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The Living Encyclopedia
Explore our comprehensive database of reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Discover detailed care guides, morph varieties, and community setups.
amphibian
Axolotl
Ambystoma mexicanum
The axolotl is a species of paedomorphic mole salamander. They mature into the terrestrial adult form without undergoing metamorphosis; the adults remain fully aquatic with obvious external gills. This trait, although somewhat unusual among the majority of amphibians, is not unique. Axolotls may be difficult to distinguish from the larval stage of other neotenic adult mole salamanders, such as mudpuppies or the occasionally paedomorphic tiger salamander.
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amphibian
Fire Salamander
Salamandra salamandra
The fire salamander is a common species of salamander found in Europe.
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amphibian
Tiger Salamander
Ambystoma tigrinum
The tiger salamander is a species of mole salamander and one of the largest terrestrial salamanders in North America.
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amphibian
Fire-Bellied Newt
Cynops orientalis
The Chinese fire belly newt is a small black newt, with bright-orange aposematic coloration on their ventral sides. C. orientalis is commonly seen in pet stores, where it is frequently confused with the Japanese fire belly newt due to similarities in size and coloration. C. orientalis typically exhibits smoother skin and a rounder tail than C. pyrrhogaster, and has less obvious parotoid glands.
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amphibian
Eastern Newt
Notophthalmus viridescens
The eastern newt is a common newt of eastern North America. It frequents small lakes, ponds, and streams or nearby wet forests. The eastern newt produces tetrodotoxin, which makes the species unpalatable to predatory fish and crayfish. It has a lifespan of 12 to 15 years in the wild, and it may grow to 5 in (13 cm) in length. These animals are common aquarium pets, being either collected from the wild or sold commercially. The striking bright orange juvenile stage, which is land-dwelling, is known as a red eft. Some sources blend the general name of the species and that of the red-spotted newt subspecies into the eastern red-spotted newt.
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amphibian
Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum
The spotted salamander, also known commonly as the yellow-spotted salamander, is a species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. The species is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. The species ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae, Chlorococcum amblystomatis, living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe.
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amphibian
Marbled Salamander
Ambystoma opacum
The marbled salamander is a species of mole salamander found in the eastern United States.
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amphibian
Blue-Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma laterale
The blue-spotted salamander is a mole salamander native to the Great Lakes states and northeastern United States, and parts of Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Their range is known to extend to James Bay to the north, and southeastern Manitoba to the west.
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amphibian
Red-Backed Salamander
Plethodon cinereus
The red-backed salamander is a small, hardy woodland salamander species in the family Plethodontidae. It is also known as the redback salamander, eastern red-backed salamander, or the northern red-backed salamander to distinguish it from the southern red-backed salamander. The species inhabits wooded slopes in eastern North America, west to Missouri, south to North Carolina, and north from southern Quebec and the Maritime provinces in Canada to Minnesota. It is one of 56 species in the genus Plethodon. Red-backed salamanders are notable for their color polymorphism and primarily display two color morph varieties, which differ in physiology and anti-predator behavior.
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amphibian
Slimy Salamander
Plethodon glutinosus
The northern slimy salamander is a species of terrestrial plethodontid salamander found throughout much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States.
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mammal
Dog
Canis lupus familiaris
The dog is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. Dogs were the first species to be domesticated over 14,000 years ago, before the development of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.
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mammal
Cat
Felis catus
The cat, also called domestic cat and house cat, is a small carnivorous mammal. It is an obligate carnivore, requiring a predominantly meat-based diet. Its retractable claws are adapted to killing small prey species such as mice and rats. It has a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, and sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, grunting, and body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It secretes and perceives pheromones. Cat intelligence is evident in its ability to adapt, learn through observation, and solve problems. Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens.
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mammal
Horse
Equus caballus
The horse is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Eohippus, into the large single-toed animal of today, originally in North America. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE in Central Asia, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, which are horses that have never been domesticated. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.
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mammal
Cow
Bos taurus
Cattle are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. Mature female cattle are called cows and mature male cattle are bulls. Young female cattle are called heifers, young male cattle are bullocks, and castrated male cattle are known as oxen or steers.
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mammal
Pig
Sus scrofa domesticus
The pig, also called swine or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus Sus. Some authorities consider it a subspecies of Sus scrofa ; other authorities consider it a distinct species. Pigs were domesticated independently twice during the Neolithic, in the Near East around the Tigris Basin, and in China. When domesticated pigs arrived in Europe from the Near East, they extensively interbred with wild boar in Europe but retained their domesticated features.
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mammal
Sheep
Ovis aries
Sheep or domestic sheep are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
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mammal
Goat
Capra aegagrus hircus
The goat or domestic goat is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago.
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mammal
Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
The European rabbit or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France. It is the only living species in Oryctolagus, a genus of lagomorphs. The average adult European rabbit is smaller than the European hare, though size and weight vary with habitat and diet. Due to the European rabbit's history of domestication, selective breeding, and introduction to non-native habitats, wild and domesticated European rabbits across the world can vary widely in size, shape, and color.
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mammal
Guinea Pig
Cavia porcellus
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig, also known as the cavy or domestic cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the genus Cavia, family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the animal, but "guinea pig" is more commonly used in scientific and laboratory contexts. Despite their name, guinea pigs are not native to Guinea, nor are they closely related to pigs. Instead, they originated in the Andes region of South America, where wild guinea pigs can still be found today. Studies based on biochemistry and DNA hybridization suggest they are domesticated animals that do not exist naturally in the wild, but are descendants of a closely related cavy species such as C. tschudii. Originally, they were domesticated as livestock in the Andean region and are still consumed in some parts of the world.
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mammal
Hamster
Mesocricetus auratus
The golden hamster or Syrian hamster is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been declining in the wild due to a loss of habitat from agriculture and deliberate elimination by humans. Thus, wild golden hamsters are now considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, captive breeding programs are well established, and captive-bred golden hamsters are often kept as small house pets. They are also used as scientific research animals.
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