Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana

  

  The Ortolan Bunting is a bunting whose breeding male has a grayish-olive head and yellow throat. It feeds on seeds on the ground, but mainly on invertebrates during breeding.

• Straw-colored Fruit Bat Eidolon helvum

  Its coat ranges from straw-colored to dark gray. It eats fruit and nectar, is active at night, and may form large colonies.

• Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus

  The Spotted Redshank is a slim wader with a long bill. Adults are black with white spots in summer and grey above with white underparts in winter.

• Serotine Bat Eptesicus (Cnephaeus) serotinus

  The serotine is a medium-sized bat found across Europe and east through the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia, and China. It roosts in crevices and hawks insects over wooded farmland.

• European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus

  The European Storm Petrel is a small, dark seabird that spends much of its time at sea. In the breeding season it returns to island burrows, including in Scotland.

• Piute Ground Squirrel Urocitellus mollis

  The Piute ground squirrel ranges around the Great Basin and nearby arid regions. It has an unstriped back and inconspicuous ears and tail.

• Javan Tesia Tesia superciliaris

  This tiny bird hides in low thickets in Java's mountains. Its very short tail, black crown, and dark eye stripe are distinctive.

• Kuban Tur Capra caucasica

  The Kuban tur is a wild goat of the western Caucasus. Above the forest belt, it uses alpine meadows and rocky slopes.

• Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris

  This lark is restricted to South Africa's Agulhas Plain. It is a drab brown bird, but has a longer bill than other larks. It nests on the ground, mainly in Renosterveld vegetation.

• Guianan Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus latifolius

  This small-to-medium spear-nosed bat occurs in the Guianas and northern Amazonia. It has dark smoky-brown fur, large rounded ears, and a short, broad noseleaf.

• Rosy Bee-eater Merops malimbicus

  This bee-eater stands out for its pink underparts and dark eye-stripe. Groups dig nest burrows in sandy riverbanks and sandbars.

• Laos Langur Trachypithecus laotum

  The Laos langur lives in limestone forest in central Laos. At the study site, young animals showed varied coat colors, and groups were observed eating young leaves.

• Eurasian nuthatch Sitta europaea

  A bird found in Japanese mountain woodland. It has a short tail and may perch on trees with its head pointing down.

• Gray Red-backed Vole Myodes rufocanus

  This vole occurs across northern Eurasia. It has a reddish-brown back and gray sides; in northern Europe it is common in conifer forest and also lives in scrub and meadows.

• Violet-bellied Hummingbird Chlorestes julie

  A small hummingbird whose male has a violet-glowing belly. It feeds mainly on nectar in humid lowland and foothill forests of northwestern Colombia.

• Black rat Rattus rattus

  An agile climbing rat that uses trees and high parts of buildings.

• Orange-bellied Flowerpecker Dicaeum trigonostigma

  This flowerpecker lives in forests across South and Southeast Asia. Males and females have different plumage, and the bird mainly eats fruit, with occasional insects.

• Aldabra Flying Fox Pteropus aldabrensis

  The Aldabra flying fox is a large fruit bat found only on Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles. It eats fruit and flowers and helps move seeds among the island's plants.

• Manu Antbird Cercomacra manu

  This antbird is common in bamboo patches of southeastern Peru. It forages almost exclusively in stands of Guadua bamboo.

• Greater Broad-nosed Bat Scoteanax rueppellii

  The Greater Broad-nosed Bat is a large bat of eastern Australia. It is active at night, catches insects, and roosts in places such as tree hollows.

• White-winged Cinclodes Cinclodes atacamensis

  This bird occurs in the high Andes along clear streams. It has white on the wings, throat, eyebrow, and outer tail feathers, and forages near shallow water and mud.

• Sierra Madre Ground Squirrel Callospermophilus madrensis

  The Sierra Madre Ground Squirrel has a pale coat with subdued dark stripes. It lives in high-elevation pine forest in northwestern Mexico, is active by day, and hibernates in winter.

• Biak Hooded Pitta Pitta rosenbergii

  The Biak Hooded Pitta occurs on Biak Island. A local field guide notes the rosenbergii form’s deep blue flanks and lack of a glossy throat band. A record also documents it in secondary forest on Biak.

• Derby Eland Taurotragus derbianus

  A large antelope of western and central Africa's savannas and sparse woodlands. Its sandy-gray coat has pale vertical side stripes, and it feeds in grassland during cooler mornings and evenings. The current MDD name is Tragelaphus derbianus.