Alpaca
Alpaca fibre is warmer than sheep’s wool and contains no lanolin, so it is naturally hypoallergenic for many people.
South America
Amazon River Dolphin
Amazon river dolphins turn pink as they age, and in the flood season they swim between the trunks of submerged rainforest trees.
Andean Condor
A study that fitted Andean condors with flight recorders found that one bird flew for more than five hours and covered about 170 km without flapping its wings.
Arapaima
The arapaima must rise to the surface to gulp air every 5 to 20 minutes, because it gets most of its oxygen by breathing air.
Army Ant
Army ants have no permanent nest: they link their bodies together to build a living nest, called a bivouac, that can hold hundreds of thousands of ants.
Black Caiman
The black caiman is the largest predator in the Amazon and the biggest member of the alligator family.
Blue-footed Booby
The bright blue of a booby’s feet comes from pigments in fresh fish, so brighter feet signal a healthier, better-fed partner.
Boa Constrictor
A boa constrictor kills its prey by stopping its blood flow as it squeezes, not by suffocation as people long believed.
Brown-throated Sloth
A sloth’s slow metabolism means a single leaf meal can take a month or more to digest completely.
Burrowing Owl
When threatened in their burrow, young burrowing owls make a hissing call that sounds remarkably like a rattlesnake.
Cane Toad
About 100 cane toads released in Queensland in 1935 to control beetles have multiplied into an estimated 200 million, spreading across northern Australia.
Capuchin Monkey
Bearded capuchins in Brazil crack nuts with stone hammers and anvils, and archaeologists have found evidence of this tool use going back about 3,000 years.
Capybara
Capybaras can stay fully underwater for up to about five minutes, and they often sleep in the water with only their noses exposed.
Common Basilisk
The basilisk can run across the surface of water on its hind legs, earning it the nickname ‘Jesus Christ lizard’.
Common Marmoset
Common marmoset twins share cells with each other in the womb, so each twin can carry some of its sibling’s cells throughout its body.
Common Vampire Bat
Vampire bats share blood with roost-mates that failed to feed, regurgitating meals for them, and they are more likely to help bats that helped them before.
Electric Eel
One species of electric eel, described in 2019, can produce shocks of up to about 860 volts, the strongest electric discharge known from any animal.
Galápagos Giant Tortoise
Giant tortoises can survive for up to a year without eating or drinking, which is why passing sailors once took them on board as living food stores.
Galápagos Penguin
The Galápagos penguin is the only penguin that lives on the equator, and a few even cross into the Northern Hemisphere.
Gentoo Penguin
The gentoo is the fastest-swimming penguin, reaching speeds of about 36 km/h underwater.
Giant Anteater
A giant anteater’s sticky tongue can be about 60 cm long and flick in and out up to about 150 times a minute.
Giant Otter
Each giant otter has a unique cream-coloured throat pattern, which researchers use to identify individuals.
Glass Frog
While sleeping, glass frogs hide most of their red blood cells in their liver, which makes their bodies up to about twice as transparent.
Golden Lion Tamarin
Golden lion tamarins fell to about 200 in the wild in the 1970s; thanks to reintroduction and forest restoration, there are now several thousand.