HideShark

Temperate forest

Temperate forests swing through four distinct seasons. Many residents hibernate, cache food, or migrate to ride out the cold, leafless months.

1452 animals in this habitat

Amphibians NE Mole Salamander Ambystomatidae A mole salamander is a stout burrowing amphibian of North America that spends most of the year underground and emerges on rainy nights to breed in temporary pools; the family includes the axolotl. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Moth Lepidoptera A moth is a scaled-winged insect of the order Lepidoptera, which outnumbers butterflies about nine to one, and many adults never feed at all, living only long enough to mate and lay eggs. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Squirrel Sciuridae A squirrel belongs to the rodent family Sciuridae — tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, flying squirrels — and a nut-hoarder plants forests by forgetting where it buried them. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Viper Viperidae A viper is a venomous snake with long hinged fangs that fold flat against the roof of the mouth and swing forward to stab, injecting a venom that mostly destroys tissue and blood rather than nerves. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Wasp Vespidae and relatives A wasp is a stinging relative of bees and ants, most species solitary hunters that paralyse prey for their young, and collectively one of the biggest natural checks on insect numbers. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bee Anthophila A bee is a wasp that turned vegetarian, feeding itself and its young on pollen and nectar, and in doing so became the most important pollinator of wild plants and crops on Earth. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Cobra Naja and relatives A cobra is a venomous snake that rears up and spreads a hood of loose neck skin as a warning, and several species can spray venom from the fangs straight at an attacker's eyes. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Deer Cervidae A deer is a hoofed browser whose males grow and shed a fresh set of branching antlers every year, the fastest normal bone growth known in any animal, then drop them and start again. Read the guide →
Birds NE Parrot Psittaciformes A parrot is a bird with a hooked bill, a grasping foot with two toes forward and two back, and among the largest brains for its body size of any bird, which is why many can imitate speech. Read the guide →
Birds NE Woodpecker Picidae A woodpecker is a bird that hammers into wood thousands of times a day, braced on a stiff tail, cushioned against the shock, and firing a spear-tipped tongue that wraps around its own skull. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Beetle Coleoptera A beetle is an insect with its front wings hardened into a case over its back, a design so durable that around one in every four named animal species on Earth is a kind of beetle. Read the guide →
Birds NE Eagle Accipitridae An eagle is a large bird of prey with eyesight several times sharper than a human's, a grip that can exceed its own body weight, and a build made for killing animals as big as itself. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Mole Talpidae A mole is a small, cylindrical mammal built for a life underground, with reversed spade-shaped hands, hidden eyes, and blood that stores extra oxygen for working in stale tunnel air. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Spider Araneae A spider is an eight-legged hunter that builds with silk, digests its prey outside its body, and in almost every species carries venom, though very few can seriously harm a person. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE True Frog Ranidae A true frog is a member of the family Ranidae, the long-legged, smooth-skinned, powerful jumpers of pond and stream that most people picture first when they hear the word frog. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Ant Formicidae An ant is a member of a colony that works as a single superorganism — a long-lived queen and a sterile female workforce — and the world's ants weigh about as much as all wild birds and mammals. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Bat Chiroptera A bat is the only mammal that truly flies, using a wing of skin stretched over long finger bones, and most bats navigate and hunt in total darkness by shouting and listening to the echoes. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Chameleon Chamaeleonidae A chameleon is a tree lizard that grips branches with pincer feet, aims each eye on its own, fires a spring-loaded tongue longer than its body, and changes colour mainly to signal mood. Read the guide →
Birds NE Owl Strigiformes An owl is a bird built to hunt in near-darkness, with huge fixed eyes, a head that turns most of the way round, offset ears that pinpoint sound in three dimensions, and near-silent flight. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Salamander Caudata A salamander is a tailed, lizard-shaped amphibian with soft moist skin, and as a group salamanders are the best limb-regenerators among vertebrates, regrowing legs and tails without a scar. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Tree Frog Hylidae A tree frog is any of the small climbing frogs that grip smooth leaves with sticky toe pads, most green for camouflage, and some able to flash bright colours to startle a predator. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Caterpillar Lepidoptera A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly or moth, an eating machine that can multiply its weight thousands of times, moults its skin several times, and then dissolves itself inside a pupa. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Least Weasel Mustela nivalis The least weasel is the smallest meat-eating mammal in the world, a thumb-thin predator that can chase a mouse down its own burrow but must eat a third of its body weight a day to stay alive. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Newt Pleurodelinae A newt is a small salamander that returns to water each spring to breed, where the male grows a crest and courts by fanning pheromones with his tail; the young spend a land phase called an eft. Read the guide →
Birds NE Potoo Nyctibiidae The potoo is a nocturnal insect-catcher of American forests that spends the day frozen upright on a broken branch, bill to the sky, so well disguised as a dead stump that people walk past it. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Skink Scincidae A skink is a smooth, close-scaled lizard with a wedge head and a long tapering tail, built for slipping through grass and leaf litter, and many kinds have lost their legs and burrow like snakes. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Slug Gastropoda A slug is a land snail that has lost its shell, gliding on a ribbon of mucus with its eyes on stalks, and while gardeners fear it, most species eat rotting matter, not living plants. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Toad Bufonidae A toad is a frog with dry, warty skin and short legs that walks rather than leaps, carries a pair of poison glands behind the eyes, and returns each spring to the pond where it was born. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Caecilian Gymnophiona Caecilians are the third, least-known amphibian order — limbless burrowers that look like large earthworms, feel their way with a pair of tentacles, and in some the young eat the mother's skin. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Glow-worm Lampyris noctiluca The glow-worm is a beetle, not a worm, whose wingless adult female climbs a grass stem on summer nights and shines a steady green light from her tail to call in the small flying male. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Ocellated Lizard Timon lepidus The ocellated lizard is the largest lizard in Europe, a heavy, big-headed reptile of dry southwestern scrub and vineyards, green with a row of bright blue eye-spots down each flank. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rook Corvus frugilegus The rook is a sociable European crow of farmland, told from a carrion crow by the bare greyish skin around the base of its pale bill and by its habit of nesting in noisy treetop colonies. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Stick Insect Phasmatodea Stick insects are twig-shaped plant-eaters that hide by looking exactly like the branch they sit on, include the longest insect in the world, and in many species breed without any males at all. Read the guide →
Birds LC Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto The collared dove is a pale sandy pigeon with a black neck ring and a soft three-note coo that spread across Europe in a few decades and then colonised most of North America from a small escape. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cricket Gryllidae Crickets are long-whiskered, mostly nocturnal insects whose males sing by rubbing their wings together, and one is farmed for food while another tells the temperature by its chirp rate. Read the guide →
Birds LC Jackdaw Corvus monedula The jackdaw is the smallest of the European crows, a sociable grey-naped black bird with a pale staring eye that lives in noisy flocks, nests in chimneys and cliffs, and pairs for life. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Jefferson Salamander Ambystoma jeffersonianum The Jefferson salamander is a slender mole salamander of eastern North American woods that breeds in icy vernal pools in late winter, and its ponds hold an ancient all-female salamander lineage. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Sand Lizard Lacerta agilis The sand lizard is a stocky, blotch-backed lizard of sandy heaths and dunes whose breeding males flush brilliant green, and in Britain it is a rare, protected species rebuilt by reintroduction. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Smooth Snake Coronella austriaca The smooth snake is a slim, non-venomous European snake with glossy unkeeled scales that constricts lizards nearly as long as itself, and in Britain it is the rarest reptile. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus The blue tit is a tiny, acrobatic blue-and-yellow bird of European woods and gardens that hangs upside down to feed and times its single brood to the spring rush of caterpillars. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Common Wall Lizard Podarcis muralis The common wall lizard is the small, flat, quick lizard seen basking on sunny walls and ruins across Europe, and it has founded thriving colonies far outside its range, including one in Ohio. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris The earthworm is a burrowing segmented worm that eats its way through soil and dead leaves, mixing and aerating the ground, a process Charles Darwin showed slowly builds the world's topsoil. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus The eastern chipmunk is a small striped ground squirrel of North American woods and gardens that packs its cheek pouches with seeds, hoards them in a hidden burrow, and dozes through winter. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC European Tree Frog Hyla arborea The European tree frog is a small, bright green climbing frog of mainland Europe that spends warm days basking on leaves and fills spring nights with a loud rasping chorus. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Grasshopper Caelifera Grasshoppers are jumping, plant-eating insects with short antennae and huge hind legs that can fling them twenty body lengths, and a few of them turn into swarming locusts when crowded. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Viviparous Lizard Zootoca vivipara The viviparous lizard is the most widespread lizard on Earth, ranging from Ireland to the Pacific and into the Arctic, and most populations give birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus The wood pigeon is the largest and commonest pigeon in Britain and much of Europe, a plump grey farmland bird with a white neck patch that has left the woods to fill towns, gardens, and parks. Read the guide →
Birds LC American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos The American crow is a glossy black bird of North America known for its harsh caw, its winter roosts of thousands, and its ability to remember and hold a grudge against individual people. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Elk Cervus canadensis The elk, or wapiti, is one of the largest deer in the world, a North American and Central Asian herd animal whose bulls grow sweeping antlers each year and bugle through the autumn rut. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC European Adder Vipera berus The European adder is the most widespread snake in the world and the only venomous snake native to Britain, a zigzag-backed viper ranging from Western Europe to the Pacific. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Fowler's Toad Anaxyrus fowleri Fowler's toad is a common brown toad of the eastern United States, told apart from the American toad by its warty spots, plain belly, and a nasal, bleating call like a crying baby. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Garden Snail Cornu aspersum The garden snail is the common brown-shelled snail of European gardens and hedgerows, a hermaphrodite that fires a chalky love dart at its mate and seals itself in to wait out dry spells. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Grass Snake Natrix natrix The grass snake is the largest and commonest snake in Britain, a harmless olive-green swimmer that hunts frogs and toads, lays eggs in compost heaps, and plays dead when threatened. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Tit Parus major The great tit is the largest tit in Europe, a bold black-capped, yellow-breasted woodland and garden bird with a huge vocabulary and a black chest stripe that signals how dominant each bird is. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Palmate Newt Lissotriton helveticus The palmate newt is the smallest newt in Britain and western Europe, a delicate amphibian whose breeding male grows black webs on his hind feet and a fine thread off the tip of his tail. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Cope's Gray Treefrog Hyla chrysoscelis Cope's gray treefrog is a warty, colour-changing tree frog of the eastern United States, a look-alike of the common gray treefrog told apart only by its faster call and its chromosome count. Read the guide →
Birds NT Palm Cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus The palm cockatoo is a large smoky-black parrot of New Guinea and northern Australia with a huge bill and red cheeks, and males drum on hollow trees with a shaped stick to mark their territory. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Ring-necked Snake Diadophis punctatus The ring-necked snake is a small secretive snake of North America with a slate back, a bright collar, and a yellow-to-red belly it flashes by coiling its tail into a corkscrew when cornered. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Sheltopusik Pseudopus apodus The sheltopusik is the largest legless lizard, a metre-long armour-scaled reptile of southeast Europe and Asia that looks like a snake but has eyelids and a tail that shatters when grabbed. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Two-lined Salamander Eurycea bislineata The two-lined salamander is a slim yellow-brown brook salamander of eastern North America with a dark stripe down each side, a night hunter of stream edges that breathes through its skin. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Anegada Iguana Cyclura pinguis The Anegada iguana is a large, pale rock iguana found naturally only on the flat island of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands, once nearly extinct and now recovering through a head-start programme. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Antiguan Racer Alsophis antiguae The Antiguan racer is a slender, non-venomous snake once called the world's rarest, which was rescued from near-extinction on a tiny island off Antigua by removing the rats that preyed on it. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bee-fly Bombylius major The bee-fly is a furry, bumblebee-like spring fly with a long rigid snout that hovers at primroses and violets, and whose larvae parasitise the nests of solitary mining bees. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bluebottle Calliphora vomitoria The bluebottle is a loud, metallic blue blowfly that finds carrion by smell, whose fast-growing maggots recycle dead animals and are used by forensic scientists to estimate time of death. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Burmese Star Tortoise Geochelone platynota The Burmese star tortoise is a domed Myanmar tortoise with a star-patterned shell, driven almost extinct in the wild by the pet trade and now being brought back by captive breeding. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Common Greenbottle Lucilia sericata The common greenbottle is a metallic green blow fly whose maggots feed on dead flesh, an insect used in forensic science to estimate time of death and in medicine to clean wounds. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Common Wasp Vespula vulgaris The common wasp is the black-and-yellow wasp of summer picnics, with an anchor-shaped face mark, whose huge paper-nest colonies hunt garden pests before becoming a nuisance in late summer. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Elongated Tortoise Indotestudo elongata The elongated tortoise is a yellowish, oblong-shelled forest tortoise of Asia that eats fruit, leaves, and even mushrooms, and is Critically Endangered through harvest for food and trade. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE European Hornet Vespa crabro The European hornet is the largest social wasp of Europe, a brown-and-yellow insect that hunts other insects, flies at night as well as by day, and is far less aggressive than its reputation suggests. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus The firebug is a bright red-and-black bug whose warning colours advertise a bad taste, which gathers in large groups beneath lime trees and is often found mating end to end for hours. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant Woodwasp Urocerus gigas The giant woodwasp is a large, hornet-like but harmless sawfly with a long egg-laying tube whose larvae tunnel for years through conifer wood with the help of a fungus carried by the mother. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Golden Coin Turtle Cuora trifasciata The golden coin turtle is a small box turtle with three dark stripes on a golden-brown shell, so prized in traditional medicine that it is among the world's most valuable and threatened turtles. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Goldenrod Crab Spider Misumena vatia The goldenrod crab spider is a flower-hunting ambusher that can change colour between white and yellow to match its blossom, and which kills bees and butterflies much larger than itself. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima The great green bush-cricket is a large, bright green insect with very long antennae whose males sing a loud, continuous trill at dusk, and whose females have a sword-like egg-laying tube. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Green Shield Bug Palomena prasina The green shield bug is a shield-shaped bug that is bright green in summer and turns bronze-brown in autumn to overwinter, and gives off a foul smell when disturbed. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Hawthorn Shield Bug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale The hawthorn shield bug is a green, shield-shaped bug with a reddish-brown patch and reddish wing tips that sucks sap and berries from hawthorn and other trees and overwinters as an adult. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Jamaican Iguana Cyclura collei The Jamaican iguana is a Critically Endangered rock iguana thought extinct until a hunter found one in 1990, now surviving in Jamaica's Hellshire Hills with the help of a head-start programme. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Lesser Antillean Iguana Iguana delicatissima The Lesser Antillean iguana is a Caribbean island iguana in steep decline because it breeds with the invasive green iguana, which is displacing it across the Lesser Antilles. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata The mandarin duck is a small East Asian perching duck whose drake wears orange sail-feathers and a purple breast, nests in tree holes, and has become a naturalised bird of British parks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Marble Gall Wasp Andricus kollari The marble gall wasp is a tiny Mediterranean wasp whose larvae force oak twigs to grow hard, round, marble-sized galls, and whose alternating generations were once exploited for making ink. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NT Noble Chafer Gnorimus nobilis The noble chafer is a shiny green scarab beetle whose larvae live in the rotting heartwood of old fruit trees, and which has become rare across Europe as old orchards have vanished. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Peppered Moth Biston betularia The peppered moth is a night-flying moth famous as a textbook case of evolution, after a soot-dark form spread through industrial cities and then retreated once the air was cleaned. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius The red-tailed bumblebee is a coal-black bumblebee with a bright red-orange tail, a common garden and meadow species that nests underground and is parasitised by the cuckoo bumblebee. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Rosemary Beetle Chrysolina americana The rosemary beetle is a small, iridescent green and purple-striped leaf beetle from southern Europe that eats rosemary, lavender, sage, and thyme, and has spread across southern England. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Rubber Boa Charina bottae The rubber boa is a small, blunt-tailed North American boa with loose, wrinkled skin that looks and feels like rubber, one of the gentlest snakes alive and among the most cold-tolerant. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Seal Salamander Desmognathus monticola A stout Appalachian brook salamander, the seal salamander guards a burrow at the water's edge, lunging out to snatch passing insects, and breathes entirely through its moist skin. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Spotted Lanternfly Lycorma delicatula The spotted lanternfly is an Asian planthopper, not a fly, that has invaded the eastern United States, where it drains sap from grapevines and trees and hitchhikes as egg masses on cars. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum The tree bumblebee is a ginger-and-black bumblebee with a white tail that nests above ground in bird boxes and roof spaces, and that colonised Britain from Europe in the early twenty-first century. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Two-spot Ladybird Adalia bipunctata The two-spot ladybird is a small aphid-eating beetle that comes as red with two black spots or black with red spots, a classic example of colour variation shaped by pollution and competition. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Vine Weevil Otiorhynchus sulcatus The vine weevil is a small, black, flightless beetle whose adults are nearly all females that reproduce alone, and whose white root-eating grubs are among the worst pests of pot plants and soft fruit. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Wasp Beetle Clytus arietis The wasp beetle is a harmless longhorn beetle with a black-and-yellow banded body that mimics a wasp, even moving and waving its antennae like one, to scare off predators. Read the guide →
Birds LC Western Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus The western capercaillie is the largest grouse, a turkey-sized bird of old conifer forest whose displaying male fans his tail and pours out a clicking, cork-popping song. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula The eastern kingsnake is a powerful constrictor that hunts and eats other snakes, rattlesnakes and copperheads included, and shrugs off a dose of their venom that would kill most animals. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Hamilton's Frog Leiopelma hamiltoni Hamilton's frog is one of the world's rarest frogs, a survivor of an ancient New Zealand lineage with no tadpole stage and almost no voice, living for decades among the same few rock piles. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Wandering Salamander Aneides vagrans The wandering salamander lives high in the crowns of California's redwoods, and when it falls it spreads its limbs to slow the drop and steer itself back toward the trunk, effectively skydiving. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Brown Antechinus Antechinus stuartii The brown antechinus is a small Australian marsupial whose males mate frantically for two weeks each year and then all die, their bodies destroyed by their own stress hormones. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Jararaca Bothrops jararaca The jararaca is the pit viper responsible for most snakebites in southeastern Brazil, and the drug that its venom led scientists to, captopril, was the first of the modern blood-pressure pills. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus The red junglefowl is a wild pheasant of Southeast Asian forests and the main wild ancestor of the domestic chicken, the most numerous bird on Earth, with tens of billions alive at any moment. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Shovel-nosed Salamander Desmognathus marmoratus The shovel-nosed salamander never leaves the water, living its whole life wedged under stones in cold Appalachian torrents and digging through the gravel with a flattened, spade-like snout. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Tailed Frog Ascaphus truei The tailed frog is one of the most primitive frogs alive and the only North American frog with internal fertilisation, and its tadpoles grip rocks in freezing torrents with a sucker mouth. Read the guide →
Mammals CR African Forest Elephant Loxodonta cyclotis The African forest elephant is a Critically Endangered, smaller and darker elephant of the Congo Basin with straight, downward-pointing tusks, whose seed spreading makes it a gardener of the forest. Read the guide →
Mammals LC African Giant Pouched Rat Cricetomys gambianus The African giant pouched rat is one of the largest rats in the world, and trained individuals are used in Africa to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus The Asiatic black bear, or moon bear, is a Vulnerable Asian forest bear with a pale crescent on its chest that climbs trees to feed and is hunted for its parts across much of its range. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Asp Viper Vipera aspis The asp viper is a small, variable venomous snake of sunny rocky slopes in western Europe, with a slightly upturned snout and a zigzag pattern, found from the Pyrenees to the Alps. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Banded Krait Bungarus fasciatus The banded krait is a boldly striped black-and-yellow snake of South and Southeast Asia that hunts other snakes at night, with a deadly neurotoxic venom but a placid nature by day. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus The barbastelle is a dark, pug-faced woodland bat that hunts moths with very quiet calls, a stealthy approach that helps it avoid being heard by its prey. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Beautiful Demoiselle Calopteryx virgo The beautiful demoiselle is a damselfly of fast, clean streams whose male has deep violet-blue wings and body, and whose presence is a sign of good water quality. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Bechstein's Bat Myotis bechsteinii Bechstein's bat is a rare, long-eared woodland bat that depends on old broadleaved forest with tree holes and gleans insects from leaves and the ground. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Bengal Monitor Varanus bengalensis The Bengal monitor is a large, widespread lizard of South Asia that forages in forests, farmland, and village edges, and is protected under international trade law because it has been heavily hunted. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Big-eared Woolly Bat Chrotopterus auritus The big-eared woolly bat is one of the largest carnivorous bats of the Americas, a woolly-coated predator of rodents, birds, lizards, and other bats that roosts in caves and hollow trees. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Black-bellied Salamander Desmognathus quadramaculatus The black-bellied salamander is the biggest Appalachian stream salamander, a heavy, aggressive lungless hunter that takes insects, crayfish, and even other salamanders in fast mountain water. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Black Flying Fox Pteropus alecto The black flying fox is a large, russet-collared fruit bat of northern Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia that forms noisy camps, pollinates eucalypts, and is a natural host of Hendra virus. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Black Lion Tamarin Leontopithecus chrysopygus The black lion tamarin is an Endangered Brazilian monkey with a jet-black coat and a golden rump, confined to a few fragments of Atlantic forest in the state of Sao Paulo. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Blue Monkey Cercopithecus mitis The blue monkey is a common guenon of Central and East African forests with a blue-grey coat, a white throat, and troops of females led by a single adult male. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Brimstone Butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni The brimstone is a leaf-shaped, sulphur-yellow butterfly that can live for about a year, hibernating among ivy and holly and often the first butterfly seen on the wing in spring. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Broad-headed Snake Hoplocephalus bungaroides The broad-headed snake is a rare, venomous Australian snake restricted to the sandstone country around Sydney, sheltering under rock slabs in winter and in tree hollows in summer. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Brown Long-eared Bat Plecotus auritus The brown long-eared bat has ears nearly as long as its body, listens for the faint rustle of moths on leaves, and curls its ears like ram's horns when it rests. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Brown Spider Monkey Ateles hybridus The brown spider monkey is a Critically Endangered, long-limbed fruit eater of Colombia and Venezuela that has lost most of its forest and ranks among the world's most threatened primates. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Buff-tip Phalera bucephala The buff-tip is a silvery-grey moth that looks remarkably like a snapped birch twig when at rest, and whose yellow-and-black caterpillars feed together in groups on trees. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bush Rat Rattus fuscipes The bush rat is a native Australian forest rat, distinct from the introduced black and brown rats, that forages at night and eats underground fungi whose spores it helps to spread. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bushpig Potamochoerus larvatus The bushpig is a shaggy, nocturnal wild pig of eastern and southern Africa with a pale crest of hair along its back, a notorious raider of crops, and a favourite prey of leopards. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bushy-tailed Woodrat Neotoma cinerea The bushy-tailed woodrat, or packrat, hoards sticks and objects in nests whose layered ancient remains let scientists reconstruct past climates and plant communities. Read the guide →
Mammals LC California Ground Squirrel Otospermophilus beecheyi The California ground squirrel faces down rattlesnakes by fluffing and heating its tail to send an infrared warning, and is partly resistant to the snake's venom. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Cave Nectar Bat Eonycteris spelaea The cave nectar bat is a Southeast Asian nectar-feeding bat that roosts in huge cave colonies and pollinates durian and other tropical fruit trees on its nightly flights. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla The Chinese pangolin is a Critically Endangered, scaly anteater that curls into an armoured ball, digs deep burrows, and is among the world's most trafficked mammals. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cockchafer Melolontha melolontha The cockchafer, or May bug, is a large brown beetle with fan-shaped antennae that blunders into lights at dusk, whose white grubs spend three or four years underground eating roots. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Marmoset Callithrix jacchus The common marmoset is a tiny Brazilian monkey with white ear tufts that gouges trees for sap and gum, usually has twins, and raises its young with the help of the whole family. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus The common pipistrelle is one of Europe's smallest and most widespread bats, a tiny, fast-flying insect hunter that roosts in buildings and can catch thousands of small insects in a night. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Convolvulus Hawk-moth Agrius convolvuli The convolvulus hawk-moth is a large grey migrant with a pink-banded body and a very long proboscis, which flies north in summer to feed on tobacco plants and other scented flowers at dusk. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Crab-eating Macaque Macaca fascicularis The crab-eating macaque, or long-tailed macaque, swims and forages on Southeast Asian shores and riverbanks, uses stone tools to crack shellfish, and is now listed as Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Crested Black Macaque Macaca nigra The crested black macaque is a Critically Endangered black monkey of northern Sulawesi with a tall crest of hair, best known worldwide for the 2011 monkey selfie, and heavily hunted for food. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Cuban Hutia Capromys pilorides The Cuban hutia is a stocky, tree-climbing rodent of Cuba and nearby islands, one of the largest surviving hutias and a rare native mammal of the Caribbean. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Daubenton's Bat Myotis daubentonii Daubenton's bat is the water bat, skimming just above lakes and rivers to scoop insects off the surface with its large feet and tail membrane. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Devil's Coach-horse Ocypus olens The devil's coach-horse is a long black rove beetle that rears its tail like a scorpion and opens its jaws when threatened, a night hunter of slugs and worms in gardens and woods. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Water Dragon Intellagama lesueurii The eastern water dragon is a large Australian lizard of rivers and parks, a strong swimmer that dives to escape danger, with orange-chested males and eggs whose sex depends on temperature. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia The emperor moth is a large European moth of heaths and moorland whose males fly by day and track a female's scent from far away, and whose wings carry huge eyespots. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC European Green Lizard Lacerta viridis The European green lizard is a bright green, speckled lizard of sunny scrub and forest edges in central and southeastern Europe, whose males turn bright blue at the throat in the breeding season. Read the guide →
Mammals LC European Wildcat Felis silvestris The European wildcat looks like a stocky, thick-furred tabby with a blunt, black-ringed tail, a genuinely wild species that is threatened mainly by interbreeding with domestic cats. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur Cheirogaleus medius The fat-tailed dwarf lemur stores fat in its tail and hibernates for months in a tree hole, the only primate known to spend part of the year in true hibernation. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Four-lined Snake Elaphe quatuorlineata The four-lined snake is one of Europe's largest non-venomous snakes, a striped constrictor of dry Mediterranean scrub, and a star of an annual snake procession in the Italian village of Cocullo. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Francois' Langur Trachypithecus francoisi Francois' langur is an Endangered black-and-white monkey of limestone karst in southern China and northern Vietnam that sleeps in caves and ledges, and whose babies are born bright orange. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Froghopper Philaenus spumarius The froghopper is the insect behind the blobs of cuckoo spit on garden plants, and the adult can jump with an acceleration far greater than a flea, the hardest launch of any animal. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Garden Tiger Moth Arctia caja The garden tiger moth is a bold brown-and-cream moth with warning-red hindwings and a very hairy woolly bear caterpillar, once a common garden visitor and now sharply reduced across Britain. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus The gatekeeper, or hedge brown, is an orange-and-brown butterfly of hedgerows and field edges in July and August, with a twin-pupilled eyespot and a love of bramble flowers. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Giant Forest Hog Hylochoerus meinertzhageni The giant forest hog is the largest wild pig in the world, a black-haired, grass-eating forest animal of equatorial Africa with large pads of skin beneath its eyes. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant House Spider Eratigena atrica The giant house spider is a large, long-legged brown spider that weaves funnel-shaped webs in sheds and outbuildings, and whose wandering males are the ones found stranded in baths each autumn. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel Callospermophilus lateralis The golden-mantled ground squirrel looks like an oversized chipmunk with a copper-gold head and shoulders, a bold mountain scrounger that lacks stripes on its face. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus The great fruit-eating bat is a large Neotropical leaf-nosed bat that feeds on figs and other fruit, spreads seeds, and has adapted well to parks and cities. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater False Vampire Bat Megaderma lyra The greater false vampire bat is a large Asian carnivorous bat that preys on frogs, birds, and even other bats, and is not a true vampire bat. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Mouse-eared Bat Myotis myotis The greater mouse-eared bat is one of Europe's largest bats, hunting large ground beetles by listening for their footsteps and roosting in big colonies in attics and caves. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat Cynopterus sphinx The greater short-nosed fruit bat is a common South and Southeast Asian fruit bat that eats guavas and figs, spreads seeds, and sometimes roosts in tents it makes from leaves. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus hastatus The greater spear-nosed bat is a large, omnivorous leaf-nosed bat that lives in harem groups and uses group-specific screech calls to keep its colony together. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Hammerhead Flatworm Bipalium The hammerhead flatworm is a long invasive land planarian with a spade-shaped head that hunts earthworms, carries the same nerve poison as a pufferfish, and can regrow from a fragment. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Hanuman Langur Semnopithecus entellus The Hanuman langur is a long-limbed, black-faced monkey of the Indian subcontinent, named for the Hindu monkey god and often living unmolested in temples, villages, and towns. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Hercules Moth Coscinocera hercules The Hercules moth is a huge Australasian silk moth with the largest wing area of any moth, whose males have long tails and whose adults, with no mouth, live only a week or two. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus The holly blue is a silvery-blue butterfly of hedges and gardens with two broods a year, the spring one laying on holly and the summer one on ivy, and it flutters high around shrubs and trees. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Horsfield's Tarsier Cephalopachus bancanus Horsfield's tarsier is a Vulnerable Southeast Asian primate with eyes as large as its brain that rotates its head almost all the way round and leaps onto insects and small vertebrates at night. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Indian Giant Squirrel Ratufa indica The Indian giant squirrel is a huge, multicoloured tree squirrel of India's forests, with a tail longer than its body, spending nearly its whole life high in the canopy. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Indian Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum The Indian palm squirrel carries three pale stripes down its back that, in a Hindu legend, were left by the fingers of Lord Rama, and thrives in gardens and cities across India. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata The Indian pangolin is an Endangered, armoured anteater of the Indian subcontinent that digs deep burrows, curls into a ball when threatened, and is hunted for its scales and meat. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Jack Jumper Ant Myrmecia pilosula The jack jumper ant is an aggressive Australian bull ant that leaps at intruders, with a sting that can cause severe allergic reactions and males that carry just a single chromosome. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Jamaican Fruit Bat Artibeus jamaicensis The Jamaican fruit bat is a common Neotropical leaf-nosed bat that eats figs and other fruit and scatters their seeds, helping to regrow tropical forests. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Japanese Mamushi Gloydius blomhoffii The Japanese mamushi is a small, brown-ringed pit viper of Japan's forests, fields, and rice paddies, a leading cause of snakebite in Japan and a famous ingredient in traditional medicinal liquor. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Jersey Tiger Euplagia quadripunctaria The Jersey tiger is a day-flying tiger moth with black-and-cream striped forewings and flashing orange-red hindwings, famous for the thousands that gather in the Valley of the Butterflies on Rhodes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Leisler's Bat Nyctalus leisleri Leisler's bat, or the lesser noctule, is a high, fast-flying tree bat of Europe that is rare in Britain but common in Ireland, where it is one of the country's most numerous bats. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis The leopard cat is a small, spotted wild cat found across much of Asia, adaptable enough to live in plantations, and the wild ancestor of the domestic Bengal cat breed. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Leopard Snake Zamenis situla The leopard snake is a small, secretive constrictor of southeastern Europe, patterned with red-brown, black-edged blotches on a pale background, and one of the continent's most beautiful snakes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Lesser Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hipposideros The lesser horseshoe bat is Europe's smallest horseshoe bat, a plum-sized insect hunter that wraps itself in its wings to roost and calls through a horseshoe-shaped nose-leaf. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Lily Beetle Lilioceris lilii The lily beetle is a bright scarlet beetle that squeaks when handled and plays dead by dropping to land on its black underside, whose slimy grubs disguise themselves in their own droppings. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Livingstone's Fruit Bat Pteropus livingstonii Livingstone's fruit bat is a Critically Endangered flying fox found only on two Comoro Islands, a large, fruit-eating bat that is unusually active in daylight. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Madame Berthe's Mouse Lemur Microcebus berthae Madame Berthe's mouse lemur is the smallest primate in the world, a mouse-sized nocturnal lemur found only in one small area of western Madagascar and listed as Endangered. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Malayan Pit Viper Calloselasma rhodostoma The Malayan pit viper is a leaf-litter ambusher of Southeast Asian forests and plantations with a brown-triangled pattern, whose venom causes serious bleeding and yielded the anticlotting drug ancrod. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Marbled Cat Pardofelis marmorata The marbled cat is a house-cat-sized forest climber with a clouded-leopard-like coat and a tail nearly as long as its body, rarely seen anywhere in the forests of Southeast Asia. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Marianas Flying Fox Pteropus mariannus The Marianas flying fox, called fanihi in Chamorro, is an Endangered fruit bat of the Mariana Islands that is partly active by day and has been hit hard by hunting and habitat loss. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Mauritian Flying Fox Pteropus niger The Mauritian flying fox is an Endangered fruit bat found only on Mauritius, a key seed disperser of the island's forests that has been repeatedly culled as a threat to fruit crops. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Minotaur Beetle Typhaeus typhoeus The minotaur beetle is a glossy black dung beetle whose male carries three forward-pointing horns, and whose pairs dig deep burrows on sandy heaths and stock them with dung. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Monocled Cobra Naja kaouthia The monocled cobra is a brown-to-olive cobra of South and Southeast Asia, marked by a single ring on the back of its hood, that lives in wetlands and paddies and whose bite can destroy tissue. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Morelet's Crocodile Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile is a medium-sized freshwater crocodile of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala that recovered after heavy hunting for its skin and is now classed as Least Concern. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Mountain Tapir Tapirus pinchaque The mountain tapir is the smallest and woolliest tapir, an Endangered browser of the high Andes that lives in cloud forest and paramo up to about 4,000 metres above sea level. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Mozambique Spitting Cobra Naja mossambica The Mozambique spitting cobra is a medium-sized, olive-brown cobra of southeastern Africa with pink-edged throat scales, that spits venom at the eyes and whose bite can destroy tissue. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Nathusius's Pipistrelle Pipistrellus nathusii Nathusius's pipistrelle is a small European bat that makes one of the longest migrations of any bat, flying more than two thousand kilometres between northeastern and southwestern Europe. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Natterer's Bat Myotis nattereri Natterer's bat is a pale-bellied European woodland bat with a fringe of stiff hairs along its tail membrane that gleans spiders and flies from leaves and walls. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Noble False Widow Steatoda nobilis The noble false widow is a glossy brown spider with a pale skull-like mark that has spread from Madeira across Europe, building tangled webs in sheds and walls and rarely biting people. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Noctule Nyctalus noctula The noctule is a large, golden-brown European bat that flies high and fast, often emerging before sunset, and roosts mainly in tree holes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Northern Bat Eptesicus nilssonii The northern bat is one of the most cold-tolerant bats in the world, ranging north of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and sometimes hunting in the continuous daylight of the northern summer. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Orange-tip Butterfly Anthocharis cardamines The orange-tip is a spring butterfly whose males flash bright orange wingtips while females and the mottled green undersides of both sexes blend into flowers and cow parsley. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Oriental Garden Lizard Calotes versicolor The oriental garden lizard, or changeable lizard, is an Asian agamid whose breeding males flush bloody red on the head and throat, a bush-climbing insect-eater common in gardens. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Pallas's Long-tongued Bat Glossophaga soricina Pallas's long-tongued bat is a small, hovering nectar bat of the American tropics that laps up nectar with a brush-tipped tongue and pollinates many flowers. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Parnell's Mustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii Parnell's mustached bat uses long constant-frequency calls and adjusts them as it flies to detect the flutter of insect wings, a sophisticated echolocation system it shares with horseshoe bats. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Parti-coloured Bat Vespertilio murinus The parti-coloured bat is a frosted-looking migratory bat of Eurasia whose males sing from cliffs and tall buildings in autumn to attract mates. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Peacock Butterfly Aglais io The peacock butterfly flashes four huge eyespots and hisses by rubbing its wings together when disturbed, then hibernates as an adult in sheds, hollow trees, and woodpiles through the winter. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Pharaoh Ant Monomorium pharaonis The pharaoh ant is a tiny yellow-brown ant that thrives in heated buildings worldwide, with many-queened colonies that split when disturbed and trails marked with a repellent "no entry" signal. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Philippine Crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis The Philippine crocodile is a small freshwater crocodile found only in the Philippines, one of the rarest crocodilians on Earth, protected by villagers who are rewarded for guarding nests. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Pied Tamarin Saguinus bicolor The pied tamarin is an Endangered, bare-faced monkey found only around the city of Manaus in Brazil, where it survives in forest fragments and even in city parks and gardens. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Prehensile-tailed Porcupine Coendou prehensilis The prehensile-tailed porcupine climbs rainforest trees at night with a gripping, bare-tipped tail, protected by sharp quills that it cannot throw. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Privet Hawk-moth Sphinx ligustri The privet hawk-moth is one of Europe's largest moths, with a pink-and-black banded body and a huge green caterpillar striped with purple and tipped with a curved horn. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Purple Emperor Apatura iris The purple emperor is a rare, treetop-dwelling woodland butterfly whose males flash an iridescent purple sheen, and which feeds on tree sap and honeydew rather than flower nectar. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Purple Hairstreak Favonius quercus The purple hairstreak is a small oak-canopy butterfly with a purple sheen on its upper wings, which spends almost its whole life high in the treetops feeding on honeydew rather than nectar. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Puss Moth Cerura vinula The puss moth is a fluffy white-and-grey European moth whose green caterpillar rears up with a red false face and whip-like tails and sprays formic acid at attackers. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Pygmy Three-toed Sloth Bradypus pygmaeus The pygmy three-toed sloth is a Critically Endangered dwarf sloth found only on a single small island off Panama, where it lives in mangroves and swims between them. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Red-bellied Black Snake Pseudechis porphyriacus The red-bellied black snake is a glossy, shy Australian snake with bright red flanks and belly that swims well, eats frogs and other snakes, and has evolved some resistance to cane toad toxin. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis The red mason bee is a gentle solitary bee of European gardens and orchards that nests in holes sealed with mud and is a highly effective pollinator of apple and pear blossom in spring. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red River Hog Potamochoerus porcus The red river hog is a bright reddish-orange wild pig of West and Central African rainforest and swamps, with white face markings, long tufted ears, and a nocturnal habit of rooting for food. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red-tailed Monkey Cercopithecus ascanius The red-tailed monkey is a Central African guenon with a white heart-shaped nose patch and a coppery tail that often travels in mixed troops with other forest monkeys. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Red Wood Ant Formica rufa The red wood ant builds metre-high mounds of pine needles in European forests, housing hundreds of thousands of workers that spray formic acid, farm aphids, and protect the trees around them. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus The ringlet is a velvety dark-brown butterfly of damp grassland and woodland rides, named for the yellow-ringed eyespots on its underside, and happy to fly in dull or drizzly weather. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Rodrigues Flying Fox Pteropus rodricensis The Rodrigues flying fox is an Endangered fruit bat found only on Rodrigues Island, whose numbers fell below a hundred before conservation work brought it back to many thousands. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Rose Chafer Cetonia aurata The rose chafer is a shining metallic green beetle that feeds on flowers in sunshine and flies with its wing cases closed, while its grubs live in rotting wood and compost. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Rusty-spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus The rusty-spotted cat is one of the smallest cats in the world, a tiny, spotted hunter of India and Sri Lanka that is smaller than most domestic cats. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Senegal Bushbaby Galago senegalensis The Senegal bushbaby is a small African primate with huge ears and eyes that leaps between branches at night, washes its hands and feet with urine for grip, and wails like a crying baby. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Serotine Eptesicus serotinus The serotine is a large, dark European bat with a slow, heavy flight that hunts dung beetles and cockchafers over pastures and around street lights, and roosts in roofs. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat Coleura seychellensis The Seychelles sheath-tailed bat is a tiny, Critically Endangered insect-eating bat found only in the Seychelles, where just a handful of small colonies survive. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Siamese Crocodile Crocodylus siamensis The Siamese crocodile is a medium-sized freshwater crocodile of Southeast Asia, once widespread and now Critically Endangered, with tiny wild populations kept alive by protection and breeding. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Siberian Chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus The Siberian chipmunk is the only chipmunk native to Eurasia, a five-striped forest rodent that hoards seeds for winter and has become invasive where pets escaped in Europe. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia The silver-washed fritillary is a large orange woodland butterfly with black spots and silvery streaks beneath, whose females lay eggs in tree bark and sometimes appear in a rare olive-green form. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Slow Worm Anguis fragilis The slow worm is not a worm or a snake but a legless lizard, a smooth bronze burrower of European gardens that blinks, sheds its tail, and can live past 30 years, sometimes past 50. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae The small tortoiseshell is a familiar orange-and-black European butterfly whose caterpillars feed together in silk webs on nettles and whose numbers have fallen sharply in parts of Britain. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Soprano Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pygmaeus The soprano pipistrelle is a tiny European bat named for its higher-pitched calls, once lumped with the common pipistrelle, that hunts over rivers and lakes and roosts in large summer colonies. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea The southern hawker is a large, inquisitive dragonfly with apple-green and blue markings that hunts along woodland paths and garden hedges and will hover to inspect passing people. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria The speckled wood is a dappled brown woodland butterfly whose males defend sunbeams in territorial duels, and it can overwinter as either a caterpillar or a chrysalis. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is a Critically Endangered black-and-white monkey with an upturned nose, found only in a few small patches of limestone forest in northern Vietnam. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Tree Hyrax Dendrohyrax The tree hyrax is a small, nocturnal African forest mammal, distantly related to elephants, best known for the loud, eerie screaming calls that carry through the night. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Ulysses Butterfly Papilio ulysses The Ulysses butterfly is a large swallowtail with brilliant electric-blue upper wings that flashes through the rainforests of northeastern Australia and New Guinea and is an emblem of Queensland. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Violet Ground Beetle Carabus violaceus The violet ground beetle is a large, glossy black beetle with a violet sheen along its edges, a flightless night hunter of slugs and worms in gardens, hedges, and woods. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Visayan Warty Pig Sus cebifrons The Visayan warty pig is a Critically Endangered Philippine wild pig whose males grow a long crest and facial warts in the breeding season, now restricted to a few forest remnants on two islands. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Western Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock hoolock The western hoolock gibbon is an Endangered ape of northeastern India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, the only ape in India, whose pairs sing duets from the forest canopy. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Western Long-beaked Echidna Zaglossus bruijnii The western long-beaked echidna is a Critically Endangered egg-laying mammal of New Guinea's mountain forests, with a long curved snout and a spiny tongue for catching earthworms. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC White Admiral Limenitis camilla The white admiral is a graceful woodland butterfly with a bold white band across dark wings, whose caterpillar feeds on honeysuckle and spends the winter in a tiny rolled-leaf shelter. Read the guide →
Mammals VU White-lipped Peccary Tayassu pecari The white-lipped peccary is a Vulnerable pig-like forest animal that travels in herds of hundreds, clacks its tusks as an alarm, and is a key food for jaguars and pumas. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC White-lipped Pit Viper Trimeresurus albolabris The white-lipped pit viper is a bright green tree viper of Southeast Asia that ambushes prey from branches, finds warm-blooded animals with heat-sensing pits, and is a common cause of snakebite. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Wood Mouse Apodemus sylvaticus The wood mouse is one of Europe's most common wild mice, a large-eyed, long-tailed night forager of woods, hedgerows, and fields that hoards seeds and feeds owls and foxes. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Zanzibar Red Colobus Piliocolobus kirkii The Zanzibar red colobus is an Endangered monkey found only on Unguja Island, which eats charcoal to settle its stomach and is threatened by forest loss and by traffic on island roads. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Zebra Spider Salticus scenicus The zebra spider is a tiny black-and-white striped jumping spider that stalks prey across sunny walls and leaps on it, secured by a silk safety line and guided by large, sharp eyes. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Brahminy Blind Snake Indotyphlops braminus The brahminy blind snake is a tiny, shiny, earthworm-like snake with no working eyes that has spread to warm regions worldwide inside potted plants, and every one of them is female. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Diabolical Ironclad Beetle Nosoderma diabolicum The diabolical ironclad beetle has an exoskeleton so tough that a car can drive over it without killing it, thanks to a jigsaw seam that locks its wing cases together. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Pygmy Salamander Desmognathus wrighti The pygmy salamander is one of the world's smallest salamanders, a lungless sprite of high Appalachian spruce forest that climbs trees at night and has no aquatic larval stage. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Red Hills Salamander Phaeognathus hubrichti The Red Hills salamander is Alabama's state amphibian, a large lungless salamander that never enters water and spends its whole life in a burrow dug into steep forested ravine slopes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wryneck Jynx torquilla The wryneck is a woodpecker that does not look or act like one, a small brown ground bird that eats ants and twists its neck like a snake when alarmed, which is how it got its name. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cicada Killer Sphecius speciosus The eastern cicada killer is a wasp as long as a thumb that looks frightening but almost never stings people, the female stocking her burrow with paralysed cicadas. Read the guide →
Birds LC Clark's Nutcracker Nucifraga columbiana Clark's nutcracker is a mountain crow that buries tens of thousands of pine seeds each autumn and remembers where, and the whitebark pine now depends on it to plant the next forest. Read the guide →
Amphibians CR Dusky Gopher Frog Lithobates sevosus The dusky gopher frog is one of the world's most endangered amphibians, a warty Mississippi frog that lives in gopher tortoise burrows and hides its eyes behind its hands when frightened. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Eastern Spadefoot Scaphiopus holbrookii The eastern spadefoot is a toad that spends most of its life buried in sand, digging backward with a spade on each hind foot, and surfaces to breed only after heavy rain. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Wood Turtle Glyptemys insculpta The wood turtle has a shell that looks carved from wood, does well in maze and learning tests, and stomps the ground with its feet to bring earthworms to the surface. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Pseudoscorpion Pseudoscorpiones The pseudoscorpion is a tiny arachnid with a scorpion's pincers but no tail and no sting, often found in old books, that spins silk from its jaws and hitches rides on larger insects. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Spring Salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus The spring salamander is a large pink lungless salamander of cold Appalachian streams that breathes through its skin and hunts other salamanders, including its own kind. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Western Fence Lizard Sceloporus occidentalis The western fence lizard, the blue-belly of the American West, does push-ups on rocks and fences, and a protein in its blood kills the Lyme disease bacterium inside feeding ticks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Alderfly Sialidae The alderfly's predatory larva breathes through feathery gills in clean streams and ponds, while the short-lived adult barely feeds at all before dying within days. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Amami Rabbit Pentalagus furnessi The Amami rabbit is a living fossil found only on two Japanese islands, a primitive rabbit lineage that gives birth inside a burrow rather than a simple surface nest like most of its relatives. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Asian Longhorned Beetle Anoplophora glabripennis The Asian longhorned beetle bores deep into healthy hardwood trees rather than dead ones, making it one of the most economically destructive invasive forest pests in North America and Europe. Read the guide →
Birds LC Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula The Baltimore oriole is a flame-orange songbird of eastern North America that weaves a hanging pouch nest and comes to backyard feeders for orange halves and grape jelly. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Barking Tree Frog Dryophytes gratiosus The barking tree frog is the largest tree frog native to the US, a plump spotted climber of southern pinewoods that barks like a dog from the treetops and digs into sand in dry spells. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bumblebee Millipede Anadenobolus monilicornis The bumblebee millipede carries bold yellow and black banding across its body, a harmless detritivore from the Caribbean popular in the terrarium hobby for its vivid colouring. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cuckoo Wasp Chrysididae The cuckoo wasp sneaks its eggs into the nests of other wasps and bees, then curls into a tight, armoured ball to survive a furious host's retaliation. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Elephant Hawk-moth Deilephila elpenor The elephant hawk-moth's caterpillar has a trunk-like front end that gives the species its name, and inflates two false eyespots to mimic a small snake when threatened. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Elephant Weevil Orthorhinus cylindrirostris The elephant weevil carries an unusually long, downward-curving snout used to bore precise holes into wood for laying eggs, resembling a miniature elephant's trunk. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Epauletted Fruit Bat Epomophorus The male epauletted fruit bat inflates loud throat sacs and flashes tufts of white shoulder fur to attract females, a nightly calling display held in trees across the African savanna. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Fiddler Beetle Eupoecila australasiae The fiddler beetle carries a fiddle-shaped marking across its back, a patterned green-and-black flower beetle commonly seen feeding on native Australian blossoms. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Five-lined Skink Plestiodon fasciatus The five-lined skink is the common striped lizard of eastern North America whose young flash a brilliant blue tail, wrongly feared as a venomous scorpion, and whose females guard their eggs. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Frog-legged Beetle Sagra buqueti The male frog-legged beetle carries dramatically enlarged, muscular hind legs resembling a frog's, used to wrestle rivals for access to mates on vine stems. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant Asian Mantis Hierodula membranacea The giant Asian mantis ranks among the largest mantis species kept by enthusiasts, powerful enough to tackle prey considerably larger than itself, including small lizards and frogs. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant Ichneumon Wasp Megarhyssa macrurus The female giant ichneumon wasp carries an ovipositor longer than her own body, drilling it through solid wood to reach a hidden wood-wasp larva deep inside a tree. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Giant Pangolin Smutsia gigantea The giant pangolin is the largest of all pangolin species, digging extensive burrows and tearing open termite mounds with powerful claws rather than climbing trees like its smaller relatives. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Golden Jewel Beetle Chrysochroa fulgidissima The golden jewel beetle's shimmering iridescent shell has been used for centuries in traditional Japanese decorative art, prized for a colour that never fades even after the insect dies. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Galago Otolemur crassicaudatus The greater galago communicates through loud, child-like screams that give the bushbaby family its common name, leaping between trees with powerful hind legs under cover of darkness. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Harvestman Opiliones The harvestman, or daddy longlegs, is not a spider and has no venom, despite the famous myth. It is a separate arachnid with one body segment, one pair of eyes, and legs it sheds to escape. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec Echinops telfairi The lesser hedgehog tenrec independently evolved a spiny, ball-rolling body plan nearly identical to a true hedgehog's, despite belonging to an entirely unrelated family found only in Madagascar. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Mahogany Glider Petaurus gracilis The mahogany glider was believed extinct for over a century before its rediscovery, a gliding marsupial now confined to one of the smallest and most threatened ranges of any Australian mammal. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Oleander Hawk-moth Daphnis nerii The oleander hawk-moth's caterpillar feeds safely on the toxic oleander plant, storing the plant's poisons to deter predators while the adult migrates vast distances across continents. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Painted Bat Kerivoula picta The painted bat carries vivid orange-and-black fur and strikingly colourful wing membranes, making it one of the most visually distinctive bats in the world. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Pygmy Slow Loris Nycticebus pygmaeus The pygmy slow loris delivers a toxic bite by combining its own saliva with a gland secretion near its elbow, one of the few venomous mammals and the smallest of the slow loris species. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Rainbow Dung Beetle Phanaeus vindex The rainbow dung beetle shimmers in iridescent red, green, and gold, a vividly coloured relative of the dung-rolling scarabs that digs its dung underground instead of rolling it. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Red Velvet Mite Trombidiidae The red velvet mite emerges from the soil in large numbers after heavy rain, its bright red, velvety body among the largest and most visible mites found anywhere. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Rosy Wolf Snail Euglandina rosea The rosy wolf snail hunts and eats other snails by trailing their slime, and its deliberate introduction to control a pest species instead drove several native Pacific island snails to extinction. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Scorpionfly Panorpidae The male scorpionfly carries a bulbous, upward-curving tail that closely resembles a scorpion's stinger, though the harmless structure exists only for mating, not for defence. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Small Indian Civet Viverricula indica The small Indian civet was historically farmed for the musky secretion of its scent glands, once a prized ingredient in traditional perfume before synthetic alternatives took over. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Snakefly Raphidioptera The snakefly raises its unusually long, flexible neck and strikes at prey like a tiny snake, a hunting style found in both the predatory larva and the adult. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Spectacled Bear Tremarctos ornatus The spectacled bear is South America's only bear species, named for the pale, mask-like markings around its eyes that vary uniquely from one individual to the next. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Spiny Flower Mantis Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii The spiny flower mantis carries a bold eyespot pattern on its wings, flashed suddenly to startle predators, while its nymphs mimic flowers to ambush visiting pollinators. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Thorn Bug Umbonia The thorn bug carries an oversized, thorn-shaped shield on its back, and clusters of them lining a plant stem can pass convincingly for a row of sharp thorns. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Unicorn Mantis Empusa pennata The unicorn mantis carries a single pointed, horn-like projection rising from its head, used alongside elaborate feathery antennae in courtship and camouflage against vegetation. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Vietnamese Centipede Scolopendra subspinipes The Vietnamese centipede delivers a venomous bite powerful enough to cause serious pain and swelling in a person, one of the largest and most aggressive centipede species kept in the pet trade. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Violin Mantis Gongylus gongylodes The violin mantis carries an elongated body shaped remarkably like the instrument it's named for, swaying gently from side to side to mimic a leaf moving in the breeze. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Zebra Isopod Armadillidium maculatum The zebra isopod carries bold black and white banding across its body, a strikingly patterned terrestrial isopod that can roll into a tight ball when threatened like other pillbugs. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC American Cockroach Periplaneta americana The American cockroach is one of the largest roaches to live alongside people, it is not American but African, it can run 50 body lengths a second, and it can survive about a week without its head. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Chinese Mantis Tenodera sinensis The Chinese mantis is the largest mantis in North America, an East Asian species introduced in the 1890s that hunts across gardens and is big enough to snatch a hummingbird from a feeder. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cobalt Blue Tarantula Cyriopagopus lividus The cobalt blue tarantula shows a vivid metallic blue coloring on its legs, a defensive, fast-moving burrowing spider from Southeast Asia rarely seen out in the open. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Tenrec Tenrec ecaudatus The common tenrec is the largest living tenrec and has one of the biggest litters of any mammal on Earth, with some females giving birth to more than two dozen young at once. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Flatwoods Salamander Ambystoma cingulatum The flatwoods salamander lays its eggs in a dry pond basin and waits for autumn rain to flood it, a gamble that has made it one of the most endangered amphibians in the eastern United States. Read the guide →
Birds LC Giant Coua Coua gigas The giant coua is the largest member of its family, a mostly terrestrial Madagascar bird that walks and runs through the forest floor far more often than it flies. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Hedgehog Tenrec Setifer setosus The greater hedgehog tenrec looks almost identical to a true hedgehog, rolling into a spiny ball when threatened, despite the two having evolved the same defense independently. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Green Weaver Ant Oecophylla smaragdina The green weaver ant builds elaborate leaf nests by stitching foliage together with living larvae used as silk-producing tools, a cooperative construction method unique among ants. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Island Fox Urocyon littoralis The island fox evolved into a dwarf form on California's Channel Islands and nearly went extinct in the early 2000s, before one of the fastest recoveries ever recorded for an endangered mammal. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Labord's Chameleon Furcifer labordi Labord's chameleon has the shortest lifespan of any known four-legged vertebrate, hatching, maturing, breeding, and dying within a single year of life. Read the guide →
Birds LC Madagascar Buzzard Buteo brachypterus The Madagascar buzzard is the island's most widespread bird of prey, adapting to everything from dense rainforest to open farmland across nearly the entire country. Read the guide →
Birds LC Madagascar Magpie-robin Copsychus albospecularis The Madagascar magpie-robin is a glossy black-and-white songbird known for a rich, melodic song, with several distinct regional colour variations found across the island. Read the guide →
Birds LC Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone mutata The Madagascar paradise flycatcher shows two distinct male colour forms and an exceptionally long, trailing central tail in breeding males that can be several times the length of the body. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Marbled Newt Triturus marmoratus The marbled newt of France and Iberia is one of the largest and most striking European newts, bright green marbled with black, and where its range meets the great crested newt the two interbreed. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Narrow-striped Mongoose Mungotictis decemlineata The narrow-striped mongoose is a small Madagascar carnivore with faint dark stripes down its back, restricted to one shrinking patch of dry forest on the island's west coast. Read the guide →
Mammals LC North American Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum The North American porcupine is a large, slow, tree-climbing rodent armed with 30,000 barbed quills that work deeper once they strike, and it will gnaw a canoe paddle to pieces for the salt. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Oustalet's Chameleon Furcifer oustaleti Oustalet's chameleon ranks among the largest chameleon species alive, with females growing nearly as long as males despite usually being the smaller sex in most chameleons. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Pill Bug Armadillidium vulgare The pill bug is not an insect but a land crustacean, a relative of crabs and shrimp that breathes with gills, rolls into a ball when threatened, and quietly pulls heavy metals out of the soil. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Ploughshare Tortoise Astrochelys yniphora The ploughshare tortoise is one of the rarest tortoises on Earth, with only a few hundred left in a single small region of Madagascar, identified by a forward-curving plate beneath its shell. Read the guide →
Birds LC American Woodcock Scolopax minor The American woodcock is a shorebird that lives in the forest, with eyes set so far back it can see behind itself, a bill that probes soil for worms, and a rocking walk that made it an internet star. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Arboreal Salamander Aneides lugubris The arboreal salamander is a lungless California salamander built for climbing, with a gripping tail and square toe tips; it lives high in oak and redwood canopies and bites hard enough to draw blood. Read the guide →
Birds LC Austral Blackbird Curaeus curaeus The austral blackbird forages in noisy flocks across Chilean farmland and forest edge, its glossy black plumage flashing a faint purple sheen in sunlight. Read the guide →
Birds VU Bare-necked Umbrellabird Cephalopterus glabricollis The bare-necked umbrellabird carries a crest that overhangs its bill like an umbrella, along with an inflatable bare throat wattle used in display. Read the guide →
Birds EN Black-and-chestnut Eagle Spizaetus isidori The black-and-chestnut eagle hunts through Andean cloud forest, one of the rarest and least-studied eagles in the Americas, requiring vast, undisturbed territories to survive. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-and-white Owl Ciccaba nigrolineata The black-and-white owl hunts bats and large insects through Neotropical forest at night, identified by bold black-and-white barring across its entire body. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-crowned Tityra Tityra inquisitor The black-crowned tityra shows a solid black crown against pale grey-white body plumage, a quieter relative of the masked tityra found across a broader stretch of the Neotropics. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black Hawk-eagle Spizaetus tyrannus The black hawk-eagle ranges across Neotropical forest from Mexico to Argentina, a mostly black raptor with a banded tail and a sharp, piercing call. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-crowned Motmot Momotus momota The blue-crowned motmot swings its long, racket-tipped tail like a pendulum, a vivid blue crown patch standing out against otherwise green plumage. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-headed Pionus Pionus menstruus The blue-headed pionus shows a bright blue head and neck against a green body, a relatively quiet parrot compared to many of its noisier Neotropical relatives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii The booted racket-tail carries fluffy white leg puffs resembling tiny boots and a long tail ending in bare rackets, among the most distinctively adorned small hummingbirds in the Andes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Buff-throated Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus guttatus The buff-throated woodcreeper spirals up tree trunks probing bark for insects, identified by pale buff spotting across the throat and underparts. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chestnut-throated Huet-huet Pteroptochos castaneus The chestnut-throated huet-huet forages through the leaf litter of central-southern Chilean forest, identified by the warm chestnut patch on its throat. Read the guide →
Birds VU Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica The chimney swift nests and roosts almost entirely inside chimneys today, a species declining steeply as old, uncapped chimneys disappear from the landscape. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cinnamon Becard Pachyramphus cinnamomeus The cinnamon becard shows warm cinnamon-brown plumage throughout, building a large, globular hanging nest in lowland Neotropical forest. Read the guide →
Birds LC Collared Trogon Trogon collaris The collared trogon sits upright and still for long stretches before making short sallies for insects and fruit, males showing a bright white band across the chest like a collar. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Blackbird Turdus merula The common blackbird is a European thrush, the glossy black bird with the orange bill that sings from the rooftops at dawn; it is one of the first birds to have fully colonised towns and cities. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Pauraque Nyctidromus albicollis The common pauraque is a camouflaged nightjar that lays its eggs directly on bare ground, its eyes glowing bright orange when caught in a flashlight beam at night. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Coquerel's Sifaka Propithecus coquereli Coquerel's sifaka is a white-coated lemur with chestnut patches on its thighs and arms, known for crossing open ground in a distinctive upright, sideways dance-like hop. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Crowned Lemur Eulemur coronatus The crowned lemur gets its name from a distinctive orange "crown" marking on its head, with males and females showing noticeably different coat colours and patterns. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ferruginous Pygmy Owl Glaucidium brasilianum The ferruginous pygmy owl is a fierce hunter despite its tiny size, often mobbed by day-active songbirds that recognize it as a genuine threat. Read the guide →
Birds LC Flame-faced Tanager Tangara parzudakii The flame-faced tanager shows a blazing orange-red facial patch against green and black plumage, a striking resident of Andean cloud forest. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Four-toed Salamander Hemidactylium scutatum The four-toed salamander is a small lungless amphibian of mossy North American wetlands, named for a missing toe, with a break point at the base of its tail and a habit of nesting in shared clutches. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Giant Jumping Rat Hypogeomys antimena The giant jumping rat is a rabbit-sized Madagascar rodent that hops on long hind legs like a small kangaroo and digs an elaborate multi-chamber burrow system. Read the guide →
Birds LC Golden-collared Manakin Manacus vitellinus The golden-collared manakin snaps its wing feathers together to produce a loud mechanical crack during courtship, performed alongside a moonwalk-like sliding dance. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Dusky Swift Cypseloides senex The great dusky swift flies directly through the falling curtain of a waterfall to reach nests hidden behind the water, one of the most extreme nesting strategies of any bird. Read the guide →
Birds LC Green-crowned Brilliant Heliodoxa jacula The green-crowned brilliant is a relatively large hummingbird of Central American and Andean cloud forest, females identified by a distinctive white stripe below the eye. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Green Frog Lithobates clamitans The green frog is the frog most people meet at the edge of a pond in eastern North America, the one that gives a single low twang like a loose banjo string and dives with a startled squawk. Read the guide →
Birds LC Groove-billed Ani Crotophaga sulcirostris The groove-billed ani is identified by a series of grooves running along its bill, a social, all-black bird that nests communally alongside its close relative the smooth-billed ani. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Kodkod Leopardus guigna The kodkod is the smallest wild cat in the Americas, hunting small birds and rodents through the dense temperate rainforest of Chile. Read the guide →
Birds LC Lesser Greenlet Pachysylvia decurtata The lesser greenlet is a small, plain greenish-yellow vireo-family bird that forages methodically through Neotropical forest canopy and understory for insects. Read the guide →
Birds LC Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingii The long-tailed sylph trails an iridescent blue-green forked tail often longer than its entire body, one of the most elegant hummingbirds in flight across Andean cloud forest. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Madagascar Ground Boa Acrantophis madagascariensis The Madagascar ground boa is one of the island's largest snakes, a heavy-bodied ambush predator that hunts on the forest floor rather than in the trees. Read the guide →
Birds LC Masked Tityra Tityra semifasciata The masked tityra shows pale grey-white plumage set off by a black facial mask and bright red bare skin around the eyes, a conspicuous perching bird of Neotropical forest. Read the guide →
Birds LC Masked Trogon Trogon personatus The masked trogon lives at higher elevations than most of its relatives, males identified by a black mask surrounding the eyes against vivid green plumage. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Mongoose Lemur Eulemur mongoz The mongoose lemur is one of the few lemur species found outside Madagascar, with a small introduced population on the Comoro Islands, and shows unusually flexible activity patterns. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mottled Owl Ciccaba virgata The mottled owl blends almost perfectly into tree bark with its camouflaged brown plumage, one of the most widespread forest owls across the Neotropics. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura The mourning dove is one of the most abundant birds in North America, the source of the soft owl-like cooing heard across suburbs and farmland, and also the most hunted game bird on the continent. Read the guide →
Birds LC Moustached Turca Pteroptochos megapodius The moustached turca is a large, ground-dwelling bird of central Chile, more often heard calling loudly through dense scrub than actually seen. Read the guide →
Birds LC Orange-winged Amazon Amazona amazonica The orange-winged amazon is one of the most common and widely kept Amazon parrots, identified by orange and blue wing patches and bright yellow cheeks. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis The red-tailed hawk is North America's most common large hawk, the big brown raptor on every highway fence post, and the source of the scream that Hollywood dubs over nearly every eagle on screen. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rose-throated Becard Pachyramphus aglaiae The rose-throated becard shows a small rose-pink throat patch on otherwise grey-and-pink males, building a large hanging nest from the southwestern United States through Central America. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ruby-topaz Hummingbird Chrysolampis mosquitus The ruby-topaz hummingbird flashes an iridescent ruby crown and golden-topaz throat that can appear dark until the light catches it at just the right angle. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rufous-tailed Jacamar Galbula ruficauda The rufous-tailed jacamar catches butterflies and dragonflies in mid-air, then beats its prey against a branch to remove wings before swallowing it. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Southern Tamandua Tamandua tetradactyla The southern tamandua is a medium-sized anteater marked by a distinctive black vest pattern, equally at home climbing trees or foraging on the ground. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sparkling Violetear Colibri coruscans The sparkling violetear flares iridescent violet patches on the sides of its head during territorial disputes, one of the most common and aggressive hummingbirds across the Andes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Squirrel Cuckoo Piaya cayana The squirrel cuckoo moves through branches with a long reddish-brown tail trailing behind it, resembling a squirrel more than a typical bird as it hunts for insects. Read the guide →
Birds VU Three-wattled Bellbird Procnias tricarunculatus The three-wattled bellbird produces one of the loudest calls of any bird on Earth, males displaying three long fleshy wattles that dangle from the base of the bill. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tropical Screech Owl Megascops choliba The tropical screech owl is one of South America's most common and adaptable small owls, equally at home in forest edge, gardens, and city parks. Read the guide →
Birds LC Vasa Parrot Coracopsis vasa The vasa parrot is an unusually dark-plumaged parrot that turns bald during breeding season, and females compete to mate with multiple males in a reversal of typical bird roles. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-capped Pionus Pionus seniloides The white-capped pionus shows pale feathers on the forehead that give it a prematurely aged appearance, a lesser-known parrot of Andean cloud forest. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-collared Swift Streptoprocne zonaris The white-collared swift is one of the largest swift species, identified by a bright white band around the neck, roosting in caves and behind waterfalls across the Americas. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-necked Puffbird Notharchus hyperrhynchus The white-necked puffbird perches motionless for long stretches, its bold black-and-white pattern breaking into sudden action to strike at passing insects and small prey. Read the guide →
Birds LC Austral Canastero Asthenes anthoides The austral canastero ranges further south into Patagonian scrub and forest edge than several of its canastero relatives, weaving the same distinctive domed stick nests shared across the group. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata The blue jay is a loud, crested North American crow relative whose blue is a trick of light rather than a pigment, and whose acorn-burying habit helped oak forests spread north after the last ice age. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chalk-browed Mockingbird Mimus saturninus The chalk-browed mockingbird mimics the songs of other bird species with remarkable accuracy, a bold and vocal presence across open habitat throughout central South America. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Chilean Recluse Spider Loxosceles laeta The Chilean recluse spider carries one of the most medically significant venoms of any spider species, capable of causing severe tissue damage in rare bite cases. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chilean Swallow Tachycineta meyeni The Chilean swallow migrates seasonally across southern South America, nesting in tree cavities and abandoned woodpecker holes rather than building a nest from scratch. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Four-eyed Opossum Philander opossum The four-eyed opossum carries two pale spots above its eyes that resemble a second pair, a nocturnal and solitary marsupial found across a broad stretch of the Americas. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Geoffroy's Cat Leopardus geoffroyi Geoffroy's cat is one of the most abundant small wild cat species in southern South America, adapting readily to habitats ranging from Patagonian steppe to dense scrubland. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Huemul Hippocamelus bisulcus The huemul appears on Chile's national coat of arms alongside the condor, yet survives today in only a fraction of its historical range across the southern Andes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Monito del Monte Dromiciops gliroides The monito del monte is a living fossil marsupial, the sole surviving member of an ancient lineage more closely related to Australian marsupials than to any other mammal in South America. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rufous-legged Owl Strix rufipes The rufous-legged owl hunts through dense southern beech forest at night, identified by barred plumage and distinctively rust-coloured legs among its Patagonian owl relatives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rufous-tailed Plantcutter Phytotoma rara The rufous-tailed plantcutter eats leaves and buds rather than insects or fruit, an unusual diet among songbirds enabled by a serrated bill built for cutting vegetation. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Southern Pudu Pudu puda The southern pudu is one of the smallest deer species in the world, a shy, solitary browser hiding within the dense undergrowth of southern Chilean and Argentine temperate rainforest. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Striped Skunk Mephitis mephitis The striped skunk sprays an oily, sulfur-based musk it can aim several metres, but its bold black-and-white warning coat means it rarely has to; most predators learn to leave it alone. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Termite Infraorder Isoptera Termites are social cockroaches, not ants; between them they recycle much of the world's dead wood and grass, build the tallest structures any animal makes, and in some species farm fungus. Read the guide →
Birds VU Tristan Bunting Nesospiza acunhae The Tristan bunting feeds on a far wider variety of seeds than its massive-billed relative Wilkins's bunting, part of an unusual island-bound adaptive radiation compared to Darwin's finches. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tufted Tit-tyrant Anairetes parulus The tufted tit-tyrant sports a spiky, forward-curling crest and constantly flicks its tail, one of the most common and recognisable small birds across Andean and Patagonian scrub. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-crested Elaenia Elaenia albiceps The white-crested elaenia undertakes one of the longest migrations of any South American songbird, breeding in Patagonia and travelling as far as the Amazon basin for the winter. Read the guide →
Mammals LC White-eared Opossum Didelphis albiventris The white-eared opossum adapts readily to nearly any habitat it encounters, a common and widespread South American marsupial identified by its pale ears and face. Read the guide →
Birds LC Austral Parakeet Enicognathus ferrugineus The austral parakeet is the southernmost parrot species in the world, surviving in the cold southern beech forests of Tierra del Fuego far beyond the range of any other parrot on Earth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Austral Pygmy-owl Glaucidium nano The austral pygmy-owl hunts during daylight hours unlike most owls, its false eye markings on the back of its head confusing small birds that try to mob it from behind. Read the guide →
Birds LC Austral Thrush Turdus falcklandii The austral thrush thrives everywhere from Falkland Islands pasture to city parks in southern Chile, one of the most adaptable and widespread songbirds found anywhere in southern South America. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-chinned Siskin Spinus barbatus The black-chinned siskin forms conspicuous flocks across southern beech forest and garden alike, males marked by a distinctive black patch beneath the bill that gives the species its name. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-throated Huet-huet Pteroptochos castaneus The black-throated huet-huet is a large, ground-dwelling forest bird named for its distinctive repeated call, more often heard echoing through dense undergrowth than seen by observers. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Brown Anole Anolis sagrei The brown anole is a small Caribbean lizard whose invasion of the southern US pushed the native green anole up into the treetops, driving one of the clearest recorded cases of rapid evolution. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU California Red-legged Frog Rana draytonii The California red-legged frog is the largest native frog in the western US and the model for Mark Twain's jumping-frog story; introduced bullfrogs and lost wetlands have made it a threatened species. Read the guide →
Birds VU Chatham Petrel Pterodroma axillaris The Chatham petrel breeds only on a single Chatham Islands island, where returning birds must compete with broad-billed prions already nesting in the same burrows. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chilean Flicker Colaptes pitius The Chilean flicker forages for ants on open ground rather than climbing tree trunks, an unusual habit among woodpeckers found across the open woodland and scrubland of Chile and Argentina. Read the guide →
Birds NT Chilean Pigeon Patagioenas araucana The Chilean pigeon depends heavily on the fruit of the Chilean wine palm and native southern beech trees, its populations declining alongside the temperate rainforest it calls home. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Chilean Stag Beetle Chiasognathus grantii Male Chilean stag beetles carry enormous mandibles longer than their own body, wielded in ritualised combat with rivals and first described to science by Charles Darwin himself. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chucao Tapaculo Scelorchilus rubecula The chucao tapaculo is a loud, ground-dwelling bird of southern beech forest that rarely flies, more often heard through its explosive call than actually seen scurrying through dense undergrowth. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Darwin's Fox Lycalopex fulvipes Darwin's fox survives in just two isolated populations, one on Chiloe Island and a tiny mainland population once thought extinct, making it one of the rarest canids on Earth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Des Murs's Wiretail Sylviorthorhynchus desmursii Des Murs's wiretail is a tiny songbird of southern beech forest carrying an extraordinarily long, wire-thin tail several times the length of its own body, the sole member of its own genus. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix The eastern copperhead, a camouflaged pit viper of the US East and Midwest, causes more venomous bites than any other American snake and among the fewest deaths, because its venom is mild. Read the guide →
Birds LC Fire-eyed Diucon Xolmis pyrope The fire-eyed diucon hunts flying insects from an exposed perch, its startling red eyes making it one of the more distinctive tyrant flycatchers found anywhere in southern South America. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Gopher Tortoise Gopherus polyphemus The gopher tortoise digs long, deep burrows in the sandy pinelands of the southeastern US that shelter more than 350 other species, making it one of North America's most important keystone animals. Read the guide →
Birds LC Green-backed Firecrown Sephanoides sephaniodes The green-backed firecrown is the southernmost breeding hummingbird species in the world, tolerating cold temperate forest conditions far removed from the tropical climate most hummingbirds prefer. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Lesser Grison Galictis cuja The lesser grison hunts small vertebrates across a huge range of South American habitat, its masked grey-and-black face pattern making it one of the more distinctive mustelids on the continent. Read the guide →
Birds LC Magellanic Tapaculo Scytalopus magellanicus The Magellanic tapaculo breeds further south than almost any other tapaculo species, a tiny, dark, ground-hugging bird nearly impossible to see despite calling constantly from dense undergrowth. Read the guide →
Birds CR Magenta Petrel Pterodroma magentae The magenta petrel was believed extinct for over a century until a small breeding population was rediscovered in forested hills on the Chatham Islands, making it one of the rarest seabirds on Earth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos The northern mockingbird is a plain grey songbird with an extraordinary voice, learning 50 to 200 songs copied from other birds and from machines, and it dive-bombs any cat or person near its nest. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Oak Toad Anaxyrus quercicus The oak toad is the smallest toad in North America, a thumbnail-sized southeastern species that is active by day, eats mostly ants, and calls with a shrill peeping whistle like a flock of baby chicks. Read the guide →
Birds LC Patagonian Sierra-finch Phrygilus patagonicus The Patagonian sierra-finch is a small songbird of southern beech forest edges, favouring cooler, more forested habitat than several of its more open-country sierra-finch relatives. Read the guide →
Birds NT Slender-billed Parakeet Enicognathus leptorhynchus The slender-billed parakeet digs up roots and bulbs underground using an unusually long, curved upper bill found in no other parrot species, sometimes bringing it into conflict with farmers. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Slender Salamander Batrachoseps Slender salamanders are lungless western North American amphibians so long and thin they are often mistaken for earthworms; caught, they coil like a watch spring and then unspring to bounce away. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Smooth Newt Lissotriton vulgaris The smooth newt is the most common newt in Britain and much of Europe, a small amphibian that spends most of the year on land, breeds in ponds, and courts by fanning water at the female with its tail. Read the guide →
Birds NT Solitary Tinamou Tinamus solitarius The solitary tinamou is one of the largest tinamou species, a shy, forest-dwelling bird of the Atlantic Forest that lives up to its name by spending most of its life alone rather than in groups. Read the guide →
Birds LC Spectacled Duck Speculanas specularis The spectacled duck nests in tree cavities along forested Patagonian streams, unlike most ducks, males marked by a distinctive pale ring of feathers resembling a pair of spectacles. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tataupa Tinamou Crypturellus tataupa The tataupa tinamou is a small, secretive ground bird of South American woodland edges, more often heard through its distinctive whistled call than seen among the dense undergrowth it favours. Read the guide →
Birds LC Thorn-tailed Rayadito Aphrastura spinicauda The thorn-tailed rayadito is a small, active songbird with spiny tail feathers used for balance, breeding further south than almost any other passerine bird in the Americas. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus The timber rattlesnake is a large, mild-mannered pit viper of eastern US forests and the snake of the Gadsden flag, now vanishing in the north where whole populations share one ancient winter den. Read the guide →
Birds NT Tristan Thrush Nesocichla eremita The Tristan thrush occasionally preys on the eggs and chicks of other seabirds, an unusually predatory habit for a thrush found only across the remote Tristan da Cunha island group. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-throated Treerunner Pygarrhichas albogularis The white-throated treerunner forages up tree trunks in a woodpecker-like manner, the sole member of its own genus and one of the more distinctive small birds of southern beech forest. Read the guide →
Birds VU Wilkins's Bunting Nesospiza wilkinsi Wilkins's bunting has one of the largest bills relative to body size of any songbird, evolved specifically to crack open the tough seeds of a single tree species. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ashy-headed Goose Chloephaga poliocephala The ashy-headed goose is a forest-edge specialist among the Patagonian geese, grazing at woodland margins rather than the open grassland or shoreline favoured by several of its close relatives. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Burmese Python Python bivittatus The Burmese python is one of the largest snakes in the world, a heavy-bodied constrictor from Southeast Asia that has become a devastating invasive predator in the Florida Everglades. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos The common nightingale is a plain brown bird with an extraordinary voice; males sing through the night as well as the day, drawing on a repertoire of around a thousand different sounds. Read the guide →
Birds LC European Robin Erithacus rubecula The European robin is a small, round, orange-breasted bird that is tame in British gardens, fiercely territorial year-round, and a leading model for how birds sense the Earth's magnetic field. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Gopher Frog Lithobates capito The gopher frog of the southeastern US spends most of its life sheltering in the burrow of a gopher tortoise, coming out on rainy winter nights to breed explosively in temporary, fishless ponds. Read the guide →
Birds LC House Sparrow Passer domesticus The house sparrow is the small brown bird that follows people almost everywhere on Earth, from farmyards to city centres, yet it has vanished from many European cities in the past few decades. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Slimy Salamander Plethodon glutinosus The slimy salamander is a lungless woodland salamander of the eastern US whose skin, when the animal is grabbed, releases a glue so strong it can cement a predator's jaws shut for days. Read the guide →
Mammals LC African Civet Civettictis civetta The African civet is the largest civet species and, unlike its more arboreal Asian relatives, stays almost entirely on the ground while hunting across the African savanna and forest at night. Read the guide →
Mammals LC African Palm Civet Nandinia binotata The African palm civet spends nearly its entire life in the trees, an important seed disperser distinct enough that some scientists place it in a family of its own. Read the guide →
Birds LC Arabian Woodpecker Dendrocopos dorae The Arabian woodpecker survives in a handful of mountain woodlands across southwestern Arabia, one of the few woodpeckers anywhere adapted to such an arid, isolated corner of the world. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Banded Linsang Prionodon linsang The banded linsang is believed to be one of the closest living relatives of true cats despite looking almost exactly like a civet, an extremely agile Southeast Asian tree climber. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-collared Barbet Lybius torquatus A pair of black-collared barbets calls in such tightly timed alternation that the two voices can sound to a human ear like a single bird calling. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Black-Legged Mongoose Bdeogale nigripes The black-legged mongoose carries dark, almost black legs that contrast sharply against its paler body, a poorly studied rainforest species of West and Central Africa. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Bongo Tragelaphus eurycerus The bongo is one of the largest forest antelope in the world, a striking chestnut-coated animal whose mountain population has become one of the most critically endangered large mammals in Africa. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Brown Mongoose Urva fusca The brown mongoose keeps to the cool, wet hill forests of India's Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, a uniformly dark, poorly studied species rarely seen away from dense cover. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bushbuck Tragelaphus sylvaticus The bushbuck is the smallest of the spiral-horned antelope, a solitary, secretive forest dweller marked with white spots and stripes that freezes rather than flees when threatened. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bushy-Tailed Mongoose Bdeogale crassicauda The bushy-tailed mongoose carries an unusually thick, fox-like tail rather than the slender tail typical of most mongoose species, a poorly studied East African forest dweller. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chestnut-mandibled Toucan Ramphastos ambiguus The chestnut-mandibled toucan is one of the largest toucans in the world, closely related to the keel-billed toucan but identified by the warm chestnut-brown lower half of its otherwise dark bill. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Chinese Ferret-Badger Melogale moschata The Chinese ferret-badger tolerates disturbed farmland and village edges as readily as forest, a small, adaptable Asian carnivore identified by bold facial markings. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Chital Axis axis The chital keeps its bright white spots for life, an Indian deer that often forages beneath troops of langur monkeys, relying on the primates' sharper eyesight to warn of approaching tigers. Read the guide →
Birds LC Collared Aracari Pteroglossus torquatus The collared aracari is a smaller, highly social relative of the large toucans, marked by a chestnut band across the chest and known for roosting together in tight groups inside a single tree cavity. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Collared Mongoose Urva semitorquata The collared mongoose carries a pale, collar-like marking around its neck, a rarely observed rainforest species restricted to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Cusimanse Crossarchus obscurus The common cusimanse forages in noisy, highly social groups through West African rainforest, using an elongated snout to root out insects and small prey from the forest floor. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris The common starling is a glossy, spotted songbird famous for its swirling flocks, its talent for mimicry, and its spread across North America from about 100 birds released in New York in the 1890s. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Crab-Eating Mongoose Herpestes urva The crab-eating mongoose has partially webbed feet for swimming after its favourite prey, an Asian mongoose species that forages along streams and rice paddies rather than dry savanna. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Duiker Sylvicapra grimmia The common duiker is the most widespread small antelope in Africa, named for the Afrikaans word for "diver" after its habit of ducking into cover the instant it senses danger. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Eastern Box Turtle Terrapene carolina The eastern box turtle is a small land turtle of the eastern US that can fold its hinged shell shut into a sealed box, lives for many decades, and stays in a home range of a few hectares for life. Read the guide →
Birds LC Emerald Toucanet Aulacorhynchus prasinus The emerald toucanet trades the bold colours of its larger relatives for a green body that blends almost seamlessly into cloud forest foliage. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eurasian Magpie Pica pica The Eurasian magpie is a bold black-and-white crow relative with an outsize brain; it is one of the few animals to recognise itself in a mirror, and folklore ties it to luck, theft, and prophecy. Read the guide →
Mammals LC European Badger Meles meles The European badger digs enormous underground burrow systems called setts that can be used by successive generations for centuries, one of the most sociable members of the weasel family. Read the guide →
Mammals CR European Mink Mustela lutreola The European mink has been pushed toward extinction largely by its own invasive American relative, escaped fur-farm animals that outcompete it wherever the two species overlap. Read the guide →
Mammals LC European Pine Marten Martes martes The European pine marten's recovery in Britain has helped native red squirrels bounce back, since martens prey on the invasive grey squirrels that outcompete and displace them. Read the guide →
Mammals LC European Polecat Mustela putorius The European polecat is the wild ancestor of the domestic ferret, a dark-masked mustelid that releases a powerful defensive musk when threatened. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Falanouc Eupleres goudotii The falanouc is one of the few carnivores that barely hunts vertebrates at all, a Madagascar specialist with reduced, peg-like teeth built almost entirely for eating earthworms. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Fallow Deer Dama dama The fallow deer grows broad, flattened antlers unlike the branching spikes of most other deer, a spotted species spread across Europe by the Romans and Normans. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Fanaloka Fossa fanaloka The fanaloka looks like a civet but belongs to a family of carnivores found only on Madagascar, more closely related to the mongoose-like fossa than to any true civet. Read the guide →
Birds LC Fiery-billed Aracari Pteroglossus frantzii The fiery-billed aracari carries a bill in shades of glowing orange-red, a smaller, highly social toucan relative restricted to the Pacific slope forests of Costa Rica and Panama. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Gambian Mongoose Mungos gambianus The Gambian mongoose is a close relative of the far better-known banded mongoose, living in social groups across West African savanna and forest edge but studied far less than its striped cousin. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Giant Eland Taurotragus derbianus The giant eland is taller than its common eland relative, a huge, chestnut-striped antelope of West and Central African woodland whose western population has become critically endangered. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Barbet Psilopogon virens The great barbet is one of the largest barbets in Asia, a blue-headed bird whose loud, repetitive call rings out across Himalayan foothill forest for hours at a stretch. Read the guide →
Birds VU Great Slaty Woodpecker Mulleripicus pulverulentus The great slaty woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers alive today, an unusually social bird that moves through Southeast Asian forest in small, noisy family groups. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros The greater kudu bull carries spiralled horns that can complete two and a half full twists, a large African antelope capable of clearing fences well over two metres high. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Green Anole Anolis carolinensis The green anole is a small southeastern US lizard sold as an American chameleon for its green-to-brown colour change, though it is no chameleon and is being pushed up into the treetops by an invader. Read the guide →
Birds LC Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus The grey-headed woodpecker is a quieter, more subdued relative of the green woodpecker, sharing its taste for ground-dwelling ants but calling far less loudly. Read the guide →
Birds LC Groove-billed Toucanet Aulacorhynchus sulcatus The groove-billed toucanet carries a bill marked with fine grooves along its surface, a small green relative of the large toucans found across the forests of northern South America. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Hog Badger Arctonyx collaris The hog badger roots through soil and leaf litter with an elongated, pig-like snout, an Asian relative of true badgers hunted heavily for meat and traditional medicine. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Jackson's Mongoose Bdeogale jacksoni Jackson's mongoose lives in the cool montane forests of East Africa, a poorly studied relative of the bushy-tailed mongoose known mainly from scattered highland records. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Liberian Mongoose Liberiictis kuhni The Liberian mongoose survives only in a small pocket of West African rainforest, one of the rarest and least-studied mongoose species, made harder to research by decades of regional instability. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Long-Nosed Mongoose Xenogale naso The long-nosed mongoose has an unusually elongated snout and a partly aquatic lifestyle, a poorly studied Central African rainforest species that forages along streams and swampy ground. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Malabar Civet Viverra civettina The Malabar civet is feared possibly extinct in the wild, an Indian species with only a handful of confirmed sightings in recent decades as its Western Ghats forest home was converted to plantations. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Meller's Mongoose Rhynchogale melleri Meller's mongoose feeds almost entirely on termites, a poorly studied southern African species with noticeably fewer teeth than most of its insect-and-rodent-eating relatives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Middle Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocoptes medius The middle spotted woodpecker has a comparatively weak bill that struggles against hard wood, tying this European species closely to old, softer-timbered deciduous forest. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Mountain Nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni The mountain nyala survives only in a small pocket of Ethiopian highland forest, a spiral-horned antelope found nowhere else on Earth and now classified as Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi The muntjac fights with a pair of small, visible tusks rather than relying only on antlers, a tiny, primitive deer nicknamed the barking deer for its dog-like alarm call. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus The nilgai is the largest antelope in Asia, its name meaning blue cow in reference to the blue-grey colouring of mature males, a species widely protected in India for its resemblance to cattle. Read the guide →
Birds LC Nubian Woodpecker Campethera nubica The Nubian woodpecker wears a golden-olive body dotted with fine spots, a common but easily overlooked hunter of ants and termites across the savanna and woodland of East Africa. Read the guide →
Birds LC Nuttall's Woodpecker Dryobates nuttallii Nuttall's woodpecker closely resembles the desert-dwelling ladder-backed woodpecker but instead makes its home in California's oak woodland. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Nyala Tragelaphus angasii A male and female nyala look so different that they could easily be mistaken for two entirely separate species, one dark grey with spiralled horns, the other reddish-brown and completely hornless. Read the guide →
Birds EN Okinawa Woodpecker Dendrocopos noguchii The Okinawa woodpecker survives only within the same patch of Yanbaru forest that shelters the equally endangered Okinawa rail, confined to a single Japanese island. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Otter Civet Cynogale bennettii The otter civet has evolved webbed feet and dense, water-resistant fur strikingly similar to a true otter, despite belonging to an entirely different carnivore family. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Owston's Civet Chrotogale owstoni Owston's civet uses unusually long claws to dig earthworms directly out of the soil, a distinctively striped Southeast Asian civet now threatened by heavy snaring pressure. Read the guide →
Birds NT Plate-billed Mountain Toucan Andigena laminirostris The plate-billed mountain toucan carries a distinctive ridged plate along the base of its bill, a threatened Andean specialist found at higher elevations than most toucans. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Pousargues's Mongoose Dologale dybowskii Pousargues's mongoose is so poorly documented that basic details of its social structure and behaviour remain uncertain, a small Central African species known mainly from scattered records. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus The rainbow lorikeet is a loud, brilliantly coloured Australian parrot with a brush-tipped tongue built to mop nectar and pollen from flowers, a diet that shapes almost everything about how it lives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-and-yellow Barbet Trachyphonus erythrocephalus The red-and-yellow barbet nests inside active termite mounds across East African dry bush, one of the most vividly coloured members of an already colourful family. Read the guide →
Birds NT Red-cockaded Woodpecker Dryobates borealis The red-cockaded woodpecker excavates its nest cavity in a living tree, drilling small wells around the entrance that ooze sticky resin to keep climbing snakes away. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red Deer Cervus elaphus The red deer stag announces the autumn rutting season with a deep, roaring bugle, backing up its call with a rack of branching antlers regrown every single year. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Ring-Tailed Vontsira Galidia elegans The ring-tailed vontsira is Madagascar's most commonly seen native carnivore, an active daytime hunter belonging to the same island-exclusive family as the fossa and fanaloka. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus The roe deer delays the start of pregnancy for months after mating, a small, territorial European deer whose embryo simply pauses its development until conditions are right for birth in spring. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Ruddy Mongoose Urva smithii The ruddy mongoose carries a distinctive black-tipped tail, a reddish-coated forest species of southern India and Sri Lanka that ranks among the larger mongooses found in the region. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus The rufous woodpecker excavates its nest directly inside the active nests of tree ants, somehow avoiding the swarming defenders that would overwhelm almost any other bird attempting the same thing. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Sable Martes zibellina The sable's fur was historically the most valuable in the world, a Siberian forest hunter whose pelt trade helped drive centuries of Russian expansion eastward across the continent. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Sable Antelope Hippotragus niger The sable antelope's males turn almost jet black with age, and both sexes carry dramatic, deeply ridged horns long enough to drop to their knees and fight off attacking lions. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Sambar Deer Rusa unicolor The sambar deer is one of the largest deer species in Asia, a shaggy, water-loving giant that wallows in mud to cool off and serves as one of the tiger's most important prey species across its range. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Serow Capricornis sumatraensis The serow marks its steep forest territory with a strong-smelling secretion from glands near its eyes, a solitary Asian goat-antelope built for near-vertical, densely wooded slopes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Short-Tailed Mongoose Herpestes brachyurus The short-tailed mongoose carries a noticeably stubbier tail than most of its relatives, a solitary rainforest species of Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula rarely seen in the open. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Sika Deer Cervus nippon The sika deer keeps its white spots into adulthood in many populations, a small East Asian deer whose eerie whistling call sounds nothing like the roar of the red deer. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Slender Mongoose Galerella sanguinea The slender mongoose lives alone across nearly every habitat type in sub-Saharan Africa, identified by a distinctive black-tipped tail that stands out as it moves through cover. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Small Asian Mongoose Urva javanica The small Asian mongoose was long classified as the same species as the small Indian mongoose before a taxonomic revision split them apart, keeping this one native to Southeast Asia. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor The spotted linsang shares its closest relative's surprising kinship with true cats, a bold, dark-spotted sister species to the banded linsang found across the forests of mainland Southeast Asia. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Stripe-Necked Mongoose Herpestes vitticollis The stripe-necked mongoose carries a bold dark stripe running down the side of its neck, one of the larger Asian mongoose species found across the forests of southern India and Sri Lanka. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Suni Neotragus moschatus The suni is one of the smallest antelope in the world, a secretive forest-floor dweller small enough to slip through gaps in dense undergrowth that would stop most other mammals. Read the guide →
Birds LC Syrian Woodpecker Dryobates syriacus The Syrian woodpecker looks almost identical to the great spotted woodpecker but shows a far greater tolerance for orchards, parks, and gardens, helping it steadily expand its range. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Takin Budorcas taxicolor The takin is Bhutan's national animal, a bulky, golden-coated goat-antelope with a large arched nose that helps warm frigid mountain air before it reaches the lungs. Read the guide →
Birds NT Toucan Barbet Semnornis ramphastinus The toucan barbet sits right at the evolutionary crossroads between barbets and toucans, a colourful Andean cloud forest bird whose features blend both groups into a single striking package. Read the guide →
Birds NT White-backed Woodpecker Dendrocopos leucotos The white-backed woodpecker depends so heavily on old-growth forest full of standing dead wood that its presence or absence is often used as an indicator of genuine forest health across Europe. Read the guide →
Mammals LC American Water Shrew Sorex palustris The American water shrew can run briefly across the surface of water, trapped air bubbles under its fringed feet keeping it from sinking for a few crucial seconds. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Arctic Shrew Sorex arcticus The arctic shrew wears three distinct shades across its body, a dark saddle down the back fading to paler sides and belly, despite living well south of the true Arctic across much of its range. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Asian House Shrew Suncus murinus The Asian house shrew lives alongside people in towns and villages across much of Asia, announcing its presence with a strong musky odour and a distinctive chattering call. Read the guide →
Birds LC Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus The azure kingfisher flashes along quiet Australian forest streams like a living jewel, its deep blue back and orange underparts visible only in a brief blur before it vanishes back into the shadows. Read the guide →
Birds LC Banded Kingfisher Lacedo pulchella The banded kingfisher shows an unusually large difference between males and females, a blue-and-black banded male paired with a rufous, black-barred female. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Black-And-Rufous Elephant Shrew Rhynchocyon petersi The black-and-rufous elephant shrew splits its body into two bold colours, black in front giving way sharply to deep rufous-red behind, a striking pattern found in coastal East African forest. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius The black woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in Europe, carving out nest holes so large that they later become homes for owls, martens, and other animals unable to make cavities of their own. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus The blood pheasant carries splashes of vivid crimson across its chest and face, as though freshly wounded, an unusual colour pattern found at altitudes higher than almost any other pheasant tolerates. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-winged Kookaburra Dacelo leachii The blue-winged kookaburra shares its larger relative's land-hunting habits, but gives a harsher call and shows a flash of blue in the wing that the laughing kookaburra lacks. Read the guide →
Birds LC Boat-billed Heron Cochlearius cochlearius The boat-billed heron carries an enormously broad, shovel-shaped bill unlike any other heron, a tool suited to a nocturnal life spent hunting through dark mangrove waters. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bonaparte's Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia Bonaparte's gull breaks one of the most consistent rules in the gull family by nesting in trees, a habit almost unheard of among gulls, which overwhelmingly nest on open ground. Read the guide →
Birds LC Brown-hooded Kingfisher Halcyon albiventris The brown-hooded kingfisher announces itself with a loud, descending call from woodland edges across southern Africa, a mostly insect-eating hunter that rarely bothers with fish at all. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Checkered Elephant Shrew Rhynchocyon cirnei The checkered elephant shrew wears a mottled, checkerboard-like pattern across its back, camouflage that helps it blend into the dappled light of the Central African forest floor. Read the guide →
Birds VU Cheer Pheasant Catreus wallichii The cheer pheasant announces its territory with loud, distinctive calls at dawn and dusk, a habit that has made this Vulnerable Himalayan bird easier to survey by ear than by sight. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chocolate-backed Kingfisher Halcyon badia The chocolate-backed kingfisher spends its life deep within African rainforest, so secretive that its rich, warm-brown back is more often described from museum specimens than from live sightings. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Shrew Sorex araneus The common shrew eats almost constantly, needing to consume close to its own body weight in food every day or risk starving to death within a matter of hours. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Coqui Eleutherodactylus coqui The coqui is a tiny frog whose two-note night call is the unofficial sound of Puerto Rico, where it is a national symbol; it skips the tadpole stage entirely, which has helped it invade Hawaii. Read the guide →
Mammals DD Dusky-Footed Elephant Shrew Elephantulus fuscipes The dusky-footed elephant shrew is one of the least studied members of its order, known from so few records across remote Central Africa that basic facts about its life remain unclear. Read the guide →
Birds NT Elliot's Pheasant Syrmaticus ellioti Elliot's pheasant shares its genus and long trailing tail with Reeves's pheasant, but wears a chestnut-and-grey pattern instead of gold, restricted to hill forest in eastern China. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Etruscan Shrew Suncus etruscus The Etruscan shrew is the smallest mammal on Earth by body mass, weighing about as much as a large coin, with a heart that can beat more than a thousand times per minute. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eurasian Pygmy Shrew Sorex minutus The Eurasian pygmy shrew is one of the smallest mammals in Europe, weighing barely as much as a coin, yet it is bold enough to attack and kill insects larger than itself. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eurasian Water Shrew Neomys fodiens The Eurasian water shrew is one of the very few venomous mammals alive, delivering a mild toxin through its bite that can subdue prey considerably larger than itself. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Four-Toed Sengi Petrodromus tetradactylus The four-toed sengi is missing a toe most of its relatives have, an unusual foot structure that gives the species both its common name and its place as the only member of its genus. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Giant Mexican Shrew Megasorex gigas The giant Mexican shrew is the largest shrew species found anywhere in the New World, though even at its record-holding size it would still fit comfortably in the palm of a hand. Read the guide →
Birds LC Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons The golden-fronted woodpecker carries a warm patch of yellow-orange across its forehead, a highly adaptable bird found from dense Texan woodland to dry Mexican scrub. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Golden-Rumped Elephant Shrew Rhynchocyon chrysopygus The golden-rumped elephant shrew flashes a brilliant patch of golden fur across its rear as it sprints down a network of cleared escape trails it maintains daily through Kenyan coastal forest. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Gray Treefrog Hyla versicolor The gray treefrog of eastern North America can shift between grey, green, and brown to match bark or leaves, survives its body partly freezing solid each winter, and carries four sets of chromosomes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major The great spotted woodpecker is the most common and widespread woodpecker across Europe, drumming rapidly on tree trunks not just to feed but to communicate territory and attract a mate. Read the guide →
Birds LC Green Woodpecker Picus viridis The green woodpecker spends much of its time on the ground rather than clinging to tree trunks, probing open grassland for ants with a long, sticky tongue and a loud, laughing call known as a yaffle. Read the guide →
Birds LC Grey-headed Kingfisher Halcyon leucocephala The grey-headed kingfisher hunts insects and lizards across dry African savanna as often as it hunts fish, a flexible diet that lets it thrive well away from any river or lake. Read the guide →
Birds EW Guam Kingfisher Todiramphus cinnamominus The Guam kingfisher has been extinct in the wild since the 1980s after invasive brown tree snakes wiped out Guam's native forest birds, surviving today only through captive breeding. Read the guide →
Birds CR Guam Rail Hypotaenidia owstoni The Guam rail was declared extinct in the wild after invasive brown tree snakes wiped out its island population, only to be brought back through determined captive breeding. Read the guide →
Birds EX Imperial Woodpecker Campephilus imperialis The imperial woodpecker was the largest woodpecker that ever lived, a giant of Mexico's mountain pine forests believed to have gone extinct after old-growth logging. Read the guide →
Birds CR Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis The ivory-billed woodpecker was once so striking that people reportedly exclaimed "Lord God!" upon seeing one, a bird now Critically Endangered and possibly extinct. Read the guide →
Birds LC Kalij Pheasant Lophura leucomelanos The kalij pheasant is one of the most variable pheasant species alive, split into subspecies whose plumage ranges from glossy blue-black to pale brown across its Himalayan and South Asian range. Read the guide →
Birds LC Koklass Pheasant Pucrasia macrolopha The koklass pheasant wears a distinctive double-pointed crest unlike any other pheasant, and its harsh, far-carrying call gives the species its onomatopoeic common name. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ladder-backed Woodpecker Dryobates scalaris The ladder-backed woodpecker thrives in arid desert scrub where few other woodpeckers venture, nesting in cacti and mesquite across the southwestern United States and Mexico. Read the guide →
Birds LC Lady Amherst's Pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae Lady Amherst's pheasant trails a tail banded in bold black and white stripes, a striking pattern that sets it apart even among its own famously colourful genus. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Least Shrew Cryptotis parva The least shrew is the smallest shrew species in North America, and unlike most solitary, aggressive shrews it huddles together with others in shared nests for warmth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Lewis's Woodpecker Melanerpes lewis Lewis's woodpecker catches insects on the wing like a flycatcher rather than drilling into bark, paired with dark, iridescent plumage unlike any other woodpecker. Read the guide →
Birds VU Lord Howe Woodhen Hypotaenidia sylvestris The Lord Howe woodhen recovered from as few as thirty individuals to a stable population through one of conservation's earliest successful island predator-eradication and captive-breeding programs. Read the guide →
Birds NT Magellanic Woodpecker Campephilus magellanicus The Magellanic woodpecker is the last thriving giant of its genus, a large, crested hunter of Patagonian forests whose closest relatives are extinct or possibly extinct. Read the guide →
Birds CR Marquesan Kingfisher Todiramphus godeffroyi The Marquesan kingfisher survives on just a couple of remote French Polynesian islands, a Critically Endangered bird threatened by introduced rats that prey on its eggs and chicks. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Masked Shrew Sorex cinereus The masked shrew is the most widely distributed shrew species in North America, found from the Arctic tundra to temperate forest despite weighing barely more than a few paperclips. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mountain Quail Oreortyx pictus The mountain quail is the largest quail species native to North America, and rather than flying south for winter it walks downhill on foot, covering entire mountain slopes step by step. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Northern Short-Tailed Shrew Blarina brevicauda The northern short-tailed shrew is one of North America's few venomous mammals, using a paralysing bite to immobilise prey and store it alive for later, like a living pantry. Read the guide →
Birds EN Okinawa Rail Hypotaenidia okinawae The Okinawa rail was unknown to science until 1981, a flightless forest bird confined to a single mountainous corner of Okinawa Island that remains under constant threat from introduced predators. Read the guide →
Birds LC Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx erithacus The oriental dwarf kingfisher ranks among the smallest kingfishers in the world, a tiny burst of orange, purple, and blue that vanishes into the forest understory almost as soon as it is seen. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ruddy Kingfisher Halcyon coromanda The ruddy kingfisher glows a deep reddish-purple across nearly its entire body, a forest-dwelling hunter whose distinctive whistled call carries through Asian woodlands. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus The sacred kingfisher takes its name from the reverence some Pacific island cultures once held for it, a bird that hunts as much on dry land as over water. Read the guide →
Birds NT Satyr Tragopan Tragopan satyra The satyr tragopan shares its dramatic inflatable throat wattle and raised head horns with its western relative, but wears a crimson body dotted with pale spots across a wider Himalayan range. Read the guide →
Birds LC Shovel-billed Kookaburra Clytoceyx rex The shovel-billed kookaburra carries a massive, broad bill built for digging earthworms out of the forest floor, a hunting method unlike anything else in the entire kingfisher family. Read the guide →
Birds LC Stork-billed Kingfisher Pelargopsis capensis The stork-billed kingfisher carries a massive, thick red bill more reminiscent of a stork, a powerful tool that lets it take prey far beyond the small fish most kingfishers rely on. Read the guide →
Birds LC Striped Kingfisher Halcyon chelicuti The striped kingfisher is one of the smaller African savanna kingfishers, marking its territory with a distinctive display flight rather than the loud calls many relatives use. Read the guide →
Birds LC Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus The three-toed woodpecker breaks the standard bird body plan with only three toes instead of four, an adaptation that helps it grip while stripping bark for beetle larvae. Read the guide →
Birds CR Tuamotu Kingfisher Todiramphus gambieri The Tuamotu kingfisher survives on a single atoll in French Polynesia, one of the rarest birds on Earth, threatened by introduced rats and habitat loss. Read the guide →
