Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• California Quail Callipepla californica

  

  A ground-foraging quail with a forward-drooping head plume, often seen in family groups.

• South African Ground Squirrel Xerus (Geosciurus) inauris

  This squirrel lives in the dry grasslands and savannas of southern Africa. It uses underground burrows and searches for food by day.

• White-backed Black Tit Melaniparus leuconotus

  The White-backed Black Tit has a black body and a white shoulder patch. It moves in pairs or small groups and searches tree trunks and branches for small invertebrates.

• Oribi Ourebia ourebi

  The oribi is a small antelope with long, slender legs and neck. Its patchy range extends across parts of Africa, mainly in grassland.

• Yellow Bittern Botaurus sinensis

  A small heron that hides in reeds and freezes with its neck stretched when it senses danger.

• Mantled guereza Colobus guereza

  An African forest monkey with long white fringes that feeds mainly on leaves.

• Common Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus

  The Common Reed Bunting is widespread in Britain and Ireland. Males have black heads, females have browner heads, and in winter they forage in farmland with other small birds.

• Sonoma Tree Vole Arborimus pomo

  The Sonoma tree vole is arboreal and associated with mature forests. It has a reddish-brown back, gray and rusty tones underneath, and a thick, furred tail.

• Wood Snipe Gallinago nemoricola

  A little-known snipe that breeds in Himalayan alpine regions. A study in an alpine meadow in Sichuan, China, found breeding birds foraging where soil fauna were more abundant.

• Mongolian Gerbil Meriones (Pallasiomys) unguiculatus

  The Mongolian gerbil lives in dry grassland and steppe in Mongolia, northern China, and nearby areas. It digs burrows and forages for seeds and other plant food.

• Asian Stubtail Urosphena squameiceps

  The Asian Stubtail is a small summer visitor that lives in dark, dense thickets in Kyoto Prefecture's low hills. The sexes have the same plumage color.

• Hilgendorf's Tube-nosed Bat Murina hilgendorfi

  Hilgendorf's Tube-nosed Bat has a slightly projecting snout. A Kyoto Prefecture account says it usually hides in tree cavities by day, feeds on insects in the evening, and hibernates in winter.

• Greater Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla

  The Greater Short-toed Lark is a small lark of open, dry country. A breeding study in central Italy recorded nesting, groups of fledglings, and family groups before migration.

• Mentawai Three-striped Squirrel Lariscus obscurus

  The Mentawai three-striped squirrel is restricted to the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra. Its dark back has faint stripes, and it eats seeds, fallen fruit, and arthropods.

• Swallow-tailed Bee-eater Merops hirundineus

  The Swallow-tailed Bee-eater is a bee-eater with a deeply forked tail. It waits in savanna woodland and catches insects in flight.

• Walia Ibex Capra walie

  A wild goat of the Simien Mountains in northern Ethiopia.

• Beautiful Nuthatch Sitta formosa

  A large nuthatch with a black back streaked white, bright blue back and shoulders, and orange underparts, it forages on large trees in wet high-elevation evergreen forest.

• 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.

• Ecuadorian Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo

  This hummingbird occurs in the Cajas highlands of Ecuador. A local guide describes it visiting Chuquiragua flowers and records different head and belly colors in males and females.

• Eurasian Water Vole Arvicola amphibius

  The Eurasian water vole is a waterside rodent described here from British records. It has chestnut-brown fur, a rounded blunt nose, small ears, and a furry tail, and eats grasses and waterside plants.

• Olive-capped Flowerpecker Dicaeum nigrilore

  This flowerpecker is recorded in the mountains of Mindanao in the Philippines. The Mt. Kitanglad survey also records the colors of the eyes, bill, and legs in males.

• New Holland Pseudomys Pseudomys novaehollandiae

  This small mouse has pale gray-brown fur and pink feet. Its recorded populations are scattered across grassland and woodland in southeastern Australia.

• Marsh Antwren Formicivora acutirostris

  This antwren lives in flooded coastal wetlands of southern Brazil. Males have a gray-black underside, while females have black-and-white mottling underneath; the bird uses marsh vegetation.

• Cuban Evening Bat Nycticeius cubanus

  This Cuban bat is described with a short muzzle and thick brown fur. Records include roosts in buildings and wooden streetlight poles.