Sensitive, intelligent elephants are the world’s largest land mammal (by weight) and a living link to long-extinct species like the woolly mammoth.

Members of the weasel family, otters are known for their elongated bodies, webbed feet and playful antics, particularly their love of sliding down rocks, banks or waterfalls.

Depending on pack ice for their habitat, polar bears are threatened by climate change—and by traffic in their fur and parts.