Birds VU Weka Gallirallus australis The weka is a large, flightless New Zealand rail notorious for boldly stealing shiny or unattended objects from campsites, an opportunistic curiosity that matches its equally varied diet. Read the guide →
Birds VU Western Tragopan Tragopan melanocephalus The western tragopan inflates a vivid blue-and-red throat wattle and raises two fleshy blue horns above its head, one of the most dramatic courtship displays found in any pheasant. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-headed Woodpecker Dryobates albolarvatus The white-headed woodpecker feeds heavily on pine seeds rather than insects, an unusually plant-based diet that ties this striking black-bodied bird closely to western pine forests. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis The white-throated kingfisher is one of the most commonly seen kingfishers across South Asia and the Middle East, just as likely spotted over a dry field hunting insects as beside a river. Read the guide →
Birds LC Woodland Kingfisher Halcyon senegalensis Despite its name suggesting a connection to water, the woodland kingfisher spends most of its life far from rivers and lakes, hunting insects and small reptiles across the African savanna instead. Read the guide →
Birds LC Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius The yellow-bellied sapsucker drills neat rows of small holes into tree bark to drink the sap that wells up, a food source shared with insects and other birds drawn to the same sugary wells. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Barbary Macaque Macaca sylvanus The Barbary macaque is the only primate living wild in Europe, its Gibraltar population surviving centuries as the sole non-human primate on the continent. Read the guide →
Birds LC Barred Antshrike Thamnophilus doliatus The barred antshrike raises a shaggy crest and flicks its tail when alarmed, one of the most common and widely tolerant antshrike species in the Americas. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bay-Headed Tanager Tangara gyrola The bay-headed tanager pairs a rich chestnut head with a green body and blue underparts, one more vivid face within the sprawling Tangara genus. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Black Howler Monkey Alouatta caraya Male and female black howler monkeys look like two different species entirely, the males solid black and the females a striking golden-blonde. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-Gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus The blue-gray tanager is one of the most common birds across its range, a familiar sight in gardens and parks throughout the Neotropics. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bonnet Macaque Macaca radiata The bonnet macaque is named for a whorl of hair radiating from the crown of its head like a woven cap, a common sight around temples across southern India. Read the guide →
Birds LC California Quail Callipepla californica The California quail wears a single forward-curving black plume above its head like a tiny question mark, an emblem distinctive enough to make the species the official state bird of California. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chestnut-Crowned Antpitta Grallaria ruficapilla Some chestnut-crowned antpittas have been trained to visit feeding stations for worms, offering rare close views of an otherwise painfully shy family. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs Common chaffinches sing in distinct regional dialects passed down between generations, a genuine form of cultural learning in one of Europe's commonest birds. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Linnet Linaria cannabina The common linnet takes its name from an old fondness for flax seeds, and has declined sharply across Europe as weedy farmland margins have disappeared. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Quail Coturnix coturnix The common quail is one of the very few truly migratory quail species, crossing the Mediterranean Sea twice a year despite being a small, weak-flying ground bird. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea The common redpoll survives Arctic cold down to minus 65 degrees by burrowing into snow to roost and caching seeds in a special throat pouch. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus A male common rosefinch turns a deep raspberry red on the head and breast, singing a simple whistled song often rendered as pleased to meet you. Read the guide →
Fish LC Convict Cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata The convict cichlid wears bold, vertical black-and-white stripes like a cartoon prisoner, backed by a breeding drive so prolific that a single pair can quickly overwhelm an aquarium with fry. Read the guide →
Birds LC Dot-Winged Antwren Microrhopias quixensis The dot-winged antwren carries neat rows of white spots across its wing feathers, a pattern that gives the species its name and helps with identification. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula The Eurasian bullfinch can learn to mimic simple tunes taught to it in captivity, a trainable trait once celebrated in caged piping bullfinches. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus The Eurasian siskin hangs upside down from branch tips to feed, an acrobatic habit that lets it reach seed cones most other finches cannot access. Read the guide →
Birds LC European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis The European goldfinch has a bill fine enough to extract seeds from thistles and teasels that most other birds simply cannot reach. Read the guide →
Birds VU Evening Grosbeak Coccothraustes vespertinus The evening grosbeak has lost more than 90 percent of its population in recent decades, one of the steepest declines of any North American bird. Read the guide →
Fish LC Firemouth Cichlid Thorichthys meeki The firemouth cichlid flares an ember-coloured throat at rivals during territorial disputes, a bluffing display that usually settles conflicts before a single bite is thrown. Read the guide →
Birds LC Flame-Colored Tanager Piranga bidentata The flame-colored tanager occasionally interbreeds with a closely related species where their mountain forest ranges overlap in Mexico. Read the guide →
Birds VU Giant Antpitta Grallaria gigantea The giant antpitta is one of the rarest and most secretive birds in the Andes, so elusive that even dedicated researchers rarely manage to see one. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Golden-Crowned Sifaka Propithecus tattersalli The golden-crowned sifaka wasn't formally described until 1988 and survives today in one of the smallest ranges of any lemur species in northeastern Madagascar. Read the guide →
Birds LC Golden Pheasant Chrysolophus pictus The golden pheasant is one of the most extravagantly coloured birds on Earth, with males raising a fan-like golden-orange cape around the face during courtship display. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus roxellana The golden snub-nosed monkey lives at higher altitudes than almost any primate besides humans, its nearly bridgeless nose an adaptation against frostbite. Read the guide →
Birds LC Golden Tanager Tangara arthus The golden tanager belongs to Tangara, the most species-rich tanager genus of all, its vivid yellow plumage varying subtly across the Andes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Gray Mouse Lemur Microcebus murinus The gray mouse lemur is one of the smallest primates alive and can slip into a low-energy torpor whenever food becomes scarce in its Madagascan forest. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Antshrike Taraba major The great antshrike announces itself with a deep, rolling growl rather than a typical birdsong, a sound low enough to seem almost mammalian. Read the guide →
Birds LC Green-Cheeked Conure Pyrrhura molinae The green-cheeked conure is a small, quieter parrot than most of its noisy conure relatives, a trait that has made it one of the most popular pet parrots for keepers in shared living spaces. Read the guide →
Birds LC Grey Partridge Perdix perdix The grey partridge has vanished from much of the European farmland it once filled, its steep decline serving as one of the clearest warning signs of how agricultural intensification reshapes wildlife. Read the guide →
Birds LC Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes The hawfinch has a bite powerful enough to crack cherry and olive stones, one of the strongest bills relative to size of any European songbird. Read the guide →
Birds LC Himalayan Monal Lophophorus impejanus The Himalayan monal shifts through green, purple, copper, and blue as it moves, its iridescent male plumage changing colour with the angle of the light rather than staying fixed. Read the guide →
Birds LC Island Canary Serinus canaria The wild island canary is a muted yellowish-green, and every vividly yellow pet canary today descends from generations of selective breeding from it. Read the guide →
Birds LC Kakariki Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae The kakariki forages closer to the forest floor than most parakeets, supplementing seeds and fruit with insects and even the eggs of other birds when the opportunity arises. Read the guide →
Birds LC Keel-billed Toucan Ramphastos sulfuratus The keel-billed toucan of Central America carries a huge rainbow bill that is nearly weightless, works as a radiator to shed body heat, and reaches fruit on twigs too thin to perch on. Read the guide →
Birds LC Magpie-Tanager Cissopis leverianus The magpie-tanager is unusually large and long-tailed for its family, its bold black-and-white pattern echoing a true magpie despite no close relation. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Malayan Horned Frog Megophrys nasuta A Southeast Asian rainforest ambush predator whose brown, angular body and pointed eyelid and snout flaps hide it almost perfectly among the dead leaves of the forest floor. Read the guide →
Birds VU Military Macaw Ara militaris The military macaw wears a mostly green body reminiscent of an old-fashioned military uniform, and unlike most lowland macaws it favours foothill forest at higher elevation. Read the guide →
Birds NT Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus The northern bobwhite calls its own name across open farmland, a clear whistled "bob-WHITE" that has made it one of the most recognisable game bird sounds in North America. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Philippine Tarsier Carlito syrichta The Philippine tarsier eats only live prey and can turn its head almost all the way around, compensating for eyes each larger than its own brain. Read the guide →
Birds LC Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator The pine grosbeak is remarkably unafraid of people, a trusting nature shaped by a life spent in remote boreal forest with little human contact. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-Legged Partridge Alectoris rufa The red-legged partridge has spread well beyond its native Iberian range through deliberate introduction, though hybridisation with introduced chukars now threatens its genetic purity. Read the guide →
Birds VU Reeves's Pheasant Syrmaticus reevesii Reeves's pheasant grows the longest tail feathers of any pheasant species, trailing plumes that can stretch well over a metre behind a single bird. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ring-Necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus The ring-necked pheasant is native to Asia but has been introduced so widely as a game bird that most people encountering one today have no idea it started life half a world away. Read the guide →
Birds LC Scarlet-Rumped Tanager Ramphocelus passerinii The scarlet-rumped tanager is otherwise solid black except for a single vivid patch of red across the rump, a striking flash of colour in flight. Read the guide →
Birds LC Silver Pheasant Lophura nycthemera The silver pheasant flashes a stark black underside against a silvery-white back, a striking two-tone contrast set off by bright red bare skin covering much of the face. Read the guide →
Birds LC Streak-Chested Antpitta Hylopezus perspicillatus The streak-chested antpitta has a pale, spectacled eye-ring and a streaked breast, and like most of its family it is heard calling far more often than it is ever actually seen. Read the guide →
Birds LC Summer Tanager Piranga rubra The summer tanager is the only entirely red bird in North America, specializing in catching bees and wasps and rubbing off their stingers before eating. Read the guide →
Birds EN Sun Conure Aratinga solstitialis The sun conure blazes with solid golden-orange plumage, yet despite being one of the most recognisable pet parrots in the world its wild population has collapsed to Endangered levels. Read the guide →
Birds LC Swallow Tanager Tersina viridis The swallow tanager catches insects in mid-flight like a swallow, an unusual hunting style for a tanager, and nests in burrows rather than open cups. Read the guide →
Birds LC Undulated Antpitta Grallaria squamigera The undulated antpitta is heard far more often than it is seen, its loud call carrying through Andean forest while the bird itself stays hidden on the ground. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Verreaux's Sifaka Propithecus verreauxi Verreaux's sifaka can barely walk on the ground, instead crossing open spaces with a sideways hopping dance unlike almost any other primate's gait. Read the guide →
Birds LC Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana A male western tanager's red head comes from a rare pigment absorbed through diet rather than made by the bird's own body, unusual among songbirds. Read the guide →
Mammals VU White-Faced Capuchin Cebus capucinus The white-faced capuchin cracks open nuts and shellfish with stone tools, passing specific techniques down through generations within a single troop. Read the guide →
Birds EN Yellow-Headed Amazon Amazona oratrix The yellow-headed amazon is renowned as one of the most talented talking parrots in the world, a reputation for mimicry that has driven relentless trapping and pushed the species toward extinction. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Abert's Squirrel Sciurus aberti Abert's squirrel depends almost entirely on ponderosa pine, feeding on its seeds, bark, and buds so consistently that individual squirrels develop personal feeding trees they revisit again and again. Read the guide →
Mammals LC American Marten Martes americana The American marten depends so closely on dense, structurally complex forest that logging alone can eliminate it even when plenty of prey remains, a slender hunter tied tightly to old forest. Read the guide →
Mammals LC American Mink Neovison vison The American mink hunts both on land and underwater along streams and marshes, a fierce predator whose introduction to Europe made it one of the more disruptive invasive carnivores there. Read the guide →
Mammals LC American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus The American red squirrel defends a conifer-stocked territory year-round with loud, persistent scolding, a small, feisty forager whose central cone cache can grow large enough to last generations. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bank Vole Myodes glareolus The bank vole is a key food source for owls and foxes across European woodland, though it also carries a hantavirus that can occasionally spread to people. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus The big brown bat has proven far more resistant to white-nose syndrome than many smaller bat relatives, a hardy, adaptable insect hunter equally at home roosting in a cave, an attic, or a hollow tree. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Black-and-White Colobus Colobus guereza The black-and-white colobus has a cow-like multi-chambered stomach for digesting tough leaves, and newborns are born pure white before darkening with age. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Black Wallaroo Osphranter bernardus The black wallaroo is confined to a small, rugged stretch of rocky escarpment in Arnhem Land, the smallest and least studied member of the wallaroo group. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby Petrogale penicillata The brush-tailed rock-wallaby bounds across near-vertical cliff faces with astonishing agility, using its long, thick tail purely for balance rather than support. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Cacomistle Bassariscus sumichrasti The cacomistle spends nearly its entire life in the forest canopy, a close relative of the ringtail with a much longer tail, used for balance while leaping between branches high above the ground. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Canada Lynx Lynx canadensis The Canada lynx depends so heavily on snowshoe hares that its own population rises and falls tracking hare abundance, an oversized-pawed predator built specifically to hunt across deep boreal snow. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Collared Peccary Pecari tajacu The collared peccary travels in tight, cooperative herds that mark each other with scent from a tail gland, a pig-like desert forager that is not actually a true pig despite the striking resemblance. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Agouti Dasyprocta leporina The common agouti is one of the few animals capable of cracking open a Brazil nut pod, burying extras it can't finish and inadvertently planting new trees. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Brushtail Possum Trichosurus vulpecula The common brushtail possum is Australia's most widespread native marsupial, yet the very same adaptability makes it one of New Zealand's most damaging invasive forest pests. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Common Ringtail Possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus The common ringtail possum weaves a spherical nest of leaves called a drey and re-eats its own droppings to fully digest tough eucalyptus leaves. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Swift Apus apus The common swift may be the most aerial bird alive. A young swift can stay airborne for two or three years without landing once, and it eats, drinks, sleeps, and mates on the wing. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Cotton-Top Tamarin Saguinus oedipus The cotton-top tamarin wears a wild crest of white hair and is one of the most endangered primates on Earth, found in only a small part of Colombia. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Crested Porcupine Hystrix cristata The crested porcupine rattles specialised hollow quills as a warning before ever using them, backing into a threat rather than the popular myth of throwing spines. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Deer Mouse Peromyscus maniculatus The deer mouse is one of the most widespread mammals in North America, found from Alaskan tundra to Mexican desert, and its role as a hantavirus reservoir keeps public health officials watching. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Dusky Antechinus Antechinus swainsonii Male dusky antechinus mate frantically for barely two weeks each year, then die en masse from the exhaustion, leaving pregnant females to survive alone. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus The eastern cottontail relies almost entirely on freezing motionless and camouflage to survive, bolting in a sudden zigzag sprint only as a genuine last resort against a predator too close to ignore. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus The eastern grey kangaroo grazes in large mobs at dawn and dusk, with males settling rank through boxing matches using their powerful hind legs and forearms. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eastern Mole Scalopus aquaticus The eastern mole spends nearly its entire life underground, digging tunnels fast enough to raise a visible ridge of soil in real time, a burrower most people notice only by the damage left behind. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Eastern Quoll Dasyurus viverrinus The eastern quoll vanished from mainland Australia for over 50 years before reintroduction programs began restoring wild populations there in recent years. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Eastern Spotted Skunk Spilogale putorius The eastern spotted skunk performs a handstand before spraying, a dramatic warning display from a smaller, more agile relative of the striped skunk that has declined sharply across much of its range. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Tent Caterpillar Malacosoma americanum The eastern tent caterpillar builds a silken communal tent in the fork of a tree branch, a shared shelter that hundreds of siblings return to between feeding trips across the surrounding foliage. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Edible Dormouse Glis glis The edible dormouse can hibernate for up to eleven months of the year, one of the longest hibernation periods of any mammal, waking for only a brief active season. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Egyptian Fruit Bat Rousettus aegyptiacus The Egyptian fruit bat is one of the only fruit bats that echolocates, clicking its tongue to navigate pitch-black caves where thousands roost together by day. Read the guide →
Birds EX Elephant Bird Aepyornis maximus The elephant bird of Madagascar was the largest bird that ever lived, up to three metres tall, and it laid the biggest eggs of any animal in history. It vanished around a thousand years ago. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eurasian Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris The Eurasian red squirrel has been pushed out of much of Britain by introduced grey squirrels, which outcompete it for food and carry a virus fatal only to reds. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Evening Bat Nycticeius humeralis The evening bat emerges earlier than many other bat species, often while there is still light in the sky, a small hunter raising young in tree cavities and Spanish moss across the Southeast. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Fisher Pekania pennanti The fisher is one of the few predators able to hunt porcupines successfully, using speed and repeated bites to the face to overcome an animal that stops almost every other North American carnivore. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Fox Squirrel Sciurus niger The fox squirrel is the largest tree squirrel in North America, its rich rust-orange colouring and size setting it apart from the smaller, greyer eastern gray squirrel it often shares habitat with. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Garden Dormouse Eliomys quercinus The garden dormouse wears a distinctive black mask across its eyes and has mysteriously vanished from huge parts of its former range for reasons still unclear. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Gilbert's Potoroo Potorous gilbertii Gilbert's potoroo was presumed extinct for over a century before its rediscovery in 1994, and remains one of the rarest and most endangered mammals on Earth. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Gray Fox Urocyon cinereoargenteus The gray fox is one of the only canids in the world capable of climbing trees, using hooked claws and a rotating wrist to escape predators and reach fruit far above the ground. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Gray-Headed Flying Fox Pteropus poliocephalus The gray-headed flying fox is Australia's largest bat, a keystone forest pollinator whose colonies can suffer mass die-offs when temperatures spike past 42 degrees Celsius. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Grison Galictis vittata The greater grison hunts in loosely cooperative pairs across Latin American forest and grassland, a bold, low-slung mustelid whose grey-and-black colouring recalls a small badger. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Greater Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum The greater horseshoe bat emits its echolocation calls through an elaborate horseshoe-shaped nose-leaf rather than its mouth, then wraps itself fully in its wings to roost. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Groundhog Marmota monax The groundhog digs an extensive burrow with multiple entrances and dedicated chambers, then spends the winter in genuine deep hibernation, slowing its heart rate until warmer weather returns. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Hairy-Legged Vampire Bat Diphylla ecaudata The hairy-legged vampire bat feeds almost exclusively on bird blood and is considered the most ancient lineage among the world's three vampire bat species. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Hazel Dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius The hazel dormouse spends more than half the year in hibernation, waking only for a brief summer window to feed, breed, and fatten up before sleeping again. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Hoary Bat Lasiurus cinereus The hoary bat migrates long distances and roosts alone in tree foliage rather than caves, a frosty-furred bat whose turbine collisions have made it one of the species most affected by wind energy. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Indian Flying Fox Pteropus giganteus The Indian flying fox roosts by day in colonies of thousands hanging from treetops, one of the largest bats in the world and a vital pollinator across South Asia's forests. Read the guide →
Birds LC Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea The indigo bunting has no blue pigment in its feathers at all, its brilliant colour created entirely by light scattering off microscopic feather structure, a trick of physics rather than paint. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Jaguarundi Herpailurus yagouaroundi The jaguarundi looks so unlike a typical wild cat, with a long, low body and small ears, that it is often mistaken for a weasel or otter, an active daytime hunter unlike most nocturnal relatives. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Kitti's Hog-Nosed Bat Craseonycteris thonglongyai Kitti's hog-nosed bat is among the smallest mammals alive, roughly the size of a bumblebee, restricted to a handful of limestone caves in Thailand and Myanmar. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Leadbeater's Possum Gymnobelideus leadbeateri Leadbeater's possum was presumed extinct for decades until its rediscovery in 1961, and remains critically endangered in the mountain ash forests it depends on. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Least Chipmunk Tamias minimus The least chipmunk is the smallest chipmunk species in North America, a fast forager at home in dense forest understory and open, rocky mountain slopes across a huge stretch of the continent. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Little Brown Bat Myotis lucifugus The little brown bat can catch hundreds of insects in a single hour using echolocation alone, a once-abundant species now devastated across much of its range by white-nose syndrome. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Little Red Flying Fox Pteropus scapulatus The little red flying fox is Australia's most nomadic bat, tracking eucalypt flowering across enormous distances in colonies that can number in the hundreds of thousands. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Long-Nosed Bandicoot Perameles nasuta The long-nosed bandicoot uses its pointed snout to sniff out insects and fungi buried in soil, leaving distinctive small digging pits scattered across suburban gardens. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Long-Nosed Potoroo Potorous tridactylus The long-nosed potoroo digs up underground fungi as its primary food, spreading spores through its droppings in a partnership vital to the health of its forest. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Long-Tailed Weasel Neogale frenata The long-tailed weasel can kill prey many times its own body weight, a slender, fearless hunter whose long body lets it follow rodents directly into their own burrows. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Margay Leopardus wiedii The margay can rotate its ankles nearly 180 degrees, letting it climb down trunks head-first and even hang from a single hind foot, an almost entirely arboreal wild cat built for life in the trees. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Mountain Beaver Aplodontia rufa Despite its name, the mountain beaver is not related to true beavers at all, and is considered one of the most primitive living rodents still found today. Read the guide →
Mammals LC North American River Otter Lontra canadensis The North American river otter turns snow-covered riverbanks into a playground, tobogganing on its belly down slick slopes purely, it seems, for the fun of it, between serious bouts of fishing. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Northern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon macrourus The northern brown bandicoot digs small conical pits across lawns and gardens each night while foraging, a common sight across much of coastal northern and eastern Australia. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Northern Flying Squirrel Glaucomys sabrinus The northern flying squirrel cannot actually fly, but a furred membrane between its limbs lets it glide silently between trees, an entirely nocturnal life spent almost never touching the ground. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat Lasiorhinus krefftii The northern hairy-nosed wombat is one of the rarest mammals on Earth, its entire wild population once reduced to roughly 35 animals in a single Queensland park. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Northern Quoll Dasyurus hallucatus The northern quoll has been devastated by invasive cane toads, dying after eating the toxic amphibians, and most males die en masse after a single frantic breeding season. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Ocelot Leopardus pardalis The ocelot hunts almost entirely at night across dense cover, a strikingly patterned wild cat once reduced to a tiny remnant Texas population by fur hunting, now slowly recovering under conservation. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Olingo Bassaricyon gabbii The olingo is so easily confused with the closely related kinkajou that scientists once relied on skull and teeth to tell them apart, a fruit-eating canopy dweller lacking its cousin's grasping tail. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Parma Wallaby Notamacropus parma The parma wallaby was presumed extinct for decades until a population turned up on a New Zealand island, only for the species to then be rediscovered back in mainland Australia. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Raccoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides The raccoon dog is a true canid that looks strikingly like a raccoon, one of the only dog family members capable of true hibernation, spending the coldest winter months in a den rather than active. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red-Bellied Squirrel Sciurus aureogaster The red-bellied squirrel displays such wide coat colour variation that individuals can look unrecognisable to each other, a widespread Mexican tree squirrel now also established in Florida. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red-Necked Wallaby Notamacropus rufogriseus The red-necked wallaby carries a reddish patch across its shoulders and has established wild breeding populations far outside Australia, from New Zealand to England's Peak District. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Ringtail Bassariscus astutus The ringtail can rotate its hind feet nearly 180 degrees, allowing it to descend cliffs and narrow rock crevices head-first, a nocturnal raccoon relative once kept by miners to control camp rodents. Read the guide →
Birds LC Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus The rose-breasted grosbeak carries a triangular splash of red across its chest so bold that early observers likened it to a wound, a striking songbird whose bill belies its melodic, warbling song. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Rufous Bettong Aepyprymnus rufescens The rufous bettong digs up underground fungi each night, using a prehensile tail to carry bundles of grass back to build its sheltering nest. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Siberian Flying Squirrel Pteromys volans The Siberian flying squirrel glides silently between old-growth trees using a furred membrane, a species increasingly restricted to Europe's dwindling ancient forests. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Silver-Haired Bat Lasionycteris noctivagans The silver-haired bat flies with a slow, fluttering pattern low over water and clearings, a dark, silver-tipped species that roosts alone behind loose bark rather than gathering in large colonies. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Snowshoe Hare Lepus americanus The snowshoe hare moults between brown summer and white winter fur on a schedule triggered by day length, a mismatch increasingly exposing white hares against bare, snowless ground as winters shorten. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Southern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon obesulus The southern brown bandicoot has declined sharply across parts of its range, squeezed between introduced predators and the loss of the dense coastal heathland it shelters in. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Southern Flying Squirrel Glaucomys volans The southern flying squirrel often nests in winter huddles of a dozen or more individuals, a nocturnal glider that shares body heat with unrelated squirrels rather than facing cold nights alone. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Spotted-Tailed Quoll Dasyurus maculatus The spotted-tailed quoll is the largest carnivorous marsupial left on mainland Australia, the only quoll species spotted on its tail as well as its body. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Straw-Colored Fruit Bat Eidolon helvum The straw-colored fruit bat forms the largest mammal migration on Earth by number of individuals, millions converging on a single Zambian forest each year. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Swamp Wallaby Wallabia bicolor The swamp wallaby is the only species in its genus and can carry an embryo in reserve even while still nursing an older joey, thanks to overlapping pregnancies. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Tasmanian Pademelon Thylogale billardierii The Tasmanian pademelon vanished from mainland Australia over a century ago but still thrives as a common, shy forest browser across Tasmania today. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Townsend's Big-Eared Bat Corynorhinus townsendii Townsend's big-eared bat carries ears nearly as long as its body, which it curls up like rams' horns at rest, and abandons roosts readily when disturbed. Read the guide →
Birds LC Warbling Vireo Vireo gilvus The warbling vireo is one of the plainest-looking songbirds in North America, easy to overlook entirely, yet it sings an almost continuous, cheerful song from high in the treetops all season. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Western Grey Kangaroo Macropus fuliginosus The western grey kangaroo grazes in mobs across southern Australia, distinguished from its eastern relative by a stronger, more musky scent that gives it a blunt nickname. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Western Quoll Dasyurus geoffroii The western quoll once ranged across roughly 70 percent of Australia, but now survives naturally only in a small southwestern corner, propped up by active reintroductions. Read the guide →
Mammals LC White-Tailed Deer Odocoileus virginianus The white-tailed deer flashes the bright white underside of its raised tail as an alarm signal, warning other deer of danger, and has become one of the most numerous large mammals in North America. Read the guide →
Mammals LC White-Winged Vampire Bat Diaemus youngi The white-winged vampire bat feeds mainly on bird blood rather than mammal blood, setting it apart from its better-known relative, the common vampire bat. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Yellow-Bellied Glider Petaurus australis The yellow-bellied glider can glide more than 100 metres between trees and carves distinctive V-shaped notches into bark to feed on the sap that pools there. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Apalachicola Dusky Salamander Desmognathus apalachicolae The Apalachicola dusky salamander occupies a narrow stretch of ravine and seepage habitat along one river system, tying its survival to the health of a handful of specific streams. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Bark Anole Anolis distichus The bark anole spends most of its life on tree trunks rather than leaves or twigs, its mottled grey-brown pattern blending so well with bark that it can be nearly impossible to spot until it moves. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Brownback Salamander Eurycea aquatica The brownback salamander was only recognised as its own species after genetic study separated it from the wider dwarf salamander complex, a distinction invisible from appearance alone. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Clouded Salamander Aneides ferreus The clouded salamander climbs trees and rotting logs with an ease unusual among salamanders, using enlarged toe tips and a strong grip to move through coastal Pacific Northwest forests. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Common Spadefoot Pelobates fuscus The common spadefoot has disappeared from large parts of its former European range as the light, diggable soil and shallow breeding pools it depends on have been lost to intensive farming. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cooper's Hawk Accipiter cooperii Cooper's hawk has adapted so successfully to suburban life that backyard bird feeders have become a reliable hunting ground, the hawk using the same feeder that draws songbirds as an ambush point. Read the guide →
Birds EX Dodo Raphus cucullatus The dodo was a large flightless pigeon that lived only on Mauritius and feared nothing. Within a century of European contact it was gone, killed off mostly by the animals that arrived with the ships. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica The eastern carpenter bee excavates its own nest tunnel into solid wood, chewing through untreated timber with powerful jaws rather than relying on an existing cavity the way most other bees do. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Eastern Narrowmouth Toad Gastrophryne carolinensis The eastern narrowmouth toad specialises almost entirely on ants and termites, using a small, pointed head to push into tight nest galleries that would keep most other amphibians out entirely. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Florida Crowned Snake Tantilla relicta The Florida crowned snake spends nearly its life hidden beneath leaf litter, a tiny, secretive predator of dry scrub and sandhill habitat that most residents never realise shares their own yard. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Giant Leopard Moth Hypercompe scribonia The giant leopard moth reveals a hidden defence when disturbed, curling into a ball and exposing bright red-orange bands on its abdomen while releasing a drop of foul-tasting fluid to deter predators. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Golden-striped Salamander Chioglossa lusitanica The golden-striped salamander of northwest Iberia is a slim, fast amphibian with a tail twice its body length that it drops when grabbed, and a long tongue it fires to catch flying insects. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Great Purple Hairstreak Atlides halesus The great purple hairstreak displays some of the most vividly iridescent blue-green wings of any North American butterfly, a colour visible only when the wings catch light at the right angle. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Hag Moth Phobetron pithecium The hag moth caterpillar looks nothing like a typical caterpillar, covered in curling, hair-like projections that make it resemble dead leaves rather than an insect, some carrying a venomous sting. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Hemaris thysbe The hummingbird clearwing moth hovers at flowers in daylight, beating its wings so fast that scales rub away to leave clear patches, resulting in a moth convincing enough to fool attentive observers. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ivory-Marked Beetle Eburia quadrigeminata The ivory-marked beetle can spend years developing inside dry hardwood before finally emerging as an adult, sometimes chewing its way out of furniture or flooring built from wood cut years earlier. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ladybug Coccinella septempunctata The ladybug is a small, dome-shaped beetle whose bright spots warn that it tastes foul. Both the adult and its spiny larva eat aphids by the hundred, and farmers have valued them for centuries. Read the guide →
Birds LC Least Flycatcher Empidonax minimus The least flycatcher is the smallest of a notoriously difficult group of nearly identical flycatchers, told apart from its relatives mainly by its sharp, emphatic "che-bek" call rather than looks. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mexican Caecilian Dermophis mexicanus The Mexican caecilian is a limbless, burrowing amphibian that feeds its young inside its body for months, then gives birth. The unborn scrape a rich lining off the oviduct with baby teeth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mississippi Kite Ictinia mississippiensis The Mississippi kite catches large flying insects on the wing and often eats them mid-flight, a feeding style so agile that the bird rarely needs to touch down between one meal and the next. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mountain Chickadee Poecile gambeli The mountain chickadee caches large numbers of food items each autumn across steep, high-elevation forest, relying on a spatial memory sharp enough to relocate many of them through a long winter. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus The northern flicker is one of the few North American woodpeckers that regularly feeds on the ground, hopping across lawns and open fields to dig ants directly out of their underground nests. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium californicum The northern pygmy-owl carries dark false eye markings on the back of its head, a decoy pattern that can make an approaching predator think the tiny owl is watching even while its real eyes face away. Read the guide →
Birds VU Pinyon Jay Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus The pinyon jay caches tens of thousands of pine seeds each autumn and remembers many exact hiding spots months later, a memory feat tied to the survival of the pinyon pine woodland it depends on. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-Breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis The red-breasted nuthatch daubs sticky conifer resin around its nest entrance and then flies straight in without touching the sides, using the mess to deter predators it has evolved to avoid itself. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red Crossbill Loxia curvirostra The red crossbill has a bill with tips that cross rather than meet, an odd-looking adaptation that lets it pry open unopened conifer cones and extract seeds no straight-billed bird could reach. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Rim Rock Crowned Snake Tantilla oolitica The rim rock crowned snake survives only in a narrow strip of limestone habitat in southern Florida, one of the most range-restricted snakes in the US and increasingly squeezed by urban development. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Rosy Maple Moth Dryocampa rubicunda The rosy maple moth displays bright pink and yellow so vivid it is often mistaken for something tropical, despite being a common species found across ordinary maple woodland in eastern North America. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Saddleback Caterpillar Acharia stimulea The saddleback caterpillar carries venomous spines capable of one of the most painful stings of any North American caterpillar, hidden beneath a green saddle marking that makes it easy to recognise. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Sierran Treefrog Pseudacris sierra The Sierran treefrog was only recognised as its own species after genetic study split a once wide-ranging Pacific treefrog, dividing California's population from relatives to the north and south. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Smallmouth Salamander Ambystoma texanum The smallmouth salamander forms all-female hybrid populations with close relatives, cloning itself generation after generation, almost as unusual as parthenogenetic whiptail lizards. Read the guide →
Birds NT Spotted Owl Strix occidentalis The spotted owl depends on old-growth forest so specific that its decline became a defining conservation battle, and a competing relative's arrival has made its situation more precarious still. Read the guide →
Birds LC Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri Steller's jay is the western counterpart to the blue jay, sharing the same bold personality and a prominent crest, yet separated by a divide that keeps the two species from ever really overlapping. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor The tree swallow switches to eating berries when cold snaps wipe out flying insects, a flexibility that lets it migrate farther north than most other aerial insect-hunting birds dare to. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Virginia Opossum Didelphis virginiana The Virginia opossum is North America's only marsupial. It has more teeth than any other land mammal on the continent, is largely immune to pit-viper venom, and plays dead as an involuntary reflex. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Western Red-Backed Salamander Plethodon vehiculum The western red-backed salamander is one of the most common salamanders in Pacific Northwest forests, living beneath nearly every well-decayed log despite having no lungs and no need for water. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-Breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis The white-breasted nuthatch forages headfirst down tree trunks, a habit rare among North American birds that lets it spot insects hidden in bark crevices that upward-climbing birds tend to miss. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina The wood thrush can sing two different notes simultaneously using both sides of its uniquely structured voice box, producing one of the most flute-like, layered songs of any North American bird. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Zebra Longwing Heliconius charithonia The zebra longwing is the only North American butterfly known to feed on pollen as an adult, a habit that extends its lifespan to several months, far longer than most other butterflies survive. Read the guide →
