The Wildlife Encyclopedia
Explore all 545 species indexed across the encyclopedia. Every creature is paired with anatomical superpower breakdowns and musical subcultures.
Hummingbird Hawk-Moth
A day-flying moth that hangs in front of flowers while a special patch of its eye fixes on the flower's entrance.
Humpback Anglerfish
The female wears a lure on her snout and can swallow a fish longer than herself.
Humpback Whale
The bubble-ring hunter whose songs ripple from one population to the next.
Hydra
A small freshwater polyp whose death rate in lab studies stayed flat as it got older.
Iberian Lynx
The tufted-eared rabbit specialist of Iberia's scrubland that clawed its way back from fewer than 100 cats.
Immortal Jellyfish
A bell up to 3.3 millimetres wide that can turn back into a polyp instead of dying, in the lab at least.
Impala
An antelope whose leaps often carry it over bushes and even other impala, with scent glands under black hair on its hind feet.
Indian Peafowl
Iridescent member of the pheasant family whose feathers get their color from a two-dimensional photonic crystal, and whose train rattles out a broadband, pulsating sound.
Indian Star Tortoise
Thorn-scrub grazer wearing a starburst camouflage shell, and one of the world's most heavily traded tortoises.
Inland Taipan
Rated the most toxic venom of any snake in lab tests on mice, carried by a shy snake whose handful of known bite victims all survived.
Irukandji Jellyfish
A box jellyfish that fishes for larval fish by twitching its tentacles like lures.
Jaguar
Skull-piercing jaws, a powerhouse swimmer, and the largest cat in the Americas.
Jaguarundi
Weasel-shaped cat with a bigger vocal repertoire than any other cat in its range, active by day while the margay works nights.
Japanese Giant Salamander
Up to five feet of living river boulder that breathes through its skin, hunts by smell and vibration, and gives off a peppery smell when stressed.
Japanese Macaque
The world's northernmost wild monkey, meeting -20°C mountain winters with long fur, huddles and, in one valley, a hot-spring soak that may help keep it warm.
Japanese Spider Crab
The Pacific's leggiest scavenger: a giant crab known to grow up to twelve feet across, picking over the seafloor off Japan.
Kakapo (Owl Parrot)
The heaviest parrot in the world, camouflaged in moss-green feathers, betrayed by its own strong scent, and courting with a boom heard up to five kilometres away in ideal conditions.
Kea (Alpine Parrot)
A mountain parrot that matched human infants and chimpanzees on a probability test, and was persecuted as a sheep killer for over a century.
King Cobra
Up to eighteen feet of hooded crown, growling acoustic hiss, and specialized predator of other snakes.
King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise
A male's twin head plumes run twice his body length, worked by muscles housed in hollows of his skull, and his courtship song has been likened to radio static.
King Penguin
Sub-Antarctic penguin with an orange neck patch reaching its upper breast, second largest of all penguins, and a deep diver: tracked birds have gone past 240 meters.
Kinkajou
A nocturnal canopy climber that twists 180 degrees between pelvis and head, can hang by its tail and reaches nectar with a 13 cm tongue.
Koala
A slow-motion marsupial that sleeps up to 22 hours a day and leans on gut bacteria to live on eucalyptus leaves most herbivores can't tolerate.
Kodiak Bear
Isolated on one Alaskan island chain for about twelve thousand years, with adult males weighing 600 to 1,400 pounds and standing up to ten feet on their hind legs.