Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Boat-billed Heron Cochlearius cochlearius

  

  Its broad, flattened bill is distinctive. In mangroves and river-edge woodland of Central and South America, it ambushes fish and other prey at dim hours.

• Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel Spermophilus erythrogenys

  The red-cheeked ground squirrel is a ground-dwelling squirrel marked by reddish cheeks. Regional records describe it as active by day, using burrows and feeding on grasses and other foods.

• Elliot's Laughingthrush Trochalopteron elliotii

  This laughingthrush occurs in central Chinese mountains. It walks through forest and scrub in small groups, searching low vegetation for food.

• Crested Rat Lophiomys imhausi

  This East African rodent has fur with white stripes or spots. It is active at night and feeds on fruits and roots.

• 'Oma'o Myadestes obscurus

  The ‘Ōma‘o is a Hawaiian solitaire endemic to Hawaiʻi Island. Its subdued plumage is olive-brown and gray; it often perches quietly and is detected by song. It eats fruit, flowers, and invertebrates.

• Texas Antelope Squirrel Ammospermophilus interpres

  The Texas antelope squirrel has white side stripes and black bands on its tail. It is active by day in rocky, arid country.

• Brown Firefinch Lagonosticta nitidula

  This very small finch can be hard to see in dense thickets. Southern African records are associated with riverine vegetation.

• 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.

• Orange-necked Hill Partridge Arborophila davidi

  Surveys in southern Vietnam found it on slopes with bamboo and deep leaf litter. Its orange neck and black eye-stripe extending down the lower neck are distinctive.

• California Chipmunk Tamias (Neotamias) obscurus

  In summer, its head is pale gray with cinnamon tones, and russet and pale-gray stripes mark its back. In southern California it is recorded in pinyon-juniper and pine-oak forests, often near shrubs and rocky outcrops.

• Dusky-brown Oriole Oriolus phaeochromus

  The Dusky-brown Oriole, also called the Halmahera Oriole, is a uniformly brown oriole from the North Moluccas. It uses upper forest and edges and gives a fluty call.

• Southern Bog Lemming Synaptomys (Synaptomys) cooperi

  The southern bog lemming is a small rodent of moist places in eastern North America. It uses underground burrows and surface runways, and builds nests from grass and leaves.

• Purple-headed Starling Hylopsar purpureiceps

  A forest starling with a glossy purple head and chest and a blue-green body.

• Min Mountain Striped Squirrel Tamiops minshanica

  This striped squirrel was described from the Minshan Mountains of Sichuan, China. A 2026 multilocus study also recognizes it among the valid species of Tamiops.

• Brazilian Laniisoma Laniisoma elegans

  This bird inhabits humid forests in southeastern Brazil and forages from the understory into the subcanopy.

• Western Amazonian Oryzomys Hylaeamys perenensis

  The western Amazonian oryzomys occurs in the western Amazon Basin. In one Peruvian reserve, it was captured most often in forest, but that local pattern is not assumed to define the species everywhere.

• Spot-winged Wood Quail Odontophorus capueira

  The Spot-winged Wood-Quail is a plump ground-dwelling bird of South America's Atlantic Forest.

• Collie's Squirrel Sciurus (Sciurus) colliaei

  A tree squirrel from Mexico’s Pacific slope. A study in Jalisco recorded it in tropical dry forests, where it also ate fruit.

• White-winged Robin Peneothello sigillata

  The White-winged Robin has velvety black plumage and white patches in the wings. In New Guinea's mountains it forages in the lower forest levels for insects and also takes fruit and seeds.

• Townsend's Vole Microtus (Mynomes) townsendii

  Townsend's vole lives in wet meadows and wetlands along the Pacific coast of North America. It eats mostly grasses, with seasonal changes in its diet.

• Azure-breasted Pitta Pitta steerii

  This pitta is conspicuous for its bright blue breast and red lower belly. It lives in lowland forest on a limited group of Philippine islands.

• Northern Palm Squirrel Funambulus (Prasadsciurus) pennantii

  A South Asian squirrel that searches for food both in trees and on the ground.

• Purple Martin Progne subis

  This large swallow breeds in North America and catches flying insects. In the East it uses nest boxes, while in the West it uses woodpecker holes in dead trees, then migrates to South America after breeding.

• Fulvous Colilargo Oligoryzomys fulvescens

  The fulvous colilargo is a small rodent. A night survey recorded animals moving among ground-level weeds and climbing among the dry leaves of a felled tree.