Wildlife in Europe

The little egret (Egretta garzetta) is a species of small heron in the family Ardeidae. The genus name comes from the Provençal French Aigrette, "egret", a diminutive of Aigron," heron". The species epithet garzetta is from the Italian name for this bird, garzetta or sgarzetta.

The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader in the avocet and stilt family (Recurvirostridae). It is now widely accepted that the scientific name H. himantopus which was formerly applied to a single almost cosmopolitan species and is now normally applied to the widespread form from Eurasia and Africa which was formerly regarded as the nominate su

The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, on the Indian subcontinent, in the Middle East and southern Europe.

The short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) is one of the two species of cetaceans in the genus Globicephala. It is part of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae), though its behaviour is closer to that of the larger whales.

The common redshank or simply redshank (Tringa totanus) is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific totanus is from Tótano, the Italian name for this bird.

The Iberian magpie (Cyanopica cooki) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus Cyanopica.

The Eurasian spoonbill or common spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name Platalea is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill, and leucorodia is from Ancient Greek leukerodios "spoonbill", itself derived from leukos, "white" and erodios "heron".

The keeltail needlefish (Platybelone argalus), sometimes called the keeled needlefish, is a tropical fish of the family Belonidae. It was described by the French naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1821.

The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, is the most well-known species from the family Delphinidae.

Afruca tangeri is a species of fiddler crab that lives along the Atlantic coasts of western Africa and southwestern Europe.

The Mediterranean moray (sometimes also called Roman eel, Muraena helena, زريمباية) is a fish of the moray eel family. It has a long eel-like body and is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Its bite can be dangerous to humans.

The Dalmatian wall lizard (Podarcis melisellensis) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. It is found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, and pastureland.

The European shag or common shag (Gulosus aristotelis) is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Gulosus. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, mainly wintering in its breeding range except for the northernmost birds. In Britain this seabird is usually referred to as simply the shag. The scientific genus

Podarcis muralis (common wall lizard) is a species of lizard with a large distribution in Europe and well-established introduced populations in North America, where it is also called the European wall lizard. It can grow to about 20 cm (7.9 in) in total length.

The Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis) is a dolphin found in the Gulf Stream of the North Atlantic Ocean. Older members of the species have a very distinctive spotted coloration all over their bodies.

The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It is also known as the Eurasian griffon. It is not to be confused with a different species, Rüppell's griffon vulture (Gyps rueppellii). It is closely related to the white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus).

The small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula), also known as the sandy dogfish, lesser-spotted dogfish, Rough-hound, or Morgay (in Scotland and Cornwall), is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found on the continental shelves and the uppermost continental slopes off the coasts of Norway and the British Isles south to Senegal and in the Mediterranean, between latitudes 63° N a

The Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The genus name Calonectris comes from Ancient Greek kalos, "good" and nectris, "swimmer", and borealis is Latin for "northern". The English name is for the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory.

The blue-throated keeled lizard or Dalmatian algyroides (Algyroides nigropunctatus) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae.

The Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus) (not to be confused with the Asian species Hemidactylus frenatus known as common house gecko) is a small gecko common to the Mediterranean which has spread to many parts of the world. It is commonly referred to as the Turkish gecko as represented in its Latin name and also as the "Moon Lizard" because it emerges in the evening. A study in Por

The long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) is a large species of oceanic dolphin. It shares the genus Globicephala with the short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus). Long-finned pilot whales are known as such because of their unusually long pectoral fins.

Sphyraena viridensis, the yellowmouth barracuda or yellow barracuda is a predatory ray finned fish from the family Sphyraenidae, the barracudas, which is found in the warmer waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is often confused with the European barracuda Sphyraena sphyraena.