Random Animal Generator With a True Fact for Every Animal

One press gives you five real animals from a checked list of 347, each with its group and one true fact.

Random Animal Generator With a True Fact for Every Animal

  1. Hermit crabProtects its soft abdomen inside an empty snail shell. There are over 800 species.
  2. European hedgehogWelcome in gardens, because it eats pests.
  3. AnglerfishDangles a lure made from a fin ray to draw prey close.
  4. WalrusThe only living member of its family. Pacific males can weigh more than 2,000 kg.
  5. Canada gooseHas a black head and neck with white cheeks.
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Tip: the space bar makes new ones.

Animal of the day

 

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Random Animal Generator With a True Fact for Every Animal: how it works

This random animal generator draws from 347 real animals, from the aye-aye to the tardigrade, and prints one true fact under each name. Narrow the draw to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, sea animals or farm animals and pets. Lock the ones you like, swap the rest, save favorites and share a link that opens on the same set.

Draw, lock and swap

Five animals are on the page when it opens. Press New animals or the space bar for five more, or change the size to 1, 10 or 20. The padlock holds an animal while the others change, and the swap arrows replace just that one. Nothing repeats until you have seen every animal that passes your chip, and a counter shows how far through you are. The heart keeps an animal on your saved list for your next visit.

Use it as a random animal wheel

A spinning wheel stops being readable after a few dozen slices, so this page deals all 347 animals as cards. Set the size to 1 and each press lands on a single animal in large type, which is what a random animal spinner does, without the wait. Pick a chip first and the draw stays inside that group, handy for a reptile lesson or a sea-themed party. Share copies a link that opens on the animals you are looking at, so a class or a group chat sees the same draw.

Where the facts come from

Every line was checked on 18 September 2026 against the opening section of that animal's Wikipedia article, then rewritten in our own words. Sizes, speeds and ages are the article's own figures. We left out anything that shifts from year to year, such as how endangered a species is or how many are left. The full list sits below the tool, so you can read every animal and every fact before using it with a class.

Tips

  • Draw two animals, lock both, and sketch the creature you would get by crossing them. For a third ingredient, change the size to 10 and choose from the new arrivals.
  • Cover the names, read a fact aloud and let the room guess the animal. Facts that name a place or a record make the fairest clues.
  • For a random animal spin wheel feel on a projector, set the size to 1 and let a student press the space bar.
  • Set a sorting task: draw 10 with no chip chosen and ask the class to sort them into the six animal groups. Tap each chip afterwards to check the answers.
  • The animal of the day is the same for every visitor and changes at midnight, so a class can log it on a wall chart and keep a streak going.

Questions and answers

How many animals are in the list?

There are 347: 129 mammals, 72 birds, 36 reptiles, 16 amphibians, 37 fish and 57 invertebrates. Two extra chips cut across those groups: 70 sea animals, from the blue whale to the barnacle, and 25 farm animals and pets. Every animal is alive today, so no dinosaurs and no dragons.

Is there a random animal generator wheel I can spin?

Not a spinning one. A random animal wheel generator makes you type the slices first, and the labels shrink with every slice you add. Here the list is already built and checked, and size 1 gives the same one-winner result in a single press. Every animal that passes your chip has the same chance.

What is the difference between this and an animal randomizer wheel?

Most wheels forget what they landed on, so the same slice can win twice in a row. This page remembers: no animal comes back until you have been through the whole list or the whole chip, which matters when thirty students each need a different animal. You can also lock a result, swap one card and save favorites.

Can I get random animal names only, without the facts?

Yes. Press Copy all and the names in the current draw are copied one per line, without the facts, ready to paste into a worksheet, a slide or a chat. For a longer list, set the size to 20 and copy a few draws in a row. Nothing repeats between them.

Are the facts true?

Each one was read in the animal's Wikipedia article on 18 September 2026 and reworded, and the source is named under the list. Record claims keep the article's own caution, with words such as known or considered left in. If you spot a mistake, tell us through the contact page and we will check it and fix the page.

