This page includes all animals that start with the letter P that we plan to cover on Fact Animal. As we publish new content, each of these animal types will be hyperlinked to their dedicated fact pages.
From Pacu to Puma, read extraordinary facts about animals beginning with the letter P.
P
Pacu
Pacarana
Pacific Coast Tick
Pacific Cod
Pacific Hagfish
Pacific Halibut
Pacific Lamprey
Pacific Loon
Pacific Salmon
Pacific Sleeper Shark
Pacific Spaghetti Eel
Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Paddle-tailed Darner
Paddletail Newt
Paddlefish
Paddy Bird
Paddyfield Pipit
Paddyfield Warbler
Pademelon
Painted Bunting
Painted Lady
Painted Reed Frog
Painted Snipe
Painted Stork
Painted Terrapin
Painted Turtle
Painted Wolf
Pale-bellied mourner
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Pale Clouded Yellow
Pale Spear-nosed Bat
Pale Thrush
Pale-throated Sloth
Pale-yellow Robin
Pallas’s Cat
Pallid Bat
Pallid Cuckoo
Pallid Harrier
Pallid Sturgeon
Pallid Swift
Palm Civet
Palm Cockatoo
Palm Rat
Palm Warbler
Palmetto Tortoise Beetle
Palo Verde Beetle
Panda
Pangolin
Pantaloon Bee
Panther
Panther Chameleon
Panther Grouper
Panther Puffer
Panthera Atrox
Paper Wasp
Papillon (Dog)
Papuan Frogmouth
Papuan Python
Paradise Fish
Paradise Flycatcher
Paradise Flying Snake
Paradise Kingfisher
Paradise Riflebird
Paradise Shelduck
Paradise Tanager
Paradoxical Frog
Parakeet
Parasitic Jaeger
Parrot
Parrot Snake
Parrotfish
Parrotlet
Parson Russell Terrier
Parson’s Chameleon
Parson’s Finch
Partridge
Partridge Pigeon
Parula Warbler
Passenger Pigeon
Passion Butterfly
Patagonian Conure
Patagonian Mara
Patagonian Opossum
Patas Monkey
Patterdale Terrier
Pea Aphid
Pea Crab
Pea Puffer
Peach-faced Lovebird
Peacock
Peacock Bass
Peacock Butterfly
Peacock Spider
Peacock Worm
Peacock-Pheasant
Peagle
Peanut Worm
Peanut Bug
Pearl Dace
Pearl Gourami
Pearl Perch
Pearlspot Cichlid
Pearlfish
Peccary
Pectoral Sandpiper
Pekin Robin
Pekingese
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Pelagic Goby
Pelican
Pelican Eel
Pelican Spider
Pemba Flying Fox
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Pen Shell
Pencilfish
Penduline Tit
Penguin
Penis Snake
Peninsula Cooter
Pennant-winged Nightjar
Pennsylvania Firefly
Pennsylvania Wood Cockroach
Peppered Moth
Peppermint Angelfish
Perch
Père David’s Deer
Peregrine Falcon
Perentie
Peringuey’s Adder
Perro De Presa Canario
Persian Cat
Pesquet’s Parrot (Dracula Parrot)
Pharaoh Ant
Pharaoh Hound
Pheasant
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Philippine Cobra
Philippine Crocodile
Philippine Eagle
Phoenix Chicken
Picardy Spaniel
Pictus Catfish
Pied Tamarin
Pied-Billed Grebe
Pig
Pig-Nosed Turtle
Pigeon
Pika
Pike
Pileated Woodpecker
Pill Bug
Pilot Whale
Pin-tailed Sandgrouse
Pin-tailed Whydah
Pinacate Beetle
Pine Beetle
Pine Marten
Pine Siskin
Pine Snake
Pine Weevil
Pinfish
Pink Bollworm
Pink Fairy Armadillo
Pink Salmon
Pink-Necked Green Pigeon
Pipe Snake
Pipefish
Pipistrelle
Piranha
Pistol Shrimp
Pit Bull
Pit Viper
Plains Hognose Snake
Platypus
Plott Hounds
Plover
Plymouth Rock Chicken
Pocket Beagle
Pointer
Poison Dart Frog
Polar Bear
Polecat
Polish Chickens
Polish Lowland Sheepdog
Polka Dot Stingray
Pollock
Polyphemus Moth
Pomeranian
Pomeranian Goose
Pompano
Pond Skater
Pony
Poodle
Pool Frog
Porbeagle Shark
Porcelain Crab
Porcupine
Porcupinefish
Porpoise
Portuguese Man o’ War
Portuguese Podengo
Possum
Pot-Bellied Pig
Potato Beetle
Potoo
Potoroo
Powderpost Beetle
Prairie Chicken
Prairie Dog
Prairie Rattlesnake
Prawn
Praying Mantis
Proboscis Monkey
Procoptodon
Pronghorn
Prehensile-tailed Porcupine
Pudu
Puff Adder
Pufferfish
Puffin
Pug
Puggle
Puli
Puma
Pumi
Pumpkin Patch Tarantula
Purple Emperor Butterfly
Purple Finch
Purple Gallinule
Purple Tree Tarantula
Puss Caterpillar
Pygmy Hippopotamus
Pygmy Marmoset
Pygmy Owl
Pygmy Python
Pygmy Rattlesnake
Pygmy Shark
Pyjama Shark
Pyrenean Mastiff
Pyrenean Shepherd
Pyrosome
Python
Please see our Animal A-Z list for animals that start with different letters.
Animal Names That Start With P
Read on for an overview of each of the animals listed above that begin with the letter P.
Paca
Pacas are one of a gazillion weird rodents from South America. They’re large, up to a meter long, and have brown fur with rows of spots. They’re narrower at the front than the back and have bulging, brown eyes.
Fun Fact: When South America joined North America there was an enormous and almost one-way influx of animals from the North to the South. Pacas are one of the few successful migrants into North America.
Pacarana
The Pacarana, also called the false paca, is a unique, large-headed rodent from South America. They’re the only member of their family left and are typically dark grey with rows of white spots or stripes down their backs.
Fun Fact: These weird mammals appear to be the last remaining species of a lineage that included Josephoartigasia monesi, an 800kg giant rodent that went extinct 2 million years ago.
Pacific Coast Tick
Pacific Coast ticks are lovely little human-biting ticks most commonly found in shrublands in the Western parts of North America and Mexico. They’re significant for transmitting Rocky Mountain Fever.
Fun Fact: These ticks can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever at every stage of their lifecycle, and adults and nymphs come with the added bonus of 364D rickettsiosis and rabbit fever to humans.
Pacific cod
The Pacific cod is a bottom-dwelling fish found in the northern Pacific Ocean, mainly on the continental shelf and upper slopes, and is commonly brown or grey with darker spots and barbels.
Fun Fact: This is one of the most popular food fishes that most wouldn’t recognise. They grow up to a meter long and can weigh 15 kg, spending time in waters as deep as a kilometre.
Pacific hagfish
This bottom-dwelling, eel-like fish lives in the muddy substrate of the Pacific Ocean bed. They occupy burrows as deep as 900 meters and look like slimy draught excluders.
Fun Fact: Hagfish are some of the most primitive vertebrates left. They have a skull, but no jaws and just fragments of a spinal column. Their eyes lack lenses.
Pacific halibut
The Pacific halibut is a wonky sort of fish that lies flattened on the ocean floor around the continental shelf of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. These are very large for a flatfish, reaching up to 230kg and 2.4m long.
Fun Fact: Despite looking like they’ve been run over by a car, halibut can swim surprisingly well and migrate long distances.
Pacific lamprey
The Pacific lamprey is migratory parasitic jawless fish that looks a lot like an eel and suckers onto other animals for sustenance.
Fun Fact: These frightening, deep-sea parasites are one of the ugliest animals attached to sperm whales. Thankfully, they only remain adults for about 2 years and die soon after releasing 100,000 eggs.
Pacific loon
The Pacific loon is a gorgeous, duck-like water bird with a purple-black throat, grey-blue head and black and white stripy wings. It has a widespread distribution, found in the Americas and Asia, as well as Northern Europe.
Fun Fact: This bird is so well adapted to paddling about in the water that it struggles to walk on land. Its legs are too far back to move gracefully when walking.
Pacific salmon
The Pacific salmon make up half of a genus of fish from the Salmon family, found in the North Pacific basin. There are six species, all migratory.
Fun Fact: the genus name, Oncorhynchus, refers to the hooked snout of this fish, which the males grow as a secondary sexual characteristic.
Pacific Sleeper Shark
The Pacific sleeper shark is found in the North Pacific and Arctic waters. They’re large, slow-moving sharks, known to reach up to 4.4m long and 888kg, and expected to grow much larger.
Fun Fact: These sharks have a common parasite that feeds on their eyes, rendering most sleeper sharks mostly blind. But it appears to hardly bother the shark, who relies on its other senses instead.
Pacific Spaghetti Eel
The Pacific Spaghetti eel is a temperate eel from the Northwestern and southwestern Pacific Ocean, commonly found in Japan and New Zealand. It grows up to about a meter long, gathers in large numbers and eats zooplankton.
Fun Fact: These eels sit in the sand in huge numbers, holding their bodies up in the water column to collect their food, creating eerie fields of waving noodles.
Pacific white-sided dolphin
Also known as the hookfin porpoise, this dolphin is a cool water species from the North Pacific. They’re white, black and grey, and weigh up to 200kg.
Fun Fact: These little dolphins are highly social and will commonly be found fraternising with other cetacean species.
Paddle-tailed darner
The Paddle-tailed darner is a darner from the western parts of Canada and the US. It’s a pretty dragonfly, with bright blue spots contrasted on a dark body with vibrant yellow streaks.
Fun Fact: Darners like this are some of the most accomplished aerial experts in the animal kingdom. They can hover, fly backwards, and are highly successful predators of flying invertebrates.
Paddletail newt
The Paddletail newt is one of several species of newt popular in the pet trade and once grouped together, but more recently separated into two genera. The majority occupy a genus of Chinese salamanders.
Fun Fact: These newts use their tails for communication. They fan their tails when they are trying to attract the attention of another newt, or when are startled or frightened.
Paddlefish
Paddlefish are a family of sturgeon-like bony fish known for their long noses. They’re only found in North America and China, though the Chinese species was declared extinct in 2022.