Birds LC Acorn Woodpecker Melanerpes formicivorus The acorn woodpecker drills thousands of holes in one tree and jams an acorn into each, a granary the family guards for generations. It also lives in cooperative groups that nest jointly. Read the guide →
Mammals LC African Crested Rat Lophiomys imhausi The African crested rat is the only mammal known to borrow a poison from a plant. It chews the bark of the arrow-poison tree and licks the toxin into a strip of wick-like hairs along its flanks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Fig Wasp Blastophaga psenes The fig wasp is a pinhead-sized insect that can only breed inside a fig, and most fig species can only be pollinated by their own wasp. The female forces her way in, pollinates, lays eggs, and dies. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Flea Ctenocephalides felis The flea is a wingless, blood-sucking insect that can jump around fifty times its own length using a catapult of stored elastic energy. The rat flea carried the bacterium behind the Black Death. Read the guide →
Birds EX Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius The passenger pigeon was once the most numerous bird in North America, in flocks of billions that darkened the sky for days. Commercial hunting and forest clearing wiped it out in about fifty years. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Spectacled Salamander Salamandrina perspicillata The spectacled salamander is a small matte-black Italian amphibian with a pale mask between its eyes. Threatened, it curls its tail up to flash a hidden crimson underside, then plays dead. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Alpine Salamander Salamandra atra The alpine salamander is a jet-black mountain amphibian that never enters water, even to breed, and is pregnant for two to four years before giving birth to fully formed young. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Feathertail Glider Acrobates pygmaeus The feathertail glider is the world's smallest gliding mammal, a mouse-sized marsupial that steers 25-metre glides with a stiff, feather-shaped tail and can run up a pane of glass. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Giant Palm Salamander Bolitoglossa dofleini The giant palm salamander of Central America is one of the largest lungless salamanders. It climbs wet leaves on suction-cup feet and fires its tongue faster than almost any vertebrate movement. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Mosquito Anopheles gambiae The mosquito kills more people than any other animal on Earth, spreading malaria, dengue, and other diseases to hundreds of millions a year. Only the females bite, for the protein to make eggs. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Peanut-head Bug Fulgora laternaria The peanut-head bug is a large tropical planthopper with a hollow, peanut-shaped growth on its head marked like a lizard's face. Folklore wrongly says its bite is deadly unless you quickly have sex. Read the guide →
Birds LC Capuchinbird Perissocephalus tricolor The capuchinbird is a large Amazonian cotinga with a bare blue head like a monk's cowl. Males gather at treetop leks and give a bizarre call that sounds like a distant mooing cow or a chainsaw. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Flying Gecko Ptychozoon kuhli The flying gecko of Southeast Asia glides between rainforest trees on flaps of skin, webbed feet, and a fringed tail. Pressed flat on bark, the same flaps make it almost invisible. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Tayra Eira barbara The tayra is a large, agile weasel of Latin American forests. It eats a lot of fruit, and it has been filmed picking unripe plantains, hiding them, and coming back days later to eat them ripe. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis The brown tree snake is an ordinary night-hunting tree snake in its native range, but as a stowaway on Guam it wiped out most of the island's forest birds and still causes power blackouts. Read the guide →
Amphibians CR Mountain Chicken Frog Leptodactylus fallax The mountain chicken is one of the world's largest frogs, a Caribbean giant once eaten as a national dish. Hunting, a volcano, and disease have cut it to a few hundred, almost all on one island. Read the guide →
Birds LC Acadian Flycatcher Empidonax virescens The Acadian flycatcher belongs to a genus so visually similar that its explosive, snapping "pizza!" call is often the only reliable way to separate it from several nearly identical relatives. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC American Snout Libytheana carinenta The American snout is named for elongated mouthparts that project forward like a tiny beak, and in Texas it has staged some of the largest butterfly migrations ever documented in North America. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Atlantic Coast Slimy Salamander Plethodon chlorobryonis The Atlantic Coast slimy salamander is one of more than a dozen nearly identical species that emerged when genetic study split apart the old, broadly defined slimy salamander complex. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Black Mountain Salamander Desmognathus welteri The black mountain salamander shares its Appalachian range with several similar dusky salamander relatives, making genetics and precise location more reliable for identification than appearance. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Blackbelly Salamander Desmognathus quadramaculatus The blackbelly salamander is the largest member of its genus, a powerful predator of fast Appalachian mountain streams that will readily eat smaller salamanders, including its own close relatives. Read the guide →
Birds NT Blackpoll Warbler Setophaga striata The blackpoll warbler flies nonstop over open ocean for up to three days during migration, one of the longest continuous flights of any songbird, first roughly doubling its body weight in fat. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-Headed Vireo Vireo solitarius The blue-headed vireo was once lumped with two other vireo species as a single bird before careful study of their songs and ranges revealed three genuinely distinct species hiding under one name. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blue-Winged Warbler Vermivora cyanoptera The blue-winged warbler has expanded so successfully that it now regularly interbreeds with its declining relative, the golden-winged warbler, gradually absorbing it wherever the two ranges overlap. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Caddo Mountain Salamander Plethodon caddoensis The Caddo Mountain salamander survives only in a small cluster of mountains in the Ouachita range of Arkansas, one of several extremely narrow-range lungless salamanders found nowhere else on Earth. Read the guide →
Birds LC California Thrasher Toxostoma redivivum The California thrasher rarely flies more than a short distance at a time, preferring to run through dense chaparral on foot, a ground-hugging lifestyle unusual for a bird capable of flight. Read the guide →
Birds NT Cerulean Warbler Setophaga cerulea The cerulean warbler has declined faster than almost any other North American warbler, tied to the loss of both the tall forest canopy it breeds in and the shaded coffee plantations it winters in. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Channel Islands Slender Salamander Batrachoseps pacificus The Channel Islands slender salamander survives on a handful of islands off southern California, an eel-like, lungless amphibian that reached its island home long before humans ever set foot there. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Chattahoochee Slimy Salamander Plethodon chattahoochee The Chattahoochee slimy salamander occupies its own corner of the southern Appalachians, one of more than a dozen distinct species revealed when the old slimy salamander complex was split apart. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Cow Knob Salamander Plethodon punctatus The Cow Knob salamander survives only along a single narrow ridgeline on the Virginia-West Virginia border, one of the smallest natural ranges of any salamander species in the Appalachians. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Crevice Salamander Plethodon longicrus The crevice salamander retreats deep into rock crevices during dry periods, a narrow-range southern Appalachian endemic named for the very shelter that lets it survive what would otherwise dry it out. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Comma Polygonia comma The eastern comma carries a tiny silver mark on its hindwing shaped like a comma rather than a question mark, the single detail that separates it from its extremely similar close relative. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Glass Lizard Ophisaurus ventralis The eastern glass lizard looks exactly like a snake but has eyelids and ear openings a true snake never has, and when grabbed it can shatter its own tail into several wriggling pieces at once. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eastern Screech-Owl Megascops asio The eastern screech-owl comes in two colour forms, grey and reddish, within the same population, and it sometimes brings live blind snakes back to the nest to protect its chicks from parasites. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Florida Scrub Lizard Sceloporus woodi The Florida scrub lizard survives only within Florida's disappearing scrub habitat, a naturally patchy, fire-dependent ecosystem now fragmented further by coastal development pressure. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Fourche Mountain Salamander Plethodon fourchensis The Fourche Mountain salamander survives only on a single ridge in the Ouachita range, sharing the same narrow-range pattern as several other lungless salamanders scattered across those mountains. Read the guide →
Birds LC Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca The fox sparrow varies so dramatically across its range that some regional forms look like different species, unified mainly by a shared double-footed scratching habit and a rich, musical song. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Giant Swallowtail Papilio cresphontes The giant swallowtail is the largest butterfly in North America, its caterpillar disguised as bird droppings and armed with a foul-smelling gland, earning the nickname orange dog among growers. Read the guide →
Birds NT Golden-Winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera The golden-winged warbler has declined so sharply it now regularly hybridizes with the blue-winged warbler, producing the "Brewster's" and "Lawrence's" hybrids birders sometimes mistake for a species. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Cyclura lewisi The Grand Cayman blue iguana is a turquoise lizard that fell to perhaps 15 wild animals before a captive-breeding programme pulled it back to over a thousand. It can live nearly 70 years. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Potoo Nyctibius grandis The great potoo is a large nocturnal bird of American forests that spends the day frozen upright on a broken branch, eyes shut to slits, indistinguishable from the stump it sits on. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Great Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele The great spangled fritillary's caterpillar hatches in autumn, eats nothing at all, and simply waits through winter before finally seeking out the violets it depends on the following spring. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Green Mantella Mantella viridis The green mantella lives in dry, rocky forest in northern Madagascar unlike the rainforest most of its colourful relatives depend on, surviving in noticeably harsher, more seasonal conditions. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Green Treefrog Dryophytes cinereus The green treefrog is the official state amphibian of both Georgia and Louisiana, a bright frog often seen clinging to windows and porch lights at night, drawn by the insects gathering there. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Gregarious Slender Salamander Batrachoseps gregarius The gregarious slender salamander is often found sharing one sheltered spot with several others of its kind, an unusually social habit that gave the species its name among a normally solitary group. Read the guide →
Birds LC Harris's Sparrow Zonotrichia querula Harris's sparrow is the largest native sparrow in North America, breeding in the Canadian tundra's stunted spruce forest, a region so remote its nest was not documented until the 20th century. Read the guide →
Birds LC Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus The hermit thrush is the only member of its genus that winters in North America instead of the tropics, and its clear, flute-like song ranks among the most beautiful of any North American bird. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Hickory Nut Gorge Green Salamander Aneides caryaensis The Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander was only recognised as its own species in 2021, split from the widespread green salamander after genetic studies showed it had been evolving separately. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Hurter's Spadefoot Scaphiopus hurterii Hurter's spadefoot spends nearly its entire life buried underground, emerging only after heavy rain to breed in an explosive, short-lived burst of activity in temporary pools. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Imperial Moth Eacles imperialis The imperial moth is one of the largest moths in North America, a yellow-and-purple giant whose caterpillar varies so much in colour that siblings from the same clutch can look like different species. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Kern Canyon Slender Salamander Batrachoseps simatus The Kern Canyon slender salamander survives in a narrow band of canyon habitat barely a few kilometres wide, one of the most geographically restricted salamanders in North America. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Kern Plateau Salamander Batrachoseps robustus The Kern Plateau salamander is a stockier, more robust member of a genus best known for extremely slender bodies, surviving at high elevation on one isolated plateau in the southern Sierra Nevada. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Kiamichi Slimy Salamander Plethodon kiamichi The Kiamichi slimy salamander is confined to one small mountain range in Oklahoma, one of more than a dozen genetically distinct species revealed when the old slimy salamander complex was split apart. Read the guide →
Invertebrates CR Lord Howe Island Stick Insect Dryococelus australis The Lord Howe Island stick insect, a hand-sized flightless tree lobster, was wiped out by ship rats and thought extinct until 24 were found clinging to a lone shrub on a sea stack in 2001. Read the guide →
Birds LC Louisiana Waterthrush Parkesia motacilla The Louisiana waterthrush is one of the most reliable indicators of a healthy forest stream, since it depends so heavily on clean, fast-flowing water that its presence alone signals good conditions. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mississippi Slimy Salamander Plethodon mississippi The Mississippi slimy salamander occupies its own corner of the old slimy salamander complex, one of more than a dozen genetically distinct species that look nearly identical under the same pattern. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa The mourning cloak survives winter as an adult butterfly hidden beneath loose tree bark, emerging on the first warm days of late winter well before most butterflies have even left the chrysalis. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Northern Dusky Salamander Desmognathus fuscus The northern dusky salamander holds its tail in a distinctive knife-edged, flattened profile, a subtle build that helps identify it among a large group of closely related stream-dwelling salamanders. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Saw-Whet Owl Aegolius acadicus The northern saw-whet owl is one of the smallest owls in North America, small enough to fit in a human hand, yet it migrates hundreds of kilometres each year almost entirely unnoticed. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Northwestern Garter Snake Thamnophis ordinoides The northwestern garter snake shows more colour variation than almost any other North American snake, with individuals from the same population ranging from solid black to bright orange-striped. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ocmulgee Slimy Salamander Plethodon ocmulgee The Ocmulgee slimy salamander occupies its own narrow slice of central Georgia, one of more than a dozen genetically distinct species revealed when the old slimy salamander complex was split apart. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Pigeon Mountain Salamander Plethodon petraeus The Pigeon Mountain salamander is found nowhere on Earth outside a single Georgia mountain, discovered as recently as 1993 and still known almost entirely from the rocky outcrops of that one location. Read the guide →
Birds LC Pine Warbler Setophaga pinus The pine warbler is one of the very few warblers that regularly eats seeds, letting it visit backyard feeders in winter when its insect-eating relatives have already left for the tropics. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Pine Woods Snake Rhadinaea flavilata The pine woods snake spends nearly its life beneath leaf litter and rotting logs in southeastern pine forests, making it one of the least frequently observed native snakes despite being fairly common. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor The pipevine swallowtail's caterpillar eats a toxic plant and keeps the poison for life, making the adult dangerous enough to eat that several unrelated butterflies copy its colour pattern. Read the guide →
Birds LC Prothonotary Warbler Protonotaria citrea The prothonotary warbler is the only eastern warbler that nests inside tree cavities over water, a habit unusual enough among ground- and shrub-nesting warblers to earn it the nickname "swamp canary." Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Question Mark Butterfly Polygonia interrogationis The question mark butterfly carries a tiny silver punctuation mark on the underside of each hindwing, a curved dash and a dot that together resemble a question mark and give the species its name. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta The red admiral undertakes long-distance migrations similar to the monarch butterfly, though far less studied, with individuals sometimes travelling hundreds of kilometres in a single season. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-Eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus The red-eyed vireo sings from dawn until dusk with barely a pause, and a single male has been recorded delivering more than 20,000 short song phrases in a single day. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Rich Mountain Salamander Plethodon ouachitae The Rich Mountain salamander lends its scientific species name to the entire Ouachita Mountains, a lungless amphibian confined to a narrow stretch of ridge straddling the Arkansas-Oklahoma border. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Sagalla Caecilian Boulengerula niedeni The Sagalla caecilian is a pink, limbless, burrowing amphibian found only on one Kenyan hill. It smells the soil with a pair of head tentacles, and its young eat their mother's skin. Read the guide →
Birds LC Scarlet Tanager Piranga olivacea The scarlet tanager transforms between seasons, swapping brilliant red breeding plumage for a dull olive-green that lets a male vanish into the same forest canopy where he was once impossible to miss. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Scott Bar Salamander Plethodon asupak The Scott Bar salamander was only formally described in 2005, a lungless amphibian known from a single small mountain range in northern California and nowhere else on Earth. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Sequoyah Slimy Salamander Plethodon sequoyah The Sequoyah slimy salamander is named for the Cherokee scholar who devised a writing system for the Cherokee language, occupying a range in the Ozark and Ouachita highlands far from most relatives. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Sharp-Tailed Snake Contia tenuis The sharp-tailed snake uses a sharp spine at the tip of its tail to pin down slippery slugs while it works its curved teeth into position, a specialised trick almost no other snake needs. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Shasta Salamander Hydromantes shastae The Shasta salamander lives only in limestone habitat near Shasta Lake, and a proposed enlargement of Shasta Dam threatens to permanently flood a significant share of the small range it depends on. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle Cicindela sexguttata The six-spotted tiger beetle hunts down prey at a sprinting speed so fast relative to its body size that it must periodically stop running just to let its eyes catch up and refocus. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC South Carolina Slimy Salamander Plethodon variolatus The South Carolina slimy salamander occupies its own narrow strip of the old slimy salamander complex, one of more than a dozen genetically distinct species revealed when the group was split apart. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Southern Appalachian Salamander Plethodon teyahalee The southern Appalachian salamander breathes entirely through its skin, relying on cool, damp mountain forest so completely that it never strays far from moist leaf litter or rotting logs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Spotted Towhee Pipilo maculatus The spotted towhee announces itself by scratching through dry leaf litter with both feet at once, a double-footed hop-and-scratch that gives away its presence before the bird comes into view. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Spring Azure Celastrina ladon The spring azure is often the first butterfly of the year, emerging from its chrysalis on the first warm days of spring, well before most other butterflies have completed their winter dormancy. Read the guide →
Birds LC Swainson's Thrush Catharus ustulatus Swainson's thrush sings an ethereal, upward-spiraling song, the mirror opposite of the veery's downward spiral, and migrates almost entirely at night, calling overhead in a thin, distinctive peep. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Tehachapi Slender Salamander Batrachoseps stebbinsi The Tehachapi slender salamander survives in just a handful of isolated canyon sites, a range so small and fragmented that a single local disturbance could threaten an entire population at once. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC True Katydid Pterophylla camellifolia The true katydid gave the entire katydid family its common name, its loud, rhythmic "Katy-did, Katy-didn't" call filling summer treetops across the eastern United States after dark. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Two-Tailed Swallowtail Papilio multicaudata The two-tailed swallowtail carries two tail extensions per hindwing rather than the single tail typical of most swallowtails, and its large wingspan makes it one of the biggest butterflies out west. Read the guide →
Birds LC Veery Catharus fuscescens The veery sings a haunting, downward-spiraling series of notes using both sides of its voice box at once, layering two separate pitches together into a single flute-like phrase. Read the guide →
Birds LC Western Screech-Owl Megascops kennicottii The western screech-owl produces an accelerating series of hollow whistles rather than a trill, a call so different from its eastern relative that voice alone reliably separates the two species. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Western Worm Snake Carphophis vermis The western worm snake spends nearly its life buried in soil, so committed to living underground that its tiny eyes are little more than dark spots for sensing light rather than forming images. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC White-Spotted Slimy Salamander Plethodon cylindraceus The white-spotted slimy salamander was only recognised as its own species after the slimy salamander complex was split, one of more than a dozen nearly identical species hiding under one old name. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Zebra Swallowtail Protographium marcellus The zebra swallowtail's caterpillar can develop only on pawpaw trees, tying this entire striking, boldly striped butterfly species to the presence of a single, patchily distributed plant. Read the guide →
Birds LC Alder Flycatcher Empidonax alnorum The alder flycatcher was only recognized as its own species after researchers realized its "free-beer" song never overlaps with its nearly identical relative, the willow flycatcher. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis The Asian lady beetle was deliberately released to eat crop-damaging aphids, and it succeeded so well that it now outcompetes native ladybirds and swarms into houses by the thousands each autumn. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-and-White Warbler Mniotilta varia The black-and-white warbler forages like a nuthatch, creeping headfirst down tree trunks and along branches to probe bark crevices, a foraging style unlike almost any other North American warbler. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Black-Bellied Slender Salamander Batrachoseps nigriventris The black-bellied slender salamander squeezes through gaps barely wider than its own head, its thread-thin body suited to a life spent almost entirely underground. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-Throated Blue Warbler Setophaga caerulescens The male and female black-throated blue warbler look so different that early naturalists once classified them as two entirely separate species. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blackburnian Warbler Setophaga fusca The male Blackburnian warbler's flame-orange throat glows so brightly against the dark conifer canopy that the species has earned the nickname firethroat. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Box Elder Bug Boisea trivittata The box elder bug gathers by the hundreds on sun-warmed walls each autumn, a harmless nuisance that invades homes without biting, stinging, or causing damage. Read the guide →
Birds LC Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum The brown thrasher can sing over a thousand distinct phrases, one of the largest song repertoires of any North American bird, typically repeating each one exactly twice. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC California Mountain Kingsnake Lampropeltis zonata The California mountain kingsnake mimics venomous coral snakes across much of a range where no coral snake actually lives, a mimicry puzzle without an obvious model. Read the guide →
Birds NT Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis The Canada warbler is one of the last warblers to arrive each spring and one of the first to leave each fall, packing its entire breeding season into an unusually short window each year. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Carolina Mantis Stagmomantis carolina The Carolina mantis is one of the few praying mantises actually native to North America, smaller and less often noticed than the larger introduced species that share its gardens. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Cascade Torrent Salamander Rhyacotriton cascadae The Cascade torrent salamander is the last of four species split from a single wide-ranging ancestor, surviving only in the coldest streams of the Washington Cascades. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Chamberlain's Dwarf Salamander Eurycea chamberlaini Chamberlain's dwarf salamander was only recognized as its own species after genetic study split it away from the wider dwarf salamander group it had long been lumped into. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Cheoah Bald Salamander Plethodon cheoah The Cheoah Bald salamander is confined to a single high-elevation stretch of the southern Appalachians, one of the most narrowly distributed woodland salamanders in North America. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chestnut-Sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica The chestnut-sided warbler was rare before European settlement and only became common after widespread logging created the shrubby, second-growth habitat the species actually prefers. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella The adult clothes moth cannot eat and never damages fabric; every hole chewed into a sweater is the work of its light-avoiding larva, which feeds exclusively on keratin from wool, fur, and feathers. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Columbia Torrent Salamander Rhyacotriton kezeri The Columbia torrent salamander lives only in the splash zone of the coldest, cleanest headwater streams, and its presence signals genuinely undisturbed old-growth forest. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Deer Tick Ixodes scapularis The deer tick is the primary carrier of Lyme disease in eastern North America, and it is the barely visible, poppy-seed-sized nymph stage, not the larger adult, that causes most human infections. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Lubber Grasshopper Romalea microptera The eastern lubber grasshopper is too heavy and short-winged to fly or hop far, so it survives in plain sight through bold warning colours, a foul froth, and a foam-laced hiss instead of speed. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Subterranean Termite Reticulitermes flavipes The eastern subterranean termite builds mud shelter tubes to travel above ground, since a colony must stay in contact with damp soil, making it North America's most economically damaging termite. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens The eastern wood-pewee sings a slow, plaintive "pee-a-wee" from a dead branch, then sits motionless for long stretches between short flights after passing insects. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eyed Click Beetle Alaus oculatus The eyed click beetle wears two large fake eyespots on its back, and if flipped onto its back for real, snaps a spring-loaded hinge to flip itself upright with an audible click. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus The great crested flycatcher nests inside tree cavities and famously weaves a shed snake skin into the lining, or a strip of plastic when no snake skin is available. Read the guide →
Birds LC Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina The male hooded warbler wears a striking black hood around a bright yellow face, and both sexes flash white outer tail feathers that may startle hidden insects into flight. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ichneumon Wasp Ichneumonidae The ichneumon wasp often carries an ovipositor several times its own body length, an intimidating drill used to lay eggs deep inside hidden host insects. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Isabella Tiger Moth Pyrrharctia isabella The Isabella tiger moth's fuzzy woolly bear caterpillar can survive being frozen solid through an entire winter, and folk tradition claims its band widths predict how harsh that winter will be. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Italian Stream Frog Rana italica The Italian stream frog lives right along the banks of fast, rocky streams rather than ponds, and escapes danger by diving straight into the current and wedging itself under a submerged rock. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Jewel Beetle Buprestidae The jewel beetle's dazzling metallic colours come from microscopic structural layers bending light, not pigment, and some species can detect infrared heat from forest fires miles away. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC June Beetle Phyllophaga The June beetle's underground larvae feed on plant roots for up to three years before the clumsy, light-drawn adult ever emerges to bump noisily into porch screens. Read the guide →
Birds LC Kentucky Warbler Geothlypis formosa The Kentucky warbler spends nearly all its time walking on the forest floor rather than in the canopy, its bold black sideburns and spectacled face making it a striking ground-dwelling songbird. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Leaf-Footed Bug Coreidae The leaf-footed bug carries flattened, leaf-shaped expansions on its hind legs, oversized ornaments some males use to wrestle rivals for territory. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Leafhopper Cicadellidae The leafhopper communicates through vibrations sent directly through plant stems, a private conversation happening constantly on leaves all around us that human ears simply cannot detect. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae The longhorn beetle's antennae can stretch several times the length of its own body, among the most exaggerated antennae of any insect family on Earth. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Louisiana Pine Snake Pituophis ruthveni The Louisiana pine snake lays unusually large eggs for its body size, and its survival is tied directly to pocket gophers, since it lives almost entirely inside their burrow systems. Read the guide →
Birds LC Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia The magnolia warbler was named after the tree it was first collected in during migration, even though it breeds almost entirely in young spruce and fir forest far from any magnolia. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Mud Dauber Sceliphron and relatives The mud dauber builds tube-shaped mud nests and stocks each cell with paralyzed spiders, including venomous ones, as living food for its larvae. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Parula Setophaga americana The northern parula builds its nest almost exclusively inside hanging clumps of Spanish moss or beard lichen, tucking the whole structure into a natural curtain most predators never think to search. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Northern Walkingstick Diapheromera femorata The northern walkingstick simply drops its eggs at random from the treetops onto the forest floor, each one disguised well enough to pass for an ordinary seed. Read the guide →
Birds NT Olive-Sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi The olive-sided flycatcher sings a whistled "quick-three-beers" from the very top of a dead snag, then flies one of the longest migrations of any North American flycatcher. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Olympic Torrent Salamander Rhyacotriton olympicus The Olympic torrent salamander survives only in the coldest splash zones of Olympic Peninsula streams, unable to tolerate water most other amphibians would find perfectly comfortable. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Planthopper Fulgoroidea Some planthopper nymphs have literal interlocking mechanical gears built into their hind legs, a genuine gear mechanism found nowhere else in the animal kingdom. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-Bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus The red-bellied woodpecker's namesake belly patch is so faint it is rarely visible, making its bright red cap the far more reliable way to identify one. Read the guide →
Birds LC Red-Shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus The red-shouldered hawk hunts from within dense forest rather than open sky, unusual for its family, and its loud call is so distinctive that blue jays are known to mimic it. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog Ascaphus montanus The Rocky Mountain tailed frog's "tail" is actually a unique copulatory organ, making it the only North American frog that fertilizes its eggs internally rather than in open water. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Sequoia Slender Salamander Batrachoseps kawia The Sequoia slender salamander lives only in a narrow stretch of the southern Sierra Nevada foothills, breathing entirely through skin thin enough to fit into the tightest of underground crevices. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Short-Tailed Snake Stilosoma extenuatum The short-tailed snake is a rare Florida endemic that hunts almost nothing but other small reptiles, ambushing them underground with a long, constricting body built for burrowing after prey. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake Lampropeltis pyromelana The Sonoran mountain kingsnake wears a bold red, black, and white banded pattern that mimics venomous coral snakes, despite being completely harmless. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Southeastern Crowned Snake Tantilla coronata The southeastern crowned snake is a tiny, secretive burrower with mild venom delivered from rear teeth, just barely enough to subdue the small centipedes and insects that make up its diet. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Southern Hognose Snake Heterodon simus The southern hognose snake spreads a cobra-like hood, hisses dramatically, and then plays dead if the bluff fails, despite being completely harmless. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Southern Torrent Salamander Rhyacotriton variegatus The southern torrent salamander is the southernmost of four cold-water species, unable to tolerate water warmer than the coldest mountain streams of northern California and southwestern Oregon. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Stripeless Tree Frog Hyla meridionalis The stripeless tree frog lacks the dark side stripe nearly every other European tree frog carries, a single missing marking that gives it both its common name and easiest identification feature. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Tellico Salamander Plethodon aureolus The Tellico salamander breathes entirely through its skin and lays eggs on land with no aquatic larval stage, confined to a small pocket of the southern Appalachians. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Tree Lizard Urosaurus ornatus The tree lizard flashes a colorful throat fan whose exact pattern varies from one desert population to the next, turning territorial display into a kind of regional dialect. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor The tufted titmouse plucks hair directly from live mammals, including sleeping dogs and cats, to line its nest with something softer than anything it could find on the ground. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Valley and Ridge Salamander Plethodon hoffmani The Valley and Ridge salamander takes its name from the long, parallel mountain-and-valley landscape of the central Appalachians it calls home. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Western Drywood Termite Incisitermes minor The western drywood termite needs no soil contact at all, living entirely inside the dry wood it eats and giving itself away only through tiny six-sided pellets pushed out through kick holes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Willow Flycatcher Empidonax traillii The willow flycatcher looks almost identical to its sibling species the alder flycatcher, and the two are reliably told apart only by their completely different songs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla Wilson's warbler is a tiny, active songbird with a neat black cap, and its western populations have declined so sharply that it is one of the most closely tracked warblers in bird-banding studies. Read the guide →
Birds LC Worm-Eating Warbler Helmitheros vermivorum The worm-eating warbler eats almost no worms at all, instead specialising in caterpillars hidden inside curled dead leaves, a foraging trick that gave the species a thoroughly misleading common name. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Yellow Jacket Vespula The yellow jacket scavenges human food at picnics unlike most other wasps, and its smooth, hairless body distinguishes it from the bees it is often mistaken for. Read the guide →
Birds LC Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia The yellow warbler responds to a cowbird egg in its nest by building an entirely new nest floor right on top of it, sometimes stacking several buried layers in a single season. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Allegheny Mountain Dusky Salamander Desmognathus ochrophaeus The Allegheny Mountain dusky salamander ranges higher up mountain slopes than most of its dusky salamander relatives, often found well away from any stream in damp forest litter. Read the guide →
Birds LC American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla The American redstart flashes bold orange or yellow tail and wing patches while foraging, a display thought to startle hidden insects into moving and giving away their position. Read the guide →
Amphibians CR Archey's Frog Leiopelma archeyi Archey's frog is one of the most ancient frogs alive, barely changed in 150 million years. It has no eardrum, skips the tadpole stage, and the father carries the froglets on his back. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Barbados Threadsnake Tetracheilostoma carlae The Barbados threadsnake is the smallest known snake in the world, about as long and thin as a strand of spaghetti. It burrows in soil, eats ant and termite larvae, and lays a single large egg. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Black Witch Moth Ascalapha odorata The black witch moth is one of the largest moths in North America and can turn up thousands of miles from home after being swept north on storm winds. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Brown Basilisk Basiliscus vittatus The brown basilisk can sprint across the surface of water on its hind legs alone, slapping specialized fringed toes down fast enough to avoid sinking before momentum runs out. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Bumblebee Bombus terrestris The bumblebee is a large, furry bee that shivers to warm up, flies in cold and rain, and shakes pollen loose with a burst of vibration that many crops depend on and honeybees cannot do. Read the guide →
Birds LC Calliope Hummingbird Selasphorus calliope The calliope hummingbird is the smallest breeding bird in North America, yet it migrates thousands of kilometers each year between mountain meadows and Mexican wintering grounds. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Carpenter Ant Camponotus The carpenter ant excavates smooth galleries through wood rather than eating it, and one specialized soldier caste can rupture its own body to spray a sticky, toxic defensive secretion at attackers. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina The chipping sparrow lines its nest almost exclusively with animal hair, historically horsehair, and will still travel considerable distances to find a suitable source if none is close by. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Crested Anole Anolis cristatellus The crested anole has spread from Puerto Rico to several other regions through the pet trade and shipping, and males raise a distinct tail crest specifically during territorial disputes with rivals. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Fiji Crested Iguana Brachylophus vitiensis The Fiji crested iguana is a brilliant emerald lizard banded with white, found on a few small dry-forest islands. Its eggs take up to nine months to hatch, the longest incubation known in any lizard. Read the guide →
Birds VU Great Hornbill Buceros bicornis The great hornbill is a metre-long forest bird with a huge yellow bill and casque, wingbeats you can hear from far off, and a nesting habit in which the female seals herself into a tree hole. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Hover Fly Syrphidae The hover fly mimics the black-and-yellow warning pattern of bees and wasps despite having no stinger, and it hangs motionless in mid-air far better than either. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Io Moth Automeris io The io moth flashes two enormous blue-black eyespots to startle predators, while its green caterpillar carries venomous spines delivering a genuinely painful sting. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Net-Winged Beetle Lycidae The net-winged beetle produces bitter, distasteful chemicals so effective that numerous harmless insects have evolved to copy its bold warning coloration for protection they never actually earned. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Northern Alligator Lizard Elgaria coerulea The northern alligator lizard tolerates cooler temperatures than most lizards, remaining active at elevations and latitudes that would leave many other reptiles too cold to move. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ozark Zigzag Salamander Plethodon angusticlavius The Ozark zigzag salamander has no lungs at all, breathing entirely through its skin, and lays its eggs on land with no aquatic larval stage whatsoever. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Promethea Moth Callosamia promethea The male promethea moth flies by day disguised as a foul-tasting swallowtail butterfly, while the female waits until dusk to release her scent instead. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Soldier Beetle Cantharidae The soldier beetle has soft, leathery wing covers unlike the hard shell of most beetles, a texture distinctive enough to earn the whole family the nickname leatherwing. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Southeastern Five-Lined Skink Plestiodon inexpectatus The southeastern five-lined skink looks so close to two of its relatives that telling all three apart in the field usually comes down to counting scales. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Southern Dusky Salamander Desmognathus auriculatus The southern dusky salamander vanished from most of its range for reasons only partly understood, one of the more mysterious amphibian declines in the southeastern US. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus The spicebush swallowtail caterpillar folds a leaf into a protective shelter and paints two large false eyespots on its body, transforming into a convincing small-snake decoy by day. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Texas Alligator Lizard Gerrhonotus infernalis The Texas alligator lizard is the largest alligator lizard species in North America, living in rocky Hill Country terrain and giving birth to live young. Read the guide →
Birds LC Virginia's Warbler Leiothlypis virginiae Virginia's warbler nests directly on the ground within dense mountain scrub, a low-lying strategy that leaves its eggs and chicks more exposed than the elevated nests most warblers rely on. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-Throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis The white-throated sparrow exists in two permanent color forms that almost always pair with the opposite form when mating, an unusual four-way mating system tied directly to a single chromosome. Read the guide →
