Animals Vocabulary Quiz
12 multiple-choice questions on animal names, habitats, sounds, baby animals and collective nouns. A2–B1 English vocabulary quiz.
Animals Vocabulary — FAQ
A group of fish is a shoal or school. A group of wolves is a pack. A group of lions is a pride. A group of geese is a gaggle (on the ground) or flock (in flight). A group of elephants is a herd. A group of crows is a murder. A group of bees is a swarm. These collective nouns are a rich part of English vocabulary.
Dogs bark and growl, cats meow and purr, cows moo, horses neigh, pigs oink, sheep baa, ducks quack, frogs croak, lions roar, snakes hiss, elephants trumpet, wolves howl, bees buzz, and birds tweet or chirp. These English words must be learned separately as other languages describe animal sounds differently.
Mammals are warm-blooded, give birth to live young and nurse them with milk. Reptiles are cold-blooded, have scales, and usually lay eggs (snakes, lizards, crocodiles). Amphibians can live both on land and in water, have moist skin without scales, and go through metamorphosis (frogs, toads, salamanders).
Common animal idioms: 'a wolf in sheep's clothing' (a dangerous person pretending to be harmless), 'let the cat out of the bag' (reveal a secret accidentally), 'the elephant in the room' (an obvious problem no one discusses), 'kill two birds with one stone' (achieve two things at once), and 'hold your horses' (wait, slow down).
Baby animals: dog → puppy, cat → kitten, cow → calf, horse → foal, sheep → lamb, pig → piglet, chicken → chick, duck → duckling, bear → cub, lion → cub, kangaroo → joey, deer → fawn, frog → tadpole, goat → kid, and rabbit → kit or kitten.
Venomous means an animal injects toxin through a bite or sting (venomous snake, venomous spider). Poisonous means an organism is harmful if you touch or eat it (poisonous frog, poisonous mushroom). A snake that bites and injects venom is venomous, not poisonous.
Key vocabulary: giant panda, Amur leopard, Sumatran orangutan, mountain gorilla, snow leopard, blue whale, leatherback sea turtle, and black rhino. Learning vocabulary in context — including habitats and threats — improves retention.
Cow (female) / bull (male) / calf (young); hen (female) / rooster or cock (male) / chick (young); vixen (female fox); mare (female horse) / stallion (male) / foal (young); ewe (female sheep) / ram (male) / lamb (young); doe (female deer) / stag or buck (male) / fawn (young).
A carnivore eats only meat (lions, sharks). A herbivore eats only plants (horses, cows, elephants). An omnivore eats both (humans, pigs, bears). From Latin: carni = flesh, herbi = grass/plant, omni = all, vore = eat.
Animal-related verbs: to hatch (eggs opening), to hibernate (sleep through winter), to migrate (travel seasonally), to hunt, to graze (eat grass), to nest, to moult (shed feathers or skin), to swarm, to burrow (dig a tunnel), and to forage (search for food). These appear in nature writing and IELTS reading passages.