Fun Fact: These are some of the most primitive bony fishes, diverging from the rest of the class over 300 million years ago.
Paddy bird
The Paddy bird, or black-faced sheathbill is a terrestrial scavenger bird from the subantarctic islands of the Indian Ocean. They are very white, with a black beak and weigh about 500g.
Fun Fact: These birds are specialist beachcombers and unfussy eaters. They’ll patrol the high tide mark and scavenge anything from insects to vegetation, placentas, faeces, seal milk and even carrion.
Paddyfield Pipit
The Paddyfield Pipit, a small, grey-brown passerine bird, is found in open habitats such as grasslands, fields, and rice paddies across Southern Asia,
Fun Fact: This tiny bird has some of the most complicated and tedious taxonomy of any bird from the region, on account of it looking very similar to other species and changing colour depending on location.
Paddyfield Warbler
The Paddyfield Warbler is a small, brown migratory bird with a strong, dark eye stripe. It breeds in wetlands and marshes across Europe and Central Asia and has a distinctive call.
Fun Fact: Paddyfield Warblers are skilled mimics, capable of imitating the calls of other bird species when they run out of ideas.
Pademelon
The Pademelons are a genus of very small macropods native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. There are seven species, all of which look like something between a wallaby and a hyrax.
Fun Fact: These are some of the smallest macropods, weighing around 7kg in large males, and around half that for females.
Painted Bunting
The Painted Bunting is a very brightly coloured songbird, native to North America, and known for its vibrant blue, green, and red feathers during the breeding season.
Fun Fact: Male Painted Buntings aren’t always pretty – they undergo a dramatic moult each year, transitioning from dull green and brown plumage in the winter to their brilliant breeding colours in the spring.
Painted Lady
The Painted Lady is a widespread butterfly species found on every continent except Antarctica and therefore is one of the most familiar for its orange and black wing patterns.
Fun Fact: British painted ladies undertake an autumn migration, making a 14,500 km round trip from Africa to the Arctic Circle that spans six successive generations!
Painted Reed Frog
The Painted, or Marbled Reed Frog is a small but adaptable species of reed frog found in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a light colouration with flecks of black and red toes.
Fun Fact: Some members of this genus appear as different colours during the day and night.
Painted Snipe
The Painted Snipes are a family of wading birds from wetlands and marshes across Africa, Asia, and Australasia. They have short legs, long beaks and vibrant plumage
Fun Fact: These aren’t true snipes, though they look similar. They’re more closely related to the gangly jacanas.
Painted Stork
The Painted Stork is a large wading bird native to South and Southeast Asia. It’s mostly white, with black wings and streaks of pink and has a long, yellow beak.
Fun Fact: Painted storks go bald as they age. Juveniles have feathers down to their eyes, which recede as they reach maturity.
Painted Terrapin
The Painted Terrapin is a species of freshwater turtle from riverine habitats and mangrove swamps in Southeast Asia. It gets its name from the distinctive coloured stripes on its head.
Fun Fact: The colouration that gives these turtles their name only shows up around breeding season – they’re a lot duller for the rest of the year.
Painted Turtle
The Painted Turtle is the most common freshwater turtle species in North America.
It has a colourful ventral surface with red, orange, and yellow markings, often seen basking on logs or rocks in ponds and lakes.
Fun Fact: Painted Turtles are one of the most cold-tolerant turtle species, capable of surviving subzero temperatures using a special anti-freeze substance in their blood.
Painted Wolf
The Painted Wolf, also known as the African Wild Dog or Painted Dog, is a highly social and endangered canid from sub-Saharan Africa, named for its mottled coat of brown, black, white, and yellow patches.
Fun Fact: Painted Wolves are incredibly efficient hunters, using teamwork and cooperation to pursue and bring down prey through exhaustion. They have success rates often exceeding most other large predators like lions and leopards.
Pale-bellied mourner
The pale-bellied mourner is a species of tyrant flycatcher found in South America. They’re generally pretty plain, and superficially resemble true flycatchers, but are not related.
Fun Fact: This species has a remarkably good song when compared with the other tyrant flycatchers, who generally don’t have very sophisticated vocal capabilities.
Pale Chanting Goshawk
The Pale Chanting Goshawk is a raptor found in arid and semi-arid regions of southern Africa. It’s pale grey with a distinctive red-orange beak and legs
Fun Fact: Pale Chanting Goshawks love to follow honey badgers around and hunt the fleeing organisms that ensue.
Pale Clouded Yellow
The Pale Clouded Yellow is a species of butterfly found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, named for its pale yellow wings with faint markings. It’s often seen fluttering over open grasslands and meadows.
Fun Fact: The Pale Clouded Yellow is a close relative of the notorious cabbage white and looks very similar, especially in the fainter-coloured female, but feeds more on legumes than brassicas.
Pale Spear-nosed Bat
The Pale Spear-nosed Bat is a species of leaf-nosed bat from Central and South America. They grow up to 11m long and range from brownish yellow to black in colour.
Fun Fact: These bats will hunt moths like other insectivorous species, but they also visit plants for nectar, making them important pollinators.
Pale Thrush
The Pale Thrush is a thrush species native to East Asia, including Japan, it’s found in forests and wooded areas where it forages for insects and berries, and has pinkish-brown feet and a brown-grey body and wings.
Fun Fact: This shy bird is a strong migrant, wintering in Southern Japan and as far down as the Philippines, then coming all the way back to Siberia to breed.
Pale-throated Sloth
The Pale-throated sloth is a species of three-toed sloth found in Central and South America. They’re pretty classic-looking sloths, spending 18 hours asleep each day and moving slowly on long arms.
Fun Fact: These sloths have arms that are roughly twice as long as their legs, and nine cervical vertebrae with give their heads extra flexibility.
Pale-yellow Robin
The Pale-yellow Robin, also known as the Ashy Robin, is a small bird species found in Australia. It resembles a yellow version of the European robin but is from a very different family.
Fun Fact: These robins rely on a single species of plant, the prickly lawyer vine, to build their nests in, sometimes as high as ten meters from the ground.
Pallas’s Cat
The Pallas’s Cat is a small, wild cat from Eurasia with dense, brown-grey fur and a long, bushy, banded tail. They’re about the size of a house cat, but thicker with a more rounded head and they thrive in arid, rocky, steppe regions.
Fun Fact: This is one of the most significant of the Steppe predators, preying on a multitude of small mammal species like pikas and ground squirrels.
Pallid Bat
The Pallid Bat is a species of bat found in North America. It has pale fur, huge ears, and distinctive facial features. It feeds mostly on insects.
Fun Fact: Pallid Bats are heterothermic which means they can be either warm or cold-blooded, depending on the time of year. This is unique to the species.
Pallid Cuckoo
The Pallid Cuckoo is a 30cm long, grey cuckoo species native to Australia and parts of Tasmania. It has a pale underside with recognizable black bars across its tail.
Fun Fact: Pallid Cuckoos are generalist brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other bird species. They use over 100 species as their hosts!
Pallid Harrier
The Pallid Harrier is a bird of prey species found in Europe and Asia, distinguished from other harriers by its paler plumage. It breeds in open plains and bogs
Fun Fact: This species seems to be breeding in Europe more often, having recently been spotted nesting in the Netherlands and Spain for the first time.
Pallid Sturgeon
The Pallid Sturgeon is a large freshwater fish native to the Missouri and Mississippi River basins in North America. It has a shovel-like snout and an elongated body.
Fun Fact: Pallid Sturgeons are among the oldest, largest and longest-lived freshwater fish species, with individuals capable of living over 50 years and reaching lengths of up to 2 meters.
Pallid Swift
The Pallid Swift is a swift that closely resembles the common swift. It’s entirely dark except for a large white throat patch. They breed in the Mediterranean and migrate to Africa for Winter.
Fun Fact: Like their cousins, Pallid Swifts spend almost their entire lives in the air, drinking, feeding, mating and even sleeping on the wing.
Palm Civet
The Palm Civet is a nocturnal viverrid found in Asia. It has a long, stocky body covered mostly in grey fur with a black mask on its face.
Fun Fact: Palm Civets have an exceptional olfactory sense, allowing them to infer an animal’s species, sex and familiarity level by the scent marks left behind.
Palm Cockatoo
The Palm Cockatoo, also known as the Goliath Cockatoo, is a large, smoky-grey parrot species native to New Guinea and northern Australia. It has an epic crest and bright red cheeks.
Fun Fact: Palm Cockatoos are one of the few bird species known to use tools, fashioning sticks and seed pods into drumsticks to create beats on hollow trees. Nobody knows exactly why they do this.
Palm Rat
The Palm Rat is a species of Murid rodent found on the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. They look a lot like brown rats but are larger and with bigger eyes.
Fun Fact: Palm Rats are excellent climbers and spend most of their lives in the trees. They are considered an arboreal species.
Palm Warbler
The Palm Warbler is a small passerine species native to North America. It has a rusty-coloured cap, yellow underparts, and a habit of constantly wagging its tail while foraging for insects.
Fun Fact: Palm Warblers undertake one of the longest migrations of any North American warbler species, travelling thousands of kilometres between Canada and their wintering areas in Central America.
Palmetto Tortoise Beetle
The Palmetto Tortoise Beetle is a small, metallic leaf beetle species found in the southeastern United States. These domed beetles look a bit like black/dark blue ladybirds and feed on palmetto plants.
Fun Fact: These beetles hide their larvae in a nest of poop, which comes out woven into surprisingly pretty strands and keep the larvae safe.
Palo Verde Beetle
The Palo Verde Beetle is a species of longhorn beetle species found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. They’re dark in colour and very large.
Fun Fact: This species spends the majority of its time in a larval stage beneath the soil. Upon emerging as an adult, it doesn’t eat and will die within about one month.
Panda
The panda is a medium-sized Ursid from Asia. It’s a slow-living, bamboo-eating softie but could still rip your face off if it wanted to.
Fun Fact: Pandas are not closely related to tree pandas, but their shared love of bamboo has led to them evolving very similar elongated wrist bones called “false thumbs” evolved for gripping their food.
Pangolin
Pangolins are very strange mammals native to Africa and Asia. They’re also known as scaly anteaters, which sums them up perfectly
Fun Fact: Pangolin scales are no more medicinally valuable than your own toenails, so if you’re ever offered some, save your money.
Pantaloon Bee
The Pantaloon Bee is a solitary bee species found in South America, recognized for the distinctive tufts of orange or yellow hair on its hind legs, giving it the look of wearing 17th-century French trousers.
Fun Fact: The hairy legs this bee is named for are highly effective pollen collectors. As such, only the females wear the trousers.
Panther
The Panther is a large melanistic leopard or jaguar. They are rare and very, very sexy.
Fun Fact: A panther isn’t a separate species, it’s simply a leopard or jaguar with more melanin than usual. The result is a black Pantherine cat with striking yellow eyes.
Panther Chameleon
The Panther Chameleon is a colourful reptile species endemic to Madagascar. It’s covered in vibrant patterns which change under varying circumstances, and the name refers to the Panthera genus and a leopard-like colouration.
Fun Fact: Panther Chameleons have a tongue that is so long, it can often be longer than its own body.
Panther Grouper
The Panther Grouper, also known as the humpback grouper, is a marine grouper species found in the Indo-Pacific region. It’s distinctive in its striking dark spots on a lighter body and grows up to around 70cm.
Fun Fact: All panther groupers are born female, and some transition to male as they get older.
Panther Puffer
The Panther Puffer is a medium-sized species of pufferfish found in the waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It’s named for its leopard-like spotted pattern and grows up to around 30cm long.
Fun Fact: The genus of this fish, Takifugu, means “River pig” in Japanese.
Panthera atrox
Panthera atrox, commonly known as the American Lion, was a large Pantherine felid species that lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch. It looked a lot like the African lion, but bigger.
Fun Fact: Cave paintings and portions of preserved skin found in caves suggest that this lion was reddish-brown in colour.
Paper wasp
Paper wasps are a subfamily of eusocial vespid wasps related to the infamous “yellow jackets”. There are around 1100 species, notable for their love of paper nests, though this is neither exclusive to the subfamily nor a true characteristic.
Fun Fact: This is a diverse subfamily: some paper wasp species are known to make honey, and this subfamily contains the Executioner wasp.
Papillon (Dog)
The Papillon, also known as the Continental Toy Spaniel, is a small breed of dog renowned for its distinctive butterfly-like ears. The fur is mostly white or cream with darker ears and eyes.
Fun Fact: These are one of the oldest breeds of toy spaniels, and are named for the butterfly-like look of their ears. If these ears droop, they’re called a “Phalene” and both varieties can occur in the same litter.
Papuan Frogmouth
The Papuan Frogmouth, native to New Guinea and parts of Indonesia, is a nocturnal bird species with a wide mouth and highly cryptic plumage. They’re mostly greys and blacks and blend in seamlessly with mossy wood.
Fun Fact: These birds look and behave suspiciously like nightjars, but are more closely related to swifts and hummingbirds than true nightjars.
Papuan Python
The Papuan Python is a large constrictor native to New Guinea. It gets to over 4 meters long and comes in various colours from black to mustard yellow.
Fun Fact: These snakes are said to be able to change colour, but it’s not certain how they do it.
Paradise Fish
The Paradise Fish is a small and pretty freshwater fish species native to East Asia. They’re about 5cm long and have stripes of blues and greens down their bodies and long, wavy tails and dorsal fins.
Fun Fact: These cute little fish are surprisingly aggressive animals and are said to be one of the most aggressive little fishes in their family.
Paradise Flycatcher
The Paradise Flycatchers are a genus of 17 species of passerine birds from Africa and Asia. They come in a multitude of shapes and colours, many with impressive long tails and vibrant plumage.
Fun Fact: Male Indian paradise flycatchers can have tails almost 50cm long, almost twice the length of their bodies.
Paradise Flying Snake
The Paradise Flying Snake is a species of colubrid snake found in Southeast Asia. This speckled green snake is well known for its remarkable ability to glide through the air using its flattened body and unique aerial locomotion.
Fun Fact: The unique gliding ability of this snake can let it travel over 10 meters of horizontal distance in a leap from a tall branch.
Paradise Kingfisher
The nine species of Paradise Kingfishers make up a genus of colourful tree kingfisher birds found in the forests and mangroves of Australia and New Guinea. They come in many colour combinations but almost all have long tail streamers.
Fun Fact: These kingfisher species mostly prefer to nest inside active termite mounds.
Paradise Riflebird
The Paradise Riflebird, native to eastern Australia, is a species of riflebird known for its vivid iridescent neck feathers and elaborate courtship displays. It’s a medium-sized, mostly black bird with a bright, metallic blue neck.
Fun Fact: The dark feathers on this bird serve to provide contrast to emphasise their coloured patches during courtship displays.
Paradise Shelduck
The Paradise Shelduck, endemic to New Zealand, is a beautiful duck species. Males and females are chestnut underneath with green secondary wing feathers. The rest of the males are mostly black, and the females are bright orange-brown.
Fun Fact: Paradise Shelducks form long-term monogamous pairs and are often seen in pairs or small family groups.
Paradise Tanager
The Paradise Tanager is a stunning little medium-sized passerine native to South America. Its plumage has shades of blue, green, and yellow, and it’s often found in the canopy of tropical forests.
Fun Fact: Different subspecies have different coloured back patches. Some are pure red, others are yellow and red.
Paradoxical Frog
The Paradoxical Frog, also known as the Shrinking Frog, is a species found in Central and South America. They grow to about 7cm long and are green to brown in colour with mottling on the legs.
Fun Fact: The Paradoxical Frog’s tadpoles are the longest in the world and can grow to lengths much larger than the adult frog, leading to the nickname “Shrinking Frog”.
Parakeet
Parakeets are small to medium-sized species of parrots found in many parts of the world. They typically have vibrant plumage, playful behaviour, long tail feathers and the ability to mimic human speech.
Fun Fact: Parakeets are highly social birds and thrive in noisy flocks, where they engage in various activities such as grooming each other, playing, and communicating loudly.
Parasitic Jaeger
The Parasitic Jaeger, also known as the Arctic Skua, is a jerk of a seabird species found in the Arctic and subarctic regions. It’s pretty boring to look at, with mainly white underparts and brown-black, speckled wings.
Fun Fact: Parasitic Jaegers will eat mostly anything but they get most of their food from chasing other birds until they throw up.
Parrot
Parrots are often colourful and always intelligent birds known for their ability to mimic human speech. They’re found in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
Fun Fact: Along with the corvids, parrots are the most intelligent of birds. They’re known puzzle solvers and can use tools too. One grey parrot has a human vocabulary of over a thousand words and can form sentences.
Parrot Snake
Parrot snakes are slender and arboreal colubrid snakes found in tropical regions of Central and South America. They’re bright green, with elongated bodies and large, bulbous eyes. The belly is usually yellow.
Fun Fact: It was thought that this species was non-venomous, but reports now show a bite causes mild, pins and needles effects that disappear within a few hours.
Parrotfish
Parrotfish are a subfamily of wrasses found in coral reefs and rocky coastlines of tropical oceans. Their teeth form a tightly packed beak, giving them their name.
Fun Fact: Parrotfish scrape algae and other biofilms from coral reefs, helping keep them healthy and therefore playing a critical role in their ecosystem.
Parrotlet
Parrotlets are small, colourful parrots native to Central and South America. They’re the smallest of the New World parrots and come in all colours.
Fun Fact: These small birds are still tough as nails, and will even challenge fully-grown humans who piss them off. They’re generally friendly but will kill each other in arguments sometimes.
Parson Russell Terrier
The Parson Russell Terrier was the original fox terrier of the 18th century. It’s standard terrier size, mostly white, short-haired with a boxy head.
Fun Fact: Like all dogs bred to arbitrary show dog standards, this breed has a plethora of health issues, mostly relating to its vision.
Parson’s Chameleon
Parson’s chameleon is a large species of chameleon native to Madagascar. Males are mainly green or turquoise but vary between subspecies and females are generally green or brown.
Fun Fact: These are considered the largest chameleons by weight, at a whopping 700g, and one of the largest in size, at potentially 80cm long.
Parson’s Finch
Parson’s finch, also known as the black-throated finch, is a small bird native to Australia. It’s distinguished by its black hood and bib contrasting with its pale pinkish brown belly and chest.
Fun Fact: These are not true finches, but members of the Estrildidae family, with the waxbills and firefinches.
Partridge
Partridges are medium-sized galliforms, found all over Africa, Europe and Asia. They’re known for their short, rounded wings and sturdy bodies, and come in a variety of bright to dull colourations.
Fun Fact: The popular and droning Christmas song describes a “Partridge in a pear tree”, but this gives the song another layer of asininity because all 92 species of partridges live on the ground.
Partridge Pigeon
The Partridge Pigeon is a small, colourful pigeon species native to Australia. They have brown wings and a white belly but a distinctive red eye patch.
Fun Fact: Partridge Pigeons get their name from the amount of time they spend on the ground, usually in open woodland or roadsides.
Parula Warbler
The Parula Warblers are two species of small migratory bird species found in North and Central America. They are tiny, with yellow, orange or red throats and grey or blue-grey upper parts.
Fun Fact: The Northern Parula is migratory, moving South into the territory of its resident cousin, the Tropical Parula for Winter.
Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon, once abundant in North America, was a migratory pigeon known for its massive migratory flocks that darkened the skies. Maes were grey with iridescent bronze feathers on the neck, females duller and browner.
Fun Fact: At its peak, the Passenger Pigeon was the most numerous bird species in North America, with flocks so large they could take several hours to pass overhead. It’s thought there could have been five billion of them at one time.
Passion Butterfly
The Passion Butterfly is a bright orange longwing butterfly species found in the US. It has curved wings and a wingspan of almost 10cm.
Fun Fact: This species can release odorous defence chemicals when threatened, and so has very few predators.
Patagonian Conure
The Patagonian Conure, also called the Burrowing Parrot, is a species of parrot native to the grasslands of Chile and Argentina. It has a bright white eye ring, white breast, olive green body and brightly coloured underparts.
Fun Fact: These parrots are skilled diggers, excavating 3-metre burrows into cliff faces, in which to nest.
Patagonian Mara
The Patagonian Mara is a large cavy species native to Argentina, resembling a mix between a rabbit and a small deer, with long hind legs adapted for running.