Birds LC Yellow-Rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata The yellow-rumped warbler can digest waxy bayberry and wax myrtle fruit that most other warblers cannot process, letting it winter farther north than almost any other North American warbler species. Read the guide →
Birds LC New Caledonian Crow Corvus moneduloides The New Caledonian crow makes and carries hooked twig tools and barbed tools cut from leaf edges, uses one tool to reach another, and passes improved tool designs down through generations. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Portia Spider Portia fimbriata Portia is a jumping spider that hunts other spiders by planning detour routes to attack from above and by plucking their webs to imitate trapped prey, adjusting the trick by trial and error. Read the guide →
Birds LC Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna Anna's hummingbird males perform a dramatic courtship dive, climbing high before plunging downward and pulling up sharply enough that specialized tail feathers produce a loud chirp from airflow alone. Read the guide →
Birds LC Black-Chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri The black-chinned hummingbird's throat looks plain black in most light, but at the right angle a thin iridescent purple band flashes along its lower edge, then vanishes. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Cumberland Plateau Salamander Plethodon kentucki The Cumberland Plateau salamander was only recognized as its own species after researchers found it living alongside a nearly identical relative without the two ever interbreeding. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Eastern Banjo Frog Limnodynastes dumerilii The eastern banjo frog is a burrowing Australian ground frog whose short, resonant bonk call sounds like a plucked banjo string, and a pond full of calling males sounds like a band tuning up. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ebony Jewelwing Calopteryx maculata The ebony jewelwing flies with a slow, fluttering wingbeat, its solid black wings and metallic green body making it look more like a flying jewel than an insect. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Three-Lined Salamander Eurycea guttolineata The three-lined salamander has a notably long tail making up well over half its total length, an exaggerated proportion that helps it wriggle rapidly through dense leaf litter and grass. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Trap-jaw Ant Odontomachus bauri The trap-jaw ant holds its jaws locked open at 180 degrees and snaps them shut in about a tenth of a millisecond, one of the fastest movements known, used to catch prey and fling itself from danger. Read the guide →
Birds LC Turquoise-browed Motmot Eumomota superciliosa The turquoise-browed motmot is a Central American bird with a bright brow stripe and two long tail feathers ending in bare rackets, which it swings like a pendulum when it spots a predator. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Bald-Faced Hornet Dolichovespula maculata The bald-faced hornet is not a true hornet at all, but a large, aggressive yellowjacket relative that builds a fully enclosed paper nest and can spray venom toward a threat's eyes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Barred Owl Strix varia The barred owl's expansion into the Pacific Northwest has put it in direct competition with the threatened northern spotted owl, turning one owl's success into another's crisis. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Bess Beetle Passalidae The bess beetle lives in family colonies inside rotting logs, pre-chewing wood for its own larvae and communicating with them through a surprisingly varied vocabulary of squeaks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Blue Orchard Bee Osmia lignaria The blue orchard bee pollinates fruit trees so efficiently that a few hundred individuals can do the work of tens of thousands of honeybees, a favorite among orchard growers. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Brazilian Wandering Spider Phoneutria nigriventer The Brazilian wandering spider is a large, aggressive nocturnal hunter of the American tropics with one of the most potent venoms of any spider. It builds no web and roams the forest floor. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Burying Beetle Nicrophorus spp. The burying beetle detects a dead animal from remarkable distances, then works with a mate to bury and preserve the carcass and feed the larvae directly, rare parental care for an insect. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Cajun Chorus Frog Pseudacris fouquettei The Cajun chorus frog was only recently recognized as its own species, split from the upland chorus frog after genetic evidence showed the western Gulf Coast population was genuinely distinct. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC California Legless Lizard Anniella pulchra The California legless lizard spends nearly its life swimming through loose sandy soil, and its smooth, silvery scales and missing legs leave it constantly mistaken for a snake. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Canadian Toad Anaxyrus hemiophrys The Canadian toad ranges further north than any other North American toad species, tolerating long, cold prairie winters and carrying a distinctive bony ridge between its eyes. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Carpenter Bee Xylocopa The carpenter bee drills a near-perfectly round tunnel straight into solid wood using its own jaws, and a male will aggressively hover near the entrance despite being physically unable to sting. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Coal Skink Plestiodon anthracinus The coal skink carries just two dark stripes rather than the five typical of its close relatives, and it will dive into a stream to escape a predator more readily than most other skinks. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Coeur d'Alene Salamander Plethodon idahoensis The Coeur d'Alene salamander lives in the spray zone of waterfalls and seeps in the northern Rockies, staying pressed against wet rock where the mist never lets the surface fully dry out. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorus The cottonmouth, or water moccasin, is a thick-bodied semi-aquatic pit viper of the southeastern United States that gapes to flash the white lining of its mouth when it feels cornered. Read the guide →
Birds LC Downy Woodpecker Dryobates pubescens The downy woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker in North America, nearly identical in pattern to the much larger hairy woodpecker, and a familiar visitor to backyard suet feeders. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Dunn's Salamander Plethodon dunni Dunn's salamander stays closer to water than most of its lungless relatives, sheltering under rocks and logs right at the edge of Pacific coast streams and seepages. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Dwarf Salamander Eurycea quadridigitata The dwarf salamander has only four toes on its hind feet rather than the usual five found on most salamanders, a subtle but reliable feature for identifying this tiny southeastern species. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe The eastern phoebe announces itself with a raspy call resembling its own name, dips its tail constantly while perched, and often builds a mud nest directly on human structures. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Worm Snake Carphophis amoenus The eastern worm snake spends nearly its entire life underground feeding on earthworms, its tiny eyes and smooth, glossy scales built for pushing through soil rather than for seeing where it's going. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Garden Slender Salamander Batrachoseps major The garden slender salamander thrives under flowerpots and mulch in ordinary Southern California yards, waiting out the dry summer underground for the first cool, wet nights of autumn. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Garden Spider Argiope aurantia The garden spider weaves a thick, zigzagging band of silk through the center of its web, a structure so conspicuous that researchers still debate exactly what purpose it actually serves. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Greater Glider Petauroides volans The greater glider is Australia's largest gliding marsupial, sailing up to 100 metres between eucalyptus trees on a membrane from elbow to ankle, and eating almost nothing but gum leaves. Read the guide →
Birds LC Hairy Woodpecker Dryobates villosus The hairy woodpecker looks almost exactly like its smaller relative the downy woodpecker, but a longer, heavier bill lets it drill into thicker trunks the smaller bird can't manage. Read the guide →
Birds EX Huia Heteralocha acutirostris The huia was a New Zealand wattlebird in which the male and female had completely different bills. Hunted for its tail feathers and its skins, it was last seen for certain in 1907. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Imitator Salamander Desmognathus imitator The imitator salamander is a harmless species that mimics the appearance of a genuinely toxic neighbour, borrowing protection it never actually earned through its own chemistry. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Jordan's Salamander Plethodon jordani Jordan's salamander carries genuinely unpalatable skin secretions, a real defence convincing enough that a harmless neighbouring species evolved to look just like it. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Junaluska Salamander Eurycea junaluska The Junaluska salamander is so rarely encountered that its adult form went undescribed for years after its larvae were already known to science, a genuine reversal of how most species get discovered. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Katydid Tettigoniidae The katydid's leaf-shaped wings mimic real foliage down to fake vein patterns and chewed-looking edges, and its ears sit not on its head but on its front legs. Read the guide →
Birds NT Kirtland's Warbler Setophaga kirtlandii The Kirtland's warbler nests almost exclusively in young jack pine of a specific age, a habitat requirement so narrow that fire suppression once pushed the species to the edge of extinction. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Knight Anole Anolis equestris The knight anole is the largest anole species found in the United States, a Cuban import capable of biting hard, eating smaller lizards, and even taking small birds from the treetops. Read the guide →
Birds LC Long-Eared Owl Asio otus The long-eared owl roosts in groups of a dozen or more through winter, and when alarmed it stretches its body tall and thin, transforming into what looks like a broken branch. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Mabee's Salamander Ambystoma mabeei Mabee's salamander survives in a narrow strip of the Atlantic coastal plain, breeding in temporary forest ponds that dry up completely for much of the year. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Malabar Gliding Frog Rhacophorus malabaricus The Malabar gliding frog is a bright green tree frog of India's Western Ghats that spreads four big webbed feet like parachutes to glide and steer between trees, and breeds in frothy foam nests. Read the guide →
Birds LC Merlin Falco columbarius The merlin hunts small birds with a direct, relentless high-speed chase rather than the dramatic stoop favored by larger falcons, rarely giving its prey a second chance to escape. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Northern Red-Legged Frog Rana aurora The northern red-legged frog was once considered the same species as the California red-legged frog, until researchers split them apart based on genetic and physical differences. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Northwestern Salamander Ambystoma gracile The northwestern salamander produces a mild skin toxin as defense, and some populations never leave the water at all, remaining gilled and aquatic for their entire adult lives. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Paper Wasp Polistes The paper wasp chews wood fibers into a pulp to build an open, umbrella-shaped nest, and a colony's queen is decided through direct physical dominance rather than any inherited rank. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Peaks of Otter Salamander Plethodon hubrichti The Peaks of Otter salamander survives only on one small stretch of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, making it one of the most narrowly restricted vertebrate species in North America. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Pine Woods Tree Frog Hyla femoralis The pine woods tree frog hides small yellow-orange spots on the underside of its hind legs, a marking invisible until the frog leaps, and calls in a rapid pattern like Morse code. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Polyphemus Moth Antheraea polyphemus The Polyphemus moth carries a huge eyespot on each hindwing named for a one-eyed giant of Greek myth, flashed suddenly to startle a bird just long enough for the moth to escape. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Red-Bellied Snake Storeria occipitomaculata The red-bellied snake feeds almost entirely on slugs, and when frightened some individuals curl back their upper lip in a strange, nervous-looking grin rather than trying to strike. Read the guide →
Birds NT Red-Headed Woodpecker Melanerpes erythrocephalus The red-headed woodpecker catches insects in midair as readily as it drills into wood, and it caches extra food in bark crevices, sometimes covering the stash with a scrap of wood. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Regal Moth Citheronia regalis The regal moth's caterpillar, nicknamed the hickory horned devil, grows into one of the largest and most alarming-looking larvae in North America despite being entirely harmless. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Relictual Slender Salamander Batrachoseps relictus The relictual slender salamander survives only in a handful of isolated Sierra Nevada foothill sites, a scattered remnant of a range that was once likely far more continuous. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Roundworm Nematoda The roundworm may be the most numerous animal on Earth, with free-living and parasitic species found in nearly every habitat, and one tiny species mapped down to every single cell. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Santa Cruz Black Salamander Aneides niger The Santa Cruz black salamander is confined to a small pocket of coastal California forest, and its solid black coloration offers almost no camouflage against the pale leaf litter it lives among. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Shenandoah Mountain Salamander Plethodon virginia The Shenandoah Mountain salamander survives on a handful of isolated Virginia peaks, squeezed onto dry ridgetops after a more common relative pushed it out of the valleys below. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Southern Alligator Lizard Elgaria multicarinata The southern alligator lizard grips branches with a genuinely prehensile tail, almost like an extra limb, and will happily settle into a suburban garden as readily as open California woodland. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Spongy Moth Lymantria dispar The spongy moth was deliberately imported for a failed silk-farming experiment in the 1860s, escaped captivity, and has been defoliating North American forests in cyclical outbreaks ever since. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Spotted Dusky Salamander Desmognathus conanti The spotted dusky salamander carries light blotches along its back, a marking more pronounced than in many of its closely related dusky salamander cousins found across the same southeastern streams. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Stink Bug Pentatomidae The stink bug releases a pungent defensive odor from glands on its abdomen when disturbed, and one invasive species has become notorious for gathering by the thousands inside houses each autumn. Read the guide →
Birds LC Superb Fairywren Malurus cyaneus The superb fairywren is a tiny Australian bird with a cocked tail and, on breeding males, a brilliant blue crown. It is socially monogamous but among the least faithful birds ever studied. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Sweat Bee Halictidae The sweat bee is drawn to human perspiration for its salt content, landing directly on skin to drink it, a habit unusual enough among bees to give the whole family its common name. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Texas Spiny Lizard Sceloporus olivaceus The Texas spiny lizard spirals around a tree trunk to keep the wood between itself and an approaching threat, staying just out of sight without ever fully committing to fleeing. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Van Dyke's Salamander Plethodon vandykei Van Dyke's salamander survives in a narrow strip of Washington state near cold mountain streams and waterfall splash zones, going through life with no aquatic larval stage at all. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Weller's Salamander Plethodon welleri Weller's salamander survives only on a handful of high-elevation peaks in the southern Appalachians, restricted to spruce-fir forest that has been steadily shrinking as the climate warms. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC African Twig Snake Thelotornis capensis The African twig snake is a slender tree snake that mimics a dead branch so well it holds its front third rigid in mid-air for an hour. Its venom disrupts blood clotting and there is no antivenom. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Aphid Aphididae The aphid can give birth to genetically identical live young without ever mating, letting a single founder explode into an entire colony within days. Read the guide →
Birds LC Barbet Lybiidae, Megalaimidae, Capitonidae The barbet excavates its own tree-cavity nest like a woodpecker, then defends it with a loud, relentlessly repeated call, some species even duetting in tight synchrony. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Blue Ridge Gray-Cheeked Salamander Plethodon amplus The Blue Ridge gray-cheeked salamander is confined to a small stretch of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, told apart from its close relatives mainly by muted cheek colouring. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Blue Ridge Two-Lined Salamander Eurycea wilderae The Blue Ridge two-lined salamander is one of several nearly identical species dividing the eastern United States, distinguished from close relatives mainly by which mountain streams it occupies. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bulbul Pycnonotidae The bulbul fills forests and gardens across Africa and Asia with one of the more familiar, cheerful bird calls around, an adaptable songbird equally at home in wilderness or busy urban parks. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus The bushtit weaves a hanging, sock-shaped nest from spiderweb and moss that takes weeks to build, then travels in large, constantly chattering flocks the rest of the year. Read the guide →
Birds LC Dark-Eyed Junco Junco hyemalis The dark-eyed junco is nicknamed the snowbird for arriving at feeders each winter, and its plumage varies so much by region that several forms were once classed as separate species. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Dhole Cuon alpinus The dhole is a russet wild dog of Asia that hunts in large, coordinated packs and communicates with eerie whistles. Packs bring down prey many times their size and stand their ground against tigers. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus The eastern towhee forages with a distinctive two-footed backward kick that flings leaf litter aside, uncovering seeds and insects most ground-feeding birds would simply walk past. Read the guide →
Birds LC Flowerpecker Dicaeidae The flowerpecker keeps mistletoe populations alive by passing seeds through its gut in under an hour, a tiny nectar bird whose short digestive tract has become essential to a parasite's survival. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Ground Skink Scincella lateralis The ground skink slithers through leaf litter like a tiny snake rather than walking on its small legs, and a transparent window in its lower eyelid lets it see with eyes shut. Read the guide →
Birds VU Kaka Nestor meridionalis The kaka survives mainly on predator-free islands and sanctuaries today, a large, intelligent New Zealand forest parrot whose close relative the kea has fared better against introduced predators. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Larch Mountain Salamander Plethodon larselli The Larch Mountain salamander survives within talus slopes scattered across the Columbia River Gorge, so tied to volcanic rock rubble that suitable habitat can end within a few metres. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Limestone Salamander Hydromantes brunus The limestone salamander survives within one small limestone outcrop area in California's Sierra Nevada foothills, among the most geographically restricted amphibians in North America. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mexican Burrowing Toad Rhinophrynus dorsalis The Mexican burrowing toad is the only living member of a frog family over 100 million years old. It lives underground, calls like a moaning whoopee cushion, and fires its tongue forward at ants. Read the guide →
Birds LC Minivet Pericrocotus spp. The minivet moves through forest canopy in small, colourful flocks, males often flame-red or orange against duller females, a pattern of sexual dimorphism that makes flock composition easy to read. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ocoee Salamander Desmognathus ocoee The Ocoee salamander is one of several closely related dusky salamander species that quietly divide the southern Appalachians, distinguished mainly by subtle range and habitat differences. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Owlfly Ascalaphidae The owlfly looks like a dragonfly wearing a butterfly's antennae, and its camouflaged, debris-covered larvae ambush prey much like their close relatives the antlions. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Pygmy Rattlesnake Sistrurus miliarius The pygmy rattlesnake's rattle is so tiny it often buzzes more like an insect than a warning, a quiet trait shared by one of the smallest rattlesnake species in North America. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Rough Earth Snake Haldea striatula The rough earth snake carries keeled, ridged scales unlike its smooth-scaled relative, a tiny burrower that spends its life working through loose soil in search of earthworms and soft-bodied insects. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Santeetlah Dusky Salamander Desmognathus santeetlah The Santeetlah dusky salamander survives only in a small cluster of mountains on the North Carolina and Tennessee border, split from wider relatives by recent taxonomic revision. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Seepage Salamander Desmognathus aeneus The seepage salamander is one of the smallest salamanders in North America, and unlike most of its dusky salamander relatives, it skips the aquatic larval stage entirely. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Smooth Earth Snake Virginia valeriae The smooth earth snake spends nearly its life hidden beneath leaf litter and loose soil, a small, secretive burrower most people never encounter despite being common across the eastern United States. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Southern Two-Lined Salamander Eurycea cirrigera The southern two-lined salamander occupies the warmer, lower share of a species complex across eastern North America, a common streamside amphibian easily mistaken for nearly identical relatives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera The sword-billed hummingbird is the only bird whose bill is longer than the rest of its body. It reaches nectar no other hummingbird can, but must perch with its head tilted almost straight up. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Trapdoor Spider Ctenizidae and related families The trapdoor spider builds a silk-lined burrow topped with a hinged, camouflaged lid it holds shut from below, waiting for the vibration of prey. One was tracked in the same burrow for 43 years. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Treehopper Membracidae The treehopper carries an oversized, oddly shaped pronotum that can mimic a thorn, an ant, or a bird dropping, disguising a soft-bodied sap-feeder in plain sight. Read the guide →
Birds LC Treepie Dendrocitta spp. The treepie moves through forest canopy in noisy, cooperative groups, an intelligent, long-tailed corvid that scavenges alongside larger predators and readily raids other birds' nests. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Vampire Moth Calyptra thalictri The vampire moth is one of a handful of moths whose males pierce the skin of large mammals and drink blood, using a barbed tongue evolved for puncturing tough fruit. Females feed on fruit only. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Webspinner Embioptera The webspinner is named for spinning silk from glands in its own front legs, building tunnel galleries it can race through backward just as fast as forward. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Wehrle's Salamander Plethodon wehrlei Wehrle's salamander shelters deep within rock crevices and talus slopes, sometimes near cave entrances, going through life with no aquatic larval stage at all. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-Eye Zosterops spp. The white-eye has colonized more remote Pacific islands than almost any other songbird, splitting into new species again and again in a pattern that made the genus a favourite case study in evolution. Read the guide →
Birds LC Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys The willie wagtail is a small, fearless black-and-white Australian bird that swings its long tail constantly and dive-bombs animals hundreds of times its size, including eagles, cats, and dogs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Woodswallow Artamus spp. The woodswallow is one of the only songbirds capable of true soaring flight, riding thermals on long triangular wings instead of flapping continuously like most perching birds. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Yonahlossee Salamander Plethodon yonahlossee The Yonahlossee salamander occupies high-elevation forest in the southern Appalachians, a large, boldly patterned lungless salamander named after the mountain pass where it was first described. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Aesculapian Snake Zamenis longissimus The Aesculapian snake gave its name to the staff of Asclepius, and its coiled image still appears on ambulances and medical symbols worldwide despite being entirely harmless to humans. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Ambush Bug Phymatidae The ambush bug waits motionless on a flower petal, camouflaged well enough that pollinating insects land right beside it, then seizes prey many times its size with thickened, raptorial front legs. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Amethystine Python Simalia amethistina The amethystine python is Australia's largest native snake, a powerful constrictor whose smooth scales flash an iridescent purple sheen in direct sunlight, the source of its gemstone-inspired name. Read the guide →
Birds LC Antpitta Grallaria An antpitta looks almost like a ball on two long legs, a round-bodied, nearly tailless forest-floor bird so hidden that many species were only recently coaxed into view with earthworms. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Asiatic Toad Bufo gargarizans The Asiatic toad has long been harvested for traditional Chinese medicine, its dried skin secretions processed into remedies, making it one of the more economically significant toads. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Bird-Voiced Treefrog Hyla avivoca The bird-voiced treefrog produces a whistling call so bird-like that it regularly fools observers into scanning the trees above rather than the swamp water below where the frog is actually calling. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Broadhead Skink Plestiodon laticeps The male broadhead skink develops a strikingly wide, bright orange head during breeding season, a visible signal backed by a genuinely powerful bite for the largest skink in the eastern US. Read the guide →
Birds LC Butcherbird Cracticus spp. The butcherbird impales captured prey on thorns or wedges it into forked branches, a genuine larder-building habit that gives this richly-voiced Australasian songbird its unusually grim common name. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Carpet Chameleon Furcifer lateralis The carpet chameleon lives fast even by chameleon standards, reaching sexual maturity within months, a survival strategy for a small Madagascar species with a naturally short lifespan. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Cecropia Moth Hyalophora cecropia The cecropia moth is the largest native moth in North America, and its adult stage has no working mouthparts at all — it lives about a week on stored fat, existing purely to find a mate before dying. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Cheat Mountain Salamander Plethodon nettingi The Cheat Mountain salamander survives on a handful of high ridges in West Virginia, a lungless amphibian so narrowly restricted its entire range fits within a few isolated mountaintops. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Click Beetle Elateridae The click beetle flips itself upright with a sudden spring-loaded snap when stuck on its back, launching into the air with an audible click, a mechanism some tropical species also use to glow. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus The coastal taipan is Australia's longest venomous snake and, before antivenom, its most lethal. It strikes prey in a fast flurry, releases it, and tracks it down once the venom takes hold. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cuckoo-Roller Leptosomus discolor The cuckoo-roller is the only member of its family, a Madagascar endemic that carries the roller name despite never performing the acrobatic tumbling flight that gives true rollers theirs. Read the guide →
Birds VU Curassow Crax A curassow is a large, turkey-sized forest bird crowned with a curled crest of feathers, its deep booming calls carrying through the canopy thanks to an unusually elongated windpipe. Read the guide →
Birds LC Currawong Strepera spp. The currawong solves problems and mimics sounds with a flexibility that puts it among Australia's most vocally accomplished birds, an opportunistic omnivore whose calls a lyrebird will happily copy. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Del Norte Salamander Plethodon elongatus The Del Norte salamander wedges its unusually long, slender body deep into rocky talus and old-growth forest debris, a lungless specialist confined to a narrow strip of the Pacific Northwest. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Fence Lizard Sceloporus undulatus The eastern fence lizard's males flash blue belly patches during territorial push-up displays, a common species whose blue-throated dance has become a classic subject in lizard behaviour research. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Electric Blue Day Gecko Lygodactylus williamsi The electric blue day gecko survives only within a few small patches of forest in Tanzania, a vividly coloured lizard whose entire wild population fits inside an area smaller than most towns. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Fire Skink Mochlus fernandi The fire skink carries vivid bands of red, orange, and iridescent black-blue down its sides, a colourful West African lizard popular in the pet trade for its calmer-than-expected temperament. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Flap-Necked Chameleon Chamaeleo dilepis The flap-necked chameleon flares skin flaps at the back of its head into a dramatic warning display, one of the most widespread chameleon species across sub-Saharan Africa. Read the guide →
Birds LC Flicker Colaptes spp. The flicker abandons the typical woodpecker habit of drilling into bark, instead hopping across open ground to dig ants directly out of the soil with a long, barbed tongue built for exactly that job. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog Rana boylii The foothill yellow-legged frog times its breeding to a river's retreating floodwaters, laying eggs directly onto submerged rocks in current strong enough to sweep away lesser amphibians. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Ghost Mantis Phyllocrania paradoxa The ghost mantis grows leaf-shaped flaps across its body that make it nearly indistinguishable from a dead, curling leaf, an ambush predator that survives by looking inedible. Read the guide →
Birds LC Gnatcatcher Polioptila spp. The gnatcatcher weighs barely more than a coin yet defends its territory with a constantly wagging tail and a thin, wheezy call, one of the smallest, most restless hunters in North American woodlands. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Gold Dust Day Gecko Phelsuma laticauda The gold dust day gecko carries flecks of shimmering gold across a green body, a Madagascar lizard so successful outside its range that it now thrives as an introduced species across Hawaii. Read the guide →
Birds LC Goshawk Accipiter gentilis The goshawk pursues prey through dense forest at full speed, weaving between trunks and branches with a precision that makes it one of the most formidable and agile hunters in the entire hawk family. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Grotto Salamander Eurycea spelaea The grotto salamander is the only North American cave salamander whose larvae hatch with working eyes and then lose them as they mature, the eyelids fusing shut for a lightless adult life underground. Read the guide →
Birds VU Ground-Roller Brachypteraciidae The ground-roller lives almost entirely on the forest floor, a Madagascar endemic that shares an order with the aerial tumbling rollers of Africa and Asia yet never leaves the ground to display. Read the guide →
Birds LC Honeyeater Meliphagidae The honeyeater carries a brush-tipped tongue built for mopping up flower nectar, one of the most diverse bird families in Australia and a major pollinator across the continent's native plant life. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Italian Crested Newt Triturus carnifex The Italian crested newt grows a dramatic jagged crest along its back during the breeding season, a striking seasonal display that vanishes again once the newt returns to life on land each year. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Jemez Mountains Salamander Plethodon neomexicanus The Jemez Mountains salamander survives within one volcanic caldera complex in New Mexico, an entire species confined to underground rock fractures formed by ancient eruptions millions of years ago. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Keelback Rhabdophis tigrinus The keelback steals the very toxins from the toads it eats and stores them in glands on its own neck, a genuine case of a snake borrowing another animal's chemical defenses for its own protection. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Lace Monitor Varanus varius The lace monitor is one of Australia's largest and most recognised reptiles, a powerful climbing goanna known to raid campsites as readily as it hunts through native forest. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Lacewing Chrysopidae The lacewing looks delicate enough to tear at a touch, but its larvae are voracious predators nicknamed aphid lions, some disguising themselves under a pile of drained prey as camouflage. Read the guide →
Birds EN Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis The male marvelous spatuletail has just four tail feathers, two of them bare wires ending in big blue discs he swings around his body in courtship. It lives only in one valley in northern Peru. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mountain Chorus Frog Pseudacris brachyphona The mountain chorus frog calls from shallow temporary pools tucked into Appalachian hillsides, a small, well-camouflaged frog whose scattered populations have already contracted in parts of its range. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mud Salamander Pseudotriton montanus The mud salamander wears nearly the same reddish, spotted colouring as its more toxic relative the red salamander, borrowing a warning pattern it never earned toxicologically. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Oregon Slender Salamander Batrachoseps wrighti The Oregon slender salamander squeezes its narrow body deep into rotting logs found only in old-growth stands, a lungless amphibian restricted to one small corner of the Pacific Northwest. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Pine Barrens Treefrog Hyla andersonii The Pine Barrens treefrog carries a lavender-grey body set off by a bold dark stripe and bright orange flashes on the thighs, one of North America's most strikingly patterned treefrogs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Pitta Pittidae The pitta hides jewel-bright plumage of red, blue, and green on the forest floor, a shy, ground-hopping bird more often heard giving a sharp two-note whistle than actually seen among the shadows. Read the guide →
Birds LC Puffbird Bucconidae A puffbird perches motionless for long stretches, feathers fluffed into a round, puffy shape, before launching a sudden strike at a passing insect and battering the prey against a branch. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Puss Caterpillar Megalopyge opercularis The puss caterpillar looks soft enough to pet, covered in fur resembling a tiny cat, but hidden beneath that fuzzy coat are venomous spines rated among the most painful insect stings in North America. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Pygmy Chameleon Rhampholeon spp. The pygmy chameleon is among the smallest reptiles on Earth, small enough to perch on a fingertip, spending its life camouflaged as a dead leaf on the forest floor rather than climbing. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Red-Bellied Newt Taricha rivularis The red-bellied newt carries a vivid orange-red belly as a warning that its skin contains the same potent toxin found in some of its more famous newt relatives. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Robber Fly Asilidae The robber fly ambushes prey mid-flight and injects enzymes that liquefy its victim from the inside, a bristly-faced aerial predator capable of overpowering insects considerably larger than itself. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Sacramento Mountain Salamander Aneides hardii The Sacramento Mountain salamander survives on isolated sky-island peaks in New Mexico, each mountaintop population separated from the next by desert lowlands no salamander could ever cross. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Santa Cruz Long-Toed Salamander Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander survives in only a handful of ponds squeezed by California coastal development, one of the most narrowly range-restricted amphibians in North America. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sapsucker Sphyrapicus spp. The sapsucker drills neat rows of shallow wells into tree bark to drink the sap that wells up, a habit that also feeds hummingbirds and other birds that visit the same drilled trees afterward. Read the guide →
Birds LC Screech Owl Megascops A screech owl presses tight against a tree trunk with feathers held flat and ear tufts raised, its mottled grey-brown plumage disappearing so completely into bark that most people walk right past one. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Shenandoah Salamander Plethodon shenandoah The Shenandoah salamander survives only on a handful of rocky talus slopes atop three mountains in Virginia, squeezed into that narrow habitat by direct competition with a more common relative. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Siskiyou Mountains Salamander Plethodon stormi The Siskiyou Mountains salamander depends on rocky forest talus so specific that logging near its habitat can eliminate a local population without a single tree above ground being disturbed directly. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Six-Lined Racerunner Aspidoscelis sexlineata The six-lined racerunner is built almost entirely for speed, a striped, whip-fast lizard that can outrun most predators across open ground and rarely stops moving long enough to be caught looking. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Squirrel Treefrog Hyla squirella The squirrel treefrog changes color across greens and browns depending on temperature and humidity, and earned the folk nickname rain frog for calling just before a storm arrives. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Strecker's Chorus Frog Pseudacris streckeri Strecker's chorus frog spends most of the year buried underground, only emerging after rain to call from temporary prairie pools, a stocky, burrowing frog marked by a bold dark stripe across its face. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita The sulphur-crested cockatoo can live 70 years or more, and in Sydney some populations have learned to flip open garbage bin lids, a skill that has spread bird to bird across entire suburbs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Swallow-Tailed Kite Elanoides forficatus The swallow-tailed kite catches, eats, and even drinks entirely on the wing, its deeply forked tail allowing acrobatic mid-air turns that let it snatch prey without ever needing to land. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus The eastern tiger swallowtail wears different disguises across its life — bird-dropping caterpillar, false snake eyes, then a tiger-striped adult with decoy tails on its wings. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Tsetse Fly Glossina spp. The tsetse fly gives birth to a single developed larva rather than laying eggs, an unusual strategy among insects, and its bite can spread a disease responsible for widespread illness in Africa. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tui Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae The tui can mimic an extraordinary range of sounds, including other birds and even human speech in captivity, all while carrying a distinctive tuft of curled white feathers at its throat. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Western Skink Plestiodon skiltonianus The western skink flashes a bright blue tail as a juvenile, drawing attacks away from its body toward a tail it can shed and regrow, a common but rarely appreciated lizard across the American West. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Western Toad Anaxyrus boreas The western toad climbs higher into the mountains than almost any other North American amphibian, and unlike most toads, its males have no mating call at all — no vocal sac, no chorus, just silence. Read the guide →
Birds NT Whip-poor-will Antrostomus vociferus The whip-poor-will is named for its own call, a loud, repetitive whistle heard far more often than the bird itself is ever seen, camouflaged perfectly against leaf litter through the day. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Agile Frog Rana dalmatina An agile frog is a slender, long-legged brown frog of European woodland whose two-metre leap is the longest of any European frog, now down to a few protected populations on the Channel Islands. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Alligator Lizard Elgaria An alligator lizard is a long-bodied North American lizard with a stiff, armour-like fold of skin along each side that lets its body expand after a big meal without splitting its scales. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Banded Newt Ommatotriton A banded newt is a small Middle Eastern newt whose breeding male grows a tall, smooth-edged crest and a striking blue-and-white-striped tail, unlike the jagged crest of most other crested newts. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Banjo Frog Limnodynastes A banjo frog is a stout burrowing Australian frog whose call is a single resonant bonk like a plucked banjo string, and a full chorus of them across a wetland sounds like a band tuning up. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bedbug Cimex lectularius A bedbug is a small, flat, wingless insect that hides in mattresses and furniture by day and comes out at night to drink human blood, and after decades of near-absence it has surged back worldwide. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Black Salamander Aneides flavipunctatus The black salamander is a dark, secretive lungless salamander from the Pacific coast that can climb using a semi-prehensile tail and defends its territory with genuine, sometimes injurious bites. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Black Spiny-tailed Iguana Ctenosaura similis The black spiny-tailed iguana holds the record for the fastest recorded lizard sprint on Earth, and its heavily spined tail can deliver a surprisingly forceful strike when threatened. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blackbird Turdus merula and Icteridae A blackbird is really two unrelated birds sharing one name, a European thrush that sings from rooftops and the mostly American Icteridae, glossy birds like the red-winged blackbird. Read the guide →
