All the animals in this gallery live in the Northern hemisphere, and star in my new book Wild Animals of the North.We’ll start with the bison – Also known as buffalo, the Bison is North America’s largest land animal. Mature males (also known as bulls) can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms and stand at up to seven feet tall (that’s over two metres). Despite that heft, the bison can race up to 40 miles per hour and jump up to six vertical feet.

The roe deer is the most common, and smallest, kind of deer found in Europe. The fawns are distinguished by their pretty white spots but have no scent of their own so they are safe from predators like foxes, who use their sense of smell to hunt.

The Przewalski horse has never been domesticated and to this day are the only truly wild horse in the world. At one point they were extinct in the wild but have since been successfully reintroduced to their native habitat in Mongolia.

Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds in the world. They can travel up to 300 kilometres per hour to capture their prey, which they can catch in mid-flight. It is not only found in Europe, but on all other continents apart from the Antarctic.

Long-tailed weasels adapt their fur for every season. In the summer, they have brown fur on their backs and cream fur on their bellies, but in the winter their whole bodies are covered in white, except for the very tip of their tails which are always black.

The Red Panda – The Association of Zoos and Aquariums warn in their official care manual that red pandas are great escape artists. They are arboreal – meaning they live mostly in trees – and have a great affinity for climbing and there have been breakouts at zoos in Washington DC, Dresden, London, Birmingham and Rotterdam.

As striking as the golden pheasant is, you are very unlikely to see one in the great outdoors. They rarely venture out into open terrain and spend most nights on trees. This pheasant also has a reputation for being a master at detecting gander early and can fly away at incredible speed when it needs to.

It’s very hard to find a fire salamander; it’s only in rain or fog and preferably at night, when humans are hidden away, that they come out of hiding, which is why in some regions they is known as the ‘little rain man’.

Snow leopard’s tails are nearly as long as their bodies and can reach up to a metre. They use these to balance across the snowy terrain but also, when resting, use them to wrap around their body and cover their nose to protect themselves from the cold.

Barn owl’s are fantastic hunters. Their super soft feathers mean that they can fly almost silently. They have cat-like pupils that can see very far in the dark, and have lopsided ears which are used to better track their prey.

Orcas are very social creatures and live and travel together in groups of relatives known as pods. Pods usually consist of 5 to 30 whales, although some can pods can combine to form a group of 100 or more. Each family establishes a social hierarchy (lead by females) and has its own dialect that they use to communicate with each other.

Commonly known as the white giant, polar bears’ coats are not actually white: it appears that way because of the reflection of the sun. The hairs of its outer coat are actually hollow and translucent and the skin underneath is black.

You can buy Dieter Braun’s Wild Animals of the North from the Guardian bookshop.