Amazing Animals: Amazing Animals, List 1

Explore the world of animals with this collection of words that will make you go hog wild! From aardvarks to zebras, it's sure to be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys!

Here are links to our lists in the collection: List 1, List 2, List 3, A Vocabulary Bestiary
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aardvark
    an African mammal with a long snout for eating insects
    Brookfield Zoo today announced the birth of an aardvark at the zoo, the first born there in a decade. Chicago Tribune (Feb 22, 2012)
  2. alpaca
    domesticated mammal with long silky fleece
    Native to the Andes Mountains in South America, alpacas are domesticated camelids — not wild — and are related to camels and llamas. Washington Post (May 22, 2017)
  3. aphid
    any of various small plant-sucking insects
    It turns out these little spotted beetles are hungry, hungry hippos when it comes to aphids — small sap-sucking insects that can wreak havoc on your indoor and outdoor plants. Salon (Feb 6, 2022)
  4. barnacle
    marine crustacean with feathery food-catching appendages
    At last, when Ess seemed calm, Jinny stepped out of the tide pool, wincing at the barnacles under her own feet. Orphan Island
  5. buffalo
    a ruminant mammal resembling an ox
    But the African buffalo is considered the most dangerous and unpredictable large mammal of Africa. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
  6. caterpillar
    a wormlike and often hairy larva of a moth or butterfly
    I knew caterpillars turned into butterflies because Roberto had told me, but I wanted to know more. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child
  7. cicada
    stout-bodied insect with large membranous wings
    Tree branches dance to the songs of the rustling leaves and cicadas. King and the Dragonflies
  8. cow
    female of domestic cattle
    They kept the fires going, looked after the animals, milked the cows, fed and watered the livestock. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
  9. crow
    a black bird having a raucous call
    The giant shadow crow cawed as they soared above us. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
  10. falcon
    a diurnal bird of prey
    He knew there was a falcon’s nest in the cliffs above the meadow, and he summoned the bird by its name. A Wizard of Earthsea
  11. gorilla
    largest anthropoid ape
    She went to Africa to help protect gorillas. Merci Suárez Changes Gears
  12. hare
    swift long-eared mammal larger than a rabbit
    This wasn’t no ordinary rabbit, this was a hare of unnatural ability. Dread Nation
  13. iguana
    large tropical American arboreal lizard with a spiny crest
    An iguana is a large lizard, and looks fearsome, very much like a miniature dragon. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story
  14. kiwi
    a flightless bird native to New Zealand
    An isolated archipelago, New Zealand once hosted almost 200 bird species, many of them, like the iconic kiwi, having become flightless over generations because of a lack of natural predators. Science Magazine (Jul 25, 2016)
  15. leech
    carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worm
    The pale man in the bed smiled faintly as the leeches nursed of his blood. A Clash of Kings
  16. lobster
    any of several edible marine crustaceans
    I stare at a big red lobster on my plate, trying to figure out how to dig into it to get to the meat. Pride
  17. millipede
    an arthropod with a segmented body and many legs
    A newfound species of millipede has more legs than any other creature on the planet—a mind-boggling 1,300 of them. Scientific American (Dec 16, 2021)
  18. newt
    small and usually brightly colored amphibian
    The newt, although fairly common in English ponds, is not often seen by ordinary people because it is a shy and murky creature. Matilda
  19. piranha
    small carnivorous fish of South America
    A mutant strain of piranha fish in Venezuela is getting bigger and heading north, leaping out of the water and chomping people. The Guardian (Jul 15, 2010)
  20. quail
    a small game bird
    We found quail tracks in the dust, quail tracks in the sand and mud of stream beds, bits of quail-feather fluff in the dry tips of the sage. Travels with Charley in Search of America
  21. salmon
    any of various large food and game fishes of northern waters
    As a result, the gravel beds of the streams which the salmon seek out for spawning received an unusual abundance of eggs. Silent Spring
  22. sloth
    a slow-moving arboreal mammal of South and Central America
    A sloth in Colombia's Antioquia region found itself in a spot of danger as it climbed an electricity pole and decided to hang from live wires. BBC (Feb 15, 2022)
  23. swan
    an aquatic bird with a very long neck
    It’s not unusual today to find swans on rivers and lakes, splitting their time between pulling up water plants and punishing the unwise with powerful blows of their bony-elbowed wings. New York Times (Apr 28, 2022)
  24. tick
    a small parasitic arachnid with barbed proboscis
    When she returned to her doctor’s office, a nurse practitioner asked, “Do you remember having a tick bite?” Scientific American (May 22, 2022)
  25. weasel
    small carnivorous mammal with short legs and elongated body
    Black-footed ferrets are a type of weasel easily recognized by dark eye markings resembling a robber’s mask. Washington Times (Feb 17, 2021)
Created on Wed Jul 06 17:17:48 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Jul 08 11:02:24 EDT 2022)

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