Birds LC Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla A blackcap is a small European warbler named for the male's neat black cap, prized for its rich song, and one of the best-documented examples of a wild bird evolving new migratory behaviour. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Blind Snake Typhlopidae A blind snake is a tiny, shiny, worm-like burrowing snake with eyes reduced to dark spots under the scales, that eats ant and termite brood, and one kind is the most widespread land snake on Earth. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Blue-spotted Salamander Ambystoma laterale A blue-spotted salamander is a small, dark, blue-flecked salamander of the Great Lakes region that breeds with a relative to produce all-female hybrid lineages found in almost no other vertebrate. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bluebird Sialia A bluebird is a small, brilliant-blue North American thrush that nests in tree holes and hunts insects from a low perch, and its 20th-century decline was reversed by a nest-box movement. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Booklouse Psocoptera A booklouse is a tiny, harmless insect that feeds on mould on damp paper and stored food, often appearing suddenly in new or humid buildings, and true lice evolved from within this same group. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchidae A male bowerbird builds and decorates an elaborate structure of sticks and colour-sorted objects purely to impress a mate, one of the most complex construction behaviours in the animal kingdom. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Bristletail Archaeognatha A bristletail is a wingless jumping insect older in lineage than the silverfish, with a humped back and huge eyes, that flings itself airborne to escape and can survive being washed by the tide. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bunting Emberizidae Bunting is a name shared by two unrelated songbird groups, dumpy Old World seed-eaters in one family and brilliantly coloured New World finches in another, with almost nothing but the name in common. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Bush Viper Atheris A bush viper is an African tree-dwelling venomous snake with unusually rough, keeled, sometimes bristle-like scales, with species ranging in colour from vivid green to bright yellow and orange. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Camel Cricket Rhaphidophoridae A camel cricket is a humpbacked, long-legged, wingless cricket of caves, cellars, and damp leaf litter that has no song and no ears, and defends itself by leaping straight at whatever startles it. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Carpet Python Morelia spilota A carpet python is a medium-sized, non-venomous Australian constrictor with a bold gold-and-brown pattern, at home in trees and roof spaces, and a widely kept pet valued for its calm nature. Read the guide →
Birds LC Catbird Dumetella carolinensis A catbird is a slim, slate-grey American songbird named for its cat-like mewing call, a mimid relative of the mockingbird that is one of the few birds able to reliably reject a cowbird's egg. Read the guide →
Birds LC Chickadee Poecile A chickadee is a small, bold North American woodland bird that caches food by the thousand, grows extra brain cells each autumn to remember where, and codes threat detail into its namesake call. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Chinese Crocodile Lizard Shinisaurus crocodilurus The Chinese crocodile lizard is a semi-aquatic lizard named for the raised, bony-looking scales down its tail. It hunts in cool forest streams and is the only surviving species of an ancient family. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Civet Viverridae A civet is a small, nocturnal, cat-like carnivore of Africa and Asia, valued for its musky scent-gland secretion in perfume and, controversially, for coffee its Asian relative partly digests. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Cope's Giant Salamander Dicamptodon copei Cope's giant salamander is the one member of its family that almost never grows up, keeping its feathery larval gills and living permanently in cold streams instead of walking onto land. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cowbird Molothrus A cowbird is a New World blackbird that never builds a nest, instead laying its eggs in other birds' nests, and the brown-headed cowbird parasitises more than 200 host species. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Great Crested Newt Triturus cristatus A great crested newt is a large, warty European newt whose breeding male grows a spectacular jagged crest, and it is protected so strictly that its presence can halt building projects. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Crocodile Newt Tylototriton A crocodile newt is a warty, ridged Asian amphibian named for a bony head and back structure resembling a miniature crocodile, producing a distasteful skin toxin advertised by bold warning colours. Read the guide →
Birds LC Crossbill Loxia A crossbill is a finch with an unusual bill in which the upper and lower tips cross over each other, a specialised tool for prying seeds out of unopened conifer cones. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Cuban Iguana Cyclura nubila The Cuban iguana is the largest native land vertebrate remaining in the Caribbean, a spiny-backed herbivore declining on the mainland but thriving on a handful of protected offshore cays. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Curly-Tailed Lizard Leiocephalus The curly-tailed lizard curls its tail up over its back like a small scorpion when alarmed, a distinctive signal that seems to tell a predator it has already been spotted. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Darwin's Frog Rhinoderma darwinii Darwin's frog is a small, leaf-mimicking frog of Chile and Argentina, famous because the male broods the tadpoles in his vocal sac until they hop out of his mouth as froglets. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC DeKay's Brown Snake Storeria dekayi DeKay's brown snake is a tiny, completely harmless North American snake often confused by name with Australia's deadly eastern brown snake, despite the two having nothing but a name in common. Read the guide →
Birds LC Drongo Dicruridae A drongo is a fiercely territorial bird that has learned to imitate the alarm calls of other species, sometimes falsely, purely to scare them away from food it can then steal for itself. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Dusky Salamander Desmognathus A dusky salamander is a small streamside salamander of Appalachian forests, one of the most abundant vertebrates in its habitat, that opens its mouth by lifting its skull instead of dropping its jaw. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Dust Mite Dermatophagoides A dust mite is a microscopic relative of ticks and spiders that lives in bedding and carpets eating flakes of shed human skin, and its droppings are a leading trigger of allergy and asthma. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad Gastrophryne carolinensis The eastern narrow-mouthed toad is a small, pointy-headed amphibian that eats mainly ants and termites, sometimes found sharing a burrow with a tarantula that appears to tolerate it on purpose. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eastern Whipbird Psophodes olivaceus The eastern whipbird produces one of the most convincing illusions in the Australian bush, a male and female duetting so precisely together that the pair sounds like one bird cracking a single whip. Read the guide →
Birds LC Euphonia Euphonia A euphonia is a small, brightly coloured songbird that feeds heavily on mistletoe berries and, unusually for a bird, both parents share incubation duty rather than leaving it to the female alone. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT European Cave Salamander Hydromantes strinatii The European cave salamander fires a projectile tongue nearly as long as its own body inside limestone caves, a lungless hunter that breathes through skin too delicate to leave its damp home. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Fence Lizard Sceloporus A fence lizard is a common, spiny-scaled North American lizard known for its push-up display, and its blood contains a protein that kills the Lyme disease bacteria carried by ticks that feed on it. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Flap-footed Lizard Pygopodidae A flap-footed lizard is an Australian gecko relative that has lost its front legs entirely and kept only a pair of tiny flap-like flaps where its hind legs used to be. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Florida Worm Lizard Rhineura floridana The Florida worm lizard is North America's only native amphisbaenian, a limbless reptile so wormlike it is often mistaken for an earthworm, moving backward underground as easily as forward. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Foam-nest Frog Chiromantis A foam-nest frog whips its eggs into a ball of froth on a branch above water, where the foam shields the tadpoles from sun and predators until they drop into the pool below. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Gargoyle Gecko Rhacodactylus auriculatus The gargoyle gecko is a New Caledonian lizard named for bumpy, horn-like head projections, and it has become a popular pet gecko thanks to easy captive breeding and countless colour forms. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Genet Genetta A genet is a slender, spotted, long-tailed African carnivore related to the civet, once kept semi-tame in Europe for rodent control centuries before the domestic cat took over that role. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Gibbon Hylobatidae A gibbon is a small tree ape of Southeast Asian rainforest that swings through the canopy faster than any other primate, lives in a monogamous pair, and sings loud duets at dawn. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Green Mamba Dendroaspis angusticeps The green mamba is a shy, fast-moving, highly venomous snake that spends nearly its entire life in trees, a bright green ambusher that would rather vanish into leaves than confront anything. Read the guide →
Birds LC Grosbeak Pheucticus A grosbeak is a songbird defined by one feature above all else, an oversized, powerful, cone-shaped bill strong enough to crack open seeds and nuts that would defeat almost any smaller-billed bird. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Hermann's Tortoise Testudo hermanni Hermann's tortoise is a small, hardy Mediterranean tortoise that spends much of the year basking, grazing, and dormant through both winter cold and summer heat. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Houston Toad Anaxyrus houstonensis The Houston toad is a Critically Endangered amphibian confined to a shrinking patch of Texas pine forest, one of the very first species protected under the US Endangered Species Act. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Idaho Giant Salamander Dicamptodon aterrimus The Idaho giant salamander lives landlocked in the Rocky Mountains, hundreds of miles from its coastal relatives, a leftover population stranded when its family's continuous range broke apart. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Indigo Snake Drymarchon An indigo snake is a big, glossy blue-black non-venomous American snake. The eastern indigo is the longest native snake in the US, eats rattlesnakes, and shelters in gopher tortoise burrows. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Italian Newt Lissotriton italicus The Italian newt is the smallest newt species in Europe, a tiny southern Italian amphibian that breeds in shallow, often temporary pools and can mature within its very first year of life. Read the guide →
Birds LC Jacamar Galbulidae A jacamar is an iridescent tropical bird that catches butterflies and dragonflies in mid-air, then beats its prey against a branch to remove wings and stingers before swallowing it. Read the guide →
Birds LC Jay Garrulus and relatives A jay is a colourful, noisy woodland member of the crow family that buries thousands of acorns and pine seeds each autumn and forgets enough of them to plant whole forests. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Leech Hirudinea A leech is a segmented worm with a sucker at each end that can drink several times its own body weight in blood in a single meal, using an anaesthetic in its saliva so the host never feels the bite. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Legless Lizard Multiple lizard families A legless lizard is any of many lizards that have independently lost their legs and look like snakes, but keep eyelids, ear openings, and a long shed-off tail, and most burrow or live in dense grass. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Lemur Lemuroidea A lemur is a primate found wild only on Madagascar, where the group split into about 100 species from mouse-sized to the dog-sized indri, and it is the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Long-tailed Salamander Eurycea longicauda The long-tailed salamander carries a tail making up nearly two-thirds of its total body length, patterned with a distinctive herringbone marking that helps set it apart from other salamanders. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Macaque Macaca A macaque is an Old World monkey, the most widespread primate after humans, ranging from Japanese snow to Asian city streets, and the rhesus macaque is the standard laboratory primate. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Mongoose Herpestidae A mongoose is a small, agile African and Asian carnivore famous for killing venomous snakes, relying mainly on speed and partial venom resistance, and the meerkat is one of about 34 species. Read the guide →
Birds LC Motmot Momotidae A motmot is a brilliantly coloured tropical bird best known for a long tail ending in two bare, racket-shaped tips that it grooms into shape itself and swings side to side like a pendulum. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mousebird Coliidae A mousebird gets its name from scurrying and creeping through dense vegetation on short legs like a small rodent, belonging to one of the smallest, most distinctive bird orders alive. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Mud Snake Farancia abacura A mud snake is a glossy black-and-red, non-venomous water snake of the southeastern US that specialises in eating giant aquatic salamanders, and is the source of the hoop snake legend. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Night Lizard Xantusiidae A night lizard is a small, secretive reptile that gives birth to live young, can live for decades, and spends nearly its entire life hidden under a single rock or log rather than moving around. Read the guide →
Birds LC Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos A nightingale is a plain brown bird of dense thickets, famous far beyond its looks for a loud, rich, varied song that the male delivers through the night as well as the day to win a passing mate. Read the guide →
Birds LC Nightjar Caprimulgidae A nightjar is a camouflaged nocturnal bird with a huge gaping mouth that scoops up moths in flight, lays its eggs on bare ground, and was once wrongly believed to suckle milk from goats. Read the guide →
Birds LC Nuthatch Sitta A nuthatch is a small, stout tree bird, the only kind that habitually climbs head-first down trunks, and it wedges nuts into bark and hammers them open, which is how it got its name. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Orangutan Pongo An orangutan is a red-haired great ape of Borneo and Sumatra, the biggest tree-living animal, solitary because its fruit is too scattered for a group, and all three species are Critically Endangered. Read the guide →
Birds LC Oriole Icterus An oriole is a brilliant orange and black American songbird that weaves a hanging, sock-shaped nest, its name borrowed from an unrelated Old World bird sharing the same bold colours. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ornate Chorus Frog Pseudacris ornata The ornate chorus frog packs an unusually bold pattern of dark blotches and stripes onto a body barely bigger than a coin, one of the most strikingly marked of North America's small chorus frogs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ovenbird Furnariidae An ovenbird, in the South American sense of the word, builds a rounded mud nest so similar in shape to an old clay baking oven that early settlers named the whole family after it. Read the guide →
Birds LC Painted Bunting Passerina ciris The painted bunting is a small North American songbird whose male wears almost every colour a bird can produce at once, so vivid that early observers named it the nonpareil, without equal. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Painted Frog Discoglossus A painted frog is a small blotched frog of southwest Europe with a fixed disc tongue it cannot flick out, and its relative the Israel painted frog went extinct then reappeared as a living fossil. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Parsley Frog Pelodytes A parsley frog is a small southwest-European frog flecked bright green as if dusted with chopped parsley, a good climber despite lacking toe pads, that often breeds in autumn as well as spring. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Pool Frog Pelophylax lessonae A pool frog is a small green water frog of Europe, and it was recognised as a genuine British native only after it went extinct there, and was then reintroduced from Sweden. Read the guide →
Amphibians CR Puerto Rican Crested Toad Peltophryne lemur The Puerto Rican crested toad is the island's only native toad, once thought extinct for decades, and it now survives largely through sustained amphibian captive breeding. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Racer Coluber constrictor A racer is a fast, slender, alert North American snake that hunts by day with its head raised above the grass, and despite the name constrictor it usually just pins prey and swallows it alive. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ringed Salamander Ambystoma annulatum The ringed salamander breaks from nearly every other mole salamander by breeding in autumn instead of spring, emerging from underground burrows just as the first cool rains of fall begin to fall. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Rocket Frog Litoria nasuta A rocket frog is a slender, pointy-nosed Australian tree frog with enormously long hind legs that can jump about fifty times its body length, among the best jumps relative to size of any frog. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Rough Green Snake Opheodrys aestivus The rough green snake is a slender, tree-climbing serpent whose keeled scales and green colour let it move through leafy branches almost invisibly, often mistaken for a vine swaying in the breeze. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Sand Skink Plestiodon reynoldsi The sand skink is a Florida scrub lizard with legs so reduced they are nearly useless for walking, instead swimming through loose sand the way a fish swims through water. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Sardinian Brook Salamander Speleomantes genei The Sardinian brook salamander is a lungless amphibian found only on Sardinia that catches prey by launching its entire tongue outward like a projectile, a trick shared by few salamanders. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Scarlet Snake Cemophora coccinea The scarlet snake is a harmless, secretive burrower whose red, black, and yellow bands closely mimic the pattern of venomous coral snakes, and it specialises almost entirely on reptile eggs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Shrike Lanius A shrike is a songbird with a hooked, predator-like beak that impales lizards, insects, and small rodents on thorns and barbed wire, earning it the nickname the butcher bird. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Silverfish Lepisma saccharinum A silverfish is a small, wingless, teardrop-shaped insect from one of the most ancient insect lineages, that lives in damp corners of houses eating starch, paper, and glue, and can live for years. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Small-Mouthed Salamander Ambystoma texanum The small-mouthed salamander gets its name from a narrow mouth built for pulling earthworms out of soil, and its genes have fuelled one of the strangest reproductive lineages among salamanders. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Smooth Green Snake Opheodrys vernalis The smooth green snake is a gentle green snake so well camouflaged in grass it is far more often heard rustling away than seen, and it turns dull blue-grey after death as its yellow pigment fades. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Southern Toad Anaxyrus terrestris The southern toad is a common amphibian of the southeastern United States, identified by bony ridges and knobs on its head, and it digs backward into sandy soil to escape heat and predators. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Spider Tortoise Pyxis arachnoides The spider tortoise carries a shell patterned with radiating yellow lines on dark ground, a web-like design that camouflages it among Madagascar's dry coastal forest leaf litter. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Spotted Turtle Clemmys guttata A spotted turtle is a small black semi-aquatic turtle of eastern North America dotted with bright yellow spots, once common in wet meadows and now Endangered from wetland loss and collection. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Springtail Collembola A springtail is a tiny six-legged animal, not quite an insect, that lives by the billion in soil recycling dead matter, and can catapult itself with a spring-loaded tail under the body. Read the guide →
Birds VU Stitchbird Notiomystis cincta The stitchbird is the only bird species known to regularly mate face-to-face, a small New Zealand honeyeater relative that survives today only through intensive translocation to predator-free islands. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Streamside Salamander Ambystoma barbouri The streamside salamander broke from its family's usual habit of breeding in still ponds, laying its eggs instead in flowing streams where its larvae hatch already equipped to handle a current. Read the guide →
Birds LC Sunbird Nectariniidae A sunbird is a small, iridescent Old World nectar-feeder that fills much the same ecological role as a hummingbird, though it perches to drink from flowers rather than hovering in mid-air. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tanager Thraupidae A tanager belongs to one of the largest, most colourful songbird families in the Americas, ranging from vivid scarlet and blue species to the understated relatives that make up much of the family. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tapaculo Rhinocryptidae A tapaculo is a small South American songbird that would rather run through dense undergrowth than fly, so shy and skulking that most species are far easier to hear than to see. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Thrips Thysanoptera A thrips is a tiny, slender insect with fringed wings that pierces plant cells to feed, damages crops directly and by spreading plant viruses, and turns up on skin in warm, thundery weather. Read the guide →
Birds LC Thrush Turdidae A thrush is a family of plump, often spotted songbirds that includes the robin and the bluebird, and the song thrush famously smashes snail shells on a favourite stone anvil. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tody Todus A tody is a tiny, bright green Caribbean bird found nowhere else on Earth, catching insects with a sudden sideways lunge from a perch after a hunting posture that looks almost comically alert. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Torrent Frog Amolops and relatives A torrent frog is any of several unrelated frogs adapted to fast mountain streams, with big sticky toe discs and, in some, a habit of waving a leg to signal because the rushing water drowns out calls. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Torrent Salamander Rhyacotriton A torrent salamander is a tiny Pacific Northwest amphibian needing some of the coldest, cleanest, best-oxygenated water of any salamander, making it a living gauge of old-growth stream health. Read the guide →
Birds LC Treecreeper Certhia A treecreeper spirals up a tree trunk from the base, probing bark crevices for insects with a thin, downward-curved bill, then flies to the base of the next tree to start again. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Vine Snake Ahaetulla A vine snake is an extremely thin, mildly venomous Asian tree snake so slender it is easily mistaken for a real vine, and it is one of very few snakes with forward-facing, true binocular vision. Read the guide →
Birds LC Vireo Vireo A vireo is a small, plainly coloured American songbird often mistaken for a warbler, distinguished by a slower, more deliberate foraging style and a sturdier, slightly hooked bill. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Web-toed Salamander Hydromantes A web-toed salamander is a lungless rock-dwelling salamander of California and southern Europe that climbs with its tail as a fifth limb and has one of the fastest tongues of any vertebrate. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Webless Salamander Plethodon websteri The webless salamander is named for a trait most salamanders take for granted, toes with no webbing at all, setting it apart from close relatives that rely on webbed feet. Read the guide →
Birds LC White-Winged Chough Corcorax melanorhamphos The white-winged chough lives in cooperative family groups so dependent on extra helpers that some groups resort to kidnapping fledglings from a neighboring group's nest. Read the guide →
Birds LC Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptidae A woodcreeper spirals up tree trunks probing bark for insects in a manner strikingly similar to the unrelated treecreeper, two unrelated bird families independently arriving at the same solution. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wren Troglodytidae A wren is a tiny, round, brown bird with a cocked-up tail and a song astonishingly loud for its size, and the males of several species build a set of spare nests for the female to choose from. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Zigzag Salamander Plethodon dorsalis The zigzag salamander is a small, lungless woodland salamander named for the jagged stripe running down its back, and it breathes entirely through its moist skin and the lining of its mouth. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Anole Dactyloidae An anole is a small New World lizard with sticky toe pads and a colourful throat fan it flashes to signal; the 400-plus species keep re-evolving the same forms island by island. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Ape Hominoidea An ape is a tailless primate with a shoulder built for swinging under branches, split into the small, singing gibbons and the great apes, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Bear Ursidae A bear is a large, heavily built mammal that walks on the soles of its feet, and most bears are opportunistic omnivores that spend the warm months building fat for a winter of dormancy in a den. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Beaver Castor A beaver is a large, dam-building rodent that reshapes whole river valleys, felling trees with self-sharpening orange teeth and flooding land to make the deep pond it needs to stay safe. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bird-of-paradise Paradisaeidae A bird-of-paradise is a New Guinea forest bird in which generations of female choice have produced the most extravagant plumes, colours, and courtship dances of any bird. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Box Turtle Terrapene A box turtle is a small North American land turtle whose hinged lower shell folds like a box to seal it inside, and it may spend its whole life within a few hundred metres of where it hatched. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Butterfly Papilionoidea A butterfly is a day-flying insect of the moth order, feeding through a coiled tongue, tasting with its feet, and beginning life as a leaf-eating caterpillar that rebuilds itself inside a chrysalis. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC California Newt Taricha torosa A California newt is a coast-range salamander whose skin holds enough tetrodotoxin to kill a person if eaten, locked in an evolutionary arms race with the garter snakes that eat it anyway. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Cascades Frog Rana cascadae A Cascades frog is a mountain frog of the Pacific Northwest that breeds in meltwater pools at the snow line, and it has vanished from the south of its range as stocked trout and disease moved in. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cassowary Casuarius A cassowary is a huge flightless rainforest bird often called the world's most dangerous, for the dagger claw on each inner toe, and a key disperser of the biggest rainforest seeds. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Centipede Chilopoda A centipede is a fast, flattened predator with one pair of legs per body segment and a pair of venom claws under the head, and despite the name no centipede has exactly one hundred legs. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Chinese Water Dragon Physignathus cocincinus A Chinese water dragon is a green, long-tailed lizard of Southeast Asian streams that dives and swims to escape danger, has a light-sensing third eye on its head, and is a popular but demanding pet. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Chorus Frog Pseudacris A chorus frog is a small striped North American frog whose spring call sounds like a finger run down the teeth of a stiff comb, multiplied by hundreds of males in a flooded field. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cicada Cicadidae A cicada is a loud sap-feeding insect whose males make the shrill summer drone with a pair of drumhead organs, and whose young spend years underground before emerging to breed and die within weeks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Cockroach Blattodea A cockroach is an ancient, flattened, fast-running insect; of about 4,600 species only around 30 live near people, and the rest are harmless recyclers of leaf litter and rotting wood. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Common Death Adder Acanthophis antarcticus The common death adder looks and hunts like a viper but is actually an elapid, related to cobras. It lies buried in leaf litter and twitches a grub-like tail tip to lure prey into a lightning strike. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix A copperhead is a coppery, hourglass-banded pit viper of the eastern United States, the cause of more venomous bites there than any other snake but rarely a danger to a healthy adult. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Coral Snake Micrurus and Micruroides A coral snake is a brightly banded, highly venomous relative of the cobra whose warning colours are copied by several harmless snakes, and which almost never bites people because its fangs are tiny. Read the guide →
Birds NE Crow Corvidae A crow is a member of the corvid family, among the most intelligent of all birds, able to make and use tools, recognise individual human faces, and hold what looks like a funeral over a dead crow. Read the guide →
Birds NE Cuckoo Cuculidae A cuckoo is a slender, long-tailed bird, famous for the species that lay eggs in other birds' nests, tricking the hosts into raising a chick that hatches early and heaves out their own young. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Earwig Dermaptera An earwig is a slim nocturnal insect with a pair of curved pincers at its rear, folded wings it rarely uses, and, unusually for an insect, a mother that guards and grooms her eggs and young. Read the guide →
Birds NE Finch Fringillidae A finch is a small songbird with a stout conical bill built for cracking seeds, and the true finches include the canary and the crossbill, whose bill tips cross to prise open conifer cones. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Fire-bellied Newt Cynops A fire-bellied newt is a small, largely aquatic East Asian newt, drab above and vivid orange or red below, whose skin carries the same nerve poison as a pufferfish, and it is a popular pet. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Fire-bellied Toad Bombina A fire-bellied toad is a small Eurasian amphibian with a drab warty back and a vivid orange-and-black belly, which it flashes by arching into a back-bend to warn a predator of the toxin in its skin. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Fly Diptera A fly is an insect with a single pair of wings, the second pair shrunk to tiny balancing organs; the order holds the most agile insect fliers, along with the mosquito and the housefly. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Flying Frog Rhacophoridae A flying frog is an Asian and African tree frog that glides between trees on huge webbed feet; its family also holds the foam-nest frogs and the moss frogs that vanish against lichen. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Flying Snake Chrysopelea A flying snake is a slender Asian tree snake that cannot truly fly but launches from a branch, flattens its body into a wing, and glides between trees, undulating in the air as if swimming. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Fox Vulpini A fox is a small, lightly built member of the dog family that hunts alone rather than in a pack, eats almost anything, and has adapted better than almost any wild carnivore to living alongside people. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Funnel-web Spider Atracidae A funnel-web spider is a glossy-black Australian spider with among the most dangerous venom of any spider to humans, though an antivenom introduced in 1981 means no one has died from a bite since. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Garter Snake Thamnophis A garter snake is a small, striped, mild-mannered North American snake, the continent's most widespread, that survives being eaten by toxic newts and gathers by the thousand in winter dens. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Gorilla Gorilla A gorilla is the largest primate, a mostly plant-eating great ape of central African forest that lives in stable family groups led by a silverback male, and both species are Critically Endangered. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Gray Tree Frog Hyla versicolor A gray tree frog is a small, warty North American tree frog that shifts between grey and green, winters frozen almost solid, and hides two identical species told apart only by their trill. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Green Salamander Aneides aeneus The green salamander is the only North American salamander patterned in lichen-green blotches, camouflage for a life in damp crevices in shaded rock. It climbs vertical stone on squared-off toe tips. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Greenhouse Frog Eleutherodactylus planirostris A greenhouse frog is a tiny, coin-sized Caribbean frog that lays its eggs in damp soil, skips the tadpole stage entirely, and has spread as a plant-pot stowaway across the warm parts of the world. Read the guide →
Birds NE Grouse Tetraoninae A grouse is a plump ground bird of the cold north, feathered to the toes, that lives out winter on conifer needles and buds, and whose males gather to display at traditional arenas called leks. Read the guide →
Birds NE Hawk Accipiter and Buteo A hawk is a medium-sized day-hunting bird of prey in two main styles — short-winged forest hawks that ambush birds, and broad-winged open-country hawks that soar and drop on rodents. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Hedgehog Erinaceidae A hedgehog is a small nocturnal mammal covered in thousands of hollow spines that it draws into a near-impregnable ball when threatened, and one of the few British mammals that truly hibernates. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Hognose Snake Heterodon A hognose snake is a stout North American burrower with an upturned snout for digging, a spectacular bluffing display of hooding and hissing, and, if that fails, a convincing act of playing dead. Read the guide →
Birds LC Hornbill Bucerotidae A hornbill is a large Old World forest bird with a long down-curved bill topped by a hollow casque, and in most species the female seals herself inside a tree hole with mud to raise the chicks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Huntsman Spider Sparassidae A huntsman spider is a fast, flat-bodied spider that holds its legs out crab-fashion, builds no web, and hunts by running prey down; it is the harmless spider that sprints across an Australian wall. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Japanese Tree Frog Dryophytes japonicus A Japanese tree frog is a small green tree frog of East Asian rice paddies whose night chorus fills the countryside, and whose call timing has been studied to design better wireless networks. Read the guide →
Reptiles NE Kingsnake Lampropeltis A kingsnake is a non-venomous American constrictor that eats other snakes, rattlesnakes included, is largely immune to their venom, and in several species mimics the deadly coral snake. Read the guide →
Birds VU Kiwi Apteryx A kiwi is a flightless, nocturnal New Zealand bird that behaves more like a mammal, with nostrils at the bill tip, hair-like feathers, burrows, and an egg up to a quarter of its body weight. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Lungless Salamander Plethodontidae A lungless salamander has no lungs and breathes through its skin and mouth lining, a trade that ties it to cool damp forest but built the largest and most varied salamander family on Earth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Lyrebird Menura A lyrebird is an Australian songbird with the most accurate vocal mimicry of any animal, copying other birds, chainsaws, and camera shutters while fanning a lyre-shaped tail over its head. Read the guide →
Birds LC Magpie Pica A magpie is a bold black-and-white bird, and the Eurasian species is one of the smartest animals known, the first non-mammal to pass the mirror test, though several unrelated birds share the name. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Mantella Mantella A mantella is a tiny, vividly coloured frog found only in Madagascar that looks and behaves just like an unrelated South American poison frog, and most of its 16 or so species are threatened. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Mantis Mantodea A mantis is an ambush insect that holds its spined front legs folded as if praying, swivels its triangular head to look over its shoulder, and strikes at prey in about a fiftieth of a second. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Midwife Toad Alytidae A midwife toad is a small European frog whose male wraps the strings of eggs around his own hind legs and carries them for weeks, wetting them at ponds until they are ready to hatch. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Millipede Diplopoda A millipede is a slow, rounded, many-legged animal with two pairs of legs on most body segments, feeding on dead leaves and defending itself with toxic or foul chemicals rather than a bite. Read the guide →
Birds LC Mockingbird Mimus A mockingbird is a grey American songbird named for its ability to copy the songs of other birds, plus frogs, car alarms, and squeaky gates, a repertoire of hundreds of phrases that grows for life. Read the guide →
Mammals NE Monkey Simiiformes (excluding apes) A monkey is any of about 260 primate species, split into the flat-nosed New World monkeys of the Americas, some with a gripping tail, and the narrow-nosed Old World monkeys of Africa and Asia. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Mossy Frog Theloderma corticale A mossy frog is a Vietnamese stream frog whose green, black, and rust-brown skin makes it look just like a clump of moss on a wet rock, and when frightened it rolls into a ball and plays dead. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Narrow-mouthed Frog Microhylidae A narrow-mouthed frog belongs to the largest frog family, a group of small, often plump, tiny-mouthed ant and termite specialists that includes the smallest vertebrate known. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Pacific Giant Salamander Dicamptodon A Pacific giant salamander is an amphibian of cold Pacific Northwest streams, one of the few salamanders with a voice, big enough to eat mice and snakes, and often keeping its gills for life. Read the guide →
Birds NE Pigeon Columbidae A pigeon is a member of the dove family, a seed and fruit eater that feeds its young on milk made in the throat and navigates home over hundreds of kilometres; the dodo was a giant one. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Porcupine Hystricidae and Erethizontidae A porcupine is a large, slow rodent armoured with thousands of sharp, barbed quills that detach on contact and work their way inward, and it cannot throw them, contrary to a very old myth. Read the guide →
Birds NT Quetzal Pharomachrus A quetzal is an iridescent green-and-crimson cloud-forest bird of the American tropics, sacred to the Maya and Aztec, the national bird and currency of Guatemala, and said to die if kept in a cage. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and relatives A rabbit is a long-eared burrowing herbivore that breeds fast and re-eats its own soft droppings, and the European species is both the ancestor of every pet breed and a notorious invasive pest. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Rain Frog Brevicipitidae A rain frog is a round, short-legged, permanently frowning African frog that lives underground, cannot swim or hop, glues to its mate for weeks, and skips the tadpole stage entirely. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Rat Snake Pantherophis and relatives A rat snake is a non-venomous constrictor of Northern Hemisphere farmland and forest that hunts rodents and birds, climbs well, and is one of the most useful snakes to have around a barn. Read the guide →
Birds LC Robin Turdus migratorius and Erithacus rubecula A robin is one of two unrelated red-breasted songbirds sharing the name — the large American robin, a lawn-worm hunter, and the small round European robin, a fierce Christmas-card fixture. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Sierra Newt Taricha sierrae A Sierra newt is a stout newt of the western Sierra Nevada foothills, recently split from the California newt, whose skin holds tetrodotoxin and whose spring migrations cross roads by the thousand. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Snail Gastropoda A snail is a shelled gastropod that glides on one muscular foot along a trail of slime, rasps its food with a tongue of thousands of tiny teeth, and can seal itself in its shell to wait out drought. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Solenodon Solenodon paradoxus The solenodon is one of very few venomous mammals, delivering toxic saliva through a groove in its lower teeth. Its lineage split from other mammals around the time of the dinosaurs. Read the guide →
Amphibians NE Spadefoot Toad Pelobatoidea A spadefoot toad digs backward into dry soil with a hard spade on each hind foot, waits out months of drought underground, and breeds in a frantic rush the night heavy rain arrives. Read the guide →
Birds NE Sparrow Passeridae and Passerellidae A sparrow is a small, streaky, seed-eating songbird, and the name covers two unrelated families, the Old World sparrows such as the house sparrow and the New World sparrows of the Americas. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NT Stag Beetle Lucanidae A stag beetle is a large woodland beetle in which the male grows enormous antler-like jaws, used to wrestle rival males, while the grubs spend years eating rotten wood underground. Read the guide →
Birds NE Starling Sturnidae A starling is a stocky, glossy, social songbird that flocks in the thousands, weaves mimicry into a rambling song, and, as the common starling, has been spread worldwide as an invader. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Strawberry Poison Frog Oophaga pumilio A strawberry poison frog is a thumbnail-sized Central American frog, often red with blue legs, whose mother carries her tadpoles up a tree one by one and feeds each on her unfertilised eggs. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Striped Newt Notophthalmus perstriatus A striped newt is a small red-striped newt of the southeastern US that breeds in seasonal ponds, shelters in gopher tortoise burrows through drought, and is one of the region's rarest amphibians. Read the guide →
Birds NE Swift Apodidae A swift is a bird so committed to the air that some species stay aloft for up to ten months without landing, doing everything on the wing, and it cannot perch or take off from flat ground. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Tick Ixodida A tick is an eight-legged, blood-feeding arachnid that waits on vegetation for a passing animal and clings on for days, spreading more diseases to people and livestock than anything but the mosquito. Read the guide →
Birds LC Toucan Ramphastidae A toucan is a Central and South American forest bird whose huge, light, colourful bill reaches fruit, raids nests, and sheds body heat, and it nests in tree holes it cannot dig itself. Read the guide →
Birds LC Weaver Ploceidae A weaver is a small yellow African bird whose male ties and knots a hanging nest from strips of grass; the family includes the world's largest bird nest and the most numerous wild bird on Earth. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Woodlouse Oniscidea A woodlouse is a land crustacean, a crab and shrimp relative that fully left the sea; it breathes through damp gill-like structures, eats dead leaves, and, in the pill bugs, rolls into a ball. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Worm Lizard Amphisbaenia A worm lizard is a burrowing reptile, neither snake nor true lizard, with a ringed pink body like a giant earthworm, a head built for digging, and the ability to move backwards as easily as forwards. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Argentine Tegu Salvator merianae The Argentine tegu is a large, intelligent lizard that warms its own body several degrees above its surroundings during the breeding season, a partial form of the warm-bloodedness seen in mammals. Read the guide →
Birds LC Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum The cedar waxwing is a sleek, crested songbird with waxy red tips on its wing feathers. Flocks sometimes become visibly intoxicated after eating overripe, fermented berries. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Death's Head Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos The death's head hawkmoth carries a skull-shaped marking on its thorax and can squeeze into beehives to steal honey, protected by a scent that mimics the colony's own. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Ensatina Ensatina eschscholtzii The ensatina forms a famous ring species around California's Central Valley, where neighbouring populations interbreed but the two ends of the ring cannot. It has no lungs, breathing through its skin. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Luna Moth Actias luna The luna moth emerges as an adult with no mouth at all, living about a week purely to mate before dying. Its pale green wings trail long tails that may help it dodge bat sonar. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Eastern Indigo Snake Drymarchon couperi The eastern indigo snake is the longest native snake in North America, a glossy blue-black constrictor that regularly eats venomous rattlesnakes unharmed by their bites. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Long-toed Salamander Ambystoma macrodactylum The long-toed salamander is named for its elongated fourth toe, and survives a wider range of elevations than almost any other salamander in North America, some breeding under lake ice. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wood Duck Aix sponsa The wood duck is one of the most colourful waterfowl in North America, the male patterned in iridescent green, purple, and chestnut. It nests in tree cavities many metres up. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Cave Salamander Eurycea lucifuga The cave salamander is a bright orange, long-tailed climber living at the edge of cave systems, gripping rock walls with a prehensile tail most salamanders lack. It never leaves the twilight zone. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Golden Orb-weaver Spider Trichonephila clavipes The golden orb-weaver spins a wheel-shaped web up to a metre across, strong enough to snare small birds on rare occasions. Females can be over a hundred times heavier than males. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Asian Vine Snake Ahaetulla The Asian vine snake is a pencil-thin green snake with horizontal keyhole-shaped pupils, unique among snakes. Grooved binocular vision lets it judge distance well enough to strike moving lizards. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Brown Recluse Spider Loxosceles reclusa The brown recluse carries a dark violin-shaped mark on its back and hides in quiet dry corners. Its bite can occasionally cause a slow-spreading, tissue-destroying wound, though most bites are minor. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Madagascar Day Gecko Phelsuma grandis and relatives The Madagascar day gecko is a brilliant green lizard active in full daylight, unusual for a gecko. It licks nectar from flowers and grips glass upside down through molecular attraction. Read the guide →
