Omnivore
Flexible feeding strategy combining plant matter, fruits, insects, and meat depending on seasonal availability.
Coyote
The Song Dog that has faced more than 150 years of large-scale culling and still spread from Alaska to Panama.
Domestic Dog
The first animal humans domesticated, with hundreds of millions of scent-sensing cells and nasal airflow tuned to carry smells to them.
Emu
A flightless bird whose father sits on the eggs for eight weeks without eating or drinking.
European Badger
Nocturnal digger with a striped face, sharp claws and a network of underground tunnels.
European Herring Gull
A large, pink-legged gull that paddles its feet on the ground to bring worms up, and now nests on rooftops as well as cliffs.
European Starling
The iridescent mimic whose larger British winter roosts can top a million birds, and whose flocks can burst into a "flash expansion" after a falcon attacks.
Fennec Fox
The largest ears of any canid for its size, used to shed desert heat and track down prey under the sand.
Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig
Large lop ears, black spots on white, and a history of feeding on windfall fruit in English orchards.
Golden Hamster
A 105 g Syrian burrower that keeps night hours in the lab, while wild females were active almost only by day.
Green Humphead Parrotfish
The biggest herbivorous fish on coral reefs, whose males settle rivalries with headbutts.
Hamadryas Baboon
Silver-maned sacred baboon of ancient Egypt, living in harems that stack into clans, bands and troops hundreds strong.
Helmeted Guineafowl
A speckled ground bird with a bony helmet and a very loud alarm call, and a knack for staying upright when the ground drops away.
House Mouse
A 12 to 30 gram squatter whose love songs are too high for human ears.
House Sparrow
A plain brown bird that developed regional differences in color and size in North America.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Koi
A pet carp bred into over 100 colour varieties that, in one study, sought out a human hand.
Malabar Giant Squirrel
A giant squirrel of peninsular India that can leap six meters or more between trees and rarely leaves them.
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.