Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,673 · Stories: 19,540

• Tawny-throated Dotterel Oreopholus ruficollis

  

  This dotterel uses open grassland and stony ground in the Andes and elsewhere in South America. Adults have a tawny throat, and the sexes look similar.

• Northern Rock Deermouse Peromyscus nasutus

  This mouse has white feet and a long, two-colored tail. It is recorded in rocky mountain areas of western Texas and northwestern New Mexico.

• Blue-crowned Laughingthrush Pterorhinus courtoisi

  A 2022 study treats Blue-crowned Laughingthrush (then named Garrulax courtoisi in the paper) as breeding in low-elevation Wuyuan, the only confirmed population discussed there.

• Little Brown Bat Vespadelus vulturnus

  A small bat with paler fur underneath, it catches flying insects in the forests and woodlands of southeastern Australia and Tasmania.

• Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus

  It breeds in the Arctic and subarctic of North America, migrates south, and winters in South America. It probes for food in freshwater wetlands.

• Long-tailed marmot Marmota (Marmota) caudata

  The long-tailed marmot is a large squirrel found in Central Asia’s high mountain meadows.

• Pygmy Flowerpecker Dicaeum pygmaeum

  This small flowerpecker is endemic to the Philippines. Males and females have different plumage.

• Mound-building Mouse Mus (Mus) spicilegus

  The mound-building mouse is a brown wild mouse that resembles the house mouse. In autumn, young mice build mounds of soil and vegetation and spend winter underground.

• Salvin's Prion Pachyptila salvini

  Salvin's Prion is a seabird that breeds in large colonies on southern Indian Ocean islands. It is blue-grey above and white below.

• Short-tailed Cane Mouse Zygodontomys brevicauda

  The short-tailed cane mouse lives in grass and waterside cover and is active on the ground at night.

• Purplish Jay Cyanocorax cyanomelas

  This jay is recognizable by its bluish-purple body and black facial mask. Family groups search for food in forests and along their edges.

• Fringed Myotis Myotis (Pizonyx) thysanodes

  The fringed myotis is a bat of western North America. Short hairs fringe the edge of its tail membrane, and females form nursery roosts in the southern United States.

• Vieillot's Barbet Lybius vieilloti

  Vieillot's Barbet is a daytime bird found in sub-Saharan Africa. It eats fruits and flower nectar among other foods.

• Zanj Sun Squirrel Heliosciurus undulatus

  The Zanj sun squirrel has orange-ocher coloring on its cheeks and feet. In East African coastal and riparian forests it is active in trees by day, feeding on fruits and seeds.

• Rainbow Pitta Pitta iris

  This resident pitta lives in the seasonal forests of northern Australia and searches the leaf litter for food that changes with the season. The sexes look very similar.

• Matthey's Mouse Mus (Nannomys) mattheyi

  This small mouse has a short tail and a clear contrast between its light-brown back and whitish belly. It lives in moist savanna and grassland in West Africa.

• Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher Tanysiptera sylvia

  This kingfisher has a shining blue back and long white tail feathers. It moves from New Guinea to northeastern Australia, where it nests in ground termite mounds.

• Jaliscan Cotton Rat Sigmodon (Sigmodon) mascotensis

  The Jaliscan Cotton Rat occurs in western Mexico. It has coarse brown fur above and a pale underside, and it is commonly associated with grasslands and farmland.

• Regent Bowerbird Sericulus chrysocephalus

  The Regent Bowerbird lives in rainforests and gullies of eastern Australia. Males build a decorated bower, and the birds eat fruit and insects.

• Northern Serotine Eptesicus (Cnephaeus) nilssonii

  It is recorded in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Its long, dark back fur has golden-yellow tips; the HMW species account describes insect hunting in flight around northern forests and their edges.

• Southern Surucua Trogon Trogon surrucura

  This trogon lives in humid forests and wooded river corridors in South America. Males have blue chests and green backs, while females are mostly grey; both sexes take insects and other prey from perches.

• Yucatan Squirrel Sciurus (Sciurus) yucatanensis

  This squirrel lives around the Yucatán region and forages in trees and on the ground by day.

• Cuban Vireo Vireo gundlachii

  The Cuban Vireo is a small, slow-moving bird of shrubby forest edges. It has a yellow spot in front of the eye and a white crescent behind it; a Macaulay Library record documents it at Viñales, Cuba.

• Spinifex Hopping Mouse Notomys alexis

  The spinifex hopping mouse lives in sandy areas from central Australia into the west. It is active at night, moves by hopping, and digs deep burrows in the sand.