The coconut crab, aka robber crab or palm thief, is not only the largest known terrestrial hermit crab, but the largest known terrestrial arthropod in the world! You can find these ginormous critters
Hailing from the forests of New Caledonia’s main island, in the South Pacific, the kagu is a unique nearly flightless bird indeed. Its colors are not typical of other ground-dwelling birds
The Ussuri brown bear, like all brown bears, is a force to be reckoned with. Second in size only to the polar bear, these critters are large and in charge. They can be found in the Ussuri
Related to the mandrill, the drill is a short tailed, old world monkey that hails from Cameroon, Nigeria, and the island of Bioko in Africa. They prefer mature lowlands, riverine and coastal forests, as well as secondary
The Borneo Bay cat, aka Bornean cat, Bornean marbled cat, Bornean red cat, or Bornean Bay cat, is considered 1 of the rarest wild cat species in the world, to date. Nearly 1 century after
The Galápagos hawk is native to, you guessed it, the Galápagos islands. These large raptors are quite fearless, even around humans. Their preferred habitats are shrublands, shoreline, dry tropical forests, mountain tops, and even bare lava-fields. These hawks do not migrate seasonally. With just over 330 birds left in the […]
The golden lancehead is endemic to the Queimada Grande island, aka snake island. These deadly pit vipers are quick and are both terrestrial (spend their life on the ground) and arboreal (spend their lives in trees). So death awaits you from above and below. Travel to
One of the largest lemurs, the indri, aka Babakoto or ambalana, can be found between Mangoro River and Sambava city in the eastern part of Madagascar. In the 1800s, they used to be far more prevalent. Thanks to the near constant deforestation to make way for agriculture and mining,
And the award for world’s smallest known bird goes to the bee hummingbird. These tiny avians can only be found on the Cuban archipelago, the main island of Cuba, and the Isla de la Juventud in the Western Indies. They are so small that they are often mistaken for
Found on Aldabra island in the Indian Ocean, the Aldabra tortoise is one of the largest tortoise species in the world, after the Galápagos tortoise. These giants prefer mangrove swamps, scrublands, coastal dunes, and grasslands. There used to be 18 known species of giant tortoise throughout the islands in the […]
