animal - a living organism characterized by voluntary movementorganism, being - a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently tracking, trailing - the pursuit (of a person or animal) by following tracks or marks they left behind critter - a regional term for creature (especially domestic animals) creepy-crawly - an animal that creeps or crawls (such as worms or spiders or insects) darter - a person or other animal that moves abruptly and rapidly; "squirrels are darters" peeper - an animal that makes short high-pitched sounds ectotherm, poikilotherm - an animal whose body temperature varies with the temperature of its surroundings; any animal except birds and mammals range animal - any animal that lives and grazes in the grassy open land of western North America (especially horses, cattle, sheep) vermin - any of various small animals or insects that are pests; e.g. cockroaches or rats varment, varmint - any usually predatory wild animal considered undesirable; e.g. coyote scavenger - any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter work animal - an animal trained for and used for heavy labor migrator - an animal (especially birds and fish) that travels between different habitats at particular times of the year molter, moulter - an animal (especially birds and arthropods and reptiles) that periodically shed their outer layer (feathers or cuticle or skin or hair) pet - a domesticated animal kept for companionship or amusement stayer - a person or other animal having powers of endurance or perseverance; "the horse that won the race is a good stayer" stunt - a creature (especially a whale) that has been prevented from attaining full growth female - an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa) male - an animal that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that can fertilize female gametes (ova) adult - any mature animal giant - any creature of exceptional size survivor - an animal that survives in spite of adversity; "only the fittest animals were survivors of the cold winters" mutant - an animal that has undergone mutation herbivore - any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other plants; "horses are herbivores"; "the sauropod dinosaurs were apparently herbivores" insectivore - any organism that feeds mainly on insects acrodont - an animal having teeth consolidated with the summit of the alveolar ridge without sockets pleurodont - an animal having teeth consolidate with the inner surface of the alveolar ridge without sockets actinomycete - any bacteria (some of which are pathogenic for humans and animals) belonging to the order Actinomycetales zooplankton - animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae conceptus, fertilized egg, embryo - an animal organism in the early stages of growth and differentiation that in higher forms merge into fetal stages but in lower forms terminate in commencement of larval life chordate - any animal of the phylum Chordata having a notochord or spinal column invertebrate - any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification metazoan - any animal of the subkingdom Metazoa; all animals except protozoans and sponges omnivore - an animal that feeds on both animal and vegetable substances |