Portal:Animals

The Animals Portal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (/ˌænɪˈmeɪliə/). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft). They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology, and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology. The animal kingdom is divided into five infrakingdoms/superphyla, namely Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, Cnidaria and Bilateria. Most living animal species belong to the infrakingdom Bilateria, a highly proliferative clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan, and the vast majority of bilaterians belong to two large superphyla: the protostomes, which includes organisms such as arthropods, molluscs, flatworms, annelids and nematodes; and the deuterostomes, which include echinoderms, hemichordates and chordates, the latter of which contains the vertebrates. The much smaller basal phylum Xenacoelomorpha have an uncertain position within Bilateria. Animals first appear in the fossil record in the late Cryogenian period and diversified in the subsequent Ediacaran period in what is known as the Avalon explosion. Earlier evidence of animals is still controversial; the sponge-like organism Otavia has been dated back to the Tonian period at the start of the Neoproterozoic, but its identity as an animal is heavily contested. Nearly all modern animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 539 million years ago (Mya), and most classes during the Ordovician radiation 485.4 Mya. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived about 650 Mya during the Cryogenian period. (Full article...) Zoology (UK: /zuˈɒlədʒi/ zoo-OL-ə-jee, US: /zoʊˈɒlədʒi/ zoh-OL-ə-jee) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one of the primary branches of biology. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion ('animal'), and λόγος, logos ('knowledge', 'study'). (Full article...) Selected animal - Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. In Morro Bay, California The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg (30 and 100 lb), making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smallest marine mammals. Unlike most marine mammals, the sea otter's primary form of insulation is an exceptionally thick coat of fur, the densest in the animal kingdom. Although it can walk on land, the sea otter is capable of living exclusively in the ocean. The sea otter inhabits nearshore environments, where it dives to the sea floor to forage. It preys mostly on marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, various mollusks and crustaceans, and some species of fish. Its foraging and eating habits are noteworthy in several respects. Its use of rocks to dislodge prey and to open shells makes it one of the few mammal species to use tools. In most of its range, it is a keystone species, controlling sea urchin populations which would otherwise inflict extensive damage to kelp forest ecosystems. Its diet includes prey species that are also valued by humans as food, leading to conflicts between sea otters and fisheries. (Full article...) List of selected animal articles Jaguar Elephant Platypus Javan rhinoceros Tasmanian devil Aliger gigas Entoprocta Bird Leech Starfish Jellyfish Sea anemone Coral Emu Bird Seabird Australasian gannet California condor Puerto Rican amazon Bat Cougar Raccoon Lion Sheep Bluebuck Sea mink Guinea pig Springbok Sei whale Elk European hare Giant anteater Thylacine Impala Pennatomys Tammar wallaby Giraffe Koala Horseshoe bat Fossa (animal) Giant eland Golden jackal Australian Cattle Dog Dire wolf Beagle Bobcat Canada lynx Mantis Ant Grasshopper Horse-fly Galápagos tortoise Hawksbill sea turtle Common toad Noronha skink Red-bellied black snake Eastern green mamba Golden-crowned sifaka False potto Flocke Zebra Cutthroat trout Ocean sunfish Manta ray Goblin shark Pallid sturgeon Redback spider Megalodon Silky shark Selected pictures Rotifers Credit: Frank Fox The rotifers (/ˈroʊtɪfərz/, from Latin rota 'wheel' and -fer 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera /roʊˈtɪfərə/) of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals. (Full article...) Liguus virgineus Photograph: H. Zell Liguus virgineus, also known as the candy cane snail, is a species of snail in the family Orthalicidae. It is native to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. There have also been at least three reports of living specimens being found in the Florida Keys of the United States. The snail lives on trees and feeds on moss, fungi and microscopic algae covering the bark. Bryozoa Credit: Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1904) Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres (1⁄64 in) long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869 living species are known. Originally all of the crown group Bryozoa were colonial, but as an adaptation to a mesopsammal (interstitial spaces in marine sand) life or to deep-sea habitats, secondarily solitary forms have since evolved. Solitary species has been described in four genera; Aethozooides, Aethozoon, Franzenella and Monobryozoon). The latter having a statocyst-like organ with a supposed excretory function. (Full article...) Sexual dimorphism Photograph credit: Paolo Costa Baldi Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics. Differences may include secondary sex characteristics, size, weight, color, or markings, as well as behavioral and cognitive differences. In the butterfly species Colias dimera (also known as the Dimera sulphur), seen here mating in Venezuela, the male on the right is a brighter shade of yellow than the female. Hadrosauroidea Image credit: Debivort Representative dinosaurs of the Hadrosauroidea superfamily. The family Hadrosauridae contains the dinosaurs commonly known as "duck-billed" dinosaurs. They were ubiquitous herbivores during the Cretaceous period, and prey to theropoda such as Tyrannosaurus. The individual drawings represent typical genera. All these groups were alive in the late Cretaceous, and are generally known only from a single fossil site. Animals are shown to scale. Sponges Credit: Twilight Zone Expedition Team 2007, NOAA-OE Sponges or sea sponges are members of the metazoan phylum Porifera (/pəˈrɪfərəˌ pɔː-/ pər-IF-ər-ə, por-; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal animal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and are one of the most ancient members of macrobenthos, with many historical species being important reef-building organisms. (Full article...) Included are the yellow tube sponge, Aplysina fistularis, the purple vase sponge, Niphates digitalis, the red encrusting sponge, Spirastrella coccinea, and the gray rope sponge, Callyspongia sp. Thysanozoon nigropapillosum Photograph credit: Betty Wills Thysanozoon nigropapillosum, the yellow-spotted flatworm, is a species of marine flatworm in the family Pseudocerotidae. The species is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region, where it lives in shallow reef habitats. Flatworms are hermaphrodites, each being able to act as either male or female. As a donor of sperm, it can grip the margin of the recipient's body, using its two penises in a chopstick-like manner, and deposit sperm on the surface of the skin of the recipient, even while it is actively swimming. This picture shows a yellow-spotted flatworm photographed in Manta Ray Bay, on the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. The flatworm is seen swimming to the right at a depth of 12 metres (40 ft) by undulating the margins of its body. The pseudotentacles at the front have simple eyes and sensory receptors to enable the flatworm to find tunicates on which it feeds. Rock hyrax Photograph: Charles J. Sharp The rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), also known as the dassie, is one of four living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only living species in its genus. Like all hyraxes, it is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal between 4 kilograms (9 lb) and 5 kilograms (11 lb) in mass, with short ears and tail. The rock hyrax is found across Africa and the Middle East, at elevations up to 4,200 metres (13,800 ft). It resides in habitats with rock crevices which it uses to escape from predators. Along with the other hyrax species and the manatee, these are the animals most closely related to the elephant. Mating Photograph: Kateshortforbob Two poplar hawk-moths in the process of mating, the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms, generally for the purposes of sexual reproduction. Mating may involve copulation if the species' fertilization is internal, but not if it is external. Different species use different strategies to select a mate, including random mating, disassortative mating, assortative mating, and a mating pool. Loligo forbesii Illustration: Comingio Merculiano Loligo forbesii is a commercially important species of squid in the family Loliginidae. It can be found in the seas around Europe, its range extending through the Red Sea toward the East African coast. The squid lives at depths of 10 to 500 m (30 to 1,600 ft), feeding on fish, polychaetes, crustaceans, and other cephalopods. Nautilus diagram Diagram: K.D. Schroeder Anatomical diagram of an adult female chambered nautilus, the best known species of nautilus, a "living fossil" related to the octopuses. The animal has a primitive brain that forms a ring around its oesophagus, has four gills (all other cephalopods have only two), and can only move shell-first (seemingly "backwards") by pumping water out through its funnel. The shell and tentacles are shown here as shadows. Leopard seal Photograph: Godot13 The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx), also known as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic, after the southern elephant seal. Its only natural predators are the killer whale and possibly the elephant seal. It feeds on a wide range of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. Together with the Ross seal, the crabeater seal and the Weddell seal, it is part of the tribe of lobodontini seals. This image shows a leopard seal in the Antarctic Sound in 2016. See also the same seal yawning. Caesio teres Photograph: Nick Hobgood Caesio teres is a pelagic marine fish belonging to the family Caesionidae. Widely distributed throughout the tropical waters of the Indian and western Pacific Ocean, this species feeds on zooplankton. It can grow to 40 cm (16 in) in length. Brittle star Credit: Hans Hillewaert Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (from Latin ophiurus 'brittle star'; from Ancient Greek ὄφις (óphis) 'serpent' and οὐρά (ourá) 'tail'; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 cm (24 in) in length on the largest specimens. (Full article...) Pulmonata Artist: H. Morin; Restoration: Citron An illustration of various Pulmonata (and one predator arthropod in the lower right), an informal group of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. Pulmonata was previously a formal taxon but lost its status as one in 2010. The group includes many land and freshwater families, and several marine families. Most species have a shell, but no operculum, although the group does also include several shell-less slugs. Pulmonates are hermaphroditic, and some groups possess love darts. Annelid diagram Diagram: K.D. Schroeder A cross section of a post-clitellum segment of an annelid (ringed worm); almost all segments of an annelid contain the same set of organs and parts, a pattern called metamerism. Annelids have no lungs, but rather exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen directly through the moist skin when blood reaches the extremely fine capillaries of the body walls; a dry worm cannot breathe and will die of suffocation. The worm's red blood, which does not consist of platelets or red cells but mostly of a liquid containing suspended hemoglobin, makes a circuit up and down the animal in its closed circulatory systems. Bird-cherry ermine Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp The bird-cherry ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella) is a species of moth in the family Yponomeutidae, native to Europe and parts of Asia. The caterpillars are gregarious and feed on the leaves of the bird cherry tree, forming silken webbing for their own protection. They create further webbing on the trunk and near the base of the tree, which hides them as they pupate. This photograph shows one of many bird-cherry ermine caterpillar nests on a tree in Lahemaa National Park, Estonia. In some years, they are so numerous that they can completely strip a tree of its foliage. Velodona Illustration: Ewald Rübsamen Velodona togata is the only species in the octopus genus Velodona; the genus and species names come from the large membranes that connect its arms. It was first described by Carl Chun in his book Die Cephalopoden (from which this illustration is taken) in 1915. A second subspecies was described by Guy Coburn Robson in 1924. Flatworms Credit: Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur (1904) The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, platy, meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), helminth-, meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates. Being acoelomates (having no body cavity), and having no specialised circulatory and respiratory organs, they are restricted to having flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion. The digestive cavity has only one opening for both ingestion (intake of nutrients) and egestion (removal of undigested wastes); as a result, the food can not be processed continuously. (Full article...) Redeye gaper Photo: Steve Ross, NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration The redeye gaper (Chaunax stigmaeus) is a sedentary species of anglerfish native to deep waters in the western North Atlantic from the Georges Bank off New England southward to the Blake Plateau off South Carolina. It is a sedentary ambush predator that spends most of its time resting on the sea floor on its pectoral and pelvic fins, moving only to capture prey or avoid predators. Selected article - Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards. Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. in 1917 at Washington Biologists’ Field Club on Plummers Island Marcus Ward Lyon Jr. (February 5, 1875 – May 19, 1942) was an American mammalogist, bacteriologist, and pathologist. He was born into a military family, and demonstrated an early interest in zoology by collecting local wildlife around his father's army posts. He graduated from Brown University in 1897, and continued his studies at George Washington University while working part-time at the United States National Museum (USNM). At the same time, he taught at Howard University Medical School and later George Washington University Medical School. He received his Ph.D. from George Washington University in 1913. In 1919, he and his wife, Martha, moved to South Bend, Indiana to join a newly opened clinic. Prior to moving, Lyon had published many papers on mammalogy, both during and after his tenure at the USNM. In these papers, he had formally described six species, three genera, and one family. Once in South Bend, he began to publish medical studies, too, but continued his work in mammalogy, with a particular focus on the local fauna of Indiana. He published more than 160 papers during his career. Lyon acquired the rank of major in the Medical Reserve Corps during World War I, and was appointed president of the American Society of Mammalogists from 1931 to 1932. He was a member of Sigma Xi, the Society of American Bacteriologists, the Indiana Academy of Science, and the Biological Society of Washington. Lyon became a conservationist later in life. (Full article...) List of selected articles Carl Linnaeus Icelandic Phallological Museum Meerkat Manor Love dart Edward Drinker Cope Cooperative pulling paradigm Gigantorhynchus Apororhynchus Fauna of Puerto Rico List of camouflage methods Hugh B. Cott The Colours of Animals Counter-illumination Adaptive Coloration in Animals History of Animals Disruptive eye mask Mammal Brachiopod Human uses of animals Bryozoa Nemertea Animal navigation Animal coloration Anti-predator adaptation Animal Coloration (book) Destruction of ivory Dazzled and Deceived Deimatic behaviour Primate Rodent Evolution of lemurs Dermotherium Bharattherium Hare coursing Amphibian Crocodilia George Went Hensley Dinosaur Political Animals and Animal Politics Brown Dog affair Conservation of slow lorises Orangutan Belle Vue Zoological Gardens Horses in World War I Thoroughbred The Livestock Conservancy Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 Flight feather List of cetaceans List of fruit bats List of canids List of felids List of mephitids List of procyonids List of mustelids List of ursids List of mammals of Florida List of mammals of Korea Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office Dickin Medal List of U.S. state dogs List of lemur species The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates Glossary of bird terms List of parrots List of birds of Egypt List of ant subfamilies List of Odonata species of Great Britain Industrial melanism Millipede Isopoda Megarachne Onychopterella List of dinosaur genera List of U.S. state reptiles List of Testudines families Did you know - ...that the robin (pictured) has an average life expectancy of about one year, but has been known to live up to twelve years? ...that the Zebra mussel, originally native to Russia, has spread to North America, the British Isles, Spain, and Sweden, where it is considered a nuisance because it can form colonies large enough to block pipelines? ...that the Southern Giant Petrel is the leading predator to the Emperor Penguin, and may be responsible for up to 34% of chick deaths in some colonies? ...that some goats freeze for ten seconds whenever startled due to the genetic condition known as myotonia congenita, and have thus been dubbed "fainting goats"? ...that Eurasian badgers are believed to be partially responsible for the spread of bovine tuberculosis? General pictures The following are images from various animal-related articles on Wikipedia. A clade representation of seven dog breeds in relation to wolves. (from Zoology) Conrad Gessner (1516–1565). His Historiae animalium is considered the beginning of modern zoology. (from