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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 mole salamander. It is neotenic, reaching sexual maturity without undergoing metamorphosis, and the adults remain fully aquatic with obvious external gills. Axolotls may be difficult to distinguish from the larval stage of other neotenic adult mole salamanders, in particular the tiger salamander, or other species such as mudpuppies.
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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
Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum)
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amphibian
Fire-Bellied Newt
Cynops orientalis
Fire-Bellied Newt (Cynops orientalis)
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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, vernal ponds and streams or nearby wooded areas. 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
Blue-Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale)
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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
Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus)
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mammal
Dog
Canis lupus familiaris
The dog is a domesticated descendant of wolves. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. Dogs and the modern gray wolf share a common ancestor. Dogs were the first species to be domesticated over 14,000 years ago, before the development of agriculture, though genetic studies suggest the domestication process may have begun over 25,000 years ago. 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 domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is a member of Felidae, the family of mammals in the order Carnivora also colloquially referred to as cats. An obligate carnivore requiring a predominantly meat-based diet, it has retractable claws 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, body language, and scent marking. 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. The domestic cat is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae.
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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, primarily associated with the Botai culture; their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. However, contemporary genetic evidence indicates that modern domesticated breeds do not descend from this lineage, instead pointing to the Western Eurasian steppes in the lower Volga-Don region as the homeland of modern domestic horses. The modern horse breed replaced the local populations through their rapid expansion across Eurasia from 2000 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.
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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. There are around 1.2 billion domestic sheep as of 2019, making them easily the most common 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 caprine 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 and 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 has been introduced to hundreds of locations around the world. Wild and domesticated European rabbits around the world can vary widely in size, shape, and colour. The average adult European rabbit is smaller than the European hare, though size and weight vary with habitat and diet.
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mammal
Guinea Pig
Cavia porcellus
Guinea Pig (Cavia porcellus)
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mammal
Hamster
Mesocricetus auratus
Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)
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