Animals that contain R — 63 detailed entries

Below are animals that contain the letter R anywhere in the name. Each of the 63 animals below opens to a full profile.

Table of contents 63 entries

List of Animals That Contain R

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.

Alligator

Alligator (genus, two species)

A large freshwater reptilian predator native to the southeastern United States and a small enclave in eastern China — distinct from crocodiles in habitat, snout shape, and temperament.

Anteater

Myrmecophaga tridactyla (giant); Vermilingua suborder

A long-snouted, toothless mammal with a sticky tongue that flicks 150 times per minute — eating exclusively ants and termites, with the giant anteater of South America consuming up to 35,000 insects daily.

Armadillo

Dasypus novemcinctus

A small American mammal armored in bony plates, the only mammal that gives birth to identical quadruplets and one of the few wild carriers of leprosy.

Babirusa

Babyrousa babyrussa

The deer-pig of Sulawesi — one of the most anatomically bizarre pigs in the world, with upper canine tusks that grow upward through the skin of the snout and curve back toward the skull; males carry these extraordinary recurved tusks throughout life, and in older individuals the tusks can complete a full circle; a Vulnerable species of Indonesian rainforest.

Bear

Ursus arctos

A massive omnivorous mammal with the broadest range of any bear species, including the grizzly and Kodiak subspecies, capable of hibernating for half the year.

Beaver

Castor canadensis (North American)

A massive aquatic rodent — North America's largest rodent — that fundamentally reshapes landscapes through dam-building, creating wetlands that support biodiversity and modern landscape restoration efforts.

Binturong

Arctictis binturong

The "bearcat" of Southeast Asian forests — a shaggy, long-tailed civet relative that smells strongly of popcorn (from a chemical it produces to mark territory), uses its prehensile tail to hang from branches, and is one of the only mammals that can delay its own pregnancy through embryonic diapause.

Capybara

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

The world's largest living rodent — a semi-aquatic South American herbivore the size of a large dog, famous for its docile temperament and remarkable tendency to be adopted as a companion by nearly every other animal it meets.

Caracal

Caracal caracal

A sleek, medium-sized wild cat of Africa and Asia with extraordinary tufted black ears and the most impressive leaping ability of any cat its size — capable of batting down multiple birds from a flock simultaneously.

Cassowary

Casuarius casuarius (Southern cassowary)

The world's most dangerous bird — a large, flightless ratite of the New Guinea and Australian rainforest, armed with a dagger-like inner toe claw 12 cm long; females are larger than males and leave all parental duties to the father; the brilliant blue-and-red neck wattles serve as status signals.

Clouded Leopard

Neofelis nebulosa

A secretive mid-sized cat of Southeast Asian forests with extraordinarily large canine teeth relative to its skull and the ability to descend trees headfirst — its cloud-like coat pattern gives it its name.

Crocodile

Crocodylus (genus, multiple species)

A large semi-aquatic reptilian predator that has changed remarkably little in 200 million years — the world's most powerful biting jaw and an apex predator of tropical rivers and estuaries.

Deer

Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed); Cervidae family

Slender, antlered ruminants found across nearly all continents — from the white-tailed deer of North America to the European red deer to tropical muntjacs — among the most successful large mammals in human-altered landscapes.

Ferret

Mustela putorius furo

A domesticated polecat used for centuries to hunt rabbits — popular as a curious, energetic pet, with strong predatory instincts and a reputation for both companionship and mischief.

Frog

Anura (order)

A diverse order of tailless amphibians — over 7,000 species worldwide, ranging from microscopic to football-sized, with skin that breathes, tongues that snap, and an outsized role in ecological monitoring.

Gerenuk

Litocranius walleri

The giraffe gazelle of East African thornbush — the gerenuk has an extraordinarily long neck and legs that allow it to stand bipedally on its hind legs to browse up to 2 metres high in acacia bushes; the only antelope that routinely stands on its hind legs to feed; a Somali name meaning giraffe-necked describes it precisely; unlike most antelopes, it never drinks water, obtaining all moisture from browse.

Giraffe

Giraffa camelopardalis

The tallest living land animal, with an extraordinarily long neck and legs and a patchwork coat unique to each individual.

Gorilla

Gorilla beringei (eastern); Gorilla gorilla (western)

The largest living primate — gentle vegetarian forest dwellers of Central Africa, organized in family groups led by silverback males, with tragic conservation crises across all four subspecies.

Hare

Lepus (genus)

A larger, faster cousin of the rabbit — distinguished by long legs, larger ears, solitary habits, and the dramatic spring boxing matches between competing males.

Horse

Equus ferus caballus

A large hoofed mammal domesticated 5,500 years ago on the Eurasian steppe — central to human history as transport, agriculture, warfare, and sport, with hundreds of breeds adapted to specific tasks.

Jaguar

Panthera onca

The largest cat in the Americas and the third-largest in the world, a powerfully built ambush predator with the strongest pound-for-pound bite force of any big cat.

Kangaroo

Osphranter rufus

The largest living marsupial and Australia's emblematic animal, a powerful hopper that can clear 9 m in a single leap and travel 70 km/h across arid plains.

Komodo Dragon

Varanus komodoensis

The world's largest living lizard — a monitor lizard of the Indonesian islands that can reach 3 metres and 70 kg, kills large prey including deer and water buffalo with venom-laced saliva and a bacteria-laden bite, and can reproduce by parthenogenesis; its ancient lineage and isolated island habitat make it genuinely prehistoric in character.

Lemur

Lemuriformes (infraorder)

A primate family endemic to Madagascar — over 100 species evolved in isolation for 60+ million years, ranging from the tiny mouse lemur to the dramatic ringtailed lemur, all critically threatened by deforestation.

Leopard

Panthera pardus

The most adaptable big cat — found from African savannas to Russian taiga to urban Mumbai — with rosette-spotted fur, a powerful bite, and remarkable ability to haul prey twice its weight up trees.

Lobster

Homarus americanus (American); Homarus gammarus (European)

A large marine crustacean — once a poor person's food in colonial New England, now an iconic luxury seafood and the foundation of major Maritime fisheries on both sides of the North Atlantic.

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.

Mara

Dolichotis patagonum

The Patagonian mara looks exactly like a small deer but is actually a giant guinea pig — a large South American rodent that runs on the tips of its hoofed toes, mates for life, and lives in colonial warrens where multiple pairs deposit their young in a communal den while taking turns guarding.

Markhor

Capra falconeri

The national animal of Pakistan — a large wild goat of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush with spectacular spiral horns that in old males can reach 160 cm; the horns spiral outward in a tight corkscrew, unique among wild goats; the markhor lives on vertiginous cliff faces inaccessible to most predators and is revered in the region — its Farsi name means "snake eater," though it does not actually eat snakes.

Meerkat

Suricata suricatta

A small social mongoose of southern African deserts — famous for upright sentinel posture, tightly cooperative family groups, and starring roles in nature documentaries and "The Lion King."

Narwhal

Monodon monoceros

An Arctic whale with a single long spiraled tusk — actually a tooth — that gives it the popular name "unicorn of the sea," found only in the high Arctic.

Onager

Equus hemionus

The wild ass of Asia — a fast, slender-legged equid midway between a horse and a donkey, the onager is built for speed across open desert steppe; in short sprints it can reach 70 km/h, making it one of the fastest land animals; populations have been severely reduced by hunting and habitat loss across most of their historical range; the Indian wild ass subspecies survives mainly in the Little Rann of Kutch.

Orangutan

Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean); P. abelii (Sumatran); P. tapanuliensis (Tapanuli)

A large reddish-orange great ape of Southeast Asian rainforests — the only great ape outside Africa, exclusively arboreal, with deep cognitive abilities and a critical conservation crisis.

Otter

Enhydra lutris

A marine mustelid that floats on its back and uses stones as tools to crack shellfish, with the densest fur of any mammal and a key role in kelp-forest ecology.

Pine Marten

Martes martes

A cat-sized mustelid of British and European forests — agile enough to chase squirrels through the tree canopy, the pine marten is one of Britain's rarest mammals; reintroduced to Wales and southern England, it is playing an unexpected role in reducing invasive grey squirrel populations, which flee the marten while native red squirrels learn to tolerate it.

Porcupine

Erethizon dorsatum (North American); Hystrix cristata (African)

A medium-large rodent armed with up to 30,000 barbed quills — solitary, slow-moving, and surprisingly difficult to predate due to a defense that has stopped lions, leopards, and pumas.

Proboscis Monkey

Nasalis larvatus

The monkey with the most extraordinary nose in the animal kingdom — the male's enormous, pendulous nose can grow longer than 10 cm, acts as a resonating chamber to amplify calls, and appears to be a signal of genetic fitness to females; found only in the rainforests and mangroves of Borneo.

Rabbit

Oryctolagus cuniculus (European)

A small social mammal that lives in burrows in groups of dozens — domesticated for fur, meat, and pets, with European rabbits as the iconic species but dozens of distinct rabbit species worldwide.

