Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus

  

  The Semipalmated Plover is a small shorebird with a dark band across the chest. It migrates from North American breeding grounds toward South America.

• Social Vole Microtus (Microtus) socialis

  

  The social vole is a small rodent that digs burrows in steppe and semi-desert. Field studies report family groups sharing burrow systems.

• Tanimbar Bush Warbler Horornis carolinae

  

  The 1987 original description called this bird Cettia carolinae and reported it from two sites in southern Yamdena. The author thought it might be widespread on the island, but the records available then were limited.

• Golden Spiny Mouse Acomys (Acomys) russatus

  

  The golden spiny mouse has a golden-brown back and uses crevices in dry, rocky places. When alarmed, it raises its stiff hairs to look larger.

• Pilbara Grasswren Amytornis whitei

  

  This long-tailed bird lives in the Pilbara of Western Australia. It runs among large spinifex clumps in dry, open country.

• Amber Bamboo Bat Tylonycteris fulvida

  

  This small bat was recorded in bamboo groves in Assam, India. It has golden-brown dorsal fur, a flattened head, and pale pads on its thumbs.

• 'A'o Puffinus auricularis

  Animal Diversity Web's broad treatment of Puffinus auricularis includes Newell's shearwater in Hawaii and Townsend's shearwater off Mexico. Some taxonomies split them; ʻAʻo is the Hawaiian name for the Newell's population.

• Crested Mona Monkey Cercopithecus pogonias

  The crowned guenon is notable for its crest of hair and lives mainly in the trees of western Central African forests.

• Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Zanda funerea

  This large cockatoo has a black body set off by yellow cheek and tail markings. It feeds in flocks in eucalypt woodlands and pine plantations.

• Mexican Big-eyed Bat Chiroderma scopaeum

  This Mexican bat has records along the Pacific side of the country and as far east as Veracruz. It uses dry forest and riparian forest.

• Kashmir Nuthatch Sitta cashmirensis

  The Kashmir Nuthatch has blue-gray upperparts and reddish-buff underparts. It feeds on insects and spiders, adding seeds and nuts in winter.

• Lichtenstein's Hartebeest Alcelaphus lichtensteinii

  Its horn bases are short and broad, and its horns curve inward before turning backward. A 1976–1977 study in south-eastern Zimbabwe found that it preferred tall grass habitat.

• Rubeho Akalat Sheppardia aurantiithorax

  The Rubeho Akalat occurs in forest in the Eastern Arc mountains of central Tanzania. Its throat and upper breast are deep orange, and observations describe it feeding on the ground and low branches.

• Utah Prairie Dog Cynomys (Leucocrossuromys) parvidens

  The Utah prairie dog is a diurnal squirrel relative of southwestern Utah that forms colonies with extensive underground burrows.

• Brown-capped Fantail Rhipidura diluta

  A 1996 report of a 1993 field project lists Sumbawa, Flores and Lomblen (now Lembata), in forest habitats other than dry thorn-scrub. These historical island records are not a current exhaustive range map.

• Chiriqui brown mouse Scotinomys xerampelinus

  This singing mouse lives in the high mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. A research lab describes singing mice as diurnal insect-eaters.

• Golden Grosbeak Pheucticus chrysogaster

  Males are conspicuously yellow with black wings. The species uses dry, semi-open country and forest edges, where it eats seeds, insects, and fruit.

• Sundevall's Jird Meriones (Pallasiomys) crassus

  This jird has a sandy back with black spots and a white underside. It often leaves its burrow in the evening to feed on seeds and vegetation.

• Purple-throated Cuckooshrike Campephaga quiscalina

  A forest cuckooshrike of tropical Africa. Adult males have a glossy black body and a purple sheen on the throat.

• Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus

  A small bat found across Europe and parts of Asia, hunting insects above towns and in natural habitats.

• Chestnut-bellied Starling Lamprotornis pulcher

  The Chestnut-bellied Starling lives in Sahelian savanna and shrubland. It has glossy blue-green upperparts and breast, a chestnut belly, and searches for food in small flocks on the ground.

• L'Hoest's Monkey Allochrocebus lhoesti

  L'Hoest's monkey is recognizable by its dark coat and white beard. It spends more time on the ground than many monkeys.

• Abdim's Stork Ciconia abdimii

  Abdim's Stork occurs in eastern and southern Africa. It eats insects, and some populations move south after breeding.

• Pygmy Round-eared Bat Lophostoma brasiliense

  This small bat has rounded ears and a short tail enclosed by the flight membrane. It is active after dusk, feeds on insects, and has been reported roosting in arboreal termite nests.