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Ring-tailed lemurs are named for the distinctive, alternating black-and-white bands along their tails. They reside in southern and southwestern Madagascar and are found in social groups called troops. This species uses both vocal and scent marking as tools of communication.

Guenons are a diverse group of Old World monkeys, characterized by enormous cheek pouches that they stuff with food opportunistically as they forage. They will then actually consume the bounty from their recent foraging bout in a secluded retreat, safe from predators. They mainly eat fruits and small animals such as insects or lizards. Like the other species of guenon, these are social animals living in family groups, with a single dominant male. Group size may reach 50 animals when resources are abundant, but groups may split into smaller units if resources become scarce.

Sumatran tigers are the smallest of the tigers. Unfortunately, all subspecies of tiger are endangered (and three already are extinct) because of the combined threats of habitat loss, fear-based persecution by humans, and wildlife trade for their skins, bones and other body parts.

Sidewinders get their name from their unique form of side-stepping locomotion that is an adaptation for moving across loosely packed desert sands. They are a type of rattlesnake and are venomous.

These highly arboreal bears have exceptionally long claws and tongues to help them forage for honey, insects, and other small creatures inside logs. The name “sun bear” comes from the distinctive golden colored patch of fur on their chests, and every individual sun bear has a different patch. Commercial production of palm oil, as well as heavy poaching pressure for traditional medicines, are significant threats to this species.

The appearance and habits of the naked mole rat enthrall scientists and observers alike. Naked mole rats are eusocial mammals, with a social system structured in service of a queen, much like bees.

Goats were among one of the very first domesticated animals and have been part of human life as companions and a source of hides and food for millennia. Many thousands of years of selective breeding have produced a large number of breeds specialized for different purposes and climates. Their particularly rich milk, small size, and easygoing manner make them popular as family pets and for small-scale dairy operations.

The seal salamander is one of a large group of species generally known as stream salamanders. Always secretive, and often nocturnal, they rarely stray from water. They do not have lungs. Adults have no lungs and absorb oxygen directly through their skin.

Kookaburras are the largest members of the kingfisher family. Made famous by the Australian folk song “Kookaburra” by Marion Sinclair, kookaburras perch in trees and vocalize loudly. The birds’ loud, raucous call has been used in hundreds of “jungle” movies set in Asia, Africa and the Americans, although the birds are found only in Australia.

These birds, like all species of hornbill, have distinctively large, down-curved bills that they use to grab small animals from among the grasses and shrubs of their habitats. They can fly, but spend most of their time on the ground. Males and females differ in size and coloration, with females displaying bright-blue throat patches. The southern ground hornbill’s low-pitched booming sound is a simple territorial announcement.