Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,636 · Stories: 19,540

• Gray whale Eschrichtius robustus

  

  A mottled gray whale of the North Pacific, with a low hump in place of a dorsal fin.

• Cone-head Chameleon Chamaeleo calyptratus

  The veiled chameleon is a large arboreal chameleon with grasping feet and a fully prehensile tail. In an indoor study of nine animals, it used its tail for support when crossing gaps.

• Tit Hylia Pholidornis rushiae

  This small bird lives in moist lowland forest in West and Central Africa. It is also recorded at forest edges and clearings, in gardens, and on plantations.

• Common nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos

  A migratory bird breeding in scrubby woodland. Birds breeding in Britain spend winter in West Africa.

• Central American Agouti Dasyprocta punctata

  The Central American agouti is a slender rodent with a short tail. A field study in Panama recorded it carrying fruit and seeds and burying them in scattered caches.

• St. Johann's Tree Snake Lycodryas maculatus

  A tree snake from Anjouan and Mayotte in the Comoros archipelago, mainly active at night.

• Mountain Hare Lepus timidus

  This hare ranges across much of Europe and northern Asia, with coat changes that vary by region and climate.

• New Zealand Kaka Nestor meridionalis

  The New Zealand Kaka is a forest parrot that searches for food in trees.

• Musky Rat Kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus

  The musky rat kangaroo is a small marsupial of northeastern Australian rainforests. It eats mainly insects and searches by turning over debris while sitting on its haunches.

• Eurasian coot Fulica atra

  A swimming waterbird of lakes and ponds with a conspicuous white forehead.

• Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus

  This rattlesnake sometimes moves around alligator nests.

• Bornean Bristlehead Pityriasis gymnocephala

  The Bornean Bristlehead is a Borneo bird with a red head, a large bill, and bristle-like feathers around its head and cheeks. It moves through the forest in noisy groups.

• Beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas

  An Arctic whale that becomes white as it matures. It has a rounded forehead and no dorsal fin.

• Southern Aardwolf Proteles cristata

  It can raise the long hairs along its back and feeds mainly on termites. It occurs in southern Africa, where records include karroid country, grassland and scrub, open savanna woodland, and inland gravel plains.

• Toko Narrow-disked Gecko Gekko gecko

  This large gecko is active at night. Its blue-gray body has red or orange spots.

• White stork Ciconia ciconia

  Adults have white bodies, black wing feathers, long legs and a reddish bill. They use open wetlands in Europe and other parts of their range.

• Japanese Accentor Prunella rubida

  The Japanese Accentor breeds in Japan's mountains and appears at lower elevations in winter. The sexes look alike; in winter, the Kyoto branch of the Wild Bird Society of Japan records it in riverside scrub and similar cover.

• Velvety Myotis Myotis (Pizonyx) simus

  The velvety myotis is a South American bat with short, dense reddish fur. It searches for insects soon after sunset and roosts in tree holes, caves, and other sheltered places.

• Amazon river dolphin Inia geoffrensis

  A long-beaked dolphin that lives in freshwater in the Amazon basin.

• Broad-headed Skink Plestiodon laticeps

  This lizard sometimes moves and basks around alligator nests.

• Common Loon Gavia immer

  A large waterbird that chases fish underwater and changes its plumage noticeably between summer and winter.

• Common Swift Apus apus

  A summer visitor to the UK, the Common Swift spends almost all its life on the wing, catching small insects and spiders in the air.

• Gilbert's Dunnart Sminthopsis gilberti

  This small marsupial occurs in separated populations in Western Australia. It hunts insects at night and nests in vegetation or hollows.

• Yellow-bellied Slider Trachemys scripta

  This turtle sometimes basks and moves around alligator nests.