Golden Poison Frog
A single wild golden poison frog carries enough batrachotoxin to kill several people; its toxins come from its insect diet, so captive-raised frogs are harmless.
South America
Goliath Birdeater
The goliath birdeater is the heaviest spider in the world, about the size of a dinner plate, and can hiss by rubbing its legs together.
Great Horned Owl
Great horned owls are one of the few predators that regularly eat skunks, probably because, like most birds, they have a poor sense of smell.
Greater Rhea
Male rheas incubate eggs laid by several females, sometimes guarding dozens of eggs in one nest and fiercely protecting the chicks.
Green Anaconda
The green anaconda is the heaviest snake in the world, and females can be several times heavier than males.
Harpy Eagle
A harpy eagle’s rear talons can reach about 10–12 cm long, as long as a grizzly bear’s claws.
Hercules Beetle
The Hercules beetle is one of the longest beetles in the world, and the male’s huge horn can be longer than its body.
Hoatzin
Hoatzin chicks have two claws on each wing, which they use to climb back up into trees after dropping into water to escape predators.
Howler Monkey
Howler monkeys are among the loudest land animals: their roars can carry about 5 km through the forest.
Hyacinth Macaw
The hyacinth macaw is the longest parrot in the world, and its massive beak can crack palm nuts so hard that people need a hammer to open them.
Jaguar
Jaguars have the strongest bite relative to body size of any big cat, strong enough to pierce a turtle’s shell or a caiman’s skull.
King Penguin
A king penguin’s breeding cycle takes over a year, so a pair can raise at most two chicks every three years.
Leafcutter Ant
Leafcutter ants do not eat the leaves they cut: they use them to grow a fungus garden, a form of farming that ants invented tens of millions of years before humans.
Llama
Llama antibodies are unusually small and simple, and scientists use them to develop treatments and tests for diseases, including COVID-19.
Magnificent Frigatebird
During courtship, male frigatebirds inflate a bright red throat pouch into a huge balloon to attract females.
Marine Iguana
The marine iguana is the only lizard in the world that feeds in the sea, and it sneezes out excess salt through special glands.
Nine-banded Armadillo
Nine-banded armadillos almost always give birth to identical quadruplets, all developing from a single fertilised egg.
Ocelot
In the 1960s and 1970s, about 200,000 ocelots were killed every year for the fur trade, before international bans allowed populations to recover.
Puma
The puma holds the record for the animal with the most names: more than 40 in English alone, including cougar, mountain lion, panther and catamount.
Red-bellied Piranha
Piranhas form shoals mainly for protection from predators such as caimans, dolphins and birds, not to hunt in frenzied packs.
Red-eyed Tree Frog
Red-eyed tree frog embryos can hatch early, within seconds, if they sense the vibrations of a snake attacking their egg clutch.