American Museum of Natural History

It’s the Bat Hawk! Named after its favorite snack, this raptor spends most of its day roosting on a perch. But when the Sun starts to set & bats come out, it's quick to strike. Within a 20-minute timespan, it'll catch up to 11 bats!

Who’s a good boy? Meet the dhole. This Asian canid typically lives in groups of ~12 individuals—sometimes socializing with other groups to form “super packs” of 30+ members. Teamwork enables them to hunt prey 10x their size. Dholes also allow their pups to feed first on kills.

You don’t see one of these every day… or ever. 🦕 Meet The Titanosaur. At 122 ft (37.2 m) long & ~70 tons, this sauropod was heavier than 10 African elephants—it was one of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth! This gigantic herbivore lived ~95 million years ago.

Squirrel or rabbit? Neither! It’s the southern viscacha. This rodent lives in South America & is a skilled climber that inhabits mountainous areas. A gregarious critter, the viscacha lives in colonies, which consist of multiple family units that can be as large as 75 individuals.

Have you ever seen one of these at the beach? Also known as “sand crabs” or “sand fleas,” Pacific mole crabs migrate with the tides, feeding on plankton brought in by the waves. These critters use their back legs to get around, and they burrow backwards, too.

Did you know? This colorful bird might be one of the Dodo’s closest living relatives! Meet the Nicobar Pigeon, which inhabits forests & mangroves on islands like the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. A gizzard stone in its stomach helps it break down tough foods like seeds & nuts!

Act like a jumping spider & jump for joy! There are 6000+ known species of these tiny arachnids. True to their name, jumping spiders don’t use webs to snare food, instead they pounce on their prey. They're easily recognizable thanks to large forward-facing eyes.

If you’re looking for Bennett's tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus)... look up! It's one of Australia’s largest arboreal mammals. It can only be found in the rainforests of northeastern Queensland, where it spends most of its life in the trees. Photo: davidgwhite, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Today's Exhibit of the Day? A colossal amethyst geode! At ~13 ft (4 m) tall & 9,000 lbs (4,082 kg), it's as heavy as 3 compact cars. Formed 135 million years ago, it started as colorless quartz—becoming purple after millennia of natural radiation, heat, & trace contaminants.

How does the pebble toad escape danger? When threatened by a predator, like a tarantula, it tucks in its limbs and rolls downhill like a pebble. At just 1.2 in (30 mm) long, this lightweight toad isn't hurt by its speedy descent.

This #FossilFriday, soar into the weekend with Archaeopteryx! Described in 1861 shortly after Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, this feathered dino caused a sensation— exemplifying the transition between reptiles and birds.

Have you ever seen the Pacific geoduck? Also called the elephant clam, this gigantic mollusk can reach up to 6 ft (1.8 m) and live for more than a century! Its long “neck," called a siphon, has two openings—one for breathing / feeding & one for filtering out water.

Today's Exhibit of the Day? A blast from the past! This archival image, snapped in 1938, depicts Museum preparators sculpting a model Triceratops. This model is no longer on display, but Triceratops fans can spot a fossil skeleton in the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs.

Happy Father’s Day from the Gold-specs jawfish! Dads-to-be of many jawfish species carry eggs in their mouths. To attract mates, males “dance” with sweeping movements & fin-flashing—opening their mouths as wide as possible to boast their mouthbrooding potential!

Have you ever seen the red-shanked douc? The markings on this fashionable primate’s legs resemble bright red trousers! This monkey is a picky eater that closely inspects food, such as fruit & leaves, before consumption. It prefers unripe fruit and young leaves.

Meet Prevost’s squirrel! Growing ~22 in (55.8 cm) long from nose to tail, this colorful mammal inhabits forests in parts of Asia. It’s crepuscular, meaning it’s most active at dawn and dusk. Its diet includes seeds, fruit, flowers, insects, and bird eggs.

🌈 This #FossilFriday, behold the dazzling colors of an iridescent ammonite. Over millions of years, high temperatures & pressures turned its shell to a gemstone called ammolite. Along with amber & pearl, this gem is one of only a few made by living organisms.

The blunthead slug snake isn't like other snakes. This nocturnal reptile, which primarily feeds on slugs and snails, eats using a technique called mandibular sawing. To slice off the indigestible parts of prey, this species slides its jaws back and forth like a saw!

While the crab-eating fox’s name implies that crabs make up most of its diet, this canid is omnivorous and has a wide-ranging menu that changes with the seasons! During the dry season, it may snack more on insects; during the wet season, it favors crustaceans.🦀🦊

Meet Cuvier’s dwarf caiman! It's the smallest living crocodilian, growing ~4.9 ft (1.5 m) long & weighing ~15.4 lbs (7 kg). It’s native to parts of South America, where it might be spotted basking in the Sun along the shores of the Amazon or Orinoco rivers.