Meet the world’s animals.

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• Southern Masked Weaver Ploceus velatus

  

  The Southern Masked Weaver lives in open areas of southern Africa. Breeding males have a striking black face and yellow body, and the species eats seeds and other foods.

• Himalayan Marmot Marmota (Marmota) himalayana

  The Himalayan marmot is a large ground squirrel with a stout body and short tail. It lives in open high-elevation habitats of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau.

• Thick-billed Cuckoo Pachycoccyx audeberti

  The Thick-billed Cuckoo has a heavy bill and pale underparts. It is patchily distributed across sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar and feeds mainly on caterpillars.

• Elegant Oryzomys Euryoryzomys nitidus

  The Elegant Oryzomys is a terrestrial rodent of humid forests in western Amazonia. Its tawny back and tail nearly as long as its body are noted in the species account.

• Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush Pterorhinus mitratus

  A laughingthrush of forests from southern Thailand through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. It searches for food in montane and secondary forest.

• Gunnison's Prairie Dog Cynomys (Leucocrossuromys) gunnisoni

  Gunnison's prairie dogs have yellowish-buff coats and build connected burrow colonies in grasslands and high-desert country. They warn one another of danger with calls.

• American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus

  The North American American Herring Gull is large; adults have a gray back and wings, a white head and body, and pale legs. Young birds take several years to acquire adult plumage.

• Alfaro's Rice Rat Oryzomys alfaroi

  The current scientific name is Casiomys alfaroi. A 1946 description from Costa Rica reports an ochraceous back mixed with black hairs and a buff-white underside. A survey in Chiapas recorded it at Bird Friendly shade-coffee farms under its former combination, Handleyomys alfaroi.

• Indochinese Barbet Psilopogon annamensis

  The Indochinese Barbet is a near-endemic resident of Vietnam. A Vietnamese species account reports it above 750 m in parts of eastern Laos and Cambodia and central to south-central Vietnam.

• Mindanao Squirrel Sundasciurus (Aletesciurus) mindanensis

  This tree squirrel is centered on Mindanao. Its 1890 original description notes a dark-gray back and reddish areas around the nose and feet; later surveys also recorded specimens on nearby islands.

• Pygmy Drongo Chaetorhynchus papuensis

  The Pygmy Drongo is a sedentary small bird of New Guinea's mountain forests. Adults have dark plumage, a blue-violet crest, and a blue sheen.

• California Deermouse Peromyscus californicus

  The California deermouse is a relatively large mouse with a white underside and feet. It is active at night and often eats California bay seeds in woodland.

• Rufous-fronted Babbler Cyanoderma rufifrons

  The Rufous-fronted Babbler is a small babbler of Asian forests. It searches among vegetation for small invertebrates.

• Red-cheeked Rope Squirrel Funisciurus leucogenys

  The Red-cheeked Rope Squirrel lives in forests of West and Central Africa. It has a red back with mottling across the shoulders; belly and head colours vary among subspecies.

• Principe Scops Owl Otus bikegila

  This small owl was described from Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea and reported as a distinct species in a 2022 study.

• Florida Deermouse Podomys floridanus

  The Florida deermouse lives in dry sandy uplands and scrub in peninsular Florida. It may dig a small nest burrow inside a gopher tortoise burrow.

• Abyssinian White-eye Zosterops abyssinicus

  The Abyssinian White-eye is marked by a white eye-ring and occurs in small groups in wooded highlands.

• Finlayson's Squirrel Callosciurus finlaysonii

  Finlayson's squirrel has a wide range of coat colors, including white, red, and black. In its native range it lives in wooded places and spends most of its time in trees.

• Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris

  This lark is restricted to South Africa's Agulhas Plain. It is a drab brown bird, but has a longer bill than other larks. It nests on the ground, mainly in Renosterveld vegetation.

• Merriam's Piñon Mouse Peromyscus gratus

  This mouse has brown fur with ochre tones on its back. It ranges from the southwestern United States into interior Mexico, with records in high-elevation pine forest.

• Brown-banded Puffbird Notharchus ordii

  It is black and white, with a dark brown-black band between the white throat and belly. It is patchily distributed in Amazonian lowlands and is described as generally rare in forest on poor soils such as sandy patches.

• Mexican Ground Squirrel Ictidomys mexicanus

  This ground squirrel has rows of white spots along its back. Records from Mapimí Biosphere Reserve in Mexico showed it active during the hottest part of the day.

• Purple-throated Sunbird Leptocoma sperata

  This sunbird occurs in the Philippines. Males have a purple throat and red belly, and feed on nectar and small insects.

• Sagebrush Vole Lemmiscus curtatus

  The sagebrush vole lives in western North America among sagebrush and bunchgrasses. It eats flowers and moist vegetation and carries food into its burrow.