Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Grey heron Ardea cinerea

  

  A large heron that waits in shallow water to catch fish and other prey. In flight it draws its long neck back toward the body.

• Common Mud Turtle Kinosternon subrubrum

  This turtle sometimes shelters around alligator nests.

• Cinnamon Quail-thrush Cinclosoma cinnamomeum

  This ground-dwelling bird of central Australia has different breast and wing patterns in males and females. Family groups hold territories in dry scrub and stony plains.

• Brown rat Rattus norvegicus

  A rat widely found around human settlements, using sewers, warehouses, fields and other places with water and food.

• Common frog Rana temporaria

  A long-legged frog of damp woods and meadows that lays its eggs in water.

• Giant Otter Shrew Potamogale velox

  The giant otter shrew is a semi-aquatic mammal of central African rivers and swamps. It swims by moving its laterally flattened tail and forages near water from dusk into the night.

• House sparrow Passer domesticus

  A small bird of towns and farms. Males and females differ in facial and chest markings; males have a black throat bib.

• Louisiana Alligator Alligator mississippiensis

  Other animals sometimes visit the area around its nests.

• Vulturine Guineafowl Acryllium vulturinum

  The Vulturine Guineafowl is a large bird of eastern Africa's dry grasslands and scrub. It walks on the ground in groups and is striking for its blue head and long black plumes.

• European hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus

  An animal of European grasslands, hedgerows and gardens. Spines cover its back, and it curls into a ball when threatened.

• African Clawed Frog Xenopus laevis

  In captive trials, tadpole growth and development changed in water treated with pesticides.

• Niemitz's Tarsier Tarsius niemitzi

  This tarsier occurs on the Togean Islands off Central Sulawesi. It was described as a distinct species in 2019, and a characteristic duet call made by a male and female is reported.

• Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs

  A familiar finch in Britain and Ireland. It searches the ground for seeds and insects, and shows white on its wings in flight.

• Broad-headed Skink Plestiodon laticeps

  This lizard sometimes moves and basks around alligator nests.

• Palawan Frogmouth Batrachostomus chaseni

  This frogmouth inhabits lowland forest on Palawan. Males are gray-brown and finely speckled; females are more rufous and less patterned.

• Pygmy Sperm Whale Kogia breviceps

  A small toothed whale of temperate and tropical seas worldwide, with a darker back and paler underside.

• Rhinella mirandaribeiroi

  A toad found in the South American Cerrado, a landscape that includes open grasslands and savanna.

• Formosan Rock Macaque Macaca cyclopis

  A macaque of Taiwan’s forests. It is mainly arboreal but also searches for food on the ground.

• Common Buzzard Buteo buteo

  In the UK, Common Buzzards circle on broad wings and search woods and open countryside for small prey.

• Loggerhead Turtle Caretta caretta

  A genome study reported about 2.13 billion base pairs in the loggerhead sea turtle assembly.

• Black-chested Jay Cyanocorax affinis

  The Black-chested Jay has a blue nape and tail, a dark chest, and pale underparts. It searches forest canopies for fruit and insects and may move in small groups.

• Dromedary camel Camelus dromedarius

  A dromedary is a one-humped domestic camel. People have long kept it for transport in dry regions of North Africa and the Middle East.

• Sun bear Helarctos malayanus

  A small bear of Southeast Asian tropical forests, with short black fur and round ears. Many have a pale chest marking.

• Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus

  This rattlesnake sometimes moves around alligator nests.