Wild Windows · Species
Every species, properly named.
Backed by GBIF and IUCN.
Canonical scientific taxonomy, conservation status, and classroom-grade facts for every species we cover.
18 Species · Grouped by IUCN Status
Each species page collects every cam featuring that animal across our partner institutions, paired with conservation context drawn from the IUCN Red List and canonical taxonomy from GBIF. Threatened species surface first — that’s where the camera tells a story conservation depends on.
Threatened species
11 speciesCritically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
African Lion
Panthera leo
Africa's largest cat and the only big cat that lives in social groups. Lion populations have declined by an estimated 43% over the past two decades, with strongholds remaining in Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa.
African Savanna Elephant
Loxodonta africana
The largest land animal on Earth, with adults reaching 4 meters at the shoulder and weighing up to 6,000 kg. Highly intelligent and deeply social, African savanna elephants live in matriarchal family groups across sub-Saharan Africa.
Atlantic Puffin
Fratercula arctica
A small black-and-white seabird with a brightly colored beak that breeds in colonies on cliffs and islands in the North Atlantic. Spends most of its life at sea and returns to land only to nest.
Giant Panda
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
A bear native to the mountains of central China, instantly recognizable for its bold black-and-white coat and gentle disposition. Once Critically Endangered, the giant panda was reclassified to Vulnerable in 2016 after decades of conservation effort produced measurable population recovery.
Mountain Gorilla
Gorilla beringei beringei
A subspecies of eastern gorilla found in only two populations: the Virunga Mountains spanning Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Once predicted to be extinct by the turn of the century, mountain gorillas have rebounded to over 1,000 individuals.
Northern Royal Albatross
Diomedea sanfordi
One of the world's great seabirds, with a wingspan of up to 3.3 meters — second only to the wandering albatross. Nests almost exclusively on the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand, with a single small mainland colony at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula.
Philippine Eagle
Pithecophaga jefferyi
One of the rarest and most powerful eagles in the world, endemic to the old-growth forests of four Philippine islands. Stands roughly a meter tall and weighs up to 8 kg with a 2-meter wingspan. The national bird of the Philippines.
Polar Bear
Ursus maritimus
The Arctic's apex predator and the world's largest land carnivore. Polar bears depend on sea ice as a hunting platform — making them one of the species most directly threatened by climate change.
Red Panda
Ailurus fulgens
A small, mostly arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. Despite the name, red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas — they are the sole living member of their own family, Ailuridae.
Sea Otter
Enhydra lutris
A keystone marine mammal of the North Pacific, sea otters keep kelp forests healthy by preying on sea urchins. Hunted to near-extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries for the densest fur of any mammal, sea otters survive today in a handful of recovering populations.
West Indian Manatee
Trichechus manatus
A gentle, slow-moving aquatic mammal that grazes on submerged vegetation in coastal waterways from the southeastern United States through the Caribbean. Manatees evolved from terrestrial ancestors closer to elephants than to whales.
Lower-risk species
5 speciesNear Threatened or Least Concern — populations stable or recovering.
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
A large sea eagle native to North America and the national bird of the United States. Once nearly wiped out by DDT-induced eggshell thinning in the mid-20th century, the bald eagle has staged a dramatic recovery and is now Least Concern.
Brown Bear
Ursus arctos
One of the largest land carnivores on Earth, with coastal Alaskan populations sometimes exceeding 600 kg. Highly intelligent and adaptable, brown bears range from the high Arctic to the Mediterranean. The most famous populations gather at Alaska's Brooks Falls each summer to catch migrating sockeye salmon.
Gray Wolf
Canis lupus
The largest member of the dog family and the ancestral species of domestic dogs. Once the most widely distributed land mammal on Earth, gray wolves were extirpated from most of their range in the twentieth century and are now slowly recovering across parts of North America and Europe.
King Penguin
Aptenodytes patagonicus
The second-largest penguin species, after the emperor penguin. King penguins breed on subantarctic islands in vast colonies that can number in the hundreds of thousands.
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
A medium-large raptor that lives exclusively on a diet of fish — the only North American raptor that does. Found on every continent except Antarctica. Famous for migrating thousands of miles between North American breeding grounds and South American wintering sites.
Unassessed or data-deficient
2 speciesSpecies the IUCN has not fully evaluated, or community-level cams (e.g. coral reefs).
Coral Reef Community
Anthozoa
Coral reefs are dense underwater communities built by colonies of stony corals and inhabited by an extraordinary diversity of fish, invertebrates, and microbial life. Considered the rainforests of the sea, reefs support 25% of marine biodiversity despite covering less than 1% of the ocean floor.
Tropical Bird Community
Aves (Neotropical)
The community of fruit-eating, nectar-feeding, and insect-gleaning birds that share Neotropical forest habitats from southern Mexico through South America. Includes tanagers, honeycreepers, motmots, toucans, manakins, hummingbirds, and many other lineages — one of the most species-rich bird assemblages on Earth.