Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,584 · Stories: 19,526

• Common Spotted Cuscus Spilocuscus maculatus

  

  The common spotted cuscus is a marsupial with a long tail that can grip branches. It lives in lowland tropical forest in New Guinea and also in mangroves in northeastern Australia, feeding mainly on leaves.

• Chatham Oystercatcher Haematopus chathamensis

  

  The Chatham Island Oystercatcher is a black-and-white shorebird found only on the Chatham Islands. Pairs defend coastal territories throughout the year.

• South American fur seal Arctocephalus australis

  

  A fur seal of South American waters that spends much of its time at sea and gathers on rocky shores to breed.

• African Dwarf Kingfisher Ispidina lecontei

  

  The African Dwarf Kingfisher is described as the world's smallest kingfisher, with an orange forehead, rufous crown, and blue-violet back.

• Peruvian Armored Tree-rat Toromys rhipidurus

  

  This is an arboreal spiny rat recorded in the Peruvian Amazon. A live animal captured near Iquitos showed pale cream patches behind its ears.

• Fawn-breasted Bowerbird Chlamydera cerviniventris

  

  The Fawn-breasted Bowerbird occurs on New Guinea and in northern Australia. The male builds a stick bower and uses it in courtship.

• Northern Bamboo Lemur Hapalemur occidentalis

  The Northern Bamboo Lemur occurs in northeastern and northwestern Madagascar. It is said to show little difference in appearance between sexes, but field studies remain limited.

• Fork-tailed Storm Petrel Hydrobates furcatus

  The Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel is a North Pacific seabird. Its bluish-grey body and forked tail are distinctive, and it feeds close to the sea surface.

• Allen's Olingo Bassaricyon alleni

  A member of the raccoon family found in forests east of the Andes. It is active in trees at night.

• Black-tailed Trogon Trogon melanurus

  This trogon is often found in Amazonian floodplain forest. Both sexes share a red belly and black underside of the tail; males are iridescent green and females are grey.

• Hairy Long-eared Bat Nycteris hispida

  The hairy long-eared bat occurs widely in sub-Saharan Africa. Its ears are longer than its head, and the long tail has a T-shaped tip.

• Madagascar Hoopoe Upupa marginata

  The Madagascar Hoopoe searches for small prey on the ground in dry woodland and other open habitats on the island.

• Antafia Sportive Lemur Lepilemur aeeclis

  Lepilemur aeeclis occurs in northwestern Madagascar. A forest survey in the Antrema protected area reported this mainly leaf-eating lemur more often in closed-canopy forest and less often in shrub, dune, and wooded agricultural sites.

• Black-headed Shrike-Babbler Pteruthius rufiventer

  The Black-headed Shrike-Babbler lives in Himalayan forests. Males have a black head and chestnut breast, while females are mainly olive green.

• Masked palm civet Paguma larvata

  A climbing civet that lives in forests and near human settlements.

• Brown Skua Stercorarius antarcticus

  The Brown Skua is a large seabird that breeds on islands south of New Zealand and may pursue other seabirds at sea.

• Schulz's Round-eared Bat Lophostoma schulzi

  Schulz's round-eared bat occurs on the Guiana Shield. It was recorded in high forest at Brownsberg Nature Park in Suriname.

• Kakapo Strigops habroptila

  The kākāpō is a large, nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand. It cannot fly and has moss-green plumage mottled with yellow and black. It now occurs only on forested islands, where the population is intensively managed to protect it from introduced predators.

• Crossley's Dwarf Lemur Cheirogaleus crossleyi

  Crossley's dwarf lemur is nocturnal and lives in humid forests of eastern and northern Madagascar. Its reddish-brown body contrasts with dark fur around the eyes and ears.

• Flightless Cormorant Nannopterum harrisi

  The flightless cormorant dives from the Galápagos coast to catch fish and octopus.

• Helan Shan Pika Ochotona (Pika) argentata

  This pika lives in China's Helan Shan. Its coat changes with the seasons, appearing bright red in summer and silvery gray in winter.

• Red-naped Ibis Pseudibis papillosa

  The Red-naped Ibis has a red crown and dark body. In South Asia it may forage in dry grassland or farmland away from wetlands.

• Eastern Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock leuconedys

  Eastern hoolock gibbons live in forests from Myanmar and northeastern India to southern Yunnan in China. Pairs sing in coordinated calls.

• White-collared Oliveback Nesocharis ansorgei

  The male has a white collar between its throat and breast, with olive upperparts and grey underparts. It takes small seeds in wet thickets and along streams.