36 Animals That Start With A (2024)

Looking for animals that start with A? You’re in the right place! We have a long list of all sorts of animals that start with the letter A!

Can you name 10 animals that start with A off the top of your head? Yes? Awesome! No? Don’t worry! It’s perfectly ok if the answer is no.

While the complete list of animals beginning with A is much longer, we decided to create this blog post with many fascinating, remarkable, cute, quirky, massive, and fast creatures, from mammals to reptiles.

Today, we are here to teach you a few animals starting with A. You probably know many of them, and we are sure you will have many “A-ha!” moments while going through this animal list.

Still, some of these wild animals aren’t as popular and are likely to be a new addition to your personal animal dictionary.

Whether you’re studying, working on a school project, teaching your children, or creating fun games to play with the little ones, this incredible list of animal names starting with A will be very useful.

Pssst: Have we missed your favorite animal that starts with the letter A? Then let us know in the comments, and we will add it to this article.

Animals That Start With A

Here are some of the most exciting animals that begin with the letter A.

Aardvark

The aardvarks look like pigs, have rabbit-like ears and kangaroo’s tails, yet they aren’t related to any of them.

These African animals are also very skilled diggers! They can dig up to 2 feet in 15 seconds only!

Addax

The addax is famous for its beautiful, twisting horns, which are natural for females and males.

These white antelopes also have broad, flat hooves, which prevents them from sinking into the desert sand. Still, the addax is, unfortunately, one of the most endangered mammals in the world.

Adelie Penguin

The Adelie penguins are one of the animals that start with the letter A.

Although these animals look very cute, the Adelie penguins are feisty and known to take on potential predators, like large seabirds or seals.

African Bush Elephant

The largest land mammals in the world, the African bush elephants are also the largest of the three extant elephant species, reaching up to 13 feet in height and 24 feet in length.

Their trunk is about 7 feet long and can suck up to 270.5 liquid ounces.

African Civet

These raccoon-like animals that start with A have about 40 sharp teeth to catch prey.

Besides, these civets produce a musk that humans have used, including in perfumes from Channel.

African Clawed Frog

The African clawed frogs are highly aggressive and ferocious toward other animals, not humans. Their hind feet are webbed, while the front feet are not but have claws instead.

Interestingly, these animals that start with the letter A are lazy and will lie still for almost 12 months, only moving to breathe.

African Forest Elephant

These large land mammals are critically endangered by the IUCN because of habitat loss and poaching for their ivory tusks.

On top of that, the Africa forest elephants have the slowest reproductive rate of all elephant species, making any population decline by poaching even more devastating.

Anaconda

The green anaconda is the biggest snake in the world – not because it is exceptionally long, but because it is so heavy.

This Brazilian animal has a body length between 20 and 30 feet, can weigh up to 550 pounds, and can live up to 30 years in the wild.

African Penguin

The African penguins can dive for up to 2.5 minutes and swim at a maximum speed of 12 mph to catch food.

One of their most distinctive features is a patch of bare skin above each eye, which helps them cope with high temperatures as the hotter they get, the more blood flows to these areas, allowing them to cool down.

Australian Green Tree Frog

The Australian green tree frog is native to Australia and New Guinea. As giant frogs, they can grow up to 4.5 inches in length. The females are larger than the males.

Also, these frogs are very docile and have a varied diet that consists of spiders, smaller frogs, cockroaches, moths, and locusts.

African Wild Dog

Highly social, African wild dogs are known for helping ill or weak pack members. These dogs do everything together, even hunting, but pups are given priority for feeding.

African wild dogs are among the fastest land animals and can run at a maximum speed of 44 mph.

Unfortunately, the African wild dog is one of the world’s most endangered mammals. They live in savannas, grasslands, forests, and deserts in Africa.

Albatross

With the largest wingspan of any living bird, the Albatrosses is one of the largest extant birds on earth, and their wingspan measures up to 12 feet across.

Also, albatrosses may spend a year or more at sea without setting foot on land. They may touch down to feed, but not for long, or sharks may catch them.

Aldabra Giant Tortoise

Native to Seychelles, these giant tortoises are among the longest-living creatures in the world, if not the longest.

It’s speculated they can live for more than 200 years, but no one knows precisely how long they can live.

Alligator

Another one of the most popular animals that start with A, alligators are ancient creatures. Scientists have found alligator DNA that is around 200 million years old, proving they lived during the Jurassic period.

Currently, only two species are found–the American and Chinese ones.

Alpaca

Related to llamas, alpacas are highly sociable and curious animals that start with A. They are native to the Andes in South America and live happily in high altitudes up to 2.98 miles.

Curiously, alpacas can have a range of colors, from deep blue-black to white.

Amazon River Dolphin

The Amazon river dolphins, also known as the pink dolphins, are the largest freshwater dolphins in the world.

