Wild Animals in Ecuador

This field guide lists 96 wild animals whose research-grade iNaturalist sightings are concentrated in Ecuador: 29 mammals, 29 birds, 16 amphibians, 11 ray-finned fish and 2 other groups. The most frequently recorded are Marine Iguana, Galápagos Sea Lion and White-necked Jacobin. Every species below has its own page with a photo, its scientific name, its conservation status and where it is most observed.

96 — the species in the Tracks field guide for which Ecuador holds the most verified sightings. This is not a complete national checklist: a species recorded even more often in a neighbouring country appears on that country's page instead, and the Tracks app itself catalogues 40,286 species worldwide. Between them these 96 species account for 120,764 research-grade observations.

Marine Iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), with 7,235 research-grade observations on iNaturalist — more than any other species on this page. Next most recorded are Galápagos Sea Lion and White-necked Jacobin. "Most recorded" means most often photographed and verified by people, which is a good proxy for what a visitor is likely to actually see.

On the Tracks rarity scale the rarest species on this page is Brown-headed Spider Monkey (Epic tier), with 127 recorded sightings. Tracks rarity is based on how often a species is actually encountered rather than on its conservation status, so a rare card is a hard animal to find, not necessarily a threatened one.

This guide lists 29 mammals for Ecuador, most-recorded first: Galápagos Sea Lion, Tayra, Ecuadorian Squirrel Monkey, Common Woolly Monkey, Andean Bear and Andean Tapeti, plus 23 more on this page.

29 bird species are listed for Ecuador. The most frequently recorded are White-necked Jacobin, Sparkling Violetear, Hoatzin, Nazca Booby, Swallow-tailed Gull and Slate-colored Coot, plus 23 more on this page.

Yes — 9 reptiles and 16 amphibians are listed for Ecuador. They include Marine Iguana, Galápagos Giant Tortoise, Santa Cruz Lava Lizard, Common Land Iguana, Brown-eared Anole and San Cristobal Lava Lizard, plus 19 more on this page. Reptiles and amphibians are under-recorded almost everywhere relative to birds and mammals, so treat these counts as a floor.

2 of the species on this page belong to the groups behind most wildlife injuries — large carnivores, crocodilians, sharks, venomous snakes and big herbivores. They are Whitetip Reef Shark and Andean Bear. Nearly all of them avoid people given the chance. The practical rules are the same everywhere: never approach, corner or feed a wild animal, keep dogs leashed, store food securely, and give any animal with young a wide berth.

1 snake is listed for Ecuador — Anaconda — and none of them fall into the venomous groups this guide can identify by name. Since the list is a slice of the guide rather than a national checklist, still treat any snake you can't identify as venomous.

3 marine or coastal species are listed for Ecuador, including Galápagos Sea Lion, Whitetip Reef Shark and Galapagos Islands Fur Seal.

16 of the species on this page are IUCN-listed as Vulnerable or worse: Ecuadorian White-fronted Capuchin (Critically Endangered), Galápagos Sea Lion (Endangered), Galápagos Penguin (Endangered), Galapagos Islands Fur Seal (Endangered), Mountain Tapir (Endangered) and Long-haired Spider Monkey (Endangered), plus 10 more. Conservation status is shown on every species page.

No insects or arachnids appear on this page — the guide's Ecuador list is mostly mammals and birds. A species is shown on the page of whichever country records it most, so any insects or arachnids recorded in Ecuador either sit on another country's page or fall outside the guide's 96-species slice.

Dawn and the hour before dusk, almost everywhere and for almost every species: most mammals are crepuscular, and birds are loudest and most active in the first hours of daylight. Weather matters as much as season — overcast, still mornings after rain are productive, and hot midday hours are the worst time to be out looking. Each species page links to its iNaturalist record, where the observation dates show when people in Ecuador actually recorded it.

National parks, nature reserves and protected wetlands concentrate both animals and the people recording them, but the edges are often better than the core: hedgerows, riverbanks, coastal paths, and the scrubby margins between habitats. Cities count too — a large share of the sightings behind this page were logged in parks, gardens and suburbs. Because every species here is backed by iNaturalist records, its species page links straight to the map of where it has actually been observed.

Photograph it if you safely can, and note the size, habitat and behaviour. The Tracks app scans the area you're standing in and shows the animals people have actually recorded there, which narrows an identification far faster than searching a national list. If the animal you saw isn't in Tracks yet, add it on iNaturalist: its community will help you put a name to it, and because Tracks is built from iNaturalist's research-grade observations, a sighting verified there feeds back into the data behind pages like this one.

No — and in many places it is also illegal. Feeding is the fastest way to ruin a wild animal. It teaches them to associate people with food, so they lose their wariness and start working car parks, campsites and picnic tables; a habituated animal that begins grabbing food gets labelled a nuisance and is usually destroyed or hit by a road vehicle. Human food is the wrong food too: bread and processed snacks cause malnutrition and wing deformities in birds and gut damage in mammals. And artificial feeding concentrates animals at densities they would never reach naturally, which is how disease spreads through a local population. If you want wildlife closer to you in Ecuador, do it by habitat — native planting, a clean water dish, leaving dead wood and leaf litter alone — which supports animals without teaching them to approach people.

No. Keep your distance from every wild animal, however calm it looks — a good rule of thumb is that if the animal changes its behaviour because of you, you are already too close. Don't handle snakes or reptiles, keep dogs leashed near wildlife, and if you find an animal that is injured or appears orphaned, contact a local wildlife rescue or the relevant authority rather than picking it up.