Zoology) A gun dog retrieving a duck during a hunt (from Animal) A venomous coral snake uses bright colours to warn off potential predators. (from Animal coloration) A brilliantly-coloured oriental sweetlips fish (Plectorhinchus vittatus) waits while two boldly-patterned cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) pick parasites from its skin. The spotted tail and fin pattern of the sweetlips signals sexual maturity; the behaviour and pattern of the cleaner fish signal their availability for cleaning service, rather than as prey (from Animal coloration) Idealised bilaterian body plan. With an elongated body and a direction of movement the animal has head and tail ends. Sense organs and mouth form the basis of the head. Opposed circular and longitudinal muscles enable peristaltic motion. (from Animal) Animals are unique in having the ball of cells of the early embryo (1) develop into a hollow ball or blastula (2). (from Animal) Non-bilaterians include sponges (centre) and corals (background). (from Animal) Ecdysis: a dragonfly has emerged from its dry exuviae and is expanding its wings. Like other arthropods, its body is divided into segments. (from Animal) Kelp gull chicks peck at red spot on mother's beak to stimulate the regurgitating reflex. (from Zoology) Squid chromatophores appear as black, brown, reddish and pink areas in this micrograph. (from Animal coloration) Examples of fauna in Olleros de Tera (Spain) (from Fauna) In Roseate Spoonbills 1905–1909, Abbott Handerson Thayer tried to show that even the bright pink of these conspicuous birds had a cryptic function. (from Animal coloration) Siberian tiger (from Mammalogy) Artistic vision: Still Life with Lobster and Oysters by Alexander Coosemans, c. 1660 (from Animal) The red pigment in a flamingo's plumage comes from its diet of shrimps, which get it from microscopic algae. (from Animal coloration) Male Goldie's bird-of-paradise displays to a female (from Animal coloration) A flower mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, uses special Aggressive mimicry. (from Animal coloration) Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck led the creation of a modern classification of invertebrates, breaking up Linnaeus's "Vermes" into 9 phyla by 1809. (from Animal) Cleaner wrasse signals its cleaning services to a big eye squirrelfish (from Animal coloration) The bilaterian gut develops in two ways. In many protostomes, the blastopore develops into the mouth, while in deuterostomes it becomes the anus. (from Animal) The microscopic cave snail Zospeum tholussum, found at depths of 743 to 1,392 m (2,438 to 4,567 ft) in the Lukina Jama–Trojama cave system of Croatia, is completely blind with a translucent shell (from Fauna) Spiral cleavage in a sea snail embryo (from Animal) The olm's blood makes it appear pink. (from Animal coloration) The black and yellow warning colours of the cinnabar moth caterpillar, Tyria jacobaeae, are avoided by some birds. (from Animal coloration) Side of zebrafish shows how chromatophores (dark spots) respond to 24 hours in dark (above) or light (below). (from Animal coloration) Bright coloration of orange elephant ear sponge, Agelas clathrodes signals its bitter taste to predators (from Animal coloration) Butterfly wing at different magnifications reveals microstructured chitin acting as diffraction grating. (from Animal coloration) This frog changes its skin colour to control its temperature. (from Animal coloration) Warning coloration of the skunk in Edward Bagnall Poulton's The Colours of Animals, 1890 (from Animal coloration) A Euplokamis comb jelly is bioluminescent. (from Animal coloration) Hydrothermal vent mussels and shrimps (from Animal) Papuan, Australian and New Zealand fauna. This image was likely first published in the first edition (1876–1899) of the Nordisk familjebok. (from Fauna) The hawk-cuckoo resembles a predatory shikra, giving the cuckoo time to lay eggs in a songbird's nest unnoticed (from Animal coloration) The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived; it can be up to 33.6 metres (110 ft) long. (from Animal) Linnaeus's table of the animal kingdom from the first edition of Systema Naturae (1735) (from Zoology) The brilliant iridescent colours of the peacock's tail feathers are created by Structural coloration. (from Animal coloration) Sexual reproduction is nearly universal in animals, such as these dragonflies. (from Animal) Predators, such as this ultramarine flycatcher (Ficedula superciliaris), feed on other animals. (from Animal) Robert Hooke's Micrographia (from Animal coloration) A praying mantis in deimatic