Fun Fact: Patagonian Maras have been spotted in Northern UAE, and nobody knows how they got there.
Patagonian Opossum
The Patagonian Opossum, a marsupial endemic to Argentina, inhabits various habitats from grasslands to forests and looks very mouse-like. They have a semi-prehensile tail, which helps them climb.
Fun Fact: This is the Southernmost marsupial species, reaching the Southern tip of Argentina.
Patas Monkey
The Patas Monkey, also known as the Hussar Monkey, is a slender, long-legged simian found in the savannas and semi-arid areas of Central and Western Africa. It has distinctive reddish-brown fur and a thin black face mask.
Fun Fact: Patas monkeys are the fastest primates on the ground, capable of running up to speeds of 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph) to evade predators.
Patterdale Terrier
The Patterdale Terrier is a small but sturdy dog breed originating from the Lake District of England, known for its tenacious and fearless nature, originally bred for hunting foxes and other vermin. They come in many colours.
Fun Fact: These are true working dogs and can become unhappy and difficult to handle as house pets.
Pea Aphid
The Pea Aphid is a small, sap-sucking insect that feeds on various plants, including peas and other legumes. They’re a pretty standard green aphid.
Fun Fact: Pea aphids have a fascinating reproductive strategy called parthenogenesis, where females can give birth to live young without the need for fertilization by males, allowing for rapid population growth. If the population gets too big, winged individuals are produced and dispersed.
Pea Crab
The Pea Crab is one of the smallest species of crab, usually found living inside bivalve molluscs such as oysters, sand dollars and urchins, where they parasitise food and oxygen and seek protection from predators. They look like smooth facehuggers.
Fun Fact: Male pea crabs will find a shelled mollusc with a female inside and they’ll rub at the shell until it opens to let them inside to mate.
Pea Puffer
The Pea Puffer, also known as the Dwarf Pufferfish, is a small freshwater pufferfish native to South India. As far as pufferfish go, this one is quite pretty, with yellow skin and brown blotches.
Fun Fact: These are really tiny puffers, at around 3.5cm long. They’re one of the smallest species of pufferfish in the world.
Peach-faced Lovebird
The Peach-faced Lovebird, also called the Rosy-faced Lovebird, is a small parrot species native to arid regions of southwestern Africa. It’s a very cute little lovebird, with a parrotlike shape and colouration of blue, green and red.
Fun Fact: unlike most species of birds, lovebirds look just as pretty whether they’re male or female.
Peacock
Peafowl, commonly referred to as peacocks (males) and peahens (females), are members of three species of large and colourful Galliformes native to Asia and Africa. They’re well known for their dazzling tail displays.
Fun Fact: In the Asian variety, the tail display is made of elongated feather coverts, rather than the feathers themselves. In the African species, the bird uses its quilled tail feathers for the display.
Peacock Bass
The Peacock Bass are 15 species of large, freshwater cichlid fish native to South America. These are diurnal predators, typically with metallic yellow skin and dark vertical stripes or spots.
Fun Fact: The largest species, the speckled peacock bass, grows up to around a meter long and maybe the largest cichlid species known.
Peacock Butterfly
The Peacock Butterfly, native to Europe and temperate Asia, is named for its striking eyespots on its wings, which resemble the plumage of a peacock.
Fun Fact: This is one animal species that’s doing very well for itself. Its range is expanding and it’s not thought to be threatened.
Peacock Spider
The Peacock Spiders are a large genus of 100+ jumping spiders from Australia. They’re named for the vibrant colours and intricate patterns displayed by the males on their butts during courtship dances.
Fun Fact: Male Peacock Spiders show off both in colour and using vibratory signals when courting the females. They have excellent vision and can see in ultraviolet.
Peacock Worm
The Peacock Worm, also known as the Feather Duster Worm, is a marine polychaete worm from Western Europe and the Mediterranean. It has colourful, feathery tentacles used for filter feeding and respiration.
Fun Fact: Peacock Worms have a remarkable ability to regenerate lost body parts, allowing them to recover from damage or injury caused by predators.
Peacock-Pheasant
The Peacock-Pheasants is a genus of eight bird species native to Southeast Asia, named for their colourful tail plumage and glamorous displays.
Fun Fact: These birds are not related to peacocks and not very related to pheasants, but their exact systematic position hasn’t fully been established yet.
Peagle
The Peagle is a small hybrid dog breed resulting from the crossbreeding of a Beagle and a Pekinese. They have the stubbornness of a beagle with all the ugly stupidity of a Pekinese.
Fun Fact: Peagles make good companion dogs but often aren’t all that great off the lead in the park.
Peanut Worm
The Peanut Worm, also known as sipunculid worms, is a group of marine annelids with a long, slender body that gets thicker at one end. They’re found in sandy or muddy seabeds worldwide.
Fun Fact: These worms retract their bodies when molested, taking on the shape of a peanut shell, hence their nickname.
Peanut Bug
The Peanut-Head Bug, sometimes called the peanut-headed lanternfly, is a species of large true bug found in tropical regions of Central and South America. They’re a leafhopper species, characterized by their bulbous head resembling a peanut shell.
Fun Fact: This elephant-man head is used as a percussive instrument, drummed against a branch or stem to find a mate.
Pearl Dace
The Pearl Dace is a genus of freshwater fish species native to North America. It has silvery scales with a subtle iridescent sheen, resembling the lustre of pearls.
Fun Fact: While small at less than 15cm, these fish play an important role in their healthy ecosystems and though not considered endangered, may be threatened by invasive fish species.
Pearl Gourami
The Pearl Gourami is a large and popular freshwater gourami species, native to Southeast Asia. It has spectacular multi-coloured scales with patterned spots and iridescence
Fun Fact: Pearl Gouramis have a labyrinth organ that allows them to breathe air directly from the surface, enabling them to survive in poorly oxygenated waters.
Pearl Perch
The Pearl Perches are a family of pretty marine fish with large eyes found in the waters of Australia and the Western Pacific. They’re named for the pearl-like bony shield at the edge of their gill opening.
Fun Fact: While this is an entire family of fish, there is only one genus associated with it and four pearl perch species.
Pearlspot Cichlid
The Pearlspot Cichlid, also known as the Green Chromide, is a freshwater fish species native to the rivers and lakes of India. It has its iridescent scales and is grey-green with dark barring.
Fun Fact: Pearl-Spot Cichlids are popular among aquarists for their striking appearance and peaceful demeanor, making them suitable for community aquariums.
Pearlfish
Pearlfish are a family of small, slender marine fish species from the deep waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. They look a lot like tiny eels at around 50cm long.
Fun Fact: While the larvae of these fish are free-living, the majority of adults are either parasitic or commensally living inside other organisms. Some live in sea cucumbers, feeding on their gonads.
Peccary
Peccaries, also known as javelinas or skunk pigs, are medium-sized New World pigs found throughout Central and South America. While they look like true pigs, they’re a different family entirely.
Fun Fact: Peccaries are highly social animals and were kept in herds by the Mayans for both rituals and food.
Pectoral Sandpiper
The Pectoral Sandpiper is a migratory shorebird species found in North and South America and Asia, defined by its brown and white plumage and prominent streaking on the breast.
Fun Fact: During the breeding season the male inflates a fat sac in his breast to show off, showing his pecs (this should not be confused with pectoral sandpaper which is a marathoner’s nightmare).
Pekin Robin
The Pekin Robin, also known as the Red-billed Leiothrix, are old-world passerines from Southern China and the Himalayas. They’re very cute little birds with an orange neck and chin, olive wings and belly, and flecks of blue and yellow in their wingtips.
Fun Fact: Pekin Robins are particularly popular aviary birds in Japan, where they have been introduced and are named Japanese nightingales.
Pekingese
The Pekingese (or Pekinese) is a small toy dog breed originating from China, popular for its distinctive flattened face, long flowing coat, and small stature, historically revered as a companion to Chinese royalty.
Fun Fact: These dogs are generally very unhealthy, have heart and breathing problems and die primarily from trauma on account of their bad genetics.
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Pel’s Fishing Owl is a large owl species found in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a brown, shaggy and speckled plumage and dark eyes.
Fun Fact: These are really big owls, the fifth heaviest in the world, and can take fish as heavy as 2kg out of the water.
Pelagic Goby
The Pelagic, or Bearded Goby is a small marine fish found on seabeds down to around 350m. They grow to 17cm long and have brown/orange scales with wide, dark fins.
Fun Fact: These fish can handle conditions almost nothing else can; able to sit in de-oxygenated toxic water for 10 to 12 hours at a time. They use this as a hiding place.
Pelican
Pelicans are large water birds known for their long beaks and enormous throat pouches. They’re generally white with black wing tips and a yellow beak.
Fun Fact: Pelicans have air sacs beneath their skin, which act as cushions to soften the impact when they dive into the water and as buoyancy aids once swimming.
Pelican Eel
The Pelican Eel is a deep-sea fish found in oceanic waters worldwide. It has a long, slender body, enormous mouth, and bioluminescent, whiplike tail.
Fun Fact: These fish look a lot like gulper eels, but are from a different genus. Nobody yet knows whether there are more species to be found.
Pelican Spider
Pelican Spiders, also called assassin spiders, are a family of unusual arachnids found in Madagascar, Australia and South Africa. They’re named for their long necks and specialized jaws, which help them impale their prey.
Fun Fact: These spiders were only known as 40-million-year-old amber fossils until 1881 when the first living fossil was discovered in Madagascar
Pemba Flying Fox
The Pemba Flying Fox, also known as Pemba Fruit Bat or Pemba Island Flying Fox, is a species of megabat endemic to Pemba Island, Tanzania. It is one of the largest bats with a wingspan of 1.6m.
Fun Fact: These giant bats take up residence in traditional graveyards and are perhaps safest there as cultural taboos restrict human presence in such places.
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
The Pembroke Welsh Corgi is a short-legged herding dog breed originating from Wales, UK. They are generally strong, athletic, and lively little dogs bred for herding cattle and commonly misused in dog shows.
Fun Fact: These dogs likely originated in Belgium, and there are records of Flemish weavers bringing them over to Wales in 1107.
Pen Shell
Pen Shells are large bivalve molluscs belonging to the saltwater clam group. They are sort of mussel-shaped, but lighter in colour and up to 1.2m tall.
