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The Living Encyclopedia
Explore our comprehensive database of reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Discover detailed care guides, morph varieties, and community setups.
mammal
Hutia
Capromys pilorides
Desmarest's hutia or the Cuban hutia is a stout, furry, rat-like mammal found only on Cuba and nearby islands. Growing to about 60 cm (2 ft), it normally lives in pairs and feeds on leaves, fruit, bark and sometimes small animals. It is the largest living hutia, a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct. Desmarest's hutia remains widespread throughout its range, though one subspecies native to the nearby Cayman Islands went extinct shortly after European colonization in the 1500s.
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mammal
Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus
The muskrat or common muskrat is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent.
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mammal
Eurasian Beaver
Castor fiber
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum, with only about 1,200 beavers in eight relict populations from France to Mongolia in the early 20th century. It has since been reintroduced into much of its former range and now lives from Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia through China and Mongolia, with about half the population in Russia. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List.
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mammal
Mountain Beaver
Aplodontia rufa
The mountain beaver is a North American rodent. It is the only living member of its genus, Aplodontia, and family, Aplodontiidae. It should not be confused with true North American and Eurasian beavers, to which it is not closely related; the mountain beaver is instead more closely related to squirrels. There are seven subspecies of mountain beaver, six of which are found in California and three of which are endemic to the state.
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mammal
Springhare
Pedetes capensis
Pedetes is a genus of rodent, the springhares, in the family Pedetidae. Members of the genus are distributed across southern and Eastern Africa.
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mammal
Jerboa
Jaculus jaculus
The lesser jerboa is a small rodent of Africa and the Middle East. Its diet consists mainly of seeds and grasses.
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mammal
Kangaroo Rat
Dipodomys merriami
Merriam's kangaroo rat is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. The species name commemorates Clinton Hart Merriam. It is found in the Upper and Lower Sonoran life zones of the southwestern United States, Baja California, and northern Mexico.
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mammal
Pocket Gopher
Thomomys bottae
Botta's pocket gopher is a pocket gopher native to western North America. It is also known in some areas as valley pocket gopher, particularly in California. Both the specific and common names of this species honor Paul-Émile Botta, a naturalist and archaeologist who collected mammals in California in 1827 and 1828.
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mammal
Flying Squirrel
Glaucomys volans
The southern flying squirrel, sometimes called the assapan, is a species of squirrel in the family Sciuridae. G. volans is one of three species of flying squirrels found in North America. It is found in deciduous and mixed woods in the eastern half of North America, from southeastern Canada to Florida. Disjunct populations of this species have been recorded in the highlands of Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. There are 11 subspecies that are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.
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mammal
Giant Flying Squirrel
Petaurista petaurista
The red giant flying squirrel or common giant flying squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae (squirrels). It is found in a wide variety of forest–types, plantations and more open habitats with scattered trees in Southeast Asia, ranging north to the Himalayas and southern and central China. One of the largest arboreal squirrels, all populations have at least some reddish-brown above and pale underparts, but otherwise there are significant geographic variations in the colours. The taxonomic position of those in the Sundaic region is generally agreed upon, but there is considerable uncertainty about the others, which variously have been included in this or other species, or recognized as their own species.
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mammal
Marmot
Marmota monax
The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. A lowland creature of North America, it is found through much of the Eastern United States, across Canada and into Alaska. It was given its scientific name as Mus monax by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, based on a description of the animal by George Edwards, published in 1743.
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mammal
Alpine Marmot
Marmota marmota
The alpine marmot is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between 800 and 3,200 m (2,600–10,500 ft) in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and Northern Apennines. In 1948 they were reintroduced with success in the Pyrenees, where the alpine marmot had disappeared at end of the Pleistocene epoch.
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invertebrate
Painted Lady Butterfly
Vanessa cardui
Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.
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invertebrate
Swallowtail Butterfly
Papilio machaon
Papilio machaon, the Old World swallowtail, is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail. It is the type species of the genus Papilio. This widespread species is found in much of the Palearctic and in North America.
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invertebrate
Blue Morpho
Morpho menelaus
The Menelaus blue morpho is one of 30 species of butterfly in the subfamily Morphinae. Its wingspan is about 12 cm (4.7 in), and its dorsal forewings and hindwings are a bright, iridescent blue with black edges, while the ventral surfaces are brown. Its iridescent wings are an area of interest in research due to their unique nanostructure. Due to its characteristic blue color, Morpho menelaus is considered valuable among collectors and was widely hunted in the 20th century.
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invertebrate
Atlas Moth
Attacus atlas
Attacus atlas, the Atlas moth, is a large saturniid moth endemic to the forests of Asia. The species was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
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invertebrate
Cecropia Moth
Hyalophora cecropia
Hyalophora cecropia, the cecropia moth, is North America's largest native moth. It is a member of the family Saturniidae, or giant silk moths. Females have been documented with a wingspan of five to seven inches or more. These moths can be found predominantly across eastern North America, with occurrences as far west as Washington and north into the majority of Canadian provinces. Cecropia moth larvae are most commonly found on maple trees, but they have also been found on cherry and birch trees, among many others. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
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invertebrate
Hawk Moth
Manduca sexta
Manduca sexta is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the Americas. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 Centuria Insectorum.
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invertebrate
Death's-head Hawkmoth
Acherontia atropos
Acherontia atropos, the African death's-head hawkmoth, is the most widely recognized of three species within the genus Acherontia. It is most commonly identified by the vaguely skull-shaped pattern adorning the thorax, the characteristic from which its common and scientific names are derived. The species was first given its scientific name by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
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invertebrate
Io Moth
Automeris io
Automeris io, the Io moth or peacock moth, is a colorful North American moth in the family Saturniidae. The Io moth is also a member of the subfamily Hemileucinae. The name Io comes from Greek mythology in which Io was a mortal lover of Zeus. The Io moth ranges from the southeast corner of Manitoba and in the southern extremes of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, and in the US it is found from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, east of those states and down to the southern end of Florida. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775.
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