Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Stripe-breasted Tit Melaniparus fasciiventer

  

  A large tit of the Albertine Rift's montane forests. Males have a black head and central belly, with a conspicuous white band across the lower breast and flanks.

• California Leaf-nosed Bat Macrotus californicus

  

  This bat has large ears and eyes and roosts in desert caves and abandoned mines. It flies low at night to catch insects.

• Nankeen Night Heron Nycticorax caledonicus

  

  This widespread Australian heron is nocturnal and searches for food in wetlands.

• Transcaucasian Water Shrew Neomys teres

  

  The Transcaucasian Water Shrew is a semiaquatic shrew found in the Black Sea highlands of Turkey. It usually favors the edges of small streams and creeks.

• Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata

  

  For the nominate subspecies described in the Ehime account, chestnut ear patches and bands across the breast are distinctive. It breeds in Japanese grassland and uses grassy riverbanks and rice-field areas in Ehime during winter.

• Chihuahua Pocket Mouse Chaetodipus eremicus

  

  The Chihuahua pocket mouse is a small rodent of dry country in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

• African Snipe Gallinago nigripennis

  The African Snipe probes soft, wet mud with its long bill. Its striped plumage helps it blend into wetlands and flooded grassland, where it feeds on invertebrates and other small prey.

• Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana

  A North American marsupial that also uses its long tail while climbing.

• Matsudaira's Storm Petrel Hydrobates matsudairae

  A large storm petrel with white feather shafts on the wings and a long forked tail; it feeds on small fish and crustaceans at the sea surface.

• Upper Guinea Red Colobus Piliocolobus badius

  A red colobus monkey of forests along the Gulf of Guinea. Coat colours and patterns vary among populations.

• Rufous-headed Tailorbird Phyllergates heterolaemus

  This tailorbird was described from a specimen collected on Mount Apo, Mindanao. The original account describes one adult of undetermined sex and notes that it was found among bushes.

• Black-flanked Rock Wallaby Petrogale lateralis

  The black-flanked rock wallaby lives among rocky outcrops in western and south-central Australia. A dark flank stripe and use of rock crevices are characteristic.

• Sclater's Lark Spizocorys sclateri

  A lark of dry, open landscapes in western southern Africa. In its core range it is mostly sedentary or moves only locally.

• Formosan Ferret-badger Melogale subaurantiaca

  The Formosan ferret-badger of Taiwan has a white stripe along its back. It is usually solitary and nocturnal, eating small animals, insects, earthworms, and fruit.

• Arabian Green Bee-eater Merops cyanophrys

  This bee-eater occurs in the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula. It uses open areas with scattered trees or scrub and catches flying insects in short sallies from a perch.

• East European Vole Microtus (Microtus) levis

  This vole lives in meadows and farmland from eastern Europe toward western Siberia. It avoids very short grass and dry areas and eats plant seeds and grain.

• Siberian Nuthatch Sitta arctica

  A 2006 taxonomic study examined the Siberian form arctica within the Eurasian Nuthatch group and supported treating it as a separate species. That form has dark bluish-grey upperparts, a white belly centre and chestnut flanks. A current species account lists forest habitat and invertebrates as food, but the taxonomic study says ecological information about arctica remains fragmentary.

• Sahyadris Forest Rat Rattus satarae

  This rat was found alongside the black rat in high-altitude forest in the Nilgiri Mountains. A 2011 study distinguished a second form, usually with a pure white belly, as Rattus satarae.

• Scaled Metaltail Metallura aeneocauda

  This small hummingbird lives in humid highland forest on the eastern Andes. Adult males and females differ in tail and throat color.

• Western Naked-backed Fruit Bat Dobsonia peronii

  The Western naked-backed fruit bat occurs in Indonesia and Timor-Leste in the Lesser Sunda Islands. The life-history details here are mainly from field observations on Timor.

• Japanese Accentor Prunella rubida

  The Japanese Accentor breeds in Japan's mountains and appears at lower elevations in winter. The sexes look alike; in winter, the Kyoto branch of the Wild Bird Society of Japan records it in riverside scrub and similar cover.

• Sardinian Long-eared Bat Plecotus sardus

  This long-eared bat occurs in forests on Sardinia. Its 2002 original description highlights brown dorsal fur and a notably long, broad tragus.

• Blue-cheeked Flowerpecker Dicaeum maugei

  The Blue-cheeked Flowerpecker is a tiny, short-tailed bird found in forests and plantations.

• Arctic Ground Squirrel Urocitellus parryii

  The Arctic ground squirrel lives in colonies in tundra and other northern habitats across Alaska, northern Canada and eastern Siberia, and overwinters underground.