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Scrubland animals

Scrub and bushland sits between grassland and desert: dry country with low bushes and scattered trees. It's home to kudu and dik-diks, meerkats and mongooses, wombats and quokkas, roadrunners and tortoises.

Many of these animals get much of their water from the plants they eat.

64 animals, A to Z.

• 🐾AardvarkA burrowing, nocturnal African mammal that digs out ants and termites with powerful claws and collects them with a long, sticky tongue.
• 🦫ArmadilloTwenty-one species of American mammals with a leathery, armoured shell and long digging claws.
• 🐾BandicootMore than 20 species of small, mostly nocturnal marsupials from Australia and New Guinea, with long pointed snouts, large ears and strong hind legs.
• 🦎Bearded dragonEight species of Australian lizards named for the spiny "beard" under the throat, which darkens and puffs up when they are stressed, threatened or courting.
• 🐍Boa constrictorA large, heavy-bodied, non-venomous snake of tropical America, and a staple of pet collections.
• 🦜BudgerigarA small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot of Australia.
• 🐃BuffaloA large, heavily built wild cow of sub-Saharan Africa.
• 🐆CaracalA slender, long-legged wild cat with a reddish-tan coat and long black ear tufts; its name comes from the Turkish for "black ear".
• 🦎ChameleonAbout 200 species of Old World lizard with independently moving eyes, a projectile tongue and gripping feet and tail.
• 🐆CheetahThe fastest land animal: a lightweight, long-legged cat built for short sprints across open ground.
• 🐾ChinchillaTwo species of crepuscular rodents from the high Andes, living in colonies up to 4,270 m.
• 🐿️ChipmunkSmall, striped burrowing squirrels of North America, plus the Siberian chipmunk of Asia.
• 🦜CockatielThe smallest member of the cockatoo family: a grey Australian parrot with a long tail and an expressive crest.
• 🐈CougarA large, plain-coated cat of the Americas, also called puma, mountain lion and panther.
• 🐾Dik-dikFour species of tiny antelope living in the bushlands of eastern and south-western Africa.
• 🐕DingoA lean, hardy wild dog of Australia, ginger, black-and-tan or creamy white.
• 🫏DonkeyA domesticated member of the horse family, bred from the African wild ass some 5,000–7,000 years ago and used mainly as a working animal ever since.
• 🐪DromedaryThe one-humped camel, and the tallest of the three camel species.
• 🐾ElandThe common eland, a huge spiral-horned antelope of the plains and open woodland of East and southern Africa.
• 🐘ElephantThree living species, the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant, and the largest land animals alive.
• 🐾EmuA flightless bird found only in Australia, the country’s tallest native bird and the third-tallest living bird after the two ostriches.
• 🐾GazelleSmall, fast antelopes, mostly fawn-coloured, living in herds in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa and in south-west and central Asia and India.
• 🐾GenetSeventeen species of slender, cat-like carnivores with spotted fur, a dark stripe down the spine and a ringed tail almost as long as the body.
• 🦒GiraffeThe tallest living land animal, browsing leaves from treetops across African savanna.
• 🐾GuanacoA wild camelid of South America and the ancestor of the domestic llama.
• 🐇HareLong-legged relatives of rabbits that live above ground and rely on speed, not burrows, to escape.
• 🐾HartebeestA large African antelope with a long face, oddly bent horns on both sexes, long legs and a back that slopes down from a hump over the shoulders.
• 🐺HyenaFour species of dog-like carnivores, including the spotted, brown and striped hyenas.
• 🐺JackalWild dogs of Africa and Eurasia: the black-backed and side-striped jackals of Africa and the golden jackal of south-central Europe and Asia.
• 🐾KakapoA large, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot found only in New Zealand, with mottled moss-green feathers and an owl-like face.
• 🦘KangarooThe largest marsupials, and the only large mammals that get around mainly by hopping on two legs.
• 🐾KiwiFive species of flightless bird found only in New Zealand, about the size of a chicken and the smallest ratites.
• 🦎Komodo dragonThe largest living lizard, a monitor lizard found only on a few Indonesian islands.
• 🐾KuduThe greater kudu, a tall woodland antelope of eastern and southern Africa with 4–12 thin white stripes on its sides.
• 🦧LemurThe ring-tailed lemur is the best-known lemur, with a long black-and-white ringed tail.
• 🐆LeopardThe most widespread wild cat, a spotted, secretive hunter that survives almost anywhere with cover: rainforest, savanna, mountains and semi-desert across Africa and Asia.
• 🦁LionAfrica's social big cat.
• 🦎LizardScaly reptiles, usually with four legs, with over 7,000 species.
• 🐾Maned wolfThe largest canine in South America, with a reddish coat and very long, slender legs.
• 🦫MeerkatA small, highly social mongoose of southern Africa.
• 🐾MongooseSmall carnivores of Africa, Asia and southern Europe, 34 species in two subfamilies.
• 🦌MuntjacFourteen species of small deer from South and Southeast Asia, also called barking deer.
• 🐾NightingaleThe common nightingale, a plain brown bird with a reddish tail, famous for one of the most beautiful songs in nature.
• 🐾NyalaA shy, spiral-horned antelope of southeast Africa, and the most sexually dimorphic antelope: males are slate grey with a shaggy fringe and horns, while females are small, hornless and rusty brown with white stripes.
• 🦤OstrichThe tallest and heaviest living bird, flightless and native to parts of Africa.
• 🦔PorcupineLarge rodents covered in sharp quills.
• 🐾QuokkaA cat-sized relative of kangaroos and wallabies from southwestern Australia.
• 🐰RabbitEvery pet and farmed rabbit belongs to one species, the European rabbit.
• 🐍RattlesnakeThirty-six species of venomous pit vipers of the Americas, named for the rattle of interlocking keratin segments at the tail tip.
• 🦏RhinocerosFive living species of huge, thick-skinned plant-eaters, two in Africa and three in South and Southeast Asia.
• 🐾RoadrunnerThe greater roadrunner, a long-legged ground cuckoo of the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico.
• 🦂ScorpionArachnids with eight legs, grasping pincers and a curved tail ending in a venomous sting.
• 🐾SpringbokA slender, fast antelope of the dry south-west of Africa, with a white face, a dark stripe from eye to mouth and a reddish-brown band along each flank.
• 🕷️TarantulaLarge, often hairy spiders, over a thousand species in almost 200 genera.
• 🐾Tasmanian devilA dog-sized carnivorous marsupial, now found only on Tasmania, and the largest carnivorous marsupial since the thylacine died out in 1936.
• 🐾TenrecA family of 31 species found only on Madagascar.
• 🐢TortoiseLand-living turtles with domed shells and column-like, elephant-like legs.
• 🐍ViperVenomous snakes with long, hinged fangs that fold back against the roof of the mouth when not in use.
• 🦅VultureBirds of prey that scavenge carrion.
• 🦘WallabySmall and medium-sized relatives of the kangaroo.
• 🐗WarthogA wild pig of the grasslands and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, with two pairs of upward-curving tusks.
• 🐾WildebeestTwo species of antelope from eastern and southern Africa, also called gnus: the blue wildebeest and the black wildebeest.
• 🐨WombatShort-legged, muscular marsupials of Australia that dig large burrows with rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws.
• 🦓ZebraThree species of striped wild horse: the plains, Grévy’s and mountain zebras of eastern and southern Africa.

How each answer is decided: How we answer. Every animal, in one list: All animals.