or threat pose displays conspicuous patches of colour to startle potential predators. This is not warning coloration as the insect is palatable. (from Animal coloration) A camouflaged orange oak leaf butterfly, Kallima inachus (centre) has protective resemblance. (from Animal coloration) Animal anatomical engraving from Handbuch der Anatomie der Tiere für Künstler. (from Zoology) Sides of beef in a slaughterhouse (from Animal) Simplified schematic of an island's fauna – all its animal species, highlighted in boxes (from Fauna) Fish and frog melanophores are cells that can change colour by dispersing or aggregating pigment-containing bodies. (from Animal coloration) Myxozoans such as Myxobolus cerebralis are single-celled parasites, never more than 20 μm across. (from Animal) Related portals Topics Animal colouration Animal rights Anthrozoology Ethology Fauna Flying and gliding animals Invertebrate Neuroethology Vermin Worm Zoology The following table lists estimated numbers of described extant species for the animal groups with the largest numbers of species, along with their principal habitats (terrestrial, fresh water, and marine), and free-living or parasitic ways of life. Species estimates shown here are based on numbers described scientifically; much larger estimates have been calculated based on various means of prediction, and these can vary wildly. For instance, around 25,000–27,000 species of nematodes have been described, while published estimates of the total number of nematode species include 10,000–20,000; 500,000; 10 million; and 100 million. Using patterns within the taxonomic hierarchy, the total number of animal species—including those not yet described—was calculated to be about 7.77 million in 2011. Phylum Example No. of Species Land Sea Fresh water Free- living Parasitic Annelids 17,000 Yes (soil) Yes 1,750 Yes 400 Arthropods 1,257,000 1,000,000 (insects) >40,000 (Malac- ostraca) 94,000 Yes >45,000 Bryozoa 6,000 Yes 60–80 Yes Chordates 65,000 45,000 23,000 13,000 18,000 9,000 Yes 40 (catfish) Cnidaria 16,000 Yes Yes (few) Yes >1,350 (Myxozoa) Echinoderms 7,500 7,500 Yes Molluscs 85,000 107,000 35,000 60,000 5,000 12,000 Yes >5,600 Nematodes 25,000 Yes (soil) 4,000 2,000 11,000 14,000 Platyhelminthes 29,500 Yes Yes 1,300 Yes 3,000–6,500 >40,000 4,000–25,000 Rotifers 2,000 >400 2,000 Yes Sponges 10,800 Yes 200-300 Yes Yes Total number of described extant species as of 2013: 1,525,728 Categories Category puzzle Select [►] to view subcategories Animals Animals by conservation status Animals by year of formal description Behavior by type of animal Animals by adaptation Animals by common name Animals by habitat Animals by location Individual animals Lists of animals Works about animals Amphibians Animal writers Animal cognition Animal common names Dinosaurs Animal equipment Evolution of animals Animal health Animals and humans Hybrid animals Insects Invertebrates Animal locomotion Mammals Nocturnal animals Animal nutrition ParaHoxozoa Parazoa Animal physiology Reptiles Robotic animals Set index articles on animals Animal sexuality Sponges Animal taxa Vendobionta Visual arts by animals Wildlife Animal redirects Images of animals Animal stubs WikiProjects WikiProject family tree WikiProjects WikiProject Science WikiProject Biology WikiProject Tree of Life WikiProject Animals More projects (By taxa) WikiProject Arthropods WikiProject Insects Ant task force WikiProject Beetles WikiProject Lepidoptera WikiProject Phasmatodea WikiProject Spiders Molluscs: WikiProject Bivalves WikiProject Cephalopods WikiProject Gastropods Vertebrates: WikiProject Amphibians and Reptiles WikiProject Dinosaurs WikiProject Turtles WikiProject Birds Domestic pigeon task force WikiProject Poultry WikiProject Fishes WikiProject Aquarium Fishes WikiProject Sharks WikiProject Mammals WikiProject Cats WikiProject Cetaceans WikiProject Dogs Dog breeds task force WikiProject Equine Horse breeds task force WikiProject Primates WikiProject Rodents WikiProject Bats (Other) WikiProject Animal anatomy WikiProject Animal rights WikiProject Cryptozoology WikiProject Neuroscience WikiProject Organismal Biomechanics WikiProject Zoo Things you can do Here are some Open Tasks : Copyedit: Merge: GLAM/ARKive donated texts into articles about endangered species. Improve: Photoperiodism, Tool use by non-human animals, Omnivore, Animal suicide, Sphaerium beckmani (a species in family Sphaeriidae), Requests: Mammals: Invertebrates: Campocraspedon Fishes: Zaniolepis frenata Merge: GLAM/ARKive donated texts into articles about endangered species. 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