Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,825 · Stories: 19,540

• Dall's Porpoise Phocoenoides dalli

  

  A porpoise found widely in coastal and offshore waters of the North Pacific, including around Japan. Its markings vary by region and life stage.

• Yucatan Nightjar Antrostomus badius

  The Yucatan Nightjar lives in forests and at forest edges on the Yucatán Peninsula. Its camouflaged plumage helps it remain difficult to see as it hunts from perches.

• Chinese zokor Eospalax fontanierii

  The Chinese zokor is a subterranean rodent. In the studied subspecies, E. f. baileyi, researchers describe a rounded body, short snout, eyes and tail, and gray-brown fur.

• Hodgson's Treecreeper Certhia hodgsoni

  Hodgson's Treecreeper is a small bird of mountain regions from Pakistan east to China. It has a brown back and pale underside, and searches tree bark for insects and spiders.

• Southern Tree Hyrax Dendrohyrax arboreus

  The southern tree hyrax is a tree-dwelling mammal with soft grey-brown fur, found in forests across eastern and southern Africa.

• Bearded Bellbird Procnias averano

  The Bearded Bellbird is noted for the male’s black, beard-like throat wattles and the different plumage of males and females. Males give loud bell-like calls and eat fruit.

• Chinese Ferret-badger Melogale moschata

  The Chinese ferret-badger is a small badger with a white forehead, black face, and long bushy tail. It is active at night and eats insects, earthworms, and small animals.

• Western Chat-Tanager Calyptophilus tertius

  This long-tailed, ground-feeding bird lives in wet broadleaf forest on Hispaniola. It searches through leaf litter and stays among dense undergrowth, especially near streams.

• Crowned Sifaka Propithecus coronatus

  A lemur of western Madagascar that moves through trees and feeds on leaves and fruit.

• Buru Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx cajeli

  A small kingfisher endemic to Buru Island, Indonesia. Wallace's original description notes a black upper surface with pale-blue spots and feather edges, rufous-yellow underparts, a white throat, and coral-red bill and feet. A later nineteenth-century letter describes feeding in swamp thickets.

• Common Punaré Thrichomys apereoides

  This spiny rat is known from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Studies report insects and seeds in its diet and suggest it may help disperse some small seeds.

• Tui Parakeet Brotogeris sanctithomae

  The Tui Parakeet is a green parrot with a yellow patch on its forehead. It occurs in several parts of South America and uses wooded habitats near water.

• African Sheath-tailed Bat Coleura afra

  A 2014 first-country record found about 5,000 bats in a cave in lowland rainforest southeast of Edea, Cameroon. Two captured females had deep sepia-brown backs and paler undersides.

• White-winged Becard Pachyramphus polychopterus

  The White-winged Becard shows regional variation in male plumage across Central and South America. It uses forest edges and second growth, alone or in pairs, and moves through middle tree levels.

• Red-handed Howler Alouatta belzebul

  This howler monkey occurs in Brazil. Its mostly black coat contrasts with red hands, feet, and tail tip; an Atlantic Forest study also documented how one group moved through its range.

• European Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus

  This raptor varies greatly in plumage. It is a summer visitor in Europe and searches for food in open woodland during the breeding season.

• Black-tailed Jack Rabbit Lepus californicus

  A hare found from the southwestern United States into parts of Mexico, known for long ears and a black tail.

• Crested Treeswift Hemiprocne coronata

  This swift is marked by a forehead crest and long wing tips that cross over its back when it perches.

• Greater Glider Petauroides volans

  This nocturnal marsupial lives in forests of eastern Australia. It glides between trees using a membrane between its limbs and eats eucalyptus leaves.

• Two-banded Puffbird Hypnelus bicinctus

  This large-headed puffbird occurs in Colombia and Venezuela. A white eye mask extends onto the neck, and two dark bands cross the chest.

• Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat Rhinopoma hardwickii

  This long-tailed bat occurs from the Middle East into South Asia. It roosts in rock fissures, caves, and abandoned structures; a study in northern India found it using historical buildings and feeding on insects.

• Greater Green Leafbird Chloropsis sonnerati

  The male is green, with a black throat patch and blue moustachial stripe that can blend into the leaves. In the canopy it eats fruit, nectar, and insects.

• Ribbon Seal Histriophoca fasciata

  A seal of the North Pacific and southern Arctic Ocean whose mature coat has pale bands around the neck, foreflippers and hips.

• Southern ground hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri

  A large black hornbill that walks over the ground searching for small animals.