Animals in Spanish
Apr 13, 2023
• 4 minutes
Updated Jul 31, 2023
¿Cuál es tu animal favorito?
Here’s a list of animal names. Interestingly, most of them have a set gender for the species (and it’s totally random). If we want to specifically refer to a biological gender inside a species we’ll have to add either “macho” or “hembra” right after: la ardilla macho, la ardilla hembra, el canguro macho, el canguro hembra.
With some animal names (and again it’s totally random) we’ll have the choice to make them either feminine or masculine by adjusting the ending. And then for horse, we have different names for male and female.
Lastly, “águila” is feminine, but since it starts with an “a”, we have to use the masculine article.
Here’s the list:
La abeja - The bee
El águila - The eagle
El alce - The moose
La araña - The spider
La ardilla - The squirrel
El avestruz - The ostrich
La avispa - The wasp
La ballena - The whale
El buey - The ox
El búfalo - The buffalo
El búho - The owl
El buitre - The vulture
El burro/la burra - The donkey
El caballito de mar - The sea-horse
El caballo/la yegua - The horse
La cabra - The goat
El caimán - The caiman
El calamar - The squid
El camaleón - The chameleon
El camello - The camel
El cangrejo - The crab
El canguro - The kangaroo
El caracol - The snail
La cebra - the zebra
El cerdo/la cerda - The pig
El chacal - The jackal
El chimpancé - The chimpanzee
El ciempiés - The centipede
El ciervo/la cierva - The deer
La cigüeña - The stork
El cisne - The swan
La cobaya - The guinea pig
El cocodrilo - The crocodile
El cóndor - The condor
La cucaracha - The cockroach
El cuervo - The raven
El delfín - The dolphin
El dromedario - The dromedary (one-humped camel)
El elefante/la elefanta - The elephant
El erizo/la eriza - The hedgehog
El escorpión - The scorpion
La estrella de mar - The starfish
El flamenco - The flamingo
La foca - The seal
La gacela - The gazelle
La gallina - The hen
El gallo - The rooster
La gamba/el camarón - The shrimp
El ganso/la gansa - The goose
El gato/la gata - The cat
La gaviota - The seagull
El gorila - The gorilla
El grillo/la grilla - The cricket
El guepardo - The cheetah
El gusano - The worm
El halcón - The falcon
La hiena - The hyena
El hipopótamo/la hipopótama - The hippopotamus
La hormiga - The ant
La iguana - The iguana
La jirafa - The giraffe
El koala - The koala
El león/la leona - The lion
El leopardo/la leoparda - The leopard
La libélula - The dragonfly
El lince - The lynx
La llama - The llama
El lobo/la loba - The wolf
El loro - The parrot
El manatí - The manatee
El mapache - The raccoon
La mariposa - The butterfly
La mariquita - The ladybug
La marmota - The groundhog
La medusa - The jellyfish
La mofeta - The skunk
El mono/la mona - The monkey
La morsa - The walrus
La mosca - The fly
El murciélago/la murciélaga - The bat
La orca - The orca
El oso/la osa - The bear
La oveja - The sheep
El pájaro/la pájara - The bird
La pantera - The panther
El pato/la pata - The duck
El pavo/la pava - The turkey
El pavo real/la pava real - The peacock
El perro/la perra - The dog
El pingüino - The penguin
La pulga - The flea
El pulpo - The octopus
La rana - The frog
La rata - The rat
El ratón - The mouse
La raya - The stingray
El rinoceronte/la rinoceronta - The rhino
El saltamontes - The grasshopper
La serpiente - The snake
El tiburón - the shark
El tigre/la tigresa - The tiger
El topo/la topa - The mole
El toro - The bull
La tortuga - The turtle
La vaca - The cow
El zorro/la zorra - The fox
Note about “cigüeña” and “pingüino”: The “u” in these two words has a diéresis on top of it, which means that it should be pronounced. As you probably know, in Spanish, by default, we don’t pronounce the “u” in syllables “gue” and “gui”. That diéresis breaks the rule.