Yellow-backed Duiker

Mammals > Even-Toed Ungulates

The Yellow-backed Duiker (Cephalophus silvicultor) is the undisputed giant among Africa’s secretive forest duikers. Inhabiting the deep, shaded understory of the Congo Basin and West African rainforests, this formidable bovid weighs up to four times more than...

Montane Guinea Pig

Mammals > Rodents

The Montane Guinea Pig (Cavia tschudii), named in honor of Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi, is a hardy, wild caviid rodent native to the wind-swept, high-altitude steppes and grasslands of the South American Andes. Long recognized by geneticists as the...

Chilean Mouse Opossum

Mammals > Marsupials

The Chilean Mouse Opossum (Thylamys elegans), locally known in Spanish as the ‘Llaca’ or ‘Marmosa elegante,’ is a tiny, resilient didelphid marsupial endemic to the Mediterranean matorral scrub and Andean foothills of central Chile....

Painted Bat

Mammals > Bats

The Painted Bat (Kerivoula picta), also known as the Painted Woolly Bat, is one of the most visually extraordinary and vividly colored flying mammals on Earth. Belonging to the vespertilionid family Vespertilionidae, this tiny microbat defies the typical drab grey and...

Checkered Elephant Shrew

Mammals > Elephant Shrews

The Checkered Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon cirnei), or Checkered Sengi, is a distinctive, ground-dwelling mammal native to the moist forest floors of Central and East Africa. Despite its historical common name, it is not a true shrew at all, but rather a member of the...