Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,673 · Stories: 19,540

• Nullarbor Quail-thrush Cinclosoma alisteri

  

  The Nullarbor Quail-thrush is a ground-dwelling bird of southern Australia’s Nullarbor Plain. It walks slowly while foraging in low vegetation around limestone outcrops.

• Simon's Spiny-rat Proechimys simonsi

  Simon’s spiny-rat is a large rodent with an elongated body, long face and ears, long hind feet, and a long tail. A Peruvian reserve study found only two individuals, both in undisturbed forest.

• Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris

  This small seabird lives mostly in Alaska and also in parts of Russia's Far East. The winter adult is mottled brown and white; although it lives at sea, a nest has been documented on a remote alpine ridge.

• South African springhare Pedetes capensis

  A nocturnal animal of southern Africa that makes long leaps and hides in burrows it digs itself.

• Chirruping Wedgebill Psophodes cristatus

  This bird lives in inland Australia. Its head is pale brownish-gray with fine streaks, the back is gray-brown, and the pale cream underparts have diffuse gray streaking. Tracked pairs stayed close during and after breeding.

• Yucatan Yellow Bat Rhogeessa aenea

  This small bat is recorded mainly in the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula. A Mexican biodiversity profile describes sex-related ear features and records from forests, farmland, and built-up places.

• Inca Wren Pheugopedius eisenmanni

  A wren of humid mountain forest in southern Peru, marked by a white eyebrow and barred tail.

• East African Mole Rat Tachyoryctes splendens

  The East African root rat occurs in patches of fertile soil in the northeastern African highlands. It excavates extensive underground burrows and makes nests from plant material and fecal matter.

• Lesser Melampitta Melampitta lugubris

  The Lesser Melampitta lives in New Guinea's montane forests. This account separates an early description of an adult male from one survey record in eastern Papua New Guinea.

• Eastern Spotted Skunk Spilogale putorius

  White stripes on the black body break into spots toward the rump. A 2015 survey in South Carolina recorded it at night in mixed and conifer-dominated forests.

• Philippine Fairy-bluebird Irena cyanogastra

  A fruit-eating forest bird endemic to the Philippines, it searches for figs and other fruit high in the canopy. Both sexes have glossy blue-and-black plumage.

• Emilio's Tuco-tuco Ctenomys emilianus

  Emilio's tuco-tuco is a subterranean rodent known from dune areas in Neuquén, Argentina. Its pale fawn back contrasts with whitish sides and belly.

• Asian Openbill Anastomus oscitans

  A stork of Asian wetlands whose bill has a gap between the mandibles except near the tip.

• Spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta

  A carnivore of sub-Saharan Africa, with dark spots on a pale coat, rounded ears and a back that slopes down toward the rump.

• Drakensberg Rockjumper Chaetops aurantius

  It lives in rocky mountain grassland and searches the ground for insects and other small invertebrates. The male has bold facial and chest markings.

• Ruidoso Pocket Gopher Megascapheus ruidosae

  This pocket gopher was described from Ruidoso, New Mexico. The original description records dark brown to nearly black fur above, ochre-brown sides and underside, and white feet and tail tip.

• Taliabu Masked Owl Tyto nigrobrunnea

  The Taliabu Masked Owl is a rare owl known from Taliabu Island. Its plumage is described, but its feeding and breeding habits remain unknown.

• Cape Porcupine Hystrix (Hystrix) africaeaustralis

  A porcupine covered in long, stiff quills, native to central and southern Africa.

• Pink-tailed Rosefinch Urocynchramus pylzowi

  This finch-like bird has a long graduated tail with bright pink. In field studies at Qinghai Nanshan it stayed among shrubs and foraged at or near the ground.

• Gobi Jerboa Allactaga (Orientallactaga) bullata

  This jerboa ranges across northern China and Mongolia. It lives in open sandy desert, uses burrows alone, and has a tail tuft with white and black markings.

• Sooty Oystercatcher Haematopus fuliginosus

  The Sooty Oystercatcher has a black body and a red-orange bill. Along Australian coasts it searches for shellfish and other small animals, and it may form flocks outside the breeding season.

• Olinguito Bassaricyon neblina

  A mammal of Andean cloud forests in Colombia and Ecuador, with long dense fur tinged with red and black. It lives in trees.

• Great Iora Aegithina lafresnayei

  The Great Iora is a small bird with a yellow face and underparts and a black-edged yellow forecrown. It lives in lowland evergreen and semi-deciduous forests.

• Ganges River Dolphin Platanista gangetica

  A freshwater dolphin of river systems in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. It has very poor sight and uses echoes from ultrasonic sounds to locate fish and other prey.