Beastlypedia

Wild animal profiles. How they live, where they are found, and what makes each one strange. No care sheets, no difficulty ratings, just the animals.

A pangolin walking across dry ground at dusk, its overlapping keratin scales catching the low light

Pangolin

Pholidota

The only mammal covered in scales, and the most trafficked one on Earth.

Forest
A fennec fox on pale desert sand at golden hour with its enormous ears held upright

Fennec Fox

Vulpes zerda

The smallest fox alive, built almost entirely around its ears.

Desert
A capybara at the edge of a river in soft morning light with reeds behind it

Capybara

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

The largest rodent on Earth, and improbably calm about everything.

Wetlands
A narwhal at the surface among Arctic sea ice with its long spiral tusk clear of the water

Narwhal

Monodon monoceros

An Arctic whale whose tusk is really a tooth grown through its lip.

Arctic
An aye-aye clinging to a branch at night, its huge orange eyes reflecting the light

Aye-Aye

Daubentonia madagascariensis

A nocturnal lemur that hunts grubs by tapping on wood and listening.

Rainforest
An adult giraffe standing in profile on open savanna with its neck raised and acacia trees behind

Giraffe

Giraffa camelopardalis

The famous oversized heart is a myth. What is actually going on is stranger.

Savannah
A slow loris gripping a branch at night in rainforest, its large round eyes reflecting the light

Slow Loris

Nycticebus

The only venomous primate, and the reason is a gland in its elbow.

Rainforest
An African elephant standing on open savanna at golden hour with its ears spread and trunk lowered

African Elephant

Loxodonta africana

Most of an elephant herd’s conversation happens below what you can hear.

Savannah
A three-toed sloth hanging beneath a branch in rainforest canopy with its long curved claws hooked over the wood

Three-Toed Sloth

Bradypus variegatus

It climbs all the way down once a week to defecate, and it often dies doing it.

Rainforest
A grey wolf standing in snow at the edge of conifer forest, looking directly toward the camera

Gray Wolf

Canis lupus

There is no alpha wolf. The researcher who popularised the idea spent years retracting it.

Forest
A male lion lying on open savanna grass at golden hour, mane full, looking into the distance

Lion

Panthera leo

The only cat that lives in a group, and the females run it.

Savannah
A wild tiger walking through tall grass at the edge of forest, striped flank catching the light

Tiger

Panthera tigris

Every wild tiger left would fit inside one small town.

Forest
A rhinoceros standing in open grassland in profile, its horn and heavy folded skin clearly visible

Rhinoceros

Rhinocerotidae

The horn is not ivory and not bone. It is the same protein as your fingernails.

Savannah
A wombat standing at the entrance to its burrow on grassy ground, stocky body and broad nose visible

Wombat

Vombatus ursinus

The only animal that produces cube-shaped droppings, and it does it on purpose.

Forest
A honey badger walking across dry ground, its black body and broad white back stripe clearly visible

Honey Badger

Mellivora capensis

Loose skin, a bad attitude, and genuine resistance to cobra venom.

Savannah
A platypus swimming at the surface of a still river, its bill and dense brown fur visible

Platypus

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Lays eggs, detects electricity, has venom, and glows under ultraviolet light.

Freshwater
A wolverine moving across deep snow in boreal forest, its dark coat and pale flank stripe visible

Wolverine

Gulo gulo

Thirty pounds of animal that drives bears off kills and crushes frozen bone.

Arctic