Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,673 · Stories: 19,540

• Bushveld Gerbil Gerbilliscus (Taterona) leucogaster

  

  A gerbil of grasslands and open woodland in eastern and southern Africa. A dark line runs along the upper side of its long tail.

• Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle

  A seabird of northern rocky coasts that catches fish and other prey; its plumage changes with the season.

• Cloud Forest Rice Rat Oryzomys saturatior

  Its back is cinnamon brown heavily mixed with black, and its underside is ochre buff. It lives in cloud forest from southern Mexico through northern Central America, at 750–2,500 m.

• Scaly-naped Amazon Amazona mercenarius

  The Scaly-naped Amazon lives in Andean forests. This account separates the appearance and range of subspecies A. m. mercenarius from behavior reported for the species as a whole.

• Mohave Ground Squirrel Xerospermophilus mohavensis

  This small ground squirrel lives only in California's western Mojave Desert. It is active by day and spends much of the year underground.

• Green-bellied Hummingbird Saucerottia viridigaster

  This hummingbird occurs in the mountains of Colombia and Venezuela. A 2000 study documents geographic variation in Andean tail color and discusses separating the related S. cupreicauda.

• Blick's Arvicanthis Arvicanthis blicki

  Blick’s grass rat is a rodent specialized for Ethiopia’s high-elevation grasslands. Its skull has a downward-twisted snout region and enlarged eye sockets, and records span 2,750–4,050 m.

• Abyssinian Woodpecker Dendropicos abyssinicus

  The Abyssinian Woodpecker has a golden-yellow back and red rump and occurs in the Ethiopian highlands. It uses wooded habitats but is described as elusive.

• Mexican Harvest Mouse Reithrodontomys (Aporodon) mexicanus

  Its dorsal fur ranges from brown to cinnamon orange, and its tail is longer than its head and body. It uses forests and other vegetated areas, is mainly nocturnal, and eats seeds and plant material.

• Eyrean Grasswren Amytornis goyderi

  This grasswren occurs in Australia's inland dune country. A 2021–2022 study reported records outside its previously known range and persistence at sites without Sandhill Canegrass.

• Sri Lankan giant squirrel Ratufa macroura

  A large squirrel of southern India and Sri Lanka, with a grizzled tail marked by pale hairs. It spends almost all its time in trees.

• White-breasted Robin Eopsaltria georgiana

  The White-breasted Robin is endemic to south-western Australia. It often perches sideways on a trunk, then darts to catch prey from the ground or air.

• Lakeland Downs Leggadina Leggadina lakedownensis

  This small mouse occurs in grassy habitats in central and northern Australia. The available account describes shared traits of its genus, including forward-projecting upper incisors and a short tail.

• White-browed Meadowlark Leistes superciliaris

  This icterid lives in open grasslands of South America. The male is black with red patches and a white eyebrow, while the female is brown-toned and looks different.

• Mexican Vole Microtus mexicanus

  This vole lives in mountain meadows surrounded by pine-oak forest and changes its plant foods with the seasons.

• Chestnut-crested Puffbird Malacoptila striata

  The Chestnut-crested Puffbird is endemic to Brazil. Its dark brown streaks and white crescent-shaped breast band stand out, and it searches in forest for insects and small animals.

• Rock Squirrel Otospermophilus variegatus

  The rock squirrel lives among rocky sites and burrows, eating plant foods and small animals that vary with the season.

• Common Poorwill Phalaenoptilus nuttallii

  The Common Poorwill rests on the ground or low branches by day and catches flying insects at night.

• Montane Javan Niviventer Niviventer lepturus

  The montane Javan niviventer is a rodent of Java's highlands. Its back is described as soft gray-brown, with a white to cream underside.

• Isabella Oriole Oriolus isabellae

  The Isabela Oriole is an oriole recorded on Luzon in the Philippines.

• Blackish Grass Mouse Thaptomys nigrita

  The blackish grass mouse is a small rodent that uses tunnels beneath leaf litter. A survey in southern Brazil recorded it in deciduous forest with pitfall traps.

• Buff-banded Bushbird Buettikoferella bivittata

  This ground-dwelling bird occurs on Timor Island. Its appearance is documented in an 1862 Timor account, while its habitat is listed in a 2008 regional checklist.

• Alaska Marmot Marmota (Marmota) broweri

  The Alaska marmot is a large squirrel relative that makes burrows among rocky areas in northern Alaska. It eats grasses, flowers, and roots in summer and hibernates in its burrow in winter.

• Chinchipe Spinetail Synallaxis chinchipensis

  This furnariid is known from the Río Chinchipe area of northwestern Peru. A 2020 specimen comparison supported treating it as a distinct species rather than a subspecies of a close relative.