Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,768 · Stories: 19,540

• Bennett's Woodpecker Campethera bennettii

  

  This woodpecker inhabits African woodland and savanna with tall trees. Males and females differ in head and throat markings, and it may forage for ants on the ground.

• Chestnut Short-tailed Bat Carollia castanea

  The chestnut short-tailed bat is a nocturnal fruit-eating bat. In a study, it relied on the scent of ripe Piper fruit when foraging and used more echolocation when that scent was absent.

• Rusty-belted Tapaculo Liosceles thoracicus

  The Rusty-belted Tapaculo is a South American bird with a rusty back and breast band. It walks on the forest floor in search of small insects.

• Bubal Hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus

  A long-legged African antelope with a narrow muzzle, the hartebeest lives in herds on savanna grasslands. Coat color and horn shape vary across its range.

• Aberrant Bush Warbler Horornis flavolivaceus

  This small warbler lives in the highlands of the Sunda Islands. On Borneo it hides in scrub, sings often, and feeds on insects.

• Pygmy Gerbil Gerbillus (Hendecapleura) henleyi

  This small gerbil is known mainly from North Africa and the Middle East, with records from parts of the Sahel. Its naked soles are distinctive.

• Little Black Cormorant Phalacrocorax sulcirostris

  The Little Black Cormorant is slim and black, with a green sheen on its back. It dives to catch fish and other prey.

• Mount Topapu Squirrel Prosciurillus topapuensis

  This squirrel occurs in central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Records span tropical lowland evergreen to upper montane forest at 350–2,800 m. It is often found high in primary-forest crowns or woody vines, but has also been observed on the ground where the canopy is broken.

• Dusky Antbird Cercomacroides tyrannina

  This antbird occurs from Central America into northern South America. Males are dark gray with white tips on the wings and tail; females are olive-brown above and rufous below. Pairs forage for insects along lowland forest edges and in secondary growth.

• Lowe's Mona Monkey Cercopithecus lowei

  This monkey lives in the trees of lowland forests in West Africa. It mainly eats fruit, along with leaves, seeds, flowers, bark, and insects.

• Sulawesi Myna Basilornis celebensis

  The Sulawesi Myna is a starling with a rounded crest and pale patches on its glossy black plumage. It occurs on Sulawesi and nearby Indonesian islands.

• 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.

• Knobbed Hornbill Rhyticeros cassidix

  The Knobbed Hornbill lives in forests on Sulawesi and nearby islands. A large casque rises above its bill.

• Welwitch's bat Myotis (Chrysopteron) welwitschii

  Welwitch's bat has a netlike pattern in its wing membrane. Records are scattered across a broad part of Africa.

• Madagascar Pochard Aythya innotata

  The Madagascar Pochard is a small brown diving duck. It spends much of its time on the water and dives to find food below the surface.

• Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat Sturnira hondurensis

  This bat is recorded from Mexico to northern Nicaragua. Its fur is dark gray to dark brown, with a paler underside. Many individuals, especially adult males, have reddish or yellow shoulder patches. It mainly eats fruit.

• Cachar Wedge-billed Babbler Stachyris roberti

  A babbler of evergreen forests in northeast India and neighboring areas. Its dark brown plumage is spotted white, and it has a strong wedge-shaped bill.

• West African savanna buffalo Syncerus brachyceros

  This is the West African savanna form of the African buffalo. In W Regional Park, seven breeding herds were tracked; late in the dry season they used areas near permanent rivers, and six shifted southwest as the rains began.

• Silver-eared Laughingthrush Trochalopteron melanostigma

  This laughingthrush occurs in northern mainland Southeast Asia. It uses evergreen forest understory and bamboo, and searches for food near the ground in pairs or small groups.

• Desert Pseudomys Pseudomys desertor

  The Desert Pseudomys is a medium-sized rodent. Its chestnut fur is overlaid by long, dark guard hairs, and pale orange rings surround its eyes. The tail is brown above and lighter along the sides and below.

• Junin Grebe Podiceps taczanowskii

  The Junin Grebe is a flightless grebe found only at Lake Junín in central Peru. It changes the parts of the lake it uses between the breeding season and the rest of the year.

• Long-tailed Ground Squirrel Urocitellus undulatus

  The long-tailed ground squirrel is a medium-sized, ground-dwelling squirrel of Central Asia. A Mongolian study found several genetically distinct regional groups.

• Shiny Cowbird Molothrus bonariensis

  Male Shiny Cowbirds are glossy deep purple, while females are brown. They are brood parasites, laying eggs in other birds’ nests and leaving the hosts to raise the young.

• Black Colobus Colobus satanas

  The black colobus is covered in glossy black fur and lives high in the rainforest canopy of western Africa.