Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Plush-coated Ring-tailed Possum Pseudochirops corinnae

  

  This ring-tailed possum lives in the trees of New Guinea's montane forests. It curls its tail into a ring and feeds mainly on leaves.

• Rosy Pipit Anthus roseatus

  A small pipit that breeds in high mountain grasslands. It descends after breeding, and northern populations migrate. Adults in breeding plumage show a faint rosy wash from the throat to the belly.

• Arabian Mouse-tailed Bat Rhinopoma cystops

  This long-tailed bat has also been recorded in southwestern Algeria. About half of its tail lies within the narrow membrane between the hind legs. A survey there found groups in rocky cavities and a cave.

• Peruvian Pelican Pelecanus thagus

  The Peruvian Pelican is a large pelican of the Pacific coast along the Humboldt Current. It catches fish near the surface and also uses areas around fishing ports.

• Southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina

  A seal of the seas around Antarctica that dives deep to find food.

• Sunbittern Eurypyga helias

  The Sunbittern is reported in watery habitats in Guatemala and northern Brazil. When frightened, it spreads its wings and tail to reveal hidden orange and chestnut patches.

• Japanese squirrel Sciurus (Sciurus) lis

  A squirrel of Japanese forests. It is active by day and continues foraging through winter without hibernating.

• Thick-billed Longspur Rhynchophanes mccownii

  The Thick-billed Longspur breeds in North American shortgrass prairie and moves to open land farther south for winter.

• 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.

• Rufous-chested Dotterel Charadrius modestus

  This plover breeds in grasslands and wetlands at the southern tip of South America. Some move north along the Pacific coast outside the breeding season, while others remain in the south throughout the year.

• Chinese Pygmy Dormouse Typhlomys cinereus

  The Chinese Pygmy Dormouse is a small rodent recorded in the mountains of southeastern China. It has small eyes and a tuft at the end of its tail, and uses ultrasonic calls to move in darkness.

• Bronze-winged Courser Rhinoptilus chalcopterus

  The Bronze-winged Courser is a ground-dwelling bird of dry African country. It is mostly active at dusk and night, and usually runs rather than flies when disturbed.

• Turkestan Red Pika Ochotona (Conothoa) rutila

  The Turkestan red pika is a pika of Central Asian mountains. Its coat is reddish brown in summer and gray in winter, and it stores grass among rocky slopes.

• Green Crombec Sylvietta virens

  The Green Crombec inhabits African forest and woodland edge. The source places the nominate subspecies in a range that includes Cameroon and Gabon.

• Rice's whale Balaenoptera ricei

  Rice's whale is a baleen whale that lives year-round in the Gulf of America. It is dark gray above and pale below; it is thought to dive deep by day to feed on fish.

• Chinstrap penguin Pygoscelis antarcticus

  A penguin with a narrow black line running beneath the chin like a strap. It breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula and islands in the South Atlantic.

• Brown Greater Galago Otolemur crassicaudatus

  A primate with large eyes and ears and a long tail. It is active at night and eats gum, fruit, seeds, insects, and other foods.

• 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.

• Amsterdam Fur Seal Arctocephalus tropicalis

  The Amsterdam fur seal breeds on islands north of Antarctica and moves between rocky coasts and the surrounding sea.

• Pycroft's Petrel Pterodroma pycrofti

  Pycroft's Petrel breeds on islands off the northeastern North Island of New Zealand. It is active at night around colonies and feeds on small crustaceans and squid near the sea surface during long flights.

• Pygmy Killer Whale Feresa attenuata

  A small dolphin that lives in deep offshore waters of tropical and subtropical seas.

• Green Hylia Hylia prasina

  This small bird has separate populations in western and eastern Africa and lives in forest. Its dark olive upperparts and pale-yellow eyebrow are distinctive; it eats insects.

• Rio Negro Silky Anteater Cyclopes ida

  Cyclopes ida is a silky anteater of the Amazon basin. Its specialist-group account says it is common in seasonally flooded blackwater forest and along small tributaries, and that ants make up almost all of its diet.

• Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae

  With its long neck and yellow bill, it catches fish in water and may spread its wings to dry while perched.