In the Amazon Rainforest, they live in rivers, lakes, and small tributaries. As they grow older, their color change from dark gray to pink.

Amur Leopard

With only around 100 animals in the wild, the Amur leopards are the rarest big cats in the world. They live in a small range across the Russian-Chinese border and are protected animals in Russia.

Like human fingerprints, the Amur leopards have unique spot patterns all over their bodies.

Angelfish

While female and male angelfish look the same, these animals that begin with A may display a variety of colors, including blue, silver, black, green, or a mixture of these colors.

Currently, there are around 90 species of marine angelfish.

Ant

Another one of the most well-known animals that start with A, there are more than 12,000 identified ant types globally, but it’s speculated to be about 14,000 overall.

Ants are very strong insects, and they can carry between 10 to 100 times their own body mass!

Anteater

Anteaters are animals from the southern hemisphere that have no teeth. They eat by basically licking and ingesting about 35,000 ants every day with their 2-foot long tongue.

These animals have the longest tongue of any animal on earth.

Antelope

Antelope are herbivores that prefer tender, young grass. These animals that start with A usually live in herds but can also live alone, especially if food is scarce.

Unlike deer, antelopes keep the same horns for their entire life rather than losing them annually.

Arctic Fox

Arctic foxes, another of the most well-known animals that start with A, are small, cute creatures that change their fur color seasonally to blend into the snow, hide from possible predators, and keep them warm.

Their coats get shorter and turn brownish or grayish in the summer, helping them camouflage into bare rocks and dirt.

Arctic Hare

Pretty much like the Arctic fox, the Arctic hares change their coat seasonally from brown to white for body-temperature management and camouflage. However, those animals that live in the far north of the Arctic remain white year-round.

All Arctic hares have black eyelashes to protect their eyes from glare.

Arctic Wolf

Arctic wolves inhabit northern Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. Because these animals live in relative isolation, they are the only wolf species not threatened with extinction.

However, climate change decreases the population of Arctic hares and musk ox, reducing the Arctic wolves’ food supply.

Armadillo

Having a barrel-shaped body, armadillos are covered by natural armor. These armors may protect them from predators but not from cars, a significant threat to this animal.

They are native to the American continent and can be found from southern Brazil to the south of the US in Texas, where they are considered the official state animal.

Asian Giant Hornet

The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest hornet species, with queens exceeding 2 inches and workers between 1.5 inches.

Because of their large mandibles that can quickly strike and decapitate prey, a single hornet can exterminate over 40 bees per minute!

Asian Palm Civet

The Asian palm civets are famous because of their poop! That’s because kopi luwak, a coffee type, is made of coffee beans that passed through the digestive system of these animals, thus being extracted from their feces.

Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive coffee types in the world, with prices ranging between $35 and $100 a cup.

Avocet

Avocets are wading bird species that prefer to live near salt water, but they can also live by freshwater bodies.

These black and white animals have long curved beaks and striking plumage.

Because of their long, sinewy legs, it appears avocets are walking on stilts.

Aye-Aye

Native to Madagascar, Aye-Ayes are small mammals that can live up to 20 years in the wild.

These rare animals are related to apes and chimpanzees and spend their lives in the canopy of rainforest trees, avoiding coming down to earth.

Axolotl

Axolotls are amphibians that may be brownish-gray in the wild and whitish-pink in captivity.

They belong to the salamander family and have an excellent regenerative capacity, meaning they regenerate damaged or lost limbs, spinal cords, hearts, and even brain parts.

American Bison

Bison are the symbolic animals of the Great Plains in America, and many people confuse these massive mammals with buffaloes.

By any name, they are the heaviest land animals in North America, weighing between 930 to 2,200 pounds.

Alligator Snapping Turtle

These prehistoric-looking turtles are native to the southeastern United States, and they are the largest freshwater turtles in the country, measuring 26 inches on average.

These animals that start with A can live between 50 and 100 years old and weigh between 175 and 220 pounds.

Andean Condor

Considered the largest birds of prey in the world, the Andean condor has a maximum wingspan of 10 feet 10 inches and a weight of 33 pounds.

These massive birds are native to the western coast of South America.

Asian Water Monitor

Next on our list of animals that start with A is the Asian water monitor, the second largest lizard in the world.

They are not only big, but they are also fast. Asian water monitors can swim at a maximum speed of 25 mph.

Aardwolf

Neither aardvark nor wolf, the aardwolves are one of the four hyenas species, so they are related to the striped hyenas, brown hyenas, and spotted hyenas.

Unlike the other species of the family, aardwolves prefer insects like termites instead of large prey.

Atlantic Puffin

Last on our list of animals that start with A are the Atlantic puffins. These cute pelagic birds are among four species of puffins and have a unique appearance.

Their curved, colorful beak changes color during the year. Curiously, these seabirds spend most of their lives out at sea, resting on the waves when not swimming. They come to the coast only to breed.