Species

Nine groups.
28 animals.

Each profile carries habitat, behaviour and conservation status — because a photograph without that context is a picture of an animal rather than a record of one. 18 of the 28 species here are listed as threatened.

Big Cats

Ambush, patience, and the economy of movement.

Endangered

Bengal Tiger

Panthera tigris tigris

Three hundred kilograms that can vanish in ten metres of grass.

Vulnerable

Snow Leopard

Panthera uncia

The ghost of the mountains, named before it was ever properly seen.

Vulnerable

African Lion

Panthera leo

The only cat that solved the problem of being social.

Critically Endangered

Amur Leopard

Panthera pardus orientalis

The rarest big cat alive, and a genuine near-miss with extinction.

Birds

Flight as engineering, plumage as design.

Vulnerable

Snowy Owl

Bubo scandiacus

A predator that hunts by hearing snow move.

Vulnerable

Harpy Eagle

Harpia harpyja

Talons the size of a grizzly's claws, in a bird that flies through trees.

Least Concern

Greater Flamingo

Phoenicopterus roseus

A bird whose colour is entirely a matter of diet.

Wolves

Intelligence written as social structure.

Least Concern

Gray Wolf

Canis lupus

A family unit that the last two centuries mistook for a monster.

Least Concern

Arctic Wolf

Canis lupus arctos

The only large predator that has never learned to fear people.

Endangered

Ethiopian Wolf

Canis simensis

Africa's rarest carnivore, and a canid that hunts alone.

Foxes

Adaptation in its most elegant form.

Least Concern

Red Fox

Vulpes vulpes

The most successful wild carnivore on the planet.

Least Concern

Arctic Fox

Vulpes lagopus

The best-insulated mammal measured.

Least Concern

Fennec Fox

Vulpes zerda

Ears built as radiators, not just receivers.

Bears

Power measured in seasons, not seconds.

Vulnerable

Polar Bear

Ursus maritimus

Classified as a marine mammal, because the ice is its ocean.

Least Concern

Grizzly Bear

Ursus arctos horribilis

An animal that moves an entire ocean's nutrients into a forest.

Vulnerable

Giant Panda

Ailuropoda melanoleuca

A carnivore's digestive system, running on grass.

Elephants

Memory, matriarchy, and quiet gravity.

Endangered

African Savanna Elephant

Loxodonta africana

The largest land animal, navigating by memory of water.

Endangered

Asian Elephant

Elephas maximus

A wild animal living, mostly, inside a human landscape.

Critically Endangered

African Forest Elephant

Loxodonta cyclotis

The species that plants the rainforest it walks through.

Marine Life

The largest wilderness, least seen.

Least Concern

Humpback Whale

Megaptera novaeangliae

A song that changes every year, across an entire ocean.

Data Deficient

Orca

Orcinus orca

Distinct cultures that do not interbreed, in a single species.

Endangered

Green Sea Turtle

Chelonia mydas

Returns, after thirty years, to the beach where it hatched.

Primates

The uncomfortable mirror.

Endangered

Mountain Gorilla

Gorilla beringei beringei

The only great ape whose numbers are rising.

Critically Endangered

Bornean Orangutan

Pongo pygmaeus

The largest arboreal animal, in a forest being converted to plantation.

Least Concern

Japanese Macaque

Macaca fuscata

The northernmost non-human primate, and a case study in invented tradition.

Reptiles

Designs that outlived the dinosaurs.

Endangered

Komodo Dragon

Varanus komodoensis

Venomous — a fact only established in 2009.

Critically Endangered

Gharial

Gavialis gangeticus

A crocodilian that evolved into a specialist and got trapped there.

Vulnerable

King Cobra

Ophiophagus hannah

The only snake in the world that builds a nest.