Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Chestnut Thrush Turdus rubrocanus

  

  The Chestnut Thrush moves quietly through forests around the Himalaya and descends to lower elevations in winter.

• 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.

• Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch Carpodacus thura

  The Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch uses scrubby and semi-open habitats around the Himalaya. Males are lilac-pink, while females are brown and streaked, so the sexes look different.

• Asia Minor Ground Squirrel Spermophilus xanthoprymnus

  The Asia Minor Ground Squirrel lives in steppes and alpine meadows from Anatolia in Turkey to Armenia and northwestern Iran. It is active by day and hibernates in winter.

• Black Cuckooshrike Campephaga flava

  The Black Cuckooshrike lives in woodland across eastern and southern Africa. Males occur in an all-black form and a form with yellow wing patches.

• 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.

• Andaman Shama Copsychus albiventris

  This long-tailed shama lives in the forests of the Andaman Islands. An observer describes it as similar to the mainland Oriental Magpie-Robin, but with a white belly. It has been heard singing in the lower forest.

• European hamster Cricetus cricetus

  A wild hamster that carries plants and grains in its cheek pouches and stores them underground.

• Fulvous Parrotbill Suthora fulvifrons

  This parrotbill inhabits dense bamboo in or near forest in the Himalaya. A buff head and breast, dark crown stripe, and rufous wings and tail help identify it; it feeds on buds, seeds, and insects.

• Watson's Climbing Rat Tylomys watsoni

  Watson's climbing rat has a long, white-tipped tail and large ears. It uses trees at night but is also recorded on the ground around rocks and fallen logs.

• Gray Vireo Vireo vicinior

  Gray Vireos breed in dry scrub of the southwestern United States. Many winter in Mexico and use similar scrub as well as desert stream areas.

• North American Water Vole Microtus richardsoni

  A vole that lives near water in western North American mountains. It burrows by water and is mostly active at night, though daytime activity has also been recorded.

• Costa Rican Brush Finch Arremon costaricensis

  This brush finch lives in forests of Costa Rica and western Panama. Its 1907 description noted the olive back and yellow wing bend as differences from a close relative.

• Hirsute Cotton Rat Sigmodon (Sigmodon) hirsutus

  The hirsute cotton rat occurs in grasslands and agricultural areas from Central America into northern South America. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of S. hispidus.

• East Coast Boubou Laniarius sublacteus

  A bushshrike with glossy blue-black upperparts and a white underside. It uses dense forest cover along eastern Africa's coast and rivers.

• Arizona Cotton Rat Sigmodon (Sigmodon) arizonae

  The Arizona cotton rat is a large rodent of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It has dark brown-black fur above and silver or white fur below.

• Silver-rumped Spinetail Rhaphidura leucopygialis

  The Silver-rumped Spinetail is a small swift of Southeast Asian forests and their surroundings. Its dark body and silvery-white rump stand out, and it catches insects in flight.

• Western Amazonian Nectomys Nectomys apicalis

  Nectomys apicalis is a rodent of the western Amazon. A study recorded it in mature forest close to streams at Peru's Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve. The paper also reports the western Amazon form from eastern Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil's Juruá region.

• Choco Tapaculo Scytalopus chocoensis

  This tapaculo was described from wet Pacific-slope forest in Ecuador. The paper describes a male type specimen and notes that earlier reports had assigned the species' vocalizations to other tapaculos.

• 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.

• Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis

  This large albatross ranges over the Southern Ocean. Plumage varies with sex, age, and subspecies, and it breeds on islands south of New Zealand.

• Azara's Broad-headed Oryzomys Hylaeamys megacephalus

  Short ochre, yellow or orange fur with dark ticking covers its back, while the underside is gray. It is mainly ground-dwelling and ranges through forested parts of northern and central South America.

• Rufous-thighed Kite Harpagus diodon

  This raptor occurs where forest meets savanna. It has rufous thighs, yellow legs, and a brown stripe down the center of its throat.

• Flavescent Colilargo Oligoryzomys flavescens

  This small rodent has a tail longer than its body and is recorded along grassland and wetland edges in Paraguay.