Fun Fact: Like oysters, these clams make pearls, and the attaching threads they use to fix to rocks can be woven into appealing textiles.
Pencilfish
Pencilfish, are a genus of small, slender freshwater fish native to South America. They’re usually 2 to 5cm long and usually have horizontal black stripes with gold or silver iridescence.
Fun Fact: Pencilfish are often seen swimming strangely, usually padding along at an unusual angle.
Penduline Tit
The Penduline Tit is a tiny passerine bird species found in Europe and Asia. It has a black mask and is mostly brown and grey.
Fun Fact: These birds are named for their nesting habits, which involve weaving a large and dangling grassy nest that hangs over the water.
Penguin
Penguins are flightless aquatic birds found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. They have distinctive black and white plumage, a waddling gait, and athletic swimming abilities.
Fun Fact: Penguins are so well adapted to living in the ocean that they can even drink seawater. The excess salt is secreted from salt glands in their nose.
Penis snake
The penis snake is a rare species of legless amphibian known as a caecilian, and known only from a few specimens found in Brazil. It grows to around 80cm long and is also nicknamed the man-aconda, on account of its leathery, familiar appearance.
Fun Fact: This is the largest tetrapod to lack lungs, and breathes entirely through its porous skin, just like a real penis.
Peninsula Cooter
The Peninsula Cooter is a freshwater turtle endemic to the southeastern United States. It gets up to about 30cm long and has tens of yellow stripes on the carapace, head and limbs.
Fun Fact: One way you tell males from females in this species is to look at the claws. Males have very long front claws which are used to tickle the female into submission during mating.
Pennant-winged Nightjar
The Pennant-winged Nightjar is a fascinating nocturnal bird species endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. They roost and nest on bare ground and forage at night.
Fun Fact: Male Pennant-winged Nightjars grow incredible 2nd primary feathers on their wings for mating. These create a beautiful butterfly-like flutter in the flight of the bird and appeal to mates.
Pennsylvania Firefly
The Pennsylvania Firefly is a bioluminescent beetle native to North America. It’s u to 11cm long, click-beetle shaped, with a brown and striped carapace.
Fun Fact: Females of this species use their bioluminescence to mimic that of other species, drawing males to their light before killing and eating them!
Pennsylvania Wood Cockroach
The Pennsylvania Wood Cockroach is a species of large cockroach found in the eastern and Northern US. They’re dark brown, usually less than 2cm, and look like standard cockroaches.
Fun Fact: These cockroaches prefer open woodland and don’t tend to care all that much for being inside your house. While they may be bothersome, they’re not really enough of a problem to be considered a pest.
Peppered Moth
The Peppered Moth is a species of moth native to Europe, Asia and North America. It’s a black and white peppery colour and grows up to around 5cm across.
Fun Fact: These moths come in various dark and light varieties, and since the Industrial Revolution, trees have become covered in soot, favouring the dark morphs. This is a recent and perfect example of selection pressure on animal phenotypes.
Peppermint Angelfish
The Peppermint Angelfish is a rare and strikingly coloured marine fish that looks a lot like a boiled sweet. It’s found in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, particularly around the Coral Triangle region.
Fun Fact: This is a sought-after fish in aquariums; one individual of this species was bought by a collector for USD 30,000.
Perch
Perch is a small genus of three species of freshwater fish found in much of the Northern Hemisphere as well as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They’re usually a mix of greens and yellows with vertical dark stripes and spiny dorsal fins.
Fun Fact: Perch are powerful swimmers and formidable predators of other fish, growing up to 2.5kg
Père David’s Deer
Père David’s Deer, known as the milu in China, is a species of deer native to subtropical river valleys in China. These are large deer, with reddish coats in Summer, changing to grey in Winter.
Fun Fact: These deer were once extinct in the wild but have been successfully reintroduced through captive breeding programs, with successful populations now found in protected reserves and parks.
Peregrine Falcon
The Peregrine Falcon, scientifically named Falco peregrinus, is a widespread bird-eating raptor found on every continent except Antarctica. It has a blue-grey head and wings, with a white or cream front with black flecks and bars.
Fun Fact: Peregrine Falcons are considered the fastest animals in the world, capable of reaching speeds of over 386 km/h during high-speed hunting dives called “stoops.”
Perentie
The perentie is a very large lizard in the monitor genus from the deserts of Australia and the largest on the island. They grow up to 3m long, with long necks and are more lean than most monitor species.
Fun Fact: It’s recently discovered that these monitors have some form of venomous bites. The discovery has started a debate on what defines “venom” and its uses in ecology.
Peringuey’s Adder
Peringuey’s Adder is a venomous viper species native to the Namib Desert of southern Africa. It’s a sandy-coloured desert specialist and moves using sidewinding locomotion.
Fun Fact: This viper has notably upward-facing eyes which give it a very derpy look, but are used when ambushing prey from beneath the sand.
Perro De Presa Canario
The Perro De Presa Canario, or Canary Mastiff, is a large and powerful dog originating from the Canary Islands. They are mastiff-like, weighing up to 65kg.
Fun Fact: This breed almost went extinct in the ‘60s but was saved by a breed society in Gran Canaria.
Persian cat
The Persian cat is a domestic breed known for having very long hair, a short muzzle and a flat face. Traditional Persian types are very pretty but the modern types look like the product of an incestuous marriage and come with the associated disorders.
Fun Fact: This breed was written about in the 1600s, and may have been brought to Europe from somewhere around Iran at this time.
Pesquet’s Parrot (Dracula Parrot)
Pesquet’s Parrot is a large parrot species from New Guinea. I’s mostly black with a grey breast but with a bright red belly and underwing. It has a heavily hooked beak which it uses to eat fruit.
Fun Fact: This parrot does not drink blood, but is commonly known as the Dracula Parrot on account of it looking like a freshly caught murderer.
Pharaoh ant
The Pharaoh ant is a small, yellow-brown, almost transparent ant from all over the world. They’re about 2mm long, and colonies contain multiple queens.
Fun Fact: Nobody knows where this species originally came from as it’s been introduced successfully all over the place and is a pest in many locations.
Pharaoh Hound
The Pharaoh Hound is a hunting dog from Malta. It’s an elegant and athletic breed with a sleek orange-brown coat and large ears.
Fun Fact: This breed was said to have originated from the dogs depicted in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (hence the name), but genetic analysis shows it’s only 200 years old.
Pheasant
Pheasants are colourful, ground-dwelling birds popular as game birds and recognisable by their distinctive plumage and long tails. Native to Eurasia, they’ve been introduced to pretty much everywhere else too.
Fun Fact: Many pheasants can go a long time without food, allowing them to stay put when cold weather comes around.
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
The Pheasant-tailed Jacana is a single species of Jacana in tropical Asia. This brown and white bird has the characteristic long legs and walk-on-water-ability of the jacanas but with a long, pheasant-like tail.
Fun Fact: Those tail streamers make this species the longest of the jacanas.
Philippine Cobra
The Philippine Cobra is a very venomous snake species native to the Philippines. It’s about. metre long and has those cool neck flaps cobras have but it’s stockier than most species.
Fun Fact: This snake can spit venom but rarely chooses to, and would rather bite and strike repeatedly at a threat.
Philippine Crocodile
The Philippine crocodile is a rare freshwater crocodile from the Northern parts of the Philippines. This species grows up to 3.5m long, and 210kg. Once widespread, it’s now one of the most threatened crocodile species in the world.
Fun Fact: Population control from the predation of these crocs on fish species helps keep the ecosystem diverse, and their poops return nutrients to the lakes.
Philippine Eagle
The Philippine eagle is a glorious raptor endemic to the Philippines. They are enormous, weighing up to 8kg and have the largest wing surface area of any extant eagle. They have golden brown feathers, a powerful black beak and a fluffy mane-like crest.
Fun Fact: The locals refer to this bird as the monkey-eating eagle, which isn’t entirely accurate, but as an opportunistic predator it’s likely they are capable of hunting smaller monkey species.
Phoenix Chicken
The Phoenix Chicken, originating from Japan, is a breed known for its long, flowing tail feathers and elegant appearance. These are very good-looking chickens, most looking standard chicken colour, but some also come in silver and gold varieties.
Fun Fact: This bird’s impressive tail is actually less than the breeding stock it was created from, as its ancestral Onagadori has a gene that prevents the tail from shedding, while the Phoenix does not.
Picardy Spaniel
The Picardy Spaniel, a French gundog, is a versatile breed breed known for its docile demeanour and friendliness. It has an athletic build with a long, glossy brown coat.
Fun Fact: This is the first breed of dog to be admitted into salons, probably because of its glorious hair.
Pictus Catfish
The Pictus Catfish, native to South America, is a good-looking catfish species with particularly long barbels. They’re silver with black spots and grow to about 11cm long.
Fun Fact: Only the large spotted variety of this fish is popular in aquariums and said to be docile and omnivorous.
Pied Tamarin
The Pied Tamarin, native to Brazil, is a small primate species recognizable for its dark black face contrasted with a luxurious white ruff.
Fun Fact: Unlike most monkeys, the pied tamarin doesn’t have fingernails, but has evolved claws to help scale trees quickly.
Pied-Billed Grebe
The Pied-billed Grebe is a small grebe species found in freshwater habitats throughout North and South America. It’s a generally plain-looking bird but with a distinctive black stripe down its beak.
Fun Fact: These are highly adapted to diving, and can hold air in their feathers for buoyancy. They can fly, but they almost never do.
Pig
Pigs make up the genus Sus, into which are placed both wild and domestic species. They are highly intelligent, social animals and adaptable to almost any environment through sheer stubborn will.
Fun Fact: Domestic pigs are one of the most numerous animals on the planet with around a billion alive at any time.
Pig-Nosed Turtle
The Pig-Nosed Turtle, also known as the Fly River Turtle, is a unique freshwater turtle species native to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. It has unusual flippers, more resembling those of sea turtles and is leathery and dark grey in appearance.
Fun Fact: These turtles have a funny pig-like snout from which they get their names. They’re also said to be extremely aggressive.
Pigeon
Pigeons, also known as rock doves, are a highly adaptable family of birds found worldwide in urban, suburban, and rural environments. They’re well known for their distinctive cooing calls and often beautiful plumage.
Fun Fact: Pigeons are incredibly fast-flying birds and use the magnetic field of the Earth to navigate over long distances.
Pika
Pikas are small, herbivorous lagomorphs inhabiting rocky mountain slopes and alpine meadows across Asia and North America. They look a bit like a cross between a mouse and a rabbit.
Fun Fact: At least one species has been known to store dead birds in their burrows for food during winter and eat the faeces of other animals.
Pike
Pike, or pickerel, are a genus of predatory freshwater fish species that live in lakes, rivers, and streams throughout the Northern Hemisphere. They have elongated bodies, very sharp teeth, and voracious feeding habits.
Fun Fact: Pike are formidable predators and will eat almost anything they can swallow, including baby ducks.
Pileated Woodpecker
The Pileated Woodpecker is a large woodpecker species found in mature forests across North America. It’s easily recognized for its distinctive red crest and is one of the largest forest birds on the continent.
Fun Fact: This large species hammers huge holes in trees that get sued by other, smaller species, making them important to the ecosystem.
Pill bug
The pill bugs are not true bugs but are instead a family of woodlice called Armadillidae. Many of the members can roll into a complete ball. They’re native to Europe but have been introduced to North America.
Fun Fact: The ability to form a defensive ball is called conglobation or volvation and has evolved independently in pill millipedes (among many others), which are often confused with pill bugs.
Pilot whale
Pilot whales are two species of medium-sized cetaceans that look almost alike. They have torpedo-shaped front ends, are almost black and have short dorsal fins. They live in marine waters almost all over the world.
Fun Fact: These whales reproduce slower than almost any animal in the ocean, with a 15-month gestation period separated. By three to five years between births.
Pin-tailed sandgrouse
The pin-tailed sandgrouse is a medium-sized sandgrouse from North America and Europe, around 35cm long, with long, pointed wings and a long, slender tail. It has a chestnut breast separated by a distinctive black band from its white belly and brown head.
Fun Fact: The male of this species brings his young water, which he carries in specially modified feathers in his breast.
Pin-tailed whydah
The Pin-tailed whydah is a small passerine bird from Sub-Saharan Africa. During breeding, males are distinguished for their exceptionally long tail feathers, which are longer than the rest of the bird. They have white or grey bodies with black heads and red beaks.
Fun Fact: This is a species of brood parasite, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, usually waxbills.
Pinacate Beetle
The Pinacate Beetles, also known as desert stink beetles, are a genus of darkling beetles found in deserts across North America. They’re black, with long but rounded bodies and long legs.
Fun Fact: Pinacate Beetles will stand on their heads and spray noxious chemicals in self-defence.
Pine Beetle
Pine beetles are a genus of bark beetles from North America. Many are less than a centimetre long and black, and some species are well known for causing damage to forests.
Fun Fact: Pine beetles have developed a symbiotic relationship with Candida yeast that helps them digest food and produce pheromones.
Pine Marten
Pine martens are highly agile and arboreal mustelids from Europe, Asia Minor and the Middle East. They’re small and cute members of the Weasel genus so are far more dangerous than they look.
Fun Fact: Once thought to be extinct in England, they have recently been confirmed to be seen as far South as the New Forest and London.
Pine Siskin
Pine siskins are small North American finches found in coniferous forests They have brown-streaked plumage, pointed bills, and distinctive twittering vocalizations, often forming large flocks during migration and winter months.
Fun Fact: These tiny birds can hold 10% of their own body weight in seeds inside their crop which they access on cold nights.
Pine Snake
Pine snakes are large, non-venomous colubrids inhabiting pine forests and grasslands across North America. They can grow up to 230cm and have very mean expressions. They’re usually light to dark brown and patterned.
Fun Fact: Despite being harmless to humans, this species will flatten its head, rattle its tail and let out a loud hiss when threatened.
Pine Weevil
Pine weevils are a large species of weevils with a long nose and rough, brown, speckled carapace. They grow to around 13mm long and span much of the coniferous regions of Europe.
Fun Fact: These weevils are attracted to freshly cut stumps of conifer trees, and sometimes deciduous trees. This means that when clearings are made and new seedlings planted, there can be plagues of destructive pine weevils to follow.
Pinfish
Pinfish are small, schooling marine fish found in shallow coastal waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean. They’re oval-shaped, silver with large eyes and distinct black vertical bars.
Fun Fact: This fish changes its diet and teeth as it ages. They start life carnivorous and grow into more conscientious adults who get 90% of their food from plants.
Pink Bollworm
The pink bollworm is a destructive pest insect that infests cotton crops, particularly prevalent in regions with warm climates, where it damages cotton bolls by feeding on the seeds, leading to yield losses and reduced crop quality.
Fun Fact: Pink bollworms have developed resistance to many chemical insecticides commonly used in cotton cultivation, posing significant challenges to pest management strategies and requiring integrated pest control approaches for effective management.
Pink Fairy Armadillo
The pink fairy armadillo is the smallest species of armadillo, native to central Argentina and known for its unique pinkish shell, burrowing habits, and hairy bodies. They look like pork crackling.
Fun Fact: These armadillos are incredible burrowers, giving them the nickname, “sand swimmer” and the (exaggerated) reputation of being able to burrow through the sand as fast as a fish can swim.
Pink Salmon
Pink salmon, also known as humpback salmon, are native to the Pacific and Arctic coastal waters and rivers and are the smallest and most abundant salmon species. They’re not very pink, more silver and grey. Males develop a hump during mating season.
Fun Fact: This species is a euryhaline fish, capable of tolerating both seawater and freshwater environments.
Pink-Necked Green Pigeon
The pink-necked green pigeon is a species of bird found in Southeast Asia named by someone very unimaginative, but accurate.
Fun Fact: Unlike other pigeon genera, this genus of pigeon rejects the characteristic coo and opts for a more quacking and whistling sound.
Pipe Snake
Pipe snakes are a single South American species with a single genus inside the family, growing up to around 70cm long with vivid red scales covered in black bands. Despite its colouration, it’s nonvenomous.
Fun Fact: These cylindrical snakes are thought to most closely represent the ancestral snake morphology, having a lizard-like skull and reduced eyes.
Pipefish
Pipefish are long, slender fish belonging that look like uncurled seahorses, with which they share a family. They’re mostly marine fish, though there are some freshwater ones, and they rarely grow longer than 40cm.
Fun Fact: Just like seahorses, the male pipefish carries and births the young, who begin feeding immediately after being spewed forth from the male’s pouch.
Pipistrelle
The pipistrelles are a genus of bats from the Old World, with over 30 species. Some are very small, at just a few centimetres long, usually brown, with small ears. Even single species, like the common pipistrelle, can be impressively widespread.
Fun Fact: In hibernating species, the females can hold onto sperm while they sleep, using it for fertilisation later in the year, after they wake up.
Piranha
Piranhas are 13 species of carnivorous freshwater tetra found in South American rivers. These iconic little predators are known for their sharp teeth, and voracious feeding behaviour, and have a fearsome reputation as aggressive predators.
Fun Fact: This reputation isn’t entirely deserved, but it’s not entirely accurate, either. Piranhas seldom cause any serious trouble to people but have killed on occasion.
Pistol shrimp
Pistol shrimp are a family of shrimp with one massive claw, much larger than the other. They come in various colours but the large claw is capable of making a loud popping noise, which gives them their name.
Fun Fact: This popping can be so loud that when the shrimp are gathered in large numbers, their pistols disrupt the sonar of ships.
Pit Bull
Pit bulls are a type of powerful dog breed known for their muscular build, strong loyalty to their owners, and derpy smiles. Unfortunately, neglected pit bulls can be extremely dangerous on account of their specific fighting adaptations.
Fun Fact: “Pit bull” is quite a vague term, and can mean a number of things to different people. While some lines were bred for fighting, the general use for this type of dog was as a farm hand.
Pit Viper
Pit vipers are a subfamily of venomous snakes from Asia and the Americas. They range in size from 45cm to 3.5 meters but are generally recognizable from their classic viper-shaped arrow-like heads.
Fun Fact: These vipers are named after the infrared camera they have built into their faces, forming a ‘pit’ between the eye and the nostril. This helps them spot mammals in the dark from their body heat alone.
Plains Hognose Snake
The Plains, or Western, Hognose Snake is a non-venomous colubrid species found in North America. They have an upturned snout and varied colouration, from shades of brown and grey to red.
Fun Fact: These melodramatic animals may flatten their bodies, hiss loudly, and even feign death by rolling onto their backs and opening their mouths when disturbed.
Platypus
The platypus is a deeply bizarre egg-laying mammal found in Australia. Everyone knows what a platypus looks like by now.
Fun Fact: Where to start? This mammal lays eggs, sweats milk from its armpits, makes venom, hunts using electroreception, has unusually low body temperatures and may have a 110-million-year lineage.
Plott Hounds
Plott Hounds are a breed of scent hound originating from North Carolina, originally bred for hunting bears. They’re very good-looking animals with an athletic and powerful build and a “brindle” coat (that tiger-striped thing boxers have).
Fun Fact: This is the only breed of coonhound that is unrelated to the fox hound, and instead comes from Hanover hounds, bred in Germany.
Plover
Plovers are a family of round little wading birds, usually with rounded heads and short, pointed beaks. The family includes the lapwings and dotterels, which are also technically plovers, but with a different name.
Fun Fact: Even today, the Icelandic media covers the first plover sighting of the year; something which traditionally meant Spring had arrived in Icelandic folklore.
Plymouth Rock Chicken
Plymouth Rock Chickens are a popular dual-purpose breed of domestic chicken from the US. They have bright red combs and wattles and mottled or barred grey plumage.
Fun Fact: Before the advent of industrial chicken farming, this was the most common breed of chicken in the US.
Pocket Beagle
Pocket Beagles are a smaller-sized variant of the Beagle breed, said to maintain the playful and outgoing nature of the true beagle.
Fun Fact: These are a replacement of a 13th-century miniature beagle called a “glove beagle” which went extinct. Glove beagles were so named because they could fit in the palm of a hunting glove.
Pointer
Pointers, or English Pointers, are a medium-sized breed of bird dog known for their keen sense of smell, stamina, and ability to locate and “point” game birds for hunters. They’re long-legged, handsome dogs with brown and white colouration.
