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Animals found worldwide

"Worldwide" on this site means almost everywhere people are, which is usually because people took the animal there. So this list is mostly farm animals, pets, and the creatures that follow humans around, like rats, pigeons, flies and cockroaches.

It also covers big groups whose members live on every continent, such as spiders, snakes, owls and bats.

99 animals, A to Z.

• 🐜AntAlmost every landmass except Antarctica and a few remote islands; most abundant in moist tropical ecosystems.
• 🦇BatThe only mammals capable of true, sustained flight, on wings of skin stretched over long fingers.
• 🐝BeeEvery continent except Antarctica, wherever there are insect-pollinated flowering plants.
• 🪲BeetleAlmost every habitat worldwide, except the sea and the polar regions.
• 🕷️Black widowWorldwide: North America, Europe, Australia (redback), New Zealand (katipō), southern Africa and South America.
• 🐂BullKept on farms worldwide. Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs about 10,500 years ago.
• 🦋ButterflyWorldwide except Antarctica.
• 🐦CanaryKept as a pet, especially in Europe and the United States; its wild ancestor lives in the Macaronesian islands.
• 🐟CarpNative to Europe and Asia; introduced worldwide.
• 🐛CaterpillarWorldwide, including the Arctic.
• 🐟CatfishA huge, varied order of fish named for their whisker-like barbels.
• 🐾CentipedeWorldwide.
• 🐔ChickenFarmed worldwide. Its wild ancestor, the red junglefowl, comes from Southeast Asia.
• 🐾CicadaTemperate to tropical regions around the world; periodical cicadas live only in North America.
• 🪳CockroachWorldwide, from Arctic cold to tropical heat; tropical species are often much larger.
• 🐾CormorantCoasts and inland waters worldwide, except the central Pacific islands.
• 🐮CowWorldwide. Taurine cattle in temperate regions, zebu in India and the tropics, and sanga cattle in sub-Saharan Africa.
• 🦀CrabOceans worldwide, and a substantial number of species live in fresh water or on land.
• 🦞CrayfishFreshwater relatives of lobsters, also called crawfish or crawdads.
• 🦗CricketWorldwide between about 55° north and south, with most species in the tropics.
• 🐦‍⬛CrowSpecies live across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America; the American crow lives across most of North America.
• 🦌DeerNative to every continent except Antarctica and Australia; Africa has only one native deer, the Barbary stag.
• 🐶DogWorldwide, wherever people live. About three-quarters of the world’s dogs are in developing countries, mostly as street and feral dogs.
• 🐱Domestic catWorldwide alongside people, and as feral cats living wild, which have driven declines in native birds, mammals and reptiles.
• 🫏DonkeyWorldwide, mostly in developing countries as working animals; adapted to marginal desert land.
• 🪰DragonflyWorldwide, mostly in the tropics; often near water.
• 🦆DuckEvery continent except Antarctica, including some subantarctic islands.
• 🦅EagleMostly Eurasia and Africa. Only 14 species live elsewhere: 2 in North America, 9 in Central and South America, 3 in Australia.
• 🐾EarwigEvery continent except Antarctica; the common earwig was introduced to North America from Europe in 1907.
• 🐾EgretEvery continent, avoiding the coldest regions, deserts and high mountains.
• 🦅FalconEvery continent except Antarctica.
• 🦡FerretDomestic worldwide; feral polecat–ferret hybrids live wild in New Zealand, where they harm native wildlife.
• 🐾FinchNative almost worldwide, except Australia and the polar regions.
• 🐾FireflyTemperate and tropical regions worldwide.
• 🐾FleaWorldwide, wherever their host mammals and birds live.
• 🪰FlyWorldwide.
• 🐸FrogWorldwide, from the tropics to subarctic regions. Most species live in tropical rainforests and their wetlands.
• 🦎GeckoWarm climates on every continent except Antarctica.
• 🐐GoatFarmed worldwide. Goats easily go feral, and wild herds live in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and elsewhere.
• 🐠GoldfishNative to China; kept worldwide, and established in the wild in places.
• 🪿GooseLarge waterfowl, between ducks and swans in size.
• 🦗GrasshopperWorldwide, mostly in the tropics.
• 🐠GuppyNative to Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Antigua; introduced to countries on every continent except Antarctica.
• 🦅HawkEvery continent except Antarctica.
• 🐾HeronEvery continent except Antarctica.
• 🐴HorseWorldwide with people, plus feral herds descended from domestic horses. These are not true wild horses.
• 🐾HorseflyWorldwide except some islands and polar regions, such as Hawaii, Greenland and Iceland.
• 🧍HumanWorldwide. Homo sapiens arose in Africa about 300,000 years ago and spread from there.
• 🐾IbisWetlands, forests and plains of the Old and New Worlds.
