Animal Names: Male, Female, and Young

Updated April 2, 2021 | Factmonster Staff

In addition to normal animal names, many of the most common animals have different names for male and female animals, and for young ones. Some of them can be pretty strange, or they don't get used much; you might not hear someone call a turkey a "gobbler," or a ferret a "hob," but those are both real names. So, we're gonna give you a list of some of the common words for animals of different genders.

Why Do We Call Them Different Things?

The origin of different animal names in English dates back a really long time. There isn't really any special reason for the different names that we use, although we can sometimes figure out some explanations.

It's most common for animals that have important jobs; because male bovines and female bovines have different jobs, we call them Bulls and Cows. A rooster and a hen do different jobs (chickens), so do stallions and mares (horses).

After that we reuse a lot of names for similar groups of animals. Bulls and Cows can described bovines, elephants, giraffes, and camels. Peafowl are called peacocks and peahens, like chickens with "pea" in front. We call lots of baby animals cubs, kits, and kids (including human kids!).

It's like how we use different names for animal groups (or "collective nouns") but the history is a lot different. Animal group names, like a "skein" of geese or a "pod" of dolphins, comes from hunters hundreds of years ago. People invented "proper" terminology to separate their upper-class sport hunting from what common people did for food; rich people and poor people hunted geese, but a poor person probably didn't know that the "proper" term was "skein."

AnimalMaleFemaleYoung
AlligatorBullCowHatchling
AlpacaMaleFemaleCria
AntelopeBuckDoeCalf
ArmadilloMaleFemalePup
BaboonMaleFemaleInfant
BearBoarSowCub
BeaverMaleFemaleKit, Pup, or Kitten
BeeDroneWorker, QueenLarva
Buffalo or BisonBullCowCalf
ButterflyMaleFemaleChrysalis or Larva
CamelBullCowCalf
CatTomQueenKitten
CattleBullCowCalf
CheetahMaleFemaleCub
ChickenRoosterHenChick, Pullet, or Cockrell
CicadaMaleFemaleNymph
CoyoteDogBitchPup or Whelp
DeerBuckDoeFawn
DogDogBitchPup or Puppy
DolphinBullCowCalf
DonkeyJackJennyFoal or Filly
DoveCockHenSquab or Chick
DuckDrakeDuckDuckling
EagleTiercelHenEaglet
EchidnaMaleFemalePuggle
ElephantBullCowCalf
FerretHobJillKit
FinchCockHenChick, Pullet, or Cockrell
FishMaleFemaleFingerling or Fry
FlamingoMaleFemaleChick
FoxRenyard or DogVixenCub
FrogMaleFemaleTadpole, Polliwog, or Froglet
Giant PandaBoarSoarCub
GiraffeBullDoeCalf
GoatBillyDoeKid
GooseGanderGooseGosling
GrasshopperMaleFemaleNymph
GrouseBlackcockHenPoult
Guinea PigBoarSowPup
HamsterBuckDoePup
HareBuckDoeLeveret
HedgehogBoarSowPiglet or Pup
Hermit CrabMaleFemaleZoea
HippopotamusBullCowCalf
HorseStallionMareFoal or Filly
AnimalMaleFemaleYoung
HumanManWomanBaby or Infant
HyenaMaleFemaleCub
IbexBuckDoeKid
JaguarMaleFemaleCub
JellyfishBoarSowEphyna
KangarooBuck or JackDoe or JillJoey
KoalaMaleFemaleJoey
LemurPrincessPup
LeopardLeopardLeopardessCub
LionLionLionessCub
LlamaMaleFemaleCria
LouseMaleFemaleNymph
LynxMaleFemaleKit
MoleMaleFemalePup
MouseBuckDoePinkie or Pup
OpossumJackJillJoey
OtterMaleFemaleWhelp
OwlOwlHenOwlet
OysterSpat
PeafowlPeacockPeahenChick
PenguinMaleFemaleChick or Nestling
PlatypusMaleFemalePlatypup or Puggle
Polar BearBoarSowCub
RabbitBuckDoeBunny or Kit
RaccoonBoarSowCub
RhinocerosBullCowCalf
SheepRamEweLamb
SkunkBoarSowKit
SlothMaleFemaleBaby, Pup, or Kitten
SnakeMaleFemaleSnakelet
SpiderMaleFemaleSpiderling
StorksMaleFemaleSquab or Pullet
SwanCobPenCygnet or Flapper
SwineBoarSowPiglet or Shoat
TigerