1
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.
If you've been searching for animals that start with R, you'll find 5 detailed animals below. We're not interested in giving you only a list of names — every entry on this page links to a full profile with the kind of detail you'd actually want to know.
For animals, that means taxonomy, habitat, diet, range, lifespan, and conservation status.
Table of contents
| Rabbit | Raccoon | Red Panda | Reindeer |
| Rhinoceros |
List of Animals That Start With R
2
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.
3
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.
4
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.
5
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.
About animals starting with R
That's our current list of animals starting with the letter R. We add new entries every week — if you have a favorite animal starting with R that isn't on this page, let us know and we'll write it up.
Looking for more? Try animals that end with R, or contain R anywhere in the name.