Birds LC Elf Owl Micrathene whitneyi The elf owl is the smallest owl in the world, barely bigger than a sparrow and light enough to nest in a woodpecker hole in a saguaro cactus, hunting moths and scorpions on the wing. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Glass Lizard Ophisaurus The glass lizard looks exactly like a snake but is a lizard that lost its legs, keeping eyelids and ear openings a snake never has. Its tail shatters into pieces when grabbed. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE House Centipede Scutigera coleoptrata The house centipede is the fast, alarming, many-legged animal that appears in bathrooms and basements. It runs at over 40 cm per second and hunts cockroaches, silverfish, and spiders. Read the guide →
Reptiles CR Radiated Tortoise Astrochelys radiata The radiated tortoise wears a starburst shell of bright yellow lines radiating from a dark centre. Endemic to Madagascar, it can live over a century but is Critically Endangered from poaching. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Red Salamander Pseudotriton ruber The red salamander is a bright coral-red, black-spotted lungless salamander of eastern US springs. Its colour mimics the genuinely toxic red eft so predators leave it alone. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Alpine Newt Ichthyosaura alpestris The alpine newt is a small European newt with a plain dark back and a vivid unmarked orange belly. Breeding males turn steel-blue, and some mountain populations never lose their larval gills. Read the guide →
Mammals LC American Black Bear Ursus americanus The American black bear is the most common bear in the world — a shy, adaptable forest omnivore that mostly eats plants, climbs well, and rarely attacks despite living near millions of people. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC American Green Tree Frog Dryophytes cinereus The American green tree frog is the bright green, gold-flecked frog of the US Southeast, with sticky toe pads for climbing glass and a loud, bell-like 'quonk' call that fills summer nights near water. Read the guide →
Birds LC American Robin Turdus migratorius The American robin is the orange-breasted thrush of North American lawns — a bird that finds worms partly by ear, can get drunk on fermented berries, and heralds spring with its song. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC American Toad Anaxyrus americanus The American toad is a warty backyard toad of eastern North America whose long trilling call rings from ponds each spring. Its glands ooze a toxin that makes dogs foam and drop it. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Antlion Myrmeleontidae The antlion larva digs a conical pit in dry sand and buries itself at the bottom with only its jaws showing, flicking sand to trigger avalanches that drag prey down. Adults resemble weak dragonflies. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Asian Elephant Elephas maximus The Asian elephant is smaller-eared than its African cousin and more closely related to the extinct mammoth. Fewer than 50,000 remain, and most of the world's working elephants are this species. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Asian Giant Hornet Vespa mandarinia The Asian giant hornet is the world's largest hornet, a 4–5 cm predator whose scouts mark a honeybee hive and then return as a squad that can behead 30,000 bees in a few hours. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Assassin Bug Reduviidae Assassin bugs stab prey with a curved beak, inject saliva that liquefies the insides, and drink it dry. Some stack the husks of their victims on their backs as camouflage; a few suck human blood. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Atlas Moth Attacus atlas The atlas moth is one of the largest insects on Earth, with a wingspan up to 30 cm. The adult has no mouth and never eats — it lives about a week on stored energy, purely to find a mate. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Aye-Aye Daubentonia madagascariensis The aye-aye is a nocturnal Madagascan lemur with rodent-like teeth and a long ball-jointed middle finger that it taps on wood to find grubs by echo, then hooks them out — the woodpecker's niche. Read the guide →
Reptiles NT Ball Python Python regius The ball python is a small, shy West African constrictor that curls into a ball when frightened. It is the world's most popular pet snake, bred into thousands of colour morphs. Read the guide →
Birds LC Barn Owl Tyto alba The barn owl hunts in total darkness by sound alone, guided by its heart-shaped face and lopsided ears. Learn how its silent flight works and why farmers put up nest boxes for it. Read the guide →
Birds NT Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world — about 5.5 cm and 2 grams, lighter than a penny. Its heart beats up to 1,200 times a minute and its wings hum at 80 beats a second. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Binturong Arctictis binturong The binturong is a shaggy Southeast Asian tree-dweller with a fully prehensile tail and urine that smells like buttered popcorn. It is a key disperser of strangler fig seeds and is now Vulnerable. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Black-necked Spitting Cobra Naja nigricollis The black-necked spitting cobra defends itself by firing two fine jets of venom from its fangs at an attacker's eyes from 3 metres, causing intense pain and, untreated, blindness. It bites too. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Black Rain Frog Breviceps fuscus The black rain frog is a round, perpetually grumpy-looking burrowing frog from South Africa's southern mountains. It cannot hop or swim, and puffs itself into a hard ball when threatened. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Black Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans The black widow's venom is about 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake's, drop for drop, but she injects so little that healthy adults almost always survive. The red hourglass is a warning. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Blue-tongued Skink Tiliqua scincoides The blue-tongued skink is a stout, short-legged Australian lizard that startles predators by flashing a broad ultraviolet-blue tongue. It eats snails and fruit, bears live young, and makes a calm pet. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Bobcat Lynx rufus The bobcat is North America's most abundant wild cat, a tufted-eared, bob-tailed predator twice the size of a house cat that thrives from swamps to deserts to the edges of cities. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bolas Spider Mastophoreae The bolas spider builds no web. It hangs from a thread holding a sticky blob of silk, releases a chemical copy of a female moth's scent, and swings the blob like a lasso to catch the males that come. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Bombardier Beetle Brachinus The bombardier beetle defends itself by mixing two chemicals in an internal reaction chamber and firing the boiling, caustic result out of its rear in rapid pulses, aimed with a swivelling nozzle. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Boomslang Dispholidus typus The boomslang is a slender, big-eyed African tree snake with rear fangs and a slow-acting haemotoxic venom. It killed the herpetologist Karl Schmidt in 1957 after a bite from a juvenile. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Bornean Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus The Bornean orangutan is the largest tree-living animal on Earth and the most solitary great ape. It maps hundreds of fruiting trees from memory and is Critically Endangered from forest loss. Read the guide →
Birds VU North Island Brown Kiwi Apteryx mantelli The kiwi is a chicken-sized flightless New Zealand bird that behaves like a mammal — it forages by smell at night, has whiskers and heavy bones, and lays a huge egg for its size. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Chinese Fire-belly Newt Cynops orientalis The Chinese fire-belly newt is a small black newt with an orange-blotched belly it flashes as a warning. Its skin holds tetrodotoxin, and it is one of the most heavily traded amphibians in the world. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Clouded Leopard Neofelis nebulosa The clouded leopard has the longest canine teeth relative to skull size of any living cat — like a modern sabre-tooth — and can climb down trees head-first and hang from a branch by one hind foot. Read the guide →
Birds LC Club-winged Manakin Machaeropterus deliciosus The club-winged manakin is the only bird known to sing with its wings like a cricket, rubbing twisted, thickened feather shafts together over 100 times a second to make a pure violin-like tone. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Coastal Giant Salamander Dicamptodon tenebrosus The coastal giant salamander is North America's largest land salamander, a heavy-bodied predator of Pacific streams that eats mice and snakes — and is one of the few salamanders that can bark. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Coati Nasua The coati is a long-nosed, ring-tailed raccoon relative that travels in noisy bands of up to 30, tail held straight up like a flag. Its ankles reverse so it can climb down trees head-first. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus The common cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests and leaves. The chick hatches first, heaves out the host's eggs, and is raised by foster parents a fraction of its size. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Common Frog Rana temporaria The common frog is the familiar frog of European gardens and ponds — it can breathe through its skin, survive winter on the bottom of a pond, and returns each year to the pond it hatched in. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Common Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis The common garter snake is North America's most widespread snake — a small, striped, mildly venomous hunter that survives Canadian winters by denning in the thousands and can eat toxic newts. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Common Midwife Toad Alytes obstetricans The male common midwife toad carries the fertilised eggs wound around his hind legs for weeks, keeping them moist and safe, and only visits water to release the tadpoles once they are ready to hatch. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Potoo Nyctibius griseus The common potoo spends the day frozen upright on a broken stump, invisible against the bark. Slits in its closed eyelids let it watch for danger without opening its eyes. Read the guide →
Birds LC Common Raven Corvus corax The common raven is one of the most intelligent animals on Earth — a large black bird that makes tools, plans for the future, holds grudges, plays in the wind, and solves problems that stump apes. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Common Spadefoot Toad Pelobates fuscus The common spadefoot digs itself backwards into soft soil with a blade-like 'spade' on each hind foot and vanishes in under a minute. Handled, it screams and smells of garlic. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Common Stick Insect Carausius morosus The common stick insect is a living twig that reproduces almost entirely without males — lab colonies have run over a century all-female. It sways like a branch and regrows lost legs. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Common Toad Bufo bufo The common toad is Europe's familiar warty amphibian — a slow, poison-glanded night hunter that returns to its birth pond every spring along the same route, even when a road now runs across it. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatus The corn snake is a harmless North American rat snake — a slender orange constrictor that climbs, burrows, and keeps farm rodents down. Docile and easy to breed, it is the world's top pet snake. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Cougar Puma concolor The cougar goes by more names than any other animal and roams from the Yukon to Patagonia. Learn why it isn't a "big cat", how far it can leap, and why it screams instead of roars. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Coyote Canis latrans The coyote has expanded across North America and into its cities faster than any other large predator, thriving under intense hunting pressure. Learn how it adapts, hunts, and outlasts persecution. Read the guide →
Amphibians EN Darwin's Frog Rhinoderma darwinii Darwin's frog is a leaf-mimicking Chilean frog in which the father swallows his own developing eggs and carries the tadpoles in his vocal sac until they hop out as froglets. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Dingo Canis dingo The dingo is Australia's largest land predator — an ancient free-living dog that arrived with seafarers about 3,500 years ago, can turn its head almost 180°, and is now hybridising with feral dogs. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Dobsonfly Corydalinae The male dobsonfly has jaws half the length of its body that are too unwieldy to bite with and are used only to grapple rival males. Its aquatic larva, the hellgrammite, is prized fishing bait. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Brown Snake Pseudonaja textilis The eastern brown snake has the second most toxic venom of any land snake and causes about 60% of Australia's snakebite deaths — because it is fast, nervous, and lives right where people do. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Coral Snake Micrurus fulvius The eastern coral snake has the second-strongest venom of any North American snake but rarely bites — it is secretive, small-mouthed, and spends most of its life underground. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Crotalus adamanteus The eastern diamondback is the largest venomous snake in North America and the heaviest rattlesnake on Earth. It warns before it strikes, shelters in tortoise burrows, and is declining fast. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eastern Gray Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis The eastern gray squirrel plants trees by burying nuts it never digs up, remembers cache sites, fakes burials when it thinks it is watched, and has turned much of Britain's woodland grey. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eastern Hognose Snake Heterodon platirhinos Threatened, the eastern hognose snake flares a cobra-like hood and hisses; if that fails it thrashes, vomits, rolls belly-up and plays dead, tongue lolling. It is harmless and very rarely bites. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Eastern Newt Notophthalmus viridescens The eastern newt of North America has a three-stage life — aquatic larva, land-dwelling orange "red eft," then aquatic adult — and its skin carries a nerve toxin that keeps predators away. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus The echidna is a spine-covered, egg-laying mammal that has no teeth, senses prey by electric field, and can lower its body temperature almost to freezing. Learn how this ancient oddity survives. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Egg-eating Snake Dasypeltis scabra The African egg-eating snake has almost no teeth. It swallows a bird's egg wider than its own head, cracks the shell with bony spurs on its backbone, drinks the contents, and spits out a folded husk. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Emperor Newt Tylototriton shanjing The emperor newt wears warning colours — a black body ridged with orange bumps that each sit over a poison gland. Threatened, it can swing sharpened ribs out through those bumps to jab an attacker. Read the guide →
Birds LC Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops The hoopoe is a pink, black, and white bird with a fanning crest, named for its "oop-oop-oop" call. Its nestlings and brooding female defend the nest with a foul secretion and projectile faeces. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx The Eurasian lynx is the largest lynx species and Europe's third-largest predator — a solitary forest cat that hunts roe deer, was wiped out across much of Europe, and is now being brought back. Read the guide →
Mammals NT European Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus The European hedgehog carries about 5,000 spines, curls into an impregnable ball, hibernates for up to five months, and is now declining across Britain. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NT European Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus The male European stag beetle has jaws shaped like a stag's antlers, half its body length, used to wrestle rivals. Its grub eats rotten wood underground for years before the brief adult emerges. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Eyelash Viper Bothriechis schlegelii The eyelash viper is a small, vividly coloured tree snake with spiny "eyelash" scales over each eye. It comes in gold, green, pink, and grey, and ambushes hummingbirds and frogs from a branch. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra The fire salamander wears black-and-yellow warning colours, squirts a nerve toxin from glands behind its eyes, and in some populations gives birth to live young. Learn about this striking amphibian. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Firefly Photinus pyralis The firefly is a beetle that makes near-100%-efficient cold light in its abdomen to send coded flash signals for a mate. Some females mimic other species' codes to lure and eat the males that answer. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Fossa Cryptoprocta ferox The fossa is Madagascar's largest predator — a cat-like relative of the mongoose that climbs down trees head-first and hunts lemurs through the canopy. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Frilled Lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii The frilled lizard of Australia and New Guinea snaps open a huge skin collar around its head when threatened, hisses, and sprints away on its hind legs — a bluff that is almost pure theatre. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Gaboon Viper Bitis gabonica The Gaboon viper has the longest fangs and one of the highest venom yields of any snake, yet it is placid and so well camouflaged in leaf litter that people walk right over it. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU Galápagos Tortoise Chelonoidis niger The Galápagos tortoise is the largest living tortoise and one of the longest-lived animals, with shell shapes that differ island to island — an observation that helped inspire evolutionary theory. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant African Millipede Archispirostreptus gigas The giant African millipede is the world's largest millipede, up to 38 cm with 300 to 400 legs. It is a slow, harmless decomposer that curls into a spiral and oozes a defensive fluid when alarmed. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Giant Huntsman Spider Heteropoda maxima The giant huntsman has the largest leg span of any spider — up to 30 cm — and lives in the caves of Laos. Huntsman spiders run sideways at speed and build no web. Read the guide →
Invertebrates VU Giant Weta Deinacrida The giant weta is among the heaviest insects on Earth, one female recorded at 71 grams, heavier than a sparrow. These flightless New Zealand giants fill the niche that mice take elsewhere. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Glass Frog Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni The glass frog has translucent belly skin that shows its beating heart and gut, and it hides its own blood in its liver to become see-through while it sleeps. Learn how and why. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE New Zealand Glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa The New Zealand glowworm is the larva of a fungus gnat that lights up cave roofs with a blue-green glow, then catches midges on dangling lines of sticky silk beads, like a bioluminescent spider. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Great Crested Newt Triturus cristatus The great crested newt is Europe's largest newt — a black, warty amphibian with an orange belly whose breeding males grow a jagged dragon-like crest. It is strictly protected across the EU and UK. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa The great grey owl looks like the largest owl in the world but is mostly feathers. It hears voles under half a metre of snow and plunges feet-first through the crust to seize them. Read the guide →
Birds LC Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus The great horned owl is North America's most widespread owl and its fiercest — a powerful nocturnal hunter with a crushing grip, silent flight, and a taste for skunks and other owls. Read the guide →
Birds LC Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator The greater honeyguide leads people to wild bees' nests, chattering and flying tree to tree, then feeds on the leftover beeswax. It is one of the few wild animals that cooperates with humans. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Hercules Beetle Dynastes hercules The Hercules beetle is the longest beetle in the world — the male's horn nearly doubles his body length — and among the strongest animals for its size. Its shell changes colour with humidity. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Honeybee Apis mellifera The honeybee runs a colony of tens of thousands, navigates by the sun, and tells hivemates where to find flowers with a dance. Learn how the hive works and what's behind the decline in bee health. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Iberian Lynx Lynx pardinus The Iberian lynx fell to about 100 animals in 2002 and was the most endangered cat in the world. Captive breeding and reintroduction have since rebuilt it to more than 2,000. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Indian Cobra Naja naja The Indian cobra is one of the "big four" snakes behind most of India's snakebite deaths. It spreads a spectacle-marked hood, and it is the snake of charmers' baskets and Hindu myth. Read the guide →
Birds LC Indian Peafowl Pavo cristatus The peacock's train is not its tail — it is up to 200 elongated back feathers that the bird fans, rattles, and vibrates 25 times a second in a display Darwin found so extravagant it "made him sick". Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Jackson's Chameleon Trioceros jacksonii The male Jackson's chameleon has three forward-pointing horns like a tiny Triceratops, used to wrestle rivals off branches. A pet-trade release in the 1970s founded a wild population in Hawaii. Read the guide →
Amphibians NT Japanese Fire-belly Newt Cynops pyrrhogaster The Japanese fire-belly newt carries tetrodotoxin, the same lethal poison as a pufferfish, and flashes its scarlet belly as a warning. It can regenerate a leg, an eye lens, or heart tissue repeatedly. Read the guide →
Amphibians VU Japanese Giant Salamander Andrias japonicus The Japanese giant salamander is the world's second-largest amphibian — up to 1.5 m of wrinkled, slime-covered skin — living for decades in cold mountain streams and breathing through its body. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Japanese Macaque Macaca fuscata The Japanese macaque is the northernmost primate other than humans, surviving winters of —20 °C by soaking in volcanic hot springs. Its behaviours spread through troops like culture. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Jumping Spider Salticidae Jumping spiders have the sharpest eyesight of any animal their size, hunt by stalking and pouncing like cats, use a silk safety line on every leap, and perform elaborate dances to court mates. Read the guide →
Birds EN Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus The kagu is a near-flightless grey forest bird found only in New Caledonia, with a loose crest, red legs, and "nasal corns" no other bird has. It barks at dawn like a dog and had no ground predators. Read the guide →
Birds CR Kakapo Strigops habroptilus The kākāpō is the world's only flightless parrot and the heaviest — a nocturnal, moss-scented New Zealand bird that booms for a mate and came within a few dozen individuals of extinction. Read the guide →
Birds EN Kea Nestor notabilis The kea is the world's only alpine parrot — an olive-green New Zealand bird known for tearing apart cars, solving puzzles in teams, and a "play" call that makes other kea act playful. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Koala Phascolarctos cinereus The koala is a marsupial — not a bear — that eats only toxic eucalyptus leaves and sleeps up to 22 hours a day. Learn how it survives that diet and why it's now Endangered in eastern Australia. Read the guide →
Birds LC Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae The laughing kookaburra is the world's largest kingfisher, but it hunts snakes, lizards, and mice on land rather than fish. Its cackling dawn chorus marks the family's territory. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Gromphadorhina portentosa The Madagascar hissing cockroach forces air through its breathing holes to hiss like a snake — a rare insect sound made without wings or legs. It is wingless, palm-sized and gives live birth. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Marbled Salamander Ambystoma opacum The marbled salamander breeds on dry land in autumn, and the female curls around her eggs in a dry pool basin and guards them for weeks until the rains arrive and flood the nest. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Mexican Beaded Lizard Heloderma horridum The Mexican beaded lizard is one of few venomous lizards, larger and darker than the Gila monster. A hormone first found in its saliva became a major diabetes drug. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Milk Snake Lampropeltis triangulum The milk snake is a harmless kingsnake whose red, black and yellow bands mimic the venomous coral snake. Its name comes from a false old belief that it milked cows. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Moose Alces alces The moose is the largest deer on Earth, tall enough to wade chest-deep and dive for water plants. Learn about its two-metre antlers and why warming winters are killing it with ticks. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Net-casting Spider Deinopidae The net-casting spider hangs head-down holding a stretchy web between its front legs, then throws it over passing prey like a cast net. Two of its eyes are huge, for night vision said to beat a cat's. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Nine-banded Armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus The nine-banded armadillo always has identical quadruplets, can hold its breath to walk across river bottoms, jumps straight up when startled, and is one of the few animals that carries leprosy. Read the guide →
Mammals LC North American Beaver Castor canadensis The North American beaver is the continent's largest rodent and its most powerful ecosystem engineer, felling trees and damming streams to build the ponds it lives in. Learn how it works. Read the guide →
Birds LC Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis The northern cardinal is the brilliant red songbird of eastern US gardens — one of the few female songbirds that sings, a fierce window-attacker in spring, and the state bird of seven states. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus The numbat is a striped, squirrel-tailed marsupial that eats only termites — up to 20,000 a day, licked up with a tongue half its body length — and one of the few marsupials active only by day. Read the guide →
Birds LC Oilbird Steatornis caripensis The oilbird is the world's only nocturnal, flying, fruit-eating bird. It roosts deep in dark caves in colonies of thousands, navigating by echolocation and smell, and flies far to fruiting trees. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Oriental Fire-bellied Toad Bombina orientalis The Oriental fire-bellied toad is a small green frog with a vivid red-and-black belly it flashes when threatened, arching into a pose called the unken reflex to advertise its toxic skin. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Pacific Chorus Frog Pseudacris regilla The 'ribbit' heard in nearly every Hollywood night scene is the Pacific chorus frog, recorded for decades in the hills above Los Angeles. Almost no other frog on Earth actually says 'ribbit'. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Pangolin Manis javanica The pangolin is the only mammal covered in scales, a nocturnal ant-and-termite eater that rolls into an armoured ball when threatened — and the most trafficked wild mammal in the world. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Panther Chameleon Furcifer pardalis The panther chameleon of Madagascar is the most vividly coloured chameleon, with skin that shifts by moving nanocrystals, eyes that swivel independently, and a tongue longer than its body. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Paradise Flying Snake Chrysopelea paradisi The paradise flying snake flattens its body into a ribbon-like wing, leaps from a branch, and undulates through the air to glide up to 30 metres between trees. It is harmless to people. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Peacock Spider Maratus Peacock spiders are tiny Australian jumping spiders, most only 4-5 mm long. The male raises a vivid abdominal flap and dances for a female who will eat him if he gets it wrong. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Periodical Cicada Magicicada septendecim Periodical cicadas spend 13 or 17 years underground as nymphs, then emerge by the billion in one synchronised week. The prime-number cycle appears to be a strategy to starve out predators. Read the guide →
Birds LC Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus The pileated woodpecker is a crow-sized red-crested bird that hammers rectangular holes deep into dead trees to reach carpenter ants, and its abandoned cavities house dozens of other forest species. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Pill Millipede Glomerida and Sphaerotheriida A pill millipede rolls into a sealed ball when threatened, tucking its head and legs inside overlapping armour plates. It looks like a woodlouse 'pill bug' but is unrelated — convergent evolution. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Praying Mantis Mantis religiosa The praying mantis is an ambush hunter that strikes in under 70 milliseconds, turns its head 180 degrees, and hears bats with a single ear. Learn how it hunts and the truth about sexual cannibalism. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Quokka Setonix brachyurus The quokka is a cat-sized wallaby whose relaxed face made it a viral "smiling" animal. It survives on a few predator-free islands off Western Australia and barely needs to drink. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Raccoon Procyon lotor The raccoon is a masked, ring-tailed omnivore with hands sensitive enough to identify food by touch alone. It has thrived alongside people and spread from North America across Europe and Japan. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Red-backed Salamander Plethodon cinereus The red-backed salamander has no lungs and breathes through its skin. It is so abundant in eastern North American forests that its total weight can exceed that of all the birds and mammals combined. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Red Panda Ailurus fulgens The red panda is not a panda and not a raccoon — it is the sole survivor of its own family, a cat-sized bamboo eater with a false thumb. Learn how it lives in the Himalaya and why it is Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Reindeer Rangifer tarandus Reindeer and caribou are the same species — the only deer in which females also grow antlers, a large mammal that sees ultraviolet light, and the animal behind the longest land migration on Earth. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Rhinoceros Beetle Dynastinae Rhinoceros beetles are among the strongest animals on Earth for their size, carrying many times their own weight, and males use their curved horns to pry rivals off a female or a feeding site. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Ring-Tailed Lemur Lemur catta The ring-tailed lemur is the most recognisable of Madagascar's lemurs — a ground-loving primate that sunbathes in a lotus pose, is led by females, and holds "stink fights" with its scented tail. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Rough-skinned Newt Taricha granulosa The rough-skinned newt carries enough tetrodotoxin in its skin to kill several adults, and one person died after swallowing one on a dare. Only one predator, a local garter snake, can eat it. Read the guide →
Birds LC Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris The ruby-throated hummingbird weighs about as much as a penny, beats its wings 50 times a second, and crosses the Gulf of Mexico non-stop — a 800-kilometre flight over open water. Read the guide →
Birds LC Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus The male satin bowerbird builds a two-walled avenue of sticks on the forest floor, decorates it with dozens of blue objects, and paints the walls with chewed plant pulp to court females. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Scarlet Kingsnake Lampropeltis elapsoides The scarlet kingsnake is a small, harmless snake ringed in red, black, and yellow — a near-perfect copy of the venomous coral snake it lives alongside, and a textbook case of protective mimicry. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus The sloth bear is a shaggy, termite-slurping bear of the Indian subcontinent that carries its cubs on its back — and is responsible for more human maulings than any other bear. Learn how and why. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Slow Loris Nycticebus The slow loris is the only venomous primate. It licks a gland on its inner elbow, mixes the fluid with saliva, and bites a swollen, sometimes anaphylactic wound. It creeps the night canopy in silence. Read the guide →
Birds LC Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius The southern cassowary is a huge flightless rainforest bird with a bony head casque and dagger-clawed feet. It is the only animal that can spread some large rainforest seeds. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Spotted Salamander Ambystoma maculatum The spotted salamander lives underground most of the year, emerges on a few rainy spring nights to breed in vernal pools, and hosts algae inside its own cells — unique among vertebrates. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Spring Peeper Pseudacris crucifer The spring peeper is a thumbnail-sized tree frog whose shrill mating chorus is the classic sound of early spring across eastern North America. It survives winter with much of its body frozen solid. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Star-Nosed Mole Condylura cristata The star-nosed mole has 22 pink fleshy tentacles ringing its snout — the most sensitive touch organ known — and identifies and eats prey in about a fifth of a second, faster than any other mammal. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Stoat Mustela erminea The stoat is a slender, hyperactive predator barely wider than the burrows it hunts in, able to kill a rabbit five times its weight. In the north it turns white in winter — the ermine of royal robes. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps The sugar glider is a small nocturnal marsupial that glides up to 50 metres between trees on a membrane stretched wrist to ankle, steering with its tail. Family groups share a single scent. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus The sun bear is the smallest bear on Earth, with a 25-centimetre tongue for raiding beehives and a chest patch shaped like a rising sun. Learn how this tree-climbing forest bear lives. Read the guide →
Birds LC Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae The superb lyrebird is the finest vocal mimic on Earth — it copies other birds, koalas, camera shutters, chainsaws, and car alarms, weaving them into a display song on a forest-floor mound. Read the guide →
Invertebrates LC Sydney Funnel-Web Spider Atrax robustus The Sydney funnel-web is often called the world's most dangerous spider — its venom can kill a person in under an hour — but no death has been recorded since an antivenom arrived in 1981. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Tarsier Tarsius and related genera A tarsier's eye is bigger than its brain and cannot move, so it turns its head almost 180 degrees like an owl. It is the only fully carnivorous primate, taking insects with leaps of several metres. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Tasmanian Devil Sarcophilus harrisii The Tasmanian devil is the world's largest carnivorous marsupial — a bone-crushing scavenger fighting a contagious cancer that has killed most of the wild population. Learn how it's being saved. Read the guide →
Birds LC Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides The tawny frogmouth is an Australian night bird often mistaken for an owl. By day it freezes upright on a branch, beak skyward, becoming a broken stub of wood. Read the guide →
Mammals EX Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus The thylacine was a dog-shaped marsupial predator with a striped back and a pouch in both sexes. Blamed for sheep losses and hunted out, it was declared extinct after the last one died in 1936. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Tiger Salamander Ambystoma tigrinum The tiger salamander is one of the largest land salamanders in the world — a burrowing predator that spends most of its life underground and can, in some populations, skip metamorphosis for life. Read the guide →
Birds LC Toco Toucan Ramphastos toco The toco toucan has the largest bill relative to body size of any bird — a lightweight, honeycombed structure it uses as a fruit-picker, a weapon reach-extender, and a radiator that dumps body heat. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Tokay Gecko Gekko gecko The tokay gecko is a large, loud, blue-and-orange-spotted lizard whose barking "to-kay" call gave it its name. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus The tuatara of New Zealand looks like a lizard but is the last survivor of an order of reptiles older than the dinosaurs. It has a working third eye, keeps growing for decades, and may live past 100. Read the guide →
Birds LC Turaco Musophagidae Turacos are the only birds with true green and true red pigments in their feathers. Their red, turacin, contains copper and can partly wash out in heavy rain. Read the guide →
Birds LC Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura The turkey vulture is a wide-ranging American scavenger that finds carcasses by smell — a rare skill among birds — soars for hours without flapping, and defends itself by projectile vomiting. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Velvet Worm Onychophora The velvet worm is a soft, caterpillar-like predator that catches prey by firing two jets of glue from nozzles beside its mouth. Its body plan has barely changed in 500 million years. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Waxy Monkey Tree Frog Phyllomedusa sauvagii The waxy monkey tree frog survives the dry South American Chaco by coating itself in a waxy secretion it wipes on with its own legs, then basking in full sun like a reptile rather than hiding from it. Read the guide →
Mammals EN White-Handed Gibbon Hylobates lar The white-handed gibbon is a small tree-dwelling ape that swings hand-over-hand through the canopy at 15 metres a swing and sings elaborate dawn duets with its lifelong partner. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC White's Tree Frog Litoria caerulea White's tree frog is a plump, placid blue-green frog with a permanent grin. Its skin secretes peptides being studied against bacteria, high blood pressure, and even HIV. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Wild Boar Sus scrofa The wild boar is the ancestor of the domestic pig, one of the most widespread mammals on Earth, and — as feral hogs — one of the most destructive invasive animals. Learn how it lives and spreads. Read the guide →
Birds LC Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo The wild turkey is a large, fast, wary forest bird that runs at 40 km/h, roosts in trees, and sees in near-360-degree colour. Domestic turkeys descend from it, bred in Mexico over 2,000 years ago. Read the guide →
Invertebrates NE Wolf Spider Lycosidae Wolf spiders hunt on foot rather than in a web, running prey down and pouncing. Their big eyes throw back a green eyeshine in torchlight, and females carry the egg sac, then the young, on the body. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Wolverine Gulo gulo The wolverine is a 15-kilogram member of the weasel family that drives bears off carcasses and hunts prey in deep snow. Learn how it survives the far north and why warm winters threaten it. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Wombat Vombatus ursinus The wombat is a burrowing Australian marsupial with a backward-facing pouch, a bum made of armour, and — uniquely in the animal kingdom — cube-shaped droppings. Learn how and why. Read the guide →
Amphibians LC Wood Frog Lithobates sylvaticus The wood frog survives being frozen solid every winter — heart stopped, most of its body water ice — then thaws back to life in spring. It ranges farther north than any other American frog. Read the guide →
Mammals EN African Elephant Loxodonta africana The African elephant is the largest land animal alive, with a 40,000-muscle trunk and a 22-month pregnancy. Learn how herds are led by matriarchs and why ivory poaching still threatens them. Read the guide →
Birds LC Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus The bald eagle is a fish-hunting sea eagle and a rare conservation success — back from near-extinction in the US. Learn about its huge nests, its eyesight, and why it isn't actually bald. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Brown Bear Ursus arctos The brown bear is the most widespread bear on Earth, from Spain to Alaska, and includes the grizzly and the giant Kodiak. Learn how it hibernates, what it eats, and how a cub is born mid-sleep. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes The chimpanzee is one of our two closest living relatives, sharing about 98.8% of our DNA. Learn how chimp societies work, how they use tools and hunt, and why they're Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Gray Wolf Canis lupus The gray wolf is a cooperative pack hunter and the wild ancestor of every domestic dog. Learn how packs work, why wolves howl, and how they reshape whole ecosystems. Read the guide →
Mammals NT Jaguar Panthera onca The jaguar is the biggest cat in the Americas and has the strongest bite of any big cat for its size — it kills by piercing the skull. Learn how it hunts in water and why it's Near Threatened. Read the guide →
Reptiles VU King Cobra Ophiophagus hannah The king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake and the only one that builds a nest for its eggs. Learn how it hunts other snakes, why it rears up, and what its venom does. Read the guide →
Reptiles EN Komodo Dragon Varanus komodoensis The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard alive, a venomous ambush predator found on just a few Indonesian islands. Learn how it hunts prey many times its size and why it's now Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Leopard Panthera pardus The leopard is the most adaptable big cat — a solitary, night-hunting climber that hauls its kills into trees. Learn how it survives almost anywhere and why it's still Vulnerable. Read the guide →
Invertebrates VU Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus The monarch butterfly makes a 4,000 km migration that takes several generations, guided by a sun compass. Learn how milkweed makes it toxic and why monarch numbers have crashed. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Red Fox Vulpes vulpes The red fox is the most widespread wild carnivore on Earth, at home in forests, deserts, and city centres alike. Learn how it hunts by the Earth's magnetic field and why it thrives around people. Read the guide →
Reptiles LC Reticulated Python Malayopython reticulatus The reticulated python is the longest snake in the world, a non-venomous constrictor that swims between islands and lives alongside people across Southeast Asia. Learn how it hunts and breeds. Read the guide →
Mammals LC Sloth Bradypus variegatus The sloth is the slowest mammal on Earth, moving and digesting so slowly that algae grows in its fur. Learn why it only comes down from the canopy once a week — and why that trip is so dangerous. Read the guide →
Mammals EN Tiger Panthera tigris The tiger is the largest cat on Earth and a solitary ambush hunter. Learn how it stalks prey, why every tiger's stripes are unique, and why fewer than 5,600 remain wild. Read the guide →
Mammals CR Western Gorilla Gorilla gorilla The western gorilla is the largest primate and shares about 98% of its DNA with humans. Learn how silverback-led troops live, what gorillas eat, and why the species is Critically Endangered. Read the guide →
Mammals VU Giant Panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca The giant panda is a bear that eats almost nothing but bamboo. Learn how it survives on a low-energy diet, why cubs are so tiny, and how it went from Endangered to Vulnerable. Read the guide →