Fun Fact: Modern pointers have greyhound blood in them so they’re faster and slightly less needy than other species, but they’re great companion animals.
Poison Dart Frog
Poison Dart Frogs are a family of small, typically brightly coloured frogs found in Central and South American rainforests. Most are under 5cm long with incredibly vibrant coloured patterns and many contain high levels of toxins dangerous to humans.
Fun Fact: While the brightly coloured, deadly species are what the family is known for, many species have no toxins and are camouflaged in their colouration. Only four species are known to be used in poison darts.
Polar Bear
Polar Bears are large, white, carnivorous mammals native to the Arctic Circle. They might look cuddly but they aren’t.
Fun Fact: In 2019, over 50 polar bears marched into a Russian town looking for food.
Polecat
Polecats are small to medium-sized mustelids in the weasel family, though there’s no single animal or taxonomic group with the name. There are at least three separate genera with members commonly called polecats.
Fun Fact: Stiped polecats are also known as Zorillas, and marbled polecats are beautiful little European mustelids with leopard print.
Polish (chickens)
Polish Chickens are very unusual-looking domestic chickens known for the enormous crest of feathers on their heads. They come in numerous colours and have very little to do with Poland.
Fun Fact: These are not bred for eggs or meat, and rarely lay, but when they do they produce a beautiful white egg.
Polish Lowland Sheepdog
The Polish Lowland Sheepdog is a medium-sized herding breed with a shaggy, black and white coat and a lot of smarts.
Fun Fact: These dogs have a lot of character and are confident and friendly, but need to be treated firmly or they will try to take over the place, so they’re not for beginners.
Polka Dot Stingray
Polka Dot Stingrays, or Xingu. River rays are freshwater stingrays native to the Xingu River in Brazil. They are distinctive, round rays with black skin covered with white spots.
Fun Fact: As the name suggests, these rays pack a punch using a dentine spine in their tails. Their venom loses potency as they age, and become less prone to predation.
Pollock
Pollock are one of two species of marine fish in the Pollachius genus, found in cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. They grow up to 1.3m long, with greenish-black scales and a white belly.
Fun Fact: A large female European pollock can produce up to 9 million eggs, each around 1mm across.
Polyphemus Moth
The Polyphemus Moth is a large giant silk moth native to North America. These are huge and beautiful moths, brown with dark purple eye spots.
Fun Fact: Over its rapid growth stage, the caterpillar of this moth can eat more than 86,000 times its weight at emergence.
Pomeranian
The Pomeranian is what happens when breeders have too much time on their hands and no longer need working dogs. They’re derived from larger, working dogs, reduced to fluff balls of brown, tan and black.
Fun Fact: While they look like handbag dogs, they’re surprisingly intelligent and with the right stimulation can become very happy.
Pomeranian Goose
This breed of goose comes from Germany and is a descendant of the Greylag goose, with which it shares some similarities. It’s a large, plump, mostly grey goose, with pink-red legs and beak, but they also come in white.
Fun Fact: These geese can be told apart from other Greylag breeds by their single-lobed paunch; the fatty deposit below the tail feathers. Other varieties have two.
Pompano
Pompanos are a genus of 21 species of marine fish. They have short faces, angular, silver bodies, and grow up to around a meter long.
Fun Fact: The USS Navy named a submarine after one pompano species, the Permit as part of the naming scheme of the time which paid tribute to ocean animals.
Pond Skater
The pond skaters are a family of hemipteran insects that inhabit the surface of ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams. They have long, slender legs that enable them to “skate” on water using the surface tension.
Fun Fact: One genus of pond skaters, the Halobates, have evolved to live in marine environments and are the only known insects to be found exclusively in the sea.
Pony
Ponies are a breed of small horse, often considered a subspecies of Equus ferus, originally bred for packing, riding and driving, and commonly used in the mines from the late 19th century. For competition, a pony is any horse shorter than 148cm at the shoulder.
Fun Fact: Ponies, like most animals, are a lot less fussy and low maintenance than horses and handle tough environments like cold weather and limited diet a lot better.
Poodle
Poodles are a breed of water dogs from Germany. There are standard, miniature, medium and toy varieties, and they’re now mostly used to display a form of dog topiary that undermines their incredible intellect.
Fun Fact: Despite being made to look like barking dusters, poodles are some of the most intelligent dog breeds around. They’re also athletic, obedient and friendly and deserve better!
Pool Frog
The pool frog is an 8cm species of frog native to Central and Northern Europe. They are generally green or brown and look exactly how you might draw a frog.
Fun Fact: Pool frogs have made a comeback in the UK after being declared extinct in the wild.
Porbeagle Shark
The porbeagle shark looks a lot like a small Great White shark and is part of the order of mackerel sharks. It grows to about 2.5 meters and feeds on cephalopods and fish.
Fun Fact: This shark is found almost all over the world, and is only absent in regions where the very similar Salmon shark has filled its niche.
Porcelain Crab
Porcelain crabs make up a widespread family of decapods that look a lot like crabs but technically aren’t. They’re small, with flattened bodies and hide under rocks a lot. They’re a relative of the squat lobster that has evolved to become very crab-like.
Fun Fact: Porcelain crabs are named because their limbs fall off readily, giving them a certain fragility.
Porcupine
Porcupines are infamous spiny rodents from Europe, Africa and the Americas. They’re some of the largest rodents in the world and can live up to 32 years.
Fun Fact: New World and Old World porcupines look very similar but aren’t actually all that closely related to one another. The two families share an infraorder with the guineapigs and chinchillas.
Porcupinefish
Porcupinefish are slow-moving, inflatable fish, very similar to the pufferfish (and also sometimes called this) but from a separate family. They’re found all over the world in shallow temperate and tropical waters.
Fun Fact: Porcupinefish have three tiers of defence: they swallow water to make themselves big, have strong spies to make themselves sharp and contain tetrodotoxin that’s 1200 times as potent as cyanide.
Porpoise
Porpoises make up a family of dolphin-like toothed whales, closer related to narwhales and belugas, but occupying a similar niche to small dolphins. They’re the smallest of the toothed whales and live in rivers and marine waters all over the world.
Fun Fact: Aristotle was the first recorded scholar to notice the similarity between porpoises and land vertebrates, and began the early consideration of marine mammal evolution, though ‘evolution’ was not a concept until much later.
Portuguese Man o’ War
The Portuguese man o’ war, sometimes known as a bluebottle, is a jellyfish-like communical organism with a purple or blue gas-filled float above long and highly venomous tentacles. They’re found all over the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Fun Fact: This animal isn’t a jellyfish, nor is it even a single animal. In fact, it’s a strange gathering of colonial organisms, like an ant colony, with different castes forming different roles. Together they create a whole, that functions very similarly to a jellyfish.
Portuguese Podengo
The Portuguese Podengo is a hardy, intelligent hound from Portugal. They have short, coarse hair and are often a tan/creamy colour and were originally bred for hunting deer but make good family dogs.
Fun Fact: This breed is more primitive than most, and has less of the signs of domestication than other breeds. This includes straight ears, natural smarts and independence
Possum
Possums, not to be confused with opossums, are about 70 species of arboreal marsupials from Australia and New Guinea. The smallest is a 10g pygmy possum and the largest is the 7kg bear cuscus.
Fun Fact: American opossums (often called possums) are not closely related at all, and true possums are closer to kangaroos than their American namesakes.
Pot-Bellied Pig
Pot-bellied pigs are a stout, short-legged, wrinkly-faced pig breed from Vietnam. They are black, weigh around 50 kg and are resistant to pests and diseases. They’re smart and mischievous animals and make fun companions.
Fun Fact: The low-hanging bellies that this breed is named after can get so swollen during pregnancy that they scrape along the ground.
Potato Beetle
The potato beetle, also known as the Colorado potato beetle, is a notorious leaf beetle native to the Rocky Mountains. It’s got a distinctive yellow and black striped shell and resembles a small ladybird.
Fun Fact: This is a very successful beetle, having spread from its native range to invade much of North America, Eurasia and a section of North Africa.
Potoo
Potoos are a family of nightjar-like birds from South and Central America. They’re somewhat owl-looking and highly camouflaged in wooded areas during the day. They hunt insects at night.
Fun Fact: Potoos are sometimes called poor-me-ones, which is a reference to the phrasing of their calls which can be heard from dusk onwards.
Potoroo
The potoroo is a small marsupial native to Australia. While it looks a lot more like a mouse, it’s closely related to the kangaroos and wallabies. Once widespread, they were driven almost to extinction as crop pests but are making a comeback.
Fun Fact: The Long-nosed potoroo’s nose gets longer the further south the population is.
Powderpost Beetle
The powderpost beetles are a subfamily of wood-boring beetles. They’re generally very small, at just a few millimetres long, and brown to black. They’re commonly found in the Southern parts of the US.
Fun Fact: These beetles are so good at destroying wood, their name comes from their ability to reduce a wooden post to fine powder.
Prairie Chicken
The prairie chicken is a genus of grouse from North and Central America. Thee are good-looking birds often with tufted ear feathers and orange display sacs in the males.
Fun Fact: The Greater prairie chicken is known as the “boomer” and is a large species with a loud, booming mating ritual which gives it its nickname.
Prairie Dog
Prairie dogs are small, burrowing rodents found in the grasslands of North America. They build complex underground tunnel systems, similar to some species of mongoose, but are a species of true squirrel.
Fun Fact: Prairie dogs play a keystone role in their ecosystems by creating habitat for other species, aerating the soil, and providing vast amounts of food for predators such as eagles, hawks, and coyotes.
Prairie Rattlesnake
The prairie, or Great Plains rattlesnake is a venomous pit viper species native to the grasslands and prairies of North America. They grow to up to a meter or so long and are mostly nocturnal.
Fun Fact: These terrestrial snakes are capable of climbing trees, often to find a place to rest.
Prawn
Prawns are aquatic crustaceans commonly found in oceans. They have segmented shells and a finned tail and loosely resemble tiny lobsters. They come in all colours and sizes and have ten legs and claws.
Fun Fact: There’s no strict taxonomic distinction between shrimp and prawns, though lobsters are an intermediate evolutionary development between both of them and crabs.
