The tiger (Panthera tigris) is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus Panthera. It is among the most recognizable and popular of the world's charismatic megafauna. It featured prominently in the ancient mythology and folklore of...
The Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. It is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The Blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted...
The Killer whale (Orcinus orca) is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. It is the largest member of this family. The sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviors of Killer whales have been described as manifestations of...
The Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a bear species endemic to China. The name "giant panda" is sometimes used to distinguish it from the Red panda, a neighboring musteloid. The Giant panda has often served as China's national symbol,...
The wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the Gray wolf or Grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly understood, comprise wild...
The Brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of Brown bears are called Grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is known as the...
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (Alces alces) is a member of the New World deer subfamily. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Hunting and other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of...
The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the five extant species in the genus Panthera, a member of the cat family, Felidae. The leopard is distinguished by its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behavior, broad diet, strength, and its...
The wolverine (Gulo gulo) is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size, with the documented...
The Red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is not closely related to the Giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones or "false thumbs" used for grasping...
The Sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the...
The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the nominate Tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive today. It is considered to belong to the world's charismatic megafauna. The Bengal tiger is estimated to have been present in the...
The Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) is a felid native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. The Snow leopard is adapted to living in a cold, mountainous environment and is capable of killing most animals in its range.
The Wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa. The species is now one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world, as well as the most widespread suiform. It has been assessed as the least concern on the IUCN Red...
The Common raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is a canid indigenous to mainland East Asia and northern Vietnam. Despite its name, its closest relatives are the true foxes, and not the American raccoons. Among the Canidae, the Raccoon dog shares...
The dugong (Dugong dugon) is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow...
The elk (Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range. The common name elk, used in North America, creates confusion because the larger Alces alces,...
The ermine (Mustela erminea) is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Introduced in the late 19th century into New Zealand to control rabbits, the ermine has had a devastating effect on native bird populations. It...
The Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid from the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, South America, and some African countries. Two extant types of water buffalo are...
The sable (Martes zibellina) is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily living in the forest environments of Russia. The name sable appears to be of Slavic origin and entered most Western European languages via the early medieval...
The binturong (Arctictis binturong) is a carnivore of a medium size found in dense forests in South-East Asia. This animal is thought to be a close relative of the palm civet. It is the biggest member of this family.
The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is one of only three living species of elephants or elephantids anywhere in the world, the others being the African bush elephant and African forest elephant. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal...
The gaur (Bos gaurus) is a bovine native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the largest species among the wild cattle and the Bovidae. In Malaysia, this adorable giant is called seladang, and pyaung in Myanmar.
The Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, this animal is threatened by poaching and illegal wildlife trade and buyers use it for the increasing production of kopi luwak, also...
The Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it weighs between 140 and 500 g (5 and 17+3⁄4 oz). Thought to have originated in northern China and neighboring areas, this rodent has now spread to...
The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native Asia. During the Pleistocene, the dhole ranged throughout Asia, Europe, and North America but became restricted to its historical range 12,000-18,000 years ago. The dhole is listed as Endangered on the IUCN...
The Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a Clouded leopard was brought to London from China and described in 1821....
The Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. The animal gets its name from the characteristic orange-to-cream-colored chest patch. It is also known as the "honey bear", for its love of honeycombs and honey....
The Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul) is a small wild cat well camouflaged and adapted to the cold continental climate in its native range. It has rounded rather than vertical slit pupils, a unique feature among small cats. It inhabits rocky montane...
The Domestic yak (Bos grunniens) is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle that is descended from the wild yak. The yak may have diverged from cattle at any point between one and five million years ago, and there is some suggestion that it may...
The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a leopard subspecies native to Russia and China. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is considered one of the rarest cats on Earth.
The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is a medium-sized wild cat. It is Europe’s third-largest predator after Brown bears and wolves and is the biggest of the species of lynx. The Eurasian lynx lives in forests and despite its wide distribution, it is...
The False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is a species of oceanic dolphin that is the only extant representative of the genus Pseudorca. It is found in oceans worldwide but mainly frequents tropical regions. The name "false killer whale" comes...
The Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Europe and Asia. It lives in trees and its long tail helps the squirrel to balance and steer when jumping from tree to tree and running along...
The baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) is a possibly extinct species of freshwater dolphin. It is thought to be the first dolphin species driven to extinction due to the impact of humans. This dolphin is listed as “critically endangered: possibly extinct”...
The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia. It is unique among bears in that it is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and is threatened by...
Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii or Equus przewalskii), otherwise known as P-horse, is named after Nikolai Przewalski (pronounced "shuh-val-skee"), a Russian explorer. In 1870, he was the first to discover a subspecies of this horse. As a...
The Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is a species of Old World monkey. It lives both in trees and on the ground. It mainly eats fruit, but will also include 100 different plant species in its diet. It spends most of its day feeding and resting, the...
The African wildcat (Felis lybica) is a small wildcat species. In Cyprus, an African wildcat was found in a burial site next to a human skeleton in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement Shillourokambos. The graves are estimated to have been...
The Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) is a small burrowing rodent often used in science and kept as a small house pet. Their use in science dates back to the latter half of the 19th century but these small animals became popular as pets in...
The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is one of three extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant. Since 1986, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild population has declined by at least 50% since the 1930s...
The Least weasel (Mustela nivalis) lives deep in the Northeast Asian deciduous forest. It hunts day and night, aided by its sharp nails and long slender body. It is the world’s smallest carnivore. According to Blackfoot legend, this species is the...