• 🐾KatydidMore than 8,000 species of long-horned relatives of grasshoppers, also called bush crickets.
• 🐾KingfisherWorldwide, but most species live in the tropics of Africa, Asia and Oceania.
• 🐞LadybirdWorldwide.
• 🐾LeechWorldwide except Antarctica, most abundant in temperate northern lakes and ponds.
• 🐾LigerOnly in captivity. Lion and tiger ranges overlap only in India's Gir National Park, and no ligers have been found there.
• 🦎LizardEvery continent except Antarctica, and most oceanic island chains.
• 🦗LocustSwarming species live on every continent except Antarctica; the desert locust ranges across Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
• 🦆MallardNative to the Americas, Eurasia and North Africa; introduced to Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
• 🐾MayflyClean fresh water on every continent except Antarctica, though often absent from oceanic islands.
• 🐾MillipedeWorldwide.
• 🐾MiteWorldwide, in soil, water, on plants and on animals.
• 🦟MosquitoWorldwide. Eggs are usually laid on still water.
• 🦋MothEvery continent except Antarctica, across a huge range of land habitats.
• 🐭MouseWorldwide alongside people. The house mouse’s subspecies come from southern Asia and western Europe.
• 🐾MuleKept worldwide; in 2018 Mexico had the most, with over 3.2 million.
• 🦅OspreyEvery continent except Antarctica. European birds winter in Africa and North American birds in South America; Australian birds stay put.
• 🦦OtterRivers, lakes and coasts across much of the world.
• 🦉OwlEvery region of the Earth except the polar ice caps and some remote islands.
• 🐾PelicanTropical to temperate waters on every continent except Antarctica; absent from inland Amazonia, polar regions and the open ocean.
• 🐷PigFarmed worldwide. Escaped pigs have gone feral in many parts of the world, including the southeastern United States.
• 🐦PigeonWild rock doves: southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia. Domestic and feral pigeons: worldwide, up to 120 million birds.
• 🐴PonyKept worldwide; ponies first developed as hardy landraces in harsh climates, typical of Northern Europe.
• 🦗Praying mantisTemperate and tropical habitats worldwide.
• 🐾QuailWorldwide; the Japanese quail lives mainly in East Asia and Russia.
• 🐰RabbitNative to the Iberian Peninsula and south-west France; introduced across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas and elsewhere.
• 🐀RatEvery region inhabited by people except Antarctica. There are 56 known species, many found only on islands.
• 🐦SeagullCoasts and inland waters; few species venture far out to sea.
• 🐑SheepFarmed across most of the inhabited world, especially in Australia, New Zealand, southern South America, South Africa and the British Isles.
• 🦎SkinkAlmost worldwide, in every kind of habitat except arctic and subarctic regions.
• 🐾SlugWorldwide.
• 🐌SnailWorldwide: on land from ditches to deserts, in fresh water, and in the sea down to the abyssal depths.
• 🐍SnakeEvery continent except Antarctica, and most islands. Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and New Zealand have none.
• 🐾SparrowNative to Europe, the Mediterranean and much of Asia; introduced to parts of Australasia, Africa and the Americas.
• 🕷️SpiderEvery continent except Antarctica, in nearly every land habitat.
• 🐿️SquirrelNative to the Americas, Eurasia and Africa, and introduced by people to Australia.
• 🐾StarlingNative to Europe, Asia, Africa, northern Australia and Pacific islands; introduced to North America, New Zealand, South Africa and more.
• 🐾Stick insectWorldwide except Antarctica and Patagonia; over 300 species live on Borneo alone.
• 🐾SwallowEvery continent; barn swallows even turn up in Antarctica as vagrants.
• 🐾SwiftEvery continent except Antarctica; temperate species winter in the tropics.
• 🐾TardigradeWorldwide, on land, in fresh water and in the sea; easiest to find in moss and lichen.
• 🐾TermiteEvery continent except Antarctica; about 1,000 species live in Africa.
• 🐾TickWorldwide, especially in warm, humid climates; ticks even feed on penguins in Antarctica.
• 🐾TigonOnly in captivity, because lion and tiger habitats do not overlap in the wild today.
• 🐸ToadTrue toads are native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica.
• 🐢TortoiseLand-living turtles with domed shells and column-like, elephant-like legs.
• 🐸Tree frogHylid tree frogs: Europe, temperate Asia, Australia and the Americas. Shrub frogs: Africa and South and Southeast Asia.
• 🐢TurtleMost continents and some islands, plus much of the ocean in the case of sea turtles.
• 🐝WaspEverywhere except the polar regions.
• 🐾WoodlouseAll kinds of habitats worldwide except the polar regions and very high altitudes.
• 🪱WormWorldwide, in soil.

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