Meet the world’s animals.

Photos: 12,813 · Stories: 19,540

• Eurasian beaver Castor fiber

  

  A large rodent that swims in rivers and lakes and feeds on waterside plants.

• Haitian solenodon Solenodon paradoxus

  The Haitian Solenodon is a nocturnal mammal that probes the forest floor with its long, mobile snout. It searches for insects and other small animals in Hispaniola’s forests.

• Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus

  Its plumage ranges from nearly white to dark gray-brown; gray birds are most common in North America. It breeds on tundra in Alaska and northern Canada.

• Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus

  A plover with a long crest and glossy green plumage. It breeds in lowland Britain and is also widespread in lowlands and coastal wetlands in winter.

• Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus

  This rattlesnake sometimes moves around alligator nests.

• Simon's Spiny-rat Proechimys simonsi

  Simon’s spiny-rat is a large rodent with an elongated body, long face and ears, long hind feet, and a long tail. A Peruvian reserve study found only two individuals, both in undisturbed forest.

• Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx

  A wild cat of Europe and Asia, with black ear tufts and a prominent ruff around its cheeks.

• Galapagos Hawk Buteo galapagoensis

  The Galapagos Hawk is a large raptor of the islands. Adults are dark, juveniles are paler, and females are larger than males.

• Louisiana Alligator Alligator mississippiensis

  Other animals sometimes visit the area around its nests.

• 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.

• Western long-beaked echidna Zaglossus bruijni

  The western long-beaked echidna is an egg-laying mammal with a long, downward-curving snout. It occurs on New Guinea.

• Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill Bycanistes subcylindricus

  A black-and-white forest hornbill with a large bill, it feeds on fruit and changes its movements with the season

• African wild ass Equus africanus

  A wild ass of Northeast Africa. This entry treats it as a wild species, separate from the domestic donkey.

• Western Japanese skink Plestiodon japonicus

  A smooth-scaled lizard of woodland edges and stone walls that basks during the day.

• Banded linsang Prionodon linsang

  A slender animal with dark bands, found in Southeast Asian forests. It uses both trees and the ground and hunts alone.

• 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.

• Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen

  The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black-and-white bird found across Australia. Its back pattern varies by sex and region.

• Indo-Pacific Crocodile Crocodylus porosus

  Male saltwater crocodiles tracked in northern Australia moved at sea toward their original capture sites after release elsewhere.

• Mediterranean Monk Seal Monachus monachus

  A rare seal found in the Mediterranean and along northwest Africa; it feeds on fish, octopus and other prey.

• Naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber

  The naked mole-rat lives in underground tunnels in dry parts of eastern Africa.

• Andean Potoo Nyctibius maculosus

  Fine gray, brown, and black markings and yellow eyes stand out on this nocturnal bird of Andean cloud forest.

• Great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo

  A long-necked swimmer that dives to catch fish.

• Campbell's alligator lizard Abronia campbelli

  An arboreal lizard from Guatemala. In a 2009 survey, animals were found in old oak trees covered with dense plant growth.

• Northern Pika Ochotona (Pika) hyperborea

  A pika whose coat is reddish in summer and grayer in winter. It lives among rocky talus in moist conifer forests and stores plants as hay.