Blakiston’s Fish Owl

Birds > Owls

Blakiston’s Fish Owl (Bubo blakistoni), known by the Indigenous Ainu people of northern Japan as ‘Kotan Kuru Kamuy’ (the God of the Village), is the undisputed heavyweight titan of the owl world. Holding the record as the world’s largest living...

South Andean Huemul

Mammals > Cervidae & True Deer

The South Andean Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), proudly depicted alongside the Andean condor on Chile’s national coat of arms, is one of the most iconic, elusive, and severely threatened large mammals of South America. Adapted specifically to the harsh,...

Pepper-pot Earthstar

Fungi > Geastraceae & Earthstars

The Pepper-pot Earthstar (Myriostoma coliforme), also affectionately known as the salt-shaker fungus, is a morphologically unique and globally rare gasteroid fungus belonging to the family Geastraceae. While typical earthstars feature a single central stalk and a lone...

Eastern Cape Blue Cycad

Plants > Zamiaceae & Cycads

The Eastern Cape Blue Cycad (Encephalartos horridus) is universally acclaimed among botanists and plant connoisseurs as one of the most visually dramatic prehistoric gymnosperms in the world. Endemic to a tiny arid enclave in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, this...

Mammoth Cave Shrimp

Invertebrates > Atyidae & Freshwater Shrimps

The Mammoth Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri) is an extraordinary, highly specialized troglobitic crustacean found exclusively within the subterranean waterways of Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky—the world’s longest known cave system. Evolving in...