The Wildlife Encyclopedia
Explore all 545 species indexed across the encyclopedia. Every creature is paired with anatomical superpower breakdowns and musical subcultures.
Koi
A pet carp bred into over 100 colour varieties that, in one study, sought out a human hand.
Komodo Dragon
The largest living lizard, armored in bone and equipped with iron-coated serrated teeth and anticoagulant venom.
Lar Gibbon
A rainforest singer whose pair duets average 11 minutes and carry up to a kilometre.
Laughing Kookaburra
World's largest kingfisher, the bush's dawn alarm clock, and a snake-smashing hunter.
Leafy Seadragon
Seaweed-like flaps, transparent oscillating fins, and a sway like plants in the current.
Least Weasel
Weighing as little as 30 grams, it kills prey larger than itself and can eat over half its own body weight in a day.
Leatherback Sea Turtle
The only sea turtle with no hard shell, and big enough to keep its core warm in near-freezing seas.
Leopard
A 21 to 75 kg big cat that climbs up to 15 m into a tree carrying its kill, out of reach of lions and hyenas.
Leopard Gecko
A desert gecko with movable eyelids, no sticky toe pads, and a dropped tail that keeps moving for up to 30 minutes.
Leopard Seal
The serpentine apex hunter of Antarctic pack ice with a reptilian gape and teeth that double as krill sieves.
Lion's Mane Jellyfish
Often called the world's longest jellyfish, with tentacles speculated to trail up to 120 feet through Arctic and temperate seas.
Llama
A woolly Andean pack animal that makes heavy chain-only antibodies, one of which, raised by immunization, neutralized 96 of 100 HIV-1 strains tested.
Long-Bodied Cellar Spider
The ceiling spider that raids other spiders' webs and spins itself into a blur when threatened.
Long-Tailed Chinchilla
An Andean rodent with up to 60 hairs growing from one follicle.
Lowland Streaked Tenrec
A black-and-yellow striped Madagascan tenrec, roughly 125 to 280 g, with back quills that rub together to make high-frequency sound.
Luna Moth
A big green silk moth whose spinning hindwing tails pull bat attacks off its body, and whose adults do not eat.
Magnificent Frigatebird
A seabird whose feathers aren't waterproof, riding wings up to eight feet across and mugging other birds for their catch.
Mahi-Mahi
A gold-and-blue ocean sprinter that can pass 4 feet long in its first year.
Malabar Giant Squirrel
A giant squirrel of peninsular India that can leap six meters or more between trees and rarely leaves them.
Malayan Tapir
Born striped, grown two-tone, and armed with a prehensile snout for plucking leaves.
Mallard
The wild ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks, and a hen that lays larger eggs after mating with a male she prefers.
Mandarin Duck
The tree-hole nesting duck whose drake grows an enlarged, brightly colored sail feather every breeding season.
Mandrill
Males are the largest monkeys alive, with faces colored blue by light-scattering collagen and red by blood, and canine teeth whose length tracks their breeding years.
Maned Wolf
Stilt-legged golden canid of the cerrado that sees over tall grass and marks its territory with urine that reminds many people of a skunk.