains unresolved.

• Ocelot Leopardus pardalis

  A patterned cat of parts of the Americas, with black-bordered blotches arranged in chain-like rows along its body.

• Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs

  A familiar finch in Britain and Ireland. It searches the ground for seeds and insects, and shows white on its wings in flight.

• African Finfoot Podica senegalensis

  This river bird differs by sex in size and facial pattern. It searches along the water's edge for fish and other small aquatic prey.

• Ankarana Sportive Lemur Lepilemur ankaranensis

  The Ankarana sportive lemur is a tree-dwelling lemur active at night in forests of northern Madagascar. Its long, bushy tail is another recognizable feature.

• Mediterranean Monk Seal Monachus monachus

  A rare seal found in the Mediterranean and along northwest Africa; it feeds on fish, octopus and other prey.

• Vitelline Masked Weaver Ploceus vitellinus

  This weaver lives in dry savanna and scrub. In breeding plumage the male has a black face and yellow body, and he builds a woven grass nest.

• Heart-nosed Bat Cardioderma cor

  The heart-nosed bat has a heart-shaped nose leaf and large eyes. It leaves its roost around dusk and catches insects from a low perch.

• Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos

  A small wader often seen walking along the water’s edge and bobbing its tail.

• Bohemian waxwing Bombycilla garrulus

  A winter visitor to Japan that gathers in flocks to eat berries.

• Dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima

  The dwarf sperm whale is a small toothed whale found widely in temperate and tropical seas. It is distinct from the pygmy sperm whale.

• Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra

  A grassland antelope whose males become darker with age.

• Plain-tailed Nighthawk Nyctiprogne vielliardi

  This nighthawk has been recorded along the São Francisco River. It roosts by day in riverside brush and flies low over water near dusk.

• Laotian Rock Rat Laonastes aenigmamus

  The Laotian rock rat has long whiskers and a densely furred tail, and lives in limestone forests. In a study in central Vietnam, it hid in rock crevices by day and foraged on the forest floor at night.

• Eurasian goshawk Astur gentilis

  A broad-winged hawk that flies swiftly between trees. In Britain it lives in woodland and is often hard to see.