Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Taiwan Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus musicus

  

  The Taiwan Scimitar Babbler is endemic to Taiwan. It has a pale face marked with dark head stripes and uses its long, downcurved bill to search low vegetation and forest edges.

• MacConnell's Bat Mesophylla macconnelli

  

  Among the smallest fruit-eating bats, it uses leaf tents as roosts. It has a broad range across humid forests of Central and South America.

• Darwin's Nothura Nothura darwinii

  

  Nothura darwinii is a ground-dwelling tinamou of dry parts of South America. The nominate subspecies is recorded in the high, dry country of southern Argentina.

• North American Least Shrew Cryptotis parvus

  

  A small shrew of North America, recorded in tall grass, brush and fallen logs, and soft soils around wetlands.

• Slender-billed Weaver Ploceus pelzelni

  

  Ploceus pelzelni breeds in wetlands and also feeds in nearby trees and bushes. A breeding male has a black mask extending from the face to the throat, while the female lacks that mask.

• Pyrenean Chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica

  

  The Pyrenean chamois is a bovid with a dark band across the eyes and hooked horns. The plants it eats change with the seasons.

• Jerdon's Nightjar Caprimulgus atripennis

  Jerdon's Nightjar is a nocturnal bird of southern India and Sri Lanka that catches insects in flight.

• Mexican Cottontail Sylvilagus cunicularius

  The Mexican cottontail is a wild rabbit of Mexico. It is described as the largest rabbit native to the country, and it uses grassland patches from dusk into the night.

• Ludwig's Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris ludovicensis

  This sunbird occurs in the western highlands of Angola. An Angola bird guide describes males with a blue rump and orange-red breast band, while females are duller and grayish.

• Gray Dorcopsis Dorcopsis luctuosa

  The Gray Dorcopsis is a lowland marsupial of southern and southeastern New Guinea. Its smoky-gray back has a yellow patch around the cloacal opening.

• Markham’s Storm Petrel Hydrobates markhami

  This small seabird, about 21–23 cm long, ranges over the tropical Pacific. It breeds in fissures and cavities in salt flats in Peru and Chile.

• Kinabalu Squirrel Callosciurus baluensis

  This squirrel lives in the mountains of northern Borneo. It is active by day in trees, and its coat varies, often appearing reddish brown.

• Caica Parrot Pyrilia caica

  Adults have a dark head and a broad yellowish collar. Juveniles do not yet have the adult’s black facial mask.

• Painted Spiny Pocket Mouse Heteromys pictus

  The painted spiny pocket mouse ranges from Mexico to northwestern Guatemala. It has a reddish-brown back, white underside, and spiny coat, and stores seeds in caches.

• Red-crowned Parakeet Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae

  A medium-sized parakeet with a red forehead and green body. Its three extant subspecies occupy islands around New Zealand, and the source describes their island distributions.

• Mexican Harvest Mouse Reithrodontomys (Aporodon) mexicanus

  Its dorsal fur ranges from brown to cinnamon orange, and its tail is longer than its head and body. It uses forests and other vegetated areas, is mainly nocturnal, and eats seeds and plant material.

• Sumba Green Pigeon Treron teysmannii

  This green pigeon is native only to Sumba, where it eats fruit in forest canopies and along edges that retain large trees.

• Southern African Mastomys Mastomys coucha

  The Southern African Mastomys is a rodent recorded in southern Africa. A South African study trapped it more often in natural and agricultural areas than in villages.

• Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus glaucurus

  The account describes the nominate subspecies in Madagascar, which uses wooded areas and degraded forest where large trees remain.

• Cape Hairy Bat Myotis (Chrysopteron) tricolor

  A bat recorded widely in Africa. A southern African field guide describes reddish-brown fur and roosts in caves and old mine adits.

• White-headed Wren Campylorhynchus albobrunneus

  The White-headed Wren is about 18 cm long. Records come from Panama and Colombia, where it searches foliage for small invertebrates in forest edges and secondary growth.

• Marine Otter Lontra felina

  The marine otter lives among rocky shores along the Pacific coast of South America. It has dark brown fur and feeds on fish, crustaceans, and mollusks.

• Rwenzori Hill Babbler Sylvia atriceps

  This babbler lives in central African mountain forests. It was formerly included with the African Hill Babbler but is now treated as a separate species.

• Geoffroy's Rousette Rousettus amplexicaudatus

  Geoffroy's rousette is a fruit-eating bat that roosts in large groups in limestone caves. It moves as fruits ripen.