8-letter Animals that contain D

List of 8-letter Animals that contain D

1

Aardvark

Orycteropus afer

A secretive nocturnal African mammal with a pig-like snout and long sticky tongue — the only living species in its entire order, an evolutionary singleton that has changed little in tens of millions of years.

2

Hedgehog

Erinaceus europaeus (European hedgehog)

A small spiky insectivore beloved across Europe and Asia — covered in 5,000+ defensive spines, capable of curling into an impenetrable ball, and increasingly endangered by habitat loss in the UK.

3

Mandrill

Mandrillus sphinx

The world's largest monkey and the most colourful mammal — males develop electric blue and red facial colouring and a brilliantly coloured rump; despite their fearsome appearance, mandrills are omnivorous and live in enormous groups called hordes.

4

Red Panda

Ailurus fulgens

A cinnamon-red tree-dwelling mammal of the Himalayas and Chinese mountains — not closely related to the giant panda despite sharing its bamboo diet, it was discovered by European science 50 years before the giant panda and may have given pandas their name; it eats bamboo with the same false thumb (enlarged wrist bone) evolved independently in both species.

5

Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus

The only deer species in which both males and females grow antlers — domesticated for thousands of years by Arctic peoples for meat, milk, hide, and transport; famous in Western culture as Santa Claus's sleigh-pullers, based on real Sámi traditions of reindeer herding.

6

Wild Boar

Sus scrofa

The ancestor of the domestic pig — a powerfully built, tusked omnivore with coarse grey-black bristles that has recolonised much of Europe and Asia; a major game animal, agricultural pest, and ecological engineer whose rooting transforms forest floors.