Praying Mantis
The praying mantis is a predatory insect with an elongated thorax, triangular head, and folded, spiny forelegs adapted for grasping prey. They are usually cryptic ambush hunters who stalk their prey on plants.
Fun Fact: These are highly adapted visual predators, able to see in 3D and highly sensitive to movement (like a tiny T-Rex).
Proboscis Monkey
The proboscis monkey is a strange-faced Old-World monkey species from Borneo. They have long, swollen noses, long tails and reddish-brown skin.
Fun Fact: The distinctive nose of the proboscis is still a bit of a mystery. It’s larger in males, suggesting some form of sexual selection and may contribute to the acoustics of the mating call.
Procoptodon
The Procoptodon, also known as the short-faced kangaroo, was a genus of giant kangaroos that existed in Australia during the Pleistocene epoch. They were monstrous at 2.7m tall and around 250kg in weight.
Fun Fact: This genus might have included the biggest kangaroo to have ever lived, and they had a single hoof-like toe on each foot and a pair of long claws on each hand.
Pronghorn
The pronghorn, often referred to as the American antelope, is a unique mammal native to North America. While not a true antelope, they have a lot of the speed and agility associated with their Old-World namesakes. They’re closer related to giraffids than antelope.
Fun Fact: This is the fastest land animal in the Americas, capable of sustained speeds of up to 89km/h.
Prehensile-tailed porcupine
Prehensile-tailed porcupines, or coendous, are from Central and Southern America, and look very much like other New World porcupines, except that they have a hairless and prehensile tail. There are at least 17 species.
Fun Fact: These porcupines have a surprising vocal repertoire, with barks, whistles, grunts, moans, whines, coughs and shrieks.
Pudu
The Pudus are two species of deer from South America and are said to be the smallest deer in the world. The Southern Pudu is smaller than the Norther, and weighs up to 6kg, standing 35cm tall. They have orange ears and limbs with a darer grey-brown body.
Fun Fact: Pudus are small and solitary animals and still very unknown to science.
Puff Adder
The puff adder is a highly venomous snake species from the dry regions of Africa. It has sharp, bold colouration and is said to be aggressive. They grow to about a meter long with a very wide body.
Fun Fact: The species name for this snake, arietans, means “striking violently” and these vipers can often kill prey from the powerful blunt force of the strike alone.
Pufferfish
Pufferfish are a family of fish well known and named for their ability to inflate their bodies when threatened. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans and estuaries worldwide and occupy 28 genera with 193 known species.
Fun Fact: Pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, an extremely potent neurotoxin that can be deadly to humans if consumed in sufficient quantities.
Puffin
Puffins are three species of small seabirds that belong to the auk (penguin) family. They’re found primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean and are recognisable for their brightly coloured beaks and contrasting black and white plumage.
Fun Fact: Tufted puffins are the most accomplished diggers of the three species, tunnelling almost three meters into the cliff face to nest.
Pug
The pug is a small, wrinkly short short-faced dog breed with a plethora of health conditions. These gentle and sociable little dogs are ugly-cute, but often so badly bred they have a low life expectancy and are often sick.
Fun Fact: The retro pug is a designer breed that aims to take the smushed little face of the modern pug and restore it to a healthier morph by combining it with a Jack Russel.
Puggle
The Puggle is a mixed-breed dog obtained by crossing a pug with a beagle. Known for their friendly disposition and playful nature, Puggles are popular companion animals, and generally a lot healthier than purebred pugs.
Fun Fact: This is a very new breed, formed around 1990 in the US. They live for 10-15 years, often twice as long as pugs.
Puli
The Puli is a Hungarian herding dog recognisable for its long, dark, corded coat. They’re usually black but can be grey or even white, and are medium-sized with quite short faces.
Fun Fact: Despite looking like a mop, these are smart and active animals with a high exercise requirement.
Puma
The puma, also known as the cougar or mountain lion, is a large felid native to the Americas, ranging from Canada to South America. It’s a solitary and highly adaptable predator and helps control populations of prey species.
Fun Fact: Pumas are known as mountain lions, but occupy a different genus than the Panthera leo and other big cats.
Pumi
The Pumi is a Hungarian sheepdog with medium-length, woolly grey or brown fur. known for its energetic and lively personality. Most working sheepdogs in Hungary to this day are pumis.
Fun Fact: Pumis have a strong need for structure and socialization. Neglected dogs might try to herd people out of frustration.
Pumpkin Patch Tarantula
The Pumpkin Patch Tarantula is a species of small tarantula native to Colombia. They have light brown legs and a black and orange body, which gives them their nickname. These beautiful spiders are popular with collectors and are said to be docile.
Fun Fact: Females of this species live significantly longer than males, sometimes almost four times as long at up to 10 years.
Purple Emperor Butterfly
The Purple Emperor Butterfly is a majestic, Palearctic butterfly species that has generally brown wings with orange rings and white bands, or violet blue in the male. These are very pretty little butterflies that grow up to around 9cm long.
Fun Fact: Adults of this species don’t feed on plants, instead eating honeydew secreted by aphids.
Purple Finch
The Purple Finch is a true finch from North America. The name is dubious; males are strawberry-coloured and females are brown with speckled white underparts. They really like sunflower seeds.
Fun Fact: The populations of this species found in Northern Canada migrate all the way down to the southern US, but many populations remain residents in warmer parts of the continent.
Purple Gallinule
The Purple Gallinule is a colourful swamphen species found in the wetlands of the Americas. It has beautiful green wings, a purple neck and breast, yellow legs and a red beak with a yellow tip.
Fun Fact: Like jacanas, these birds have wide, splayed feet that help them walk on floating vegetation. But while jacanas are in the same order as auks and gulls, the purple gallinule is in the order of the cranes.
Purple Tree Tarantula
The Purple Tarantula is a large New World tarantula from Ecuador and the Amazon region. They have stocky, fuzzy legs and a purple iridescence that gives them their nickname.
Fun Fact: These arboreal tarantulas grow up to around 13cm long, and can sometimes catch and feed on small rodents.
Puss Caterpillar
The Puss, or Southern Flannel, caterpillar, is the 2.5cm larval stage of the Megalopyge opercularis moth from North America. The caterpillar is covered in a shaggy coat of fur and the adult moth is equally fluffy with dull orange to lemon yellow fur, hairy legs and fuzzy black feet.
Fun Fact: This caterpillar has a reputation as one of the most venomous caterpillars in North America.
Puss Moth
(See/copy Puss Caterpillar)
Pygmy Hippopotamus
The Pygmy Hippopotamus is the smaller of the two hippo species and is found in West Africa. They look more or less like miniature versions of their terrifying cousins, but they’re more solitary and nocturnal.
Fun Fact: These elusive and cute “entry-level” hippos are not well understood but are commonly found in burrows in river banks. Whether they dig them or steal them is unknown.
Pygmy Marmoset (Finger Monkey)
The Pygmy Marmosets, or finger monkeys, are two of the world’s smallest monkey species. They’re native to the rainforests of South America and weigh around 100g. They live in South America and wear impressive little manes.
Fun Fact: These tiny monkeys are highly adapted for arboreal life, able to turn their heads around 180 degrees and use special teeth to cut into trees to access the gum.
Pygmy Owl
Pygmy owls are small owl species in the Glaucidium genus. There are 29 species, spread out over Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, most of which eat insects. They’re commonly no more than 15-20cm long.
Fun Fact: Pygmy Owls show a diverse set of behaviours across species. Some are diurnal, others crepuscular, but most are nocturnal.
Pygmy Python
The Pygmy python is the smallest snake in the Pythonidae family. It’s found in Western Australia and grows up to around 50cm long. It has orange-brown skin and darker patterns with an iridescence.
Fun Fact: Pygmy Pythons love cervices and can often be found inside termite mounds.
Pygmy Rattlesnake
The Pygmy Rattlesnake is a beautiful little pit viper from the southeastern US. It’s bright grey or brown, usually with alternating patches of dark brown and orange running down its spine. They usually grow no longer than 60cm.
Fun Fact: Pygmy Rattlesnakes use their tails as a lure to bring lizards into striking distance.
Pygmy Shark
The Pygmy Shark is the second-smallest shark species after the Dwarf lanternshark. It tops out at around 22cm and is found in subtropical and temperate waters around the world. They’re in the dogfish and sleeper sharks order.
Fun Fact: These tiny sharks spend most of their time in the deep waters of the ocean, migrating up at night to feed.
Pyjama Shark
The Pyjama Shark is a reef species of catshark from South Africa. They’re small sharks, at around a meter in length, and have distinctive stripes down their bodies.
Fun Fact: This species is a generalist carnivore of many species of reef animals from crustaceans to fish, so plays an important role as a mesopredator in its environment.
Pyrenean Mastiff
The Pyrenean Mastiff is an enormous guard dog from Northeast Spain. It’s a muscular and powerful animal with a shaggy coat, sometimes with black or brown patches and a mask. They can weigh up to 90kg.
Fun Fact: These dogs were bred as livestock guardians and are said to be friendly and protective of all animals.
Pyrenean Shepherd
The Pyrenean Shepherd descends from ancient hunting breeds in the Pyrenees mountains. They’re tough and fast and said to be super intelligent too. They have a harsh coat and come in many colour variations.
Fun Fact: This breed is a high-energy animal and needs lots of exercise but is generally a very healthy dog.
Pyrosome
Pyrosomes are strange, colonial tunicates, stuck together in a gelatinous “tunic” that covers each one and connects it to the next. They form jelly sausages that float around in the water, filtering out organic matter to feed on and glowing in the dark. Some are tiny, others get up to 18m long.
Fun Fact: Some of these strange colonies are so organised that they can use coordinated waving of their individual cilia hairs to propel the whole mass in one direction.
Python
The pythons are a family of nonvenomous, freckled snakes from Africa, Australia and Asia. They can grow to enormous proportions, with the largest reaching almost 8 meters long and kill by constriction.
Fun Fact: Pythons and boas are not closely related though they fill a remarkably similar niche and so often look almost identical. There are a few areas where they overlap.
What Other Animals Begin With ‘P’?
That completes our list of animals that begin with the letter P.
Hopefully you’ve learned a few new ones, but are there any that we’re missing in our list that you would like to see covered?
If so, get in touch. Please see our Animal A-Z list for animals that start with different letters.