Social
Forming close-knit social groups that cooperate in sentry duties, mutual grooming, and group protection.
Armadillo Girdled Lizard
Heavily armored Karoo lizard that bites its own tail and curls into a spiky ball when threatened.
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
A keystone rodent that digs towns of multi-chamber burrows, and whose shrill jump-yip seems to set off the neighbors.
Bonobo
The Congo forest ape where the females rule the roost.
California Sea Lion
Males bark like dogs, and a mother can find her pup among hundreds by its call.
Chimpanzee
DNA letters about 1.23% different from a human's, tool kits that vary from community to community, and Machiavellian troop politics.
Cockatiel
A small crested parrot from Australia's open country that can sing a human melody in near-perfect sync.
Collared Peccary
A 15 to 28 kg hoofed mammal that is not a pig, with self-sharpening canine teeth and a scent gland above its tail.
Giraffe
Bulls can top eighteen feet, with a roughly twenty-five-pound heart built to fight gravity and an eighteen-inch tongue that dodges acacia thorns.
Green Humphead Parrotfish
The biggest herbivorous fish on coral reefs, whose males settle rivalries with headbutts.
Grey Parrot
A grey parrot named Griffin outperformed 5-year-old children on a cup logic test.
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.
Impala
An antelope whose leaps often carry it over bushes and even other impala, with scent glands under black hair on its hind feet.
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.
Mantled Howler Monkey
A leaf-eating monkey whose males' calls seem to help keep neighbouring troops apart.
Muskox
Bulls settle rivalries by charging 50 yards or more and colliding head-first on their horn bosses.
Ocellaris Clownfish
A reef fish about 8 cm long that shelters among stinging anemone tentacles, where the breeding male turns female if the female is lost.
Pygmy Marmoset
The world's smallest monkey, small enough to fit in a human hand, gouges holes in tree bark and laps up the sap that puddles inside.
Red-Bellied Piranha
Razor-sharp interlocking teeth, a red belly, and a school that doubles as cover from predators.
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Black-and-white ringed tail, yoga-pose sun worship, and wrist gland scent wars.
Rock Hyrax
A stub-tailed, rabbit-like rock climber with singing males, whose closest living relatives are elephants and manatees.
Springbok
A gazelle-like antelope that bounces on stiff legs and flares a hidden crest of white hair.
Suffolk Sheep
A jet-black, wool-free head and legs against a clean white fleece, on an English meat breed whose lambs can gain more than a pound a day.
White-Nosed Coati
A long-nosed forager that sniffs scorpions and spiders out of the forest floor.
Wild Boar
A long-snouted omnivore whose upper canines are usually visible even when its mouth is closed.