Random Animal Generator
Pick one or more real animals for a class activity, a game or a drawing prompt, and see each one's scientific name and ITIS record.
How to use it
Choose All animals or one group, set how many you want (up to 12 from all 48, or up to 8 from one group), and select Generate. Each card shows the common name, the scientific name in italics, the group and a link to the species' ITIS record. Generate again for a fresh list, or copy or download the list for a worksheet.
Real species, not made-up animals
Every result is a real, accepted species, so you can look it up and learn more. This is different from creature builders that mix body parts into fantasy animals, and from single-spin wheels; here you get a short, checkable list in one click.
All 48 species
Mammals
- Blue Whale — Balaenoptera musculus
- Gray Wolf — Canis lupus
- American Beaver — Castor canadensis
- Giraffe — Giraffa camelopardalis
- African elephant — Loxodonta africana
- Lion — Panthera leo
- Brown Bear — Ursus arctos
- Red Fox — Vulpes vulpes
Birds
- Mallard — Anas platyrhynchos
- Emperor Penguin — Aptenodytes forsteri
- Golden Eagle — Aquila chrysaetos
- Eurasian Eagle-Owl — Bubo bubo
- Northern Raven (common raven) — Corvus corax
- Bald Eagle — Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Indian Peafowl (peacock (male) or peahen (female)) — Pavo cristatus
- Ostrich — Struthio camelus
Reptiles
- American Alligator — Alligator mississippiensis
- Green Sea Turtle — Chelonia mydas
- Nile Crocodile — Crocodylus niloticus
- Leatherback (leatherback sea turtle) — Dermochelys coriacea
- Green Iguana — Iguana iguana
- King Cobra — Ophiophagus hannah
- Greek Tortoise — Testudo graeca
- Komodo Dragon — Varanus komodoensis
Amphibians
- Spotted Salamander — Ambystoma maculatum
- Axolotl — Ambystoma mexicanum
- Tiger Salamander — Ambystoma tigrinum
- American Toad — Anaxyrus americanus
- European Toad — Bufo bufo
- Eastern Newt — Notophthalmus viridescens
- European frog (common frog) — Rana temporaria
- African Clawed Frog — Xenopus laevis
Fish
- common clownfish — Amphiprion ocellaris
- great white shark — Carcharodon carcharias
- spotted seahorse — Hippocampus kuda
- ocean sunfish — Mola mola
- rainbow trout — Oncorhynchus mykiss
- lionfish — Pterois volitans
- Atlantic salmon — Salmo salar
- Atlantic bluefin tuna — Thunnus thynnus
Invertebrates
- honey bee — Apis mellifera
- sevenspotted lady beetle (seven-spot ladybug) — Coccinella septempunctata
- monarch butterfly — Danaus plexippus
- escargot (Roman snail) — Helix pomatia
- American lobster — Homarus americanus
- Atlantic horseshoe crab — Limulus polyphemus
- common octopus — Octopus vulgaris
- Red Admiral — Vanessa atalanta
48 species in total, with names as ITIS lists them (everyday names in parentheses). The list is fixed for this version; a change would get a new dataset date.
Privacy
Picks happen in this browser tab with no request to ITIS or any other server. Your choices and results aren't saved by this page, added to the page address or sent in analytics; a copy or download happens only when you choose it. See our privacy policy and disclaimer.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the animals come from?
From a fixed list of 48 real species, eight in each of six groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. Each one was checked against the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) as an accepted animal species with an English common name, and every result links to its ITIS record.
Does it pick from every animal on Earth?
No. It's a curated set of 48 familiar and varied species, not a sample of all animal life and not every species in a group. That keeps the results real and checkable. If you need a wider search, ITIS and field guides cover far more species.
Why show a scientific name and a TSN?
Common names can be vague. “Deer” or “fawn” could mean many animals, and a fawn is a young deer, not a species. The scientific name and the ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN) pin down exactly which species each result is, which helps for school projects and writing or drawing prompts.
Does every animal have an equal chance?
Within the group you choose (or all 48), yes. Each pick uses your browser's secure random numbers, and no animal appears twice in one list. Generating again starts fresh, so the same animal can show up in a later list.
Are “fish” and “invertebrates” scientific groups?
They're everyday groupings used here for convenience, not formal ranks. Fish, for example, covers both sharks and bony fish, and invertebrates include insects, mollusks and more.
Why are there no pictures?
Results are names only, so no images load and no photos are copied. Look up any animal by its name or ITIS link if you need a picture to draw from.
Why do some names look unusual?
Common names come straight from ITIS, with its own spelling and capitalization. For example, “escargot” is ITIS's English name for the Roman snail (Helix pomatia), “sevenspotted lady beetle” is the seven-spot ladybug, and “Indian Peafowl” is the peacock (male) or peahen (female). The cards show an everyday name alongside where it helps; those extra names are ours, not ITIS's.