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 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 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 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 mugger (Crocodylus palustris ) is a crocodile of medium to large size with the broadest snout of all the living members of the genus Crocodylus. It lives in the Indian subcontinent as well as other countries in southern Asia. Like most...
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea ), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to 1.8 metres and...
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 Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation. When their territories are encroached upon by...
The Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. The common name of this species refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black....
The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta ), is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around 90 cm (35 in) in carapace length when...
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 Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cetacean on Earth after the Blue whale. American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews called the fin whale "the greyhound...
The Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus Eretmochelys. The Hawksbill sea turtle has a global distribution; it lives part...
The Fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. It is a threatened species whose population has declined severely over the last decade. Its scientific name comes from its viverrine or civet-like...
The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea ), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world....
The sambar (Rusa unicolor) is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The name "sambar" is also sometimes used to refer to the Philippine deer called the "Philippine sambar", and the Javan rusa called the "Sunda sambar".
The Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is a shy slow-moving mammal that feeds on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its forelimbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the...
The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545...
The Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) is a threatened tortoise species. Its name comes from the star-like patterns that feature on its high-domed shell. Because of these very distinctive patterns and its highly rounded shell, the Indian star...
The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is the only known...
The Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) is a leopard subspecies native to Sri Lanka. It was first described in 1956 by Sri Lankan zoologist Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala. It is colloquially known as kotiyā and chiruthai.
The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) is an aquatic marine mammal found throughout most of the Indian Ocean, as well as the tropical and subtropical Pacific from Indonesia north to the Taiwan Strait. Finless porpoises are the...
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft). The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal...
The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), also known as the Zambezi shark (informally zambi) in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a species of requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. It...
The spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea ) is a small wader which breeds on the coasts of the Bering Sea and winters in Southeast Asia. This species is highly threatened, and it is said that since the 1970s the breeding population has decreased...
The lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus ) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Like other members of its genus, it has a bare neck and head. It is however more closely associated with wetland habitats where it is solitary and is...
The woolly-necked stork or white-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus ) is a large wading bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It breeds singly, or in small loose colonies. It is distributed in a wide variety of habitats including marshes in forests,...
The red slender loris (Loris tardigradus ) is a small, nocturnal strepsirrhine primate native to the rainforests of Sri Lanka. This is No. 6 of the 10 focal species and No. 22 of the 100 EDGE mammal species worldwide considered the most...
The Sri Lanka blue magpie or Ceylon magpie (Urocissa ornata ) is a brightly coloured member of the family Corvidae, found exclusively in Sri Lanka. This species is adapted to hunting in the dense canopy, where it is highly active and nimble. Its...
The sociable lapwing or sociable plover (Vanellus gregarius ) is a critically endangered wader in the lapwing family of birds. The genus name is Medieval Latin for a lapwing and derives from vannus a winnowing fan. The specific gregarius is Latin...
The purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus ), also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey, is a species of Old World monkey that is endemic to Sri Lanka. The animal is a long-tailed arboreal species, identified by a mostly brown appearance, dark...
The shortfin mako (; Māori: /ˈmaːko/; Isurus oxyrinchus), also known as the shortfin mako shark, blue pointer, or bonito shark, is a large mackerel shark. It is commonly referred to as the mako shark, as is the longfin mako shark (Isurus paucus)....
The oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) is a large pelagic requiem shark inhabiting tropical and warm temperate seas. It has a stocky body with long, white-tipped, rounded fins. The species is typically solitary, though they may gather...
The great knot (Calidris tenuirostris ) is a small wader. It is the largest of the calidrid species. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ...
Ichthyophis glutinosus, the Ceylon caecilian or common yellow-banded caecilian, is a species of caecilian in the family Ichthyophiidae endemic to Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are moist tropical and subtropical forests and pastures.
The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea ) is a member of the Delphinidae family occupying coastal areas ranging from Southern Africa to Western Indochina. The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis ) was formerly included within the...
The Atlantic goliath grouper or itajara (Epinephelus itajara), also known as the jewfish, is a saltwater fish of the grouper family and one of the largest species of bony fish. The species can be found in the West Atlantic ranging from northeastern...
The giant oceanic manta ray, giant manta ray, or oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. It is circumglobal and is typically found in tropical and subtropical...
The Christmas frigatebird (Fregata andrewsi ), or Christmas Island frigatebird, is a seabird of the frigatebird family Fregatidae which is an endemic breeder to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.The Christmas frigatebird is a large lightly built...
The Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) is a species of marlin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is closely related to, and usually considered conspecific with, the Indo-Pacific blue marlin, then simply called blue marlin. Some authorities...
The blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, which can be easily identified by the prominent black tips on its fins (especially on the first dorsal fin and its caudal fin). Among...
