Low
The overwhelming majority of life on Earth. Harmless to humans, and frequently far more interesting for it.
Veiled Chameleon
A tongue that can shoot to full length in 26 milliseconds, eyes that look two ways at once, and a casque that collects water.
Virginia Opossum
Fifty-toothed marsupial that fakes its own death through an involuntary catatonic collapse and is virtually immune to pit viper venom.
Vogelkop Bowerbird
A generally brown bird that builds what biologists call the most elaborately decorated structure erected by an animal other than humans, in a style that changes from range to range.
Wandering Albatross
Perhaps the longest wingspan of any bird, and in a year off from breeding some circle Antarctica twice or even three times.
Water Flea
A mostly see-through pond crustacean whose 200-megabase genome holds at least 30,907 genes.
Weddell Seal
The most southerly-ranging mammal living permanently in Antarctica, rasping breathing holes through new sea ice with its teeth and diving as deep as 720 metres.
West Indian Manatee
A gentle sea cow whose dense bones may help keep it neutrally buoyant, and whose weak low-frequency hearing may be part of why boats keep hitting it.
Western Grebe
Tied with Clark's grebe as the largest animal known to run on water, sprinting across a lake in a courtship display called rushing.
Western Honeybee
A forager who dances flower coordinates with her whole body, and dies giving her sting.
Whale Shark
World's largest fish, an ocean giant armored in tooth-like scales down to its eyeballs, that filters its food out of seawater.
White-Nosed Coati
A long-nosed forager that sniffs scorpions and spiders out of the forest floor.
White-Spotted Pufferfish
A 12-centimeter pufferfish that spends 7 to 9 days digging a sand circle about 2 meters wide to impress a date.
Wild Turkey
Gobbles heard up to a mile away, flight at up to 54 mph
Wood Frog
A frog that can let ice fill over a third of its body each winter, stop its own heart, and thaw out alive again each spring.
Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallaby
Ring-tailed outback acrobat that leaps up to four metres from rock to rock on short-clawed, thickly padded hind feet.
Yellowfin Tuna
A warm-muscled torpedo that can swim across an entire ocean.