More like this

Random tool Browse Animals and Nature

All 347 animals

Show all 347 animals

Mammals 129

  • Aardvark The only living member of its order. It comes out at night to eat ants and termites.
  • African buffalo Its horns fuse at the base into a shield called a boss. It has never been domesticated.
  • African bush elephant Eats about 150 kg of plants and drinks about 230 liters of water a day.
  • African wild dog Hunts by stamina at dawn and dusk, and lets the pups eat first at a kill.
  • Alpaca Comes in two breeds, Suri and Huacaya, bred from the vicuña 5,000 to 6,000 years ago.
  • Alpine ibex Also called the steinbock. Sharp hooves let it scale cliffs up to 3,300 m in the Alps.
  • American bison The national mammal of the United States. It can weigh up to 1,270 kg.
  • American black bear North America's smallest bear, and its most widely spread.
  • American pika A rabbit relative that gathers plants into haypiles to eat through the winter.
  • Arctic fox Lives on the Arctic tundra in underground dens. Its body is 46 to 68 cm long.
  • Asian elephant The only living member of its genus, found from India to Borneo.
  • Aye-aye Taps on trees, then hooks out grubs with a thin middle finger. Its teeth never stop growing.
  • Bactrian camel Two humps. It carried the caravans of the Silk Road across Central Asia.
  • Beluga whale All white, with no back fin. The melon on its head is used for echolocation.
  • Bighorn sheep A ram's pair of horns can weigh up to 14 kg.
  • Black rhinoceros Also called the hooked-lip rhinoceros. Its color runs from brown to gray.
  • Black-tailed prairie dog A member of the squirrel family. One Texas town of them was said to cover 25,000 square miles.
  • Blue whale The largest animal known to have ever lived, about 30 m long. It eats almost only krill.
  • Blue wildebeest Both sexes have horns, calves are born tawny brown, and herds migrate with the rains.
  • Bobcat Ranges from southern Canada to Oaxaca in Mexico and grows up to 125 cm long.
  • Bonobo Lives only in the Congo Basin south of the Congo River, and eats mainly fruit.
  • Bornean orangutan Its arms reach up to 1.5 m. Grown males develop wide cheek pads called flanges.
  • Bowhead whale Has the largest mouth of any animal, may live over 200 years and breaks ice with its skull.
  • Brown bear Has a shoulder hump of muscle that no other bear has.
  • Brown-throated sloth The most common of the three-toed sloths.
  • California sea lion Lives from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, and has been trained by the US Navy.
  • Capybara The largest living rodent. A guinea pig relative that lives half in water, in groups of 10 to 20.
  • Caracal Can leap higher than 3 m into the air.
  • Cat The only domesticated member of the cat family, with claws that pull back in.
  • Cheetah Sprints at 93 to 104 km/h. Lives in Africa and central Iran.
  • Chimpanzee Makes and uses tools, including sharpened sticks.
  • Common bottlenose dolphin Found in every ocean except polar waters.
  • Common eland Males reach 942 kg. Its milk is richer in butterfat than cow's milk.
  • Common vampire bat Feeds on the blood of livestock, and shares food with others in its roost.
  • Common wombat A burrowing marsupial up to 1.2 m long and 35 kg, active at night.
  • Cougar The most widely spread wild land mammal in the Western Hemisphere, from the Yukon to the Andes.
  • Cow Cattle were domesticated about 10,500 years ago from the aurochs. There are over 1,000 breeds.
  • Coyote A North American wild dog with 19 subspecies, now common in cities.
  • Dingo Australia's wild dog. The oldest remains found there are about 3,500 years old.
  • Dog The first species humans domesticated, from wolves, more than 14,000 years ago.
  • Donkey Descends from the African wild ass. A male is a jack and a female is a jenny.
  • Dromedary One hump, made of fat. The tallest camel, able to lose over 30% of its body water.
  • Dugong Eats seagrass, has a fluked tail and can live 70 years or more.
  • Eastern gray squirrel Plays a key part in regrowing the forests of eastern North America.
  • Eurasian lynx Lives in temperate and boreal forests, as high as 5,500 m.
  • European badger Lives in setts with tunnels 35 to 81 m long, comes out at night and eats earthworms.
  • European hedgehog Welcome in gardens, because it eats pests.
  • European rabbit Native to Iberia and southwestern France. The only rabbit species ever domesticated.
  • Fennec fox The smallest fox. Its burrows in North African deserts can cover 120 square meters.
  • Giant anteater The largest anteater. Mothers carry their young on their backs.
  • Giant otter The longest member of the weasel family, up to 1.8 m, and the noisiest otter.
  • Giant panda A thumb-like bone in its forepaw holds bamboo. The oldest known panda lived to 38.
  • Gibbon Swings up to 15 m between branches at up to 55 km/h. There are 20 species.
  • Giraffe The tallest land animal. Males fight by swinging their necks, which is called necking.
  • Goat Domesticated in Iran about 10,000 years ago, and closely related to sheep.
  • Golden hamster Comes from northern Syria and southern Turkey.
  • Golden lion tamarin Lives only in the Atlantic coastal forest of Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil.
  • Guinea pig Domesticated in the Andes. Its front teeth never stop growing.
  • Harbor seal The most widely spread seal. Pups can swim within hours of being born.
  • Hippopotamus Its closest living relatives are whales. It leaves the water at dusk to graze.
  • Honey badger Loose skin lets it twist round freely. The largest land member of the weasel family in Africa.
  • Horse Can sleep standing up or lying down. There are more than 300 breeds.
  • Humpback whale Males sing songs that last 4 to 33 minutes. It uses bubbles to catch its prey.
  • Impala The only living member of its genus. Males carry lyre-shaped horns.
  • Indian rhinoceros The largest rhino in Asia, with a single horn. Pregnancy lasts 15.7 months.
  • Jaguar The big cat of the Americas, up to 1.85 m long and 158 kg. Prefers forest and wetland.
  • Japanese macaque The snow monkey. No other non-human primate lives farther north.
  • Kitti's hog-nosed bat The bumblebee bat: the smallest bat, and arguably the smallest mammal.
  • Koala Sleeps up to 20 hours a day. A joey spends 6 to 7 months in the pouch.
  • Large flying fox One of the largest bats. It eats only fruit, nectar and flowers, and cannot echolocate.
  • Leopard At home anywhere from rainforest to steppe, across Africa and Asia.
  • Leopard seal The second largest Antarctic seal. It eats penguins, and only the orca hunts it.
  • Lion Lives in prides of related females, their cubs and one or a few males.
  • Llama Can carry 25 to 30% of its body weight for 8 to 13 km.
  • Malayan tapir The only living tapir outside the Americas, with a black and white coat.
  • Mandrill Has red and blue skin on its face. Its groups, called hordes, number in the hundreds.
  • Meerkat Lives in packs of 2 to 30 in burrows with about 15 openings, and eats mainly insects.
  • Moose The tallest and heaviest living deer. In Eurasia it is called an elk.
  • Mountain goat Not a true goat. It climbs near-vertical cliffs in western North America.
  • Mountain gorilla Lives in just two populations, in the Virunga Mountains and in Bwindi.
  • Muskox Named for the smell of males in the rut. Its Inuktitut name means the bearded one.
  • Naked mole-rat Its body temperature follows its surroundings, and its skin does not feel pain.
  • Narwhal The male's tusk is a spiralled left canine tooth, 1.5 to 3 m long.
  • Nine-banded armadillo Jumps 91 to 120 cm straight up when frightened.
  • North American beaver A national symbol of Canada, and one of only two living beaver species.
  • North American porcupine The second largest rodent in North America, after the beaver.
  • Ocelot A spotted cat of 7 to 15.5 kg, found from the southwestern US to South America.
  • Okapi Striped like a zebra but closest to the giraffe. Only males grow the horn-like ossicones.
  • Orca The largest member of the ocean dolphin family. Pods follow the mother's line.
  • Pangolin Covered in keratin scales, with a long tongue for catching ants and termites.
  • Pig Domesticated twice, separately, in the Near East and in China.
  • Plains zebra The most common zebra. One stallion lives with several mares, and they bark at predators.
  • Platypus Lays eggs and hunts with eyes, ears and nostrils shut, sensing the electricity of its prey.
  • Polar bear The largest living bear and land carnivore. Its white fur covers black skin.
  • Proboscis monkey Lives in the mangroves of Borneo and is known for its unusually large nose.
  • Pronghorn Not a true antelope. The fastest land mammal in the Americas, at up to 55 mph.
  • Quokka About the size of a pet cat, the only member of its genus, best known from Rottnest Island.
  • Raccoon Can remember how it solved a task for at least three years. Its young are called kits.
  • Red deer A male is a stag or hart and a female is a hind. The only deer living in Africa.
  • Red fox The largest true fox, found across the Northern Hemisphere and brought to Australia.
  • Red kangaroo The largest kangaroo and the largest living marsupial.
  • Red panda Not closely related to the giant panda, though both have a false thumb for holding bamboo.
  • Reindeer Also called caribou. The only deer in which females may grow antlers.
  • Ring-tailed lemur Females lead troops of up to 30. It sunbathes, and males hold stink fights.
  • Sea otter Has the densest fur in the animal kingdom and uses rocks as tools.
  • Serval Stands 54 to 62 cm at the shoulder and can leap more than 2 m.
  • Sheep Probably descends from the mouflon. Its wool is the most widely used animal fiber.
  • Short-beaked echidna Lays one egg a year. A newborn is about the size of a grape.
  • Sloth bear Sucks up ants and termites with a long lower lip. Lives on the Indian subcontinent.
  • Snow leopard Lives high in the mountains of Asia, mostly between 3,000 and 4,500 m.
  • Snowshoe hare Brown in summer and white in winter, with big hind feet for walking on snow.
  • Sperm whale The largest toothed predator, with the largest brain on Earth. Dives to 2,250 m.
  • Spotted hyena The largest hyena. Females are bigger than males and outrank them.
  • Springbok Bounces up to 2 m high in a leap called pronking. South Africa's national mammal.
  • Stoat Called an ermine in its white winter coat, the fur that trims UK House of Lords robes.
  • Striped skunk Carries scent glands full of musk.
  • Sugar glider Glides on skin stretched between its front and back legs. Its name means rope-dancer.
  • Sun bear The smallest bear, and the one that spends most time in trees. It does not hibernate.
  • Tasmanian devil The largest meat-eating marsupial.
  • Tiger Ranges across Asia, from the Russian Far East to India and Southeast Asia.
  • Virginia opossum The northernmost marsupial in the world, about the size of a cat.
  • Walrus The only living member of its family. Pacific males can weigh more than 2,000 kg.
  • West Indian manatee The largest living sea cow. It uses its whiskers to help it feed.
  • White rhinoceros The largest and most social rhino, with a wide mouth for grazing. Runs at up to 40 mph.
  • White-tailed deer The most widely spread hoofed plant-eater on the mainland of the Americas.
  • Wild boar The ancestor of most farm pigs. Groups are led by older females.
  • Wild yak Lives in the Himalayas and is the ancestor of the domestic yak.
  • Wolf The largest wild member of the dog family, with more than 30 subspecies.
  • Wolverine The largest land-living member of the weasel family. It kills prey many times its size.

Birds 72

  • Adélie penguin Named after Adélie Land in 1840. It lives all around the Antarctic coast.
  • American robin Among the first birds to sing at dawn. It smears its nest with mud.
  • Andean condor Wingspan up to 3.3 m. It can live more than 70 years and nests as high as 5,000 m.
  • Arctic tern Makes the longest known migration, between the Arctic and Antarctic, and sees two summers a year.
  • Atlantic puffin Called the clown of the sea. It swims with its wings and lays one egg in a burrow.
  • Bald eagle Builds the largest tree nests of any animal, up to 4 m deep. Bald once meant white-headed.
  • Barn owl Has a heart-shaped face and belongs to the most widely spread group of owls.
  • Barn swallow The most widespread swallow. It has a forked tail and builds a cup nest of mud.
  • Bee hummingbird The smallest known bird. It lives in Cuba, where it is called the zunzuncito.
  • Blue jay Hides acorns for later and wears a black U-shaped collar.
  • Blue-footed booby Its blue feet come from its diet, and males show them off to win a mate.
  • Brown pelican One of only two pelicans that dive for their food.
  • Budgerigar Wild budgies are green and yellow and live in the dry parts of Australia.
  • Burrowing owl A long-legged owl that nests in burrows dug by prairie dogs and is active by day.
  • California condor Has the widest wingspan of any North American bird, 3 m, and lives up to 60 years.
  • Canada goose Has a black head and neck with white cheeks.
  • Chicken Bred from the red junglefowl about 8,000 years ago. A laying hen can top 300 eggs a year.
  • Common cuckoo Lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, such as reed warblers, and mimics a sparrowhawk.
  • Common kingfisher Sparrow-sized. It dives for fish and nests in a burrow in a riverbank.
  • Common loon Chicks can dive when only a few days old. Adults swallow fish underwater.
  • Common ostrich The largest living bird. It lays the largest eggs and runs at about 70 km/h in bursts.
  • Common pheasant Native to Asia, and the state bird of South Dakota.
  • Common raven The heaviest perching bird, at up to 2 kg. Pairs mate for life.
  • Common starling A glossy black mimic that lays pale blue eggs.
  • Common swift May stay in the air for up to ten months. Related to hummingbirds, not to swallows.
  • Emperor penguin The tallest, heaviest penguin. The male keeps one egg warm through the Antarctic winter.
  • Emu Up to 1.9 m tall. The male sits on the eggs for about 8 weeks and hardly eats.
  • Eurasian magpie One of the few birds to pass the mirror test.
  • European robin Both sexes have the orange-red breast. It is 12.5 to 14 cm long.
  • Golden eagle The most widely spread eagle. It hunts hares and marmots.
  • Great blue heron An all-white form in Florida is known as the great white heron.
  • Great hornbill Eats mainly fruit. One lived nearly 50 years in captivity.
  • Great horned owl One of the few animals that regularly hunts skunks.
  • Greater bird-of-paradise Named apoda, meaning legless, because early trade skins arrived without feet.
  • Greater flamingo The largest and most widespread flamingo.
  • Greater roadrunner A cuckoo. Its scientific name means Californian earth-cuckoo.
  • Grey parrot One of the smartest birds, noted for how well it copies speech.
  • Harpy eagle One of the largest eagles. It hunts in the rainforest canopy.
  • Hoatzin Chicks have claws on their wings. It ferments leaves in its gut, as a cow does.
  • House sparrow The most widely spread wild bird in the world.
  • Indian peafowl The male's train is made of tail coverts with eyespots. It can fly, and it roosts in trees.
  • Kākāpō The only parrot that cannot fly, and the heaviest. It is active at night.
  • Kea An alpine parrot from New Zealand's South Island that solves puzzles and uses tools.
  • King penguin The second largest penguin. It dives deeper than 100 m.
  • Kiwi Lays an egg up to 20% of the female's weight, and has nostrils at the tip of its beak.
  • Laughing kookaburra A large kingfisher whose call sounds like laughter. Grown offspring help raise the chicks.
  • Little penguin The smallest penguin, slate-blue, also called the fairy penguin or kororā.
  • Mallard The ancestor of most farm ducks. Drakes have a green head.
  • Mandarin duck A perching duck from East Asia. The wood duck is the only other member of its genus.
  • Mute swan Named for being quieter than other swans. Its orange beak carries a knob.
  • Northern cardinal The male is red with a black mask and feeds his mate beak to beak.
  • Northern mockingbird Copies other birds and even electronic sounds, and can recognize individual people.
  • Osprey Eats almost nothing but fish, and lives on every continent except Antarctica.
  • Peregrine falcon The world's most widespread bird of prey. It hunts other birds and thrives in cities.
  • Pileated woodpecker Crow-sized. It carves nearly rectangular holes in trees.
  • Red-crowned crane Seen as a symbol of luck, long life and fidelity.
  • Red-tailed hawk Named for its brick-red tail. Pairs stay together for life.
  • Rock dove The wild ancestor of domestic pigeons, which now come in about 1,000 breeds.
  • Ruby-throated hummingbird The most common hummingbird in eastern North America, and a migrant.
  • Sandhill crane Named for the Sandhills of Nebraska, where flocks stop over on the Platte River.
  • Scarlet macaw The national bird of Honduras.
  • Secretarybird Stands up to 1.3 m tall on the African savanna and kills prey by stamping on it.
  • Shoebill Named for its shoe-shaped bill. It lives in East African swamps, and its closest relative is the hamerkop.
  • Snowy owl The only mainly white owl. It is often active by day, and its breeding follows the lemmings.
  • Sociable weaver Builds huge shared nests in southern Africa.
  • Southern cassowary One of the largest living birds, and flightless.
  • Superb lyrebird One of the largest songbirds and an excellent mimic, from southeastern Australia.
  • Toco toucan The largest toucan, with a huge yellow-orange beak.
  • Turkey vulture Finds its food by smell, rarely flaps, and can only grunt or hiss.
  • Wandering albatross Has the greatest known wingspan of any living bird. Some circle the Southern Ocean three times a year.
  • White stork Avoids crossing the Mediterranean on migration, because thermals do not form over water.
  • Wild turkey The heaviest of the gamebirds and the ancestor of the farm turkey.

Reptiles 36

  • Aldabra giant tortoise One of the largest tortoises, from the Seychelles.
  • Alligator snapping turtle The largest freshwater turtle in North America.
  • American alligator Mothers carry hatchlings in their mouths. Males call with sounds too low for us to hear.
  • Ball python The smallest African python. It curls into a ball when frightened.
  • Black mamba Named for the inky black inside of its mouth, not its skin. Moves at up to 16 km/h.
  • Central bearded dragon Puffs out a chin beard that turns dark. Grows up to 60 cm.
  • Common basilisk Can run across the surface of water.
  • Common garter snake Yellow-striped, and the state reptile of Massachusetts.
  • Common snapping turtle Combative on land but quick to flee in water. It may live over 100 years.
  • Corn snake Harmless, and it keeps rodents down. Often mistaken for the copperhead.
  • Desert tortoise Spends most of its time in burrows. The state reptile of California and Nevada.
  • Eastern box turtle Has a hinged shell. It is a pond turtle, not a tortoise.
  • Frilled lizard Opens a frill around its neck to scare off predators. Grows up to 90 cm.
  • Galápagos tortoise The largest living tortoise. Shells are domed on humid islands and saddle-shaped on dry ones.
  • Gharial A narrow snout with 110 interlocking teeth catches fish. The most water-bound crocodilian.
  • Gila monster The only venomous lizard native to the US. A peptide in its venom led to GLP-1 medicines.
  • Green anaconda One of the heaviest and longest snakes. It spends most of its time in water.
  • Green anole Turns from brown to green, yet it is not a true chameleon.
  • Green iguana A tree-living lizard up to 1.7 m long that eats mostly plants.
  • Green sea turtle Named for its green fat. The only sea turtle that eats plants as an adult.
  • Inland taipan Widely regarded as the most venomous snake, yet shy and placid. Rediscovered in 1972.
  • King cobra The world's longest venomous snake, with a record of 5.85 m. It eats mainly other snakes.
  • Komodo dragon The largest living lizard, up to 3 m and 150 kg. Young ones live in trees.
  • Leatherback sea turtle The largest living turtle, with leathery skin where other turtles have a bony shell.
  • Leopard gecko A ground-living gecko found from Afghanistan to Nepal, and a popular pet.
  • Loggerhead sea turtle Has powerful jaws and takes 17 to 33 years to grow up.
  • Marine iguana The only lizard that feeds in the sea. It grazes on algae in the Galápagos.
  • Nile crocodile The largest predator in Africa. It can wait for weeks in ambush.
  • Red-eared slider The most commonly traded turtle in the world.
  • Reticulated python The world's longest snake, and an excellent swimmer.
  • Saltwater crocodile The largest living reptile. Males reach 6 m, and its prey includes sharks.
  • Slow worm A legless lizard. It is neither a worm nor a snake.
  • Thorny devil An Australian lizard up to 21 cm long, the only species in its genus.
  • Tokay gecko A tree-living gecko from Asia that is active at night.
  • Tuatara The last survivor of its order. A second row of upper teeth sits on the roof of its mouth.
  • Veiled chameleon From Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It grows a tall casque on its head. Hatchlings are pastel green.

Amphibians 16

  • American bullfrog Named for the male's call, which sounds like a bull.
  • Axolotl Keeps its gills and stays in water for life. It can regrow limbs and parts of its brain.
  • Caecilian A limbless amphibian shaped like a worm, with tiny eyes or none, that lives hidden in soil.
  • Cane toad Has poison glands. The record specimen was 24 cm long.
  • Chinese giant salamander One of the largest amphibians, often called a living fossil.
  • Common frog Lays its eggs in clumps, where toads lay theirs in strings.
  • Common toad Walks more than it hops, and lays its eggs in long strings.
  • Eastern newt Its orange, land-living young are called red efts. It lives 12 to 15 years.
  • Fire salamander Black with yellow warning marks. One lived for more than 50 years.
  • Glass frog See-through belly skin shows its heart, liver and gut.
  • Golden poison frog Considered the most poisonous living animal. It comes from Colombia.
  • Goliath frog The largest living frog, from Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
  • Hellbender The largest salamander in North America. It breathes through folds of skin.
  • Red-eyed tree frog Its unhatched young can sense a snake's vibrations and hatch early to escape.
  • Tiger salamander One of the largest land salamanders in North America.
  • Wood frog Can survive being frozen. The only North American frog found north of the Arctic Circle.

Fish 37

  • Anglerfish Dangles a lure made from a fin ray to draw prey close.
  • Arapaima One of the largest freshwater fish, up to 3 m. Its Brazilian name, pirarucu, means red fish.
  • Archerfish Shoots insects down with a jet of water spat from its mouth.
  • Atlantic bluefin tuna Recorded at up to 680 kg. Its close relative is the Pacific bluefin tuna.
  • Atlantic cod Lives up to 25 years and usually grows 100 to 140 cm long.
  • Basking shark The second largest fish. A slow filter feeder that eats plankton.
  • Beluga sturgeon Its eggs are sold as beluga caviar. It lives mainly in the Caspian and Black Sea basins.
  • Blue tang The only member of its genus, also called the regal tang or palette surgeonfish.
  • Coelacanth Thought to have died out 66 million years ago, until living ones were found from 1938 on.
  • Electric eel Stuns prey with shocks of up to 860 volts. It is a knifefish, not a true eel.
  • European eel Nobody has seen it mate in the wild. Its five life stages were once taken for different species.
  • Flying fish Leaps from the sea and glides on wing-like fins to escape predators.
  • Giant oceanic manta ray The largest ray in the world.
  • Goldfish First bred for color in imperial China more than 1,000 years ago.
  • Great hammerhead The largest hammerhead. Its wide head seems to help it pin down stingrays.
  • Great white shark Has about 300 serrated teeth that are replaced all its life, and is partly warm-blooded.
  • Greenland shark The longest-lived vertebrate known, with an estimated lifespan of 272 to 510 years.
  • Koi Colored carp bred for ponds. Breeding began in Niigata, Japan, in the early 1800s.
  • Leafy seadragon Its leafy flaps are for hiding, not swimming. The marine emblem of South Australia.
  • Lionfish Its back fins carry venomous spines, and bold red or black bands warn predators off.
  • Lungfish Can breathe air. Lungfish are the closest living relatives of four-limbed animals.
  • Moray eel There are about 200 species, nearly all of them in the sea.
  • Mudskipper A fish that crawls on land on jointed fins, climbs low branches and leaps up to 61 cm.
  • Northern pike A meat-eating freshwater fish of the Northern Hemisphere that can reach 150 cm.
  • Ocean sunfish Looks like a fish head with no tail, and can be as tall as it is long.
  • Ocellaris clownfish About 11 cm long, orange with three white bands, and partnered with a sea anemone.
  • Pufferfish Most kinds are toxic. Its thin spines show only when it puffs up.
  • Rainbow trout A sea-going form is called the steelhead, which is the state fish of Washington.
  • Red-bellied piranha Shoals for safety but rarely hunts in a group. It also eats fruit, nuts and seeds.
  • Remora A fin reshaped into a sucker lets it hitch rides on larger sea animals.
  • Sailfish A tall sail of a fin often runs the whole length of its back, and its bill is long.
  • Seahorse Swims upright in bony armor and grips with a curled tail.
  • Siamese fighting fish A special organ lets it take air at the surface, so it copes with low-oxygen water.
  • Sockeye salmon Turns red to spawn. Young fish migrate up to 1,600 km.
  • Swordfish Loses all its teeth and scales by adulthood. The only member of its family.
  • Tiger shark Eats a wider range of food than any other shark. Its stripes fade with age.
  • Whale shark The largest living fish. It filters plankton from over 6,000 liters of water an hour.

Invertebrates 57

  • Amazonian giant centipede The largest centipede, over 30 cm. It preys on large insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
  • American lobster The heaviest crustacean and the heaviest living arthropod, at over 20 kg.
  • Antarctic krill Swarms pack 10,000 to 30,000 animals into a cubic metre. It lives up to six years.
  • Atlantic horseshoe crab Not a crustacean. Its nearer relatives are spiders and scorpions.
  • Atlas moth One of the largest moths, with a wingspan often 25 to 30 cm.
  • Banana slug A land slug that is often yellow and shaped like a banana, which gave it its name.
  • Barnacle An adult stays fixed in one spot for life, inside a hard shell, and filters food from the water.
  • Blue crab Native to the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. The state crustacean of Maryland.
  • Blue-ringed octopus Only 12 to 20 cm across yet extremely venomous. Its rings change color when it is threatened.
  • Bumblebee Round and fuzzy. Females can sting more than once, and some colonies hold only 50 bees.
  • Chambered nautilus Its eye has no lens and works like a pinhole camera. About 90 tentacles, none with suckers.
  • Coconut crab The largest land arthropod, up to 4.1 kg. It breathes air and drowns if kept under water.
  • Colossal squid The largest living invertebrate, with the largest eyes known in any animal.
  • Common cuttlefish Spends summer inshore and winter 100 to 200 m deep. Its mantle grows up to 49 cm.
  • Common earthworm Usually 20 to 25 cm long when stretched out. The largest native earthworm in much of Europe.
  • Common octopus Among the most studied octopuses, and among the most intelligent.
  • Common starfish Has five arms and is usually 10 to 30 cm across. It eats molluscs.
  • Coral A colony of tiny identical polyps that build a hard skeleton. Many spawn together near a full moon.
  • Cricket Males chirp by rubbing their front wings together. Its ears are on its front legs.
  • Desert locust Switches from a loner to a swarming form. A swarm can fly 150 km in a day.
  • Dragonfly Each eye has nearly 24,000 lenses. It hunts both as a water nymph and as a flying adult.
  • Dung beetle Ancient Egyptians saw its dung-rolling as the god Khepri rolling the sun.
  • Earwig Has pincers at its tail end. Mothers may guard their eggs and young.
  • Emperor scorpion One of the largest scorpions. Its black body glows green or blue under ultraviolet light.
  • European mantis Turns a triangular head to watch prey, then snatches it with folded front legs.
  • Firefly A soft-bodied beetle that lights up at twilight to find a mate.
  • Garden snail Possibly the best-known land snail, and a garden pest where it was taken by accident.
  • Giant African millipede The largest millipede, up to 33.5 cm, with roughly 256 legs.
  • Giant clam Giant clams are the largest living bivalves, over 200 kg. Algae in the flesh supply most of the food.
  • Giant Pacific octopus The largest octopus species, found in the cold North Pacific down to 2,000 m.
  • Giant squid Longer than the colossal squid but much lighter. First photographed alive in 2004.
  • Goliath birdeater The largest spider by mass, at 175 g. Despite its name it rarely eats birds.
  • Hercules beetle The longest beetle in the world and one of the largest flying insects.
  • Hermit crab Protects its soft abdomen inside an empty snail shell. There are over 800 species.
  • Housefly Gray with four dark stripes and red eyes. Adults usually live two to four weeks.
  • Japanese spider crab Has the widest leg span of any arthropod, around 3.75 m.
  • Jumping spider Has four pairs of eyes, the front middle pair very large, and sees in color.
  • Leafcutter ant Carries cut leaves back to the nest to farm a fungus.
  • Lion's mane jellyfish One of the largest jellyfish. A record specimen had tentacles about 36.6 m long.
  • Luna moth Lime-green. Its long tail streamers are thought to confuse the echolocation of bats.
  • Monarch butterfly Flies thousands of miles south each autumn. The return north takes several generations.
  • Moon jellyfish A true jellyfish that is not dangerous to humans.
  • Mosquito All mosquitoes drink nectar. In many species the female also drinks blood.
  • Peacock mantis shrimp A large mantis shrimp. Its kind are known for striking claws and exceptional vision.
  • Periodical cicada Spends about 99.5% of its life underground, surfacing every 13 or 17 years.
  • Pill bug A land isopod from Mediterranean Europe that avoids drying out and eats mainly dead plants.
  • Portuguese man o' war Not a jellyfish but a floating colony of tiny animals, with tentacles up to 30 m long.
  • Sea anemone A predatory polyp with a ring of stinging tentacles. Some live with clownfish.
  • Sea cucumber Leathery-skinned and long-bodied. It recycles nutrients on the sea floor.
  • Sea urchin A spiny ball that creeps along on tube feet and eats mainly algae.
  • Seven-spot ladybird Three black spots on each wing case plus one shared makes seven. It eats mainly aphids.
  • Sponge An animal with no nerves, gut or blood system. It filters its food from the water.
  • Stick insect Disguised as a twig or leaf. The group includes the longest insects in the world.
  • Tarantula hawk A spider wasp. Its sting paralyzes a tarantula, which becomes food for its larva.
  • Tardigrade About half a millimetre long with eight legs. It survives drying out, extreme cold and even space.
  • Termite Often called white ants, but really highly evolved cockroaches. A king and queen pair for life.
  • Western honey bee Tells hive-mates where food is with a waggle dance. One of the first insects people kept.

How this list was compiled: One Wikipedia article per animal, read as the intro extract through the MediaWiki API (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=extracts&exintro=1&explaintext=1&titles=ARTICLE), checked 2026-09-18. Every fact is reworded. Conservation status and population counts are left out because they change. Licence: own work