Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) The smallest marine mammal in North America, it has the densest fur of any animal — up to a million hairs per square inch — since it has no blubber to keep warm. Year-round resident along the central California coast; Monterey Bay is one of the most reliable places to spot them, often rafting up in kelp beds like this one. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) These look like Navajo-Churro, an old hardy breed descended from the Iberian Churra brought by Spanish colonists — prized for heat tolerance, a lean carcass, and rams that often grow two sets of horns. Flocks like this are increasingly used around San Diego for targeted grazing, munching dry grass to cut wildfire fuel on the region’s golden summer hillsides. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) One of the most widespread primates on Earth, the rhesus macaque is famous for its adaptability and gave its name to the Rh blood-group factor, first identified in this species. Common year-round in Hong Kong’s Kam Shan (“Monkey Hill”) Country Park, where large troops descend from the wooded slopes and are a familiar sight to hikers. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 Stuyvesant Town, New York City Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) — melanistic morph This is a melanistic Eastern gray squirrel, not a separate species. Melanism is an overproduction of the dark pigment melanin (the inverse of albinism), which turns the normally gray coat near-black; such animals are known informally as “black squirrels.” The two-toned appearance here — a black body with a tail retaining a warm rufous cast — reflects incomplete pigmentation of the tail rather than the animal’s age. ...
📍 Grand View Reef, Encinitas Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus) The brilliant orange California state marine fish, a damselfish whose adults are fiercely territorial nest-guarders on rocky reefs. Common year-round in southern California’s kelp forests, including the reefs off Encinitas; the species is fully protected in California waters. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map | eBird/map
📍 Panama City White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica) Females and young travel in noisy bands of up to 30, rooting through leaf litter for insects, fruit, and small vertebrates, while adult males forage alone for most of the year. Common year-round in the forests and parks around Panama City, where they’ve adapted well to the urban-wildland edge. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador Feral Horse (Equus caballus) Descendants of horses brought by Spanish colonists, feral horses roam freely through Ecuador’s highlands, grazing unfenced hillsides and wandering among towns with little human interference. Feral and semi-feral horses are a common sight around Baños de Agua Santa year-round, navigating the steep Andean terrain with sure-footed ease. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 Galápagos Islands Galápagos Sea Lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) The only sea lion species endemic to the Galápagos, famous for treating park benches, docks, and boat decks as perfectly acceptable beds. Year-round residents of the archipelago, they are one of the most abundant and approachable marine mammals in the islands. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map | IUCN Red List
📍 San Diego By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella) Not a jellyfish but a colonial hydrozoan, each Velella is a raft of specialized polyps topped by a chitinous sail that catches the wind. Mass strandings are common along San Diego beaches in spring and summer when persistent onshore winds push entire flotillas ashore. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 San Diego Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) One of the most abundant intertidal animals on the Pacific coast — it reproduces by cloning itself, carpeting rocks with genetically identical colonies that wage slow-motion border wars against neighboring clones. Extremely common year-round in San Diego tidepools, found from Alaska to Baja California on rocky shorelines exposed at low tide. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 Panama Canal Panamanian White-faced Capuchin (Cebus imitator) One of the most intelligent New World monkeys, known for using tools and washing food — and for boldly raiding boats and picnic sites along the canal. A year-round resident of Central American forests from Honduras to Panama, these capuchins thrive in the lush vegetation bordering the Panama Canal and are among the most frequently spotted primates by transiting boaters. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map
📍 Amazon Rainforest Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) One of the largest and most dazzling parrots in the Neotropics, unmistakable with its scarlet body, yellow wing coverts, and long blue-and-red tail that can double its total length. A year-round resident throughout the Amazon basin, commonly seen in pairs or small flocks flying above the canopy or visiting forest-edge clearings and lodge gardens. Modeled range · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 Wikipedia | iNaturalist | Range map | eBird