Raccoon

Procyon lotor

A masked, dexterous-pawed nocturnal mammal of North American forests and cities — exceptionally intelligent, omnivorous, and notorious for cracking open garbage cans and pet food containers.

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.

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.

Rhinoceros

Ceratotherium simum

The second-largest land animal after the elephant, a massive grazing rhino with a square mouth and two horns, recovered from the brink of extinction but still poached for those horns.

Salamander

Caudata (order)

A diverse order of amphibians with elongated bodies and tails — about 700 species worldwide, capable of regenerating limbs, organs, and even portions of the brain.

Serval

Leptailurus serval

Africa's most successful small wild cat — a tall, long-legged cat with enormous ears and a spotted coat, capable of leaping 3 metres into the air to bat down birds in flight; it has the highest hunting success rate of any wild cat, catching prey on more than half of all attempts.

Shark

Selachimorpha (subclass — over 500 species)

An ancient cartilaginous fish that has roamed the oceans for over 400 million years — predating dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of years — with over 500 living species ranging from the 18 cm dwarf lanternshark to the 18 m whale shark.

Sloth Bear

Melursus ursinus

A shaggy, long-snouted bear of the Indian subcontinent — specialised as a termite and ant eater, with long curved claws for tearing open mounds, a mobile lower lip and long tongue for extracting insects, and the ability to close its nostrils to keep out dust; the sloth bear's noisy sucking sounds as it vacuums up termites can be heard from 100 metres away.

Snow Leopard

Panthera uncia

The ghost of the mountains — a large cat of the high Himalayas and Central Asian ranges, rarely seen by humans; it has the longest tail relative to body size of any cat, which it wraps around itself like a scarf for warmth, and is known for its haunting, otherworldly call that sounds nothing like a roar.

Springbok

Antidorcas marsupialis

South Africa's national animal and emblem — a graceful medium-sized antelope of the Karoo and Kalahari known for its spectacular "pronking" display, in which it springs repeatedly into the air with arched back and stiff legs; once migrated in herds of millions across southern Africa.

Squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis (Eastern grey); Sciurus vulgaris (Eurasian red); many species

A small bushy-tailed rodent of trees and parks — among the most successful suburban-adapted mammals, with hoarding behavior that accidentally plants countless trees each year.

Starfish

Asteroidea (class)

A radially symmetric marine invertebrate (more correctly called a sea star) with hundreds of tube feet, the ability to regenerate lost arms, and a unique digestive system that turns inside-out to feed.

Sun Bear

Helarctos malayanus

The world's smallest bear — a tree-climbing, honey-obsessed omnivore from Southeast Asia with an extraordinarily long tongue, a chest patch shaped like a rising sun, and an unexpectedly expressive face.

Tapir

Tapirus spp.

A large, prehistoric-looking mammal from South America and Southeast Asia with a short prehensile trunk — one of the oldest surviving large-mammal body plans on Earth, more closely related to horses and rhinos than to pigs.

Tarsier

Tarsius spectrum and related Tarsius species

The primate with the largest eyes relative to body size of any mammal — a tiny nocturnal primate of Southeast Asian forests whose enormous, fixed eyes cannot move in their sockets (the animal must rotate its entire head to change direction of gaze); each eye is as large as its brain; it is the only entirely carnivorous primate, eating insects, lizards, and small birds.

Tiger

Panthera tigris

The largest cat species, an apex predator with distinctive orange-and-black stripes, native to Asian forests, grasslands, and mangroves.

Tree Kangaroo

Dendrolagus species

A kangaroo that climbs trees — tree kangaroos are macropods that returned to an arboreal life from terrestrial ancestors, re-evolving the short, curved claws, flexible forelimbs, and long counterbalancing tail needed for life in the forest canopy; they are slow and clumsy on the ground but agile in trees, able to leap between branches and drop 18 metres to the forest floor without injury.

Turtle

Testudines (order)

An ancient reptile order with a protective bony shell — over 350 species ranging from tiny musk turtles to massive sea turtles, with some species living over 150 years.

Uakari

Cacajao calvus

A South American monkey with a strikingly bare red face — health visible at a glance — that lives in flooded Amazonian forests and is among the most threatened primates in the Americas.

Walrus

Odobenus rosmarus

A massive Arctic marine mammal with iconic tusks — pinniped giant of the polar seas, weighing up to 2 tons, equipped with sensory whiskers that find clams in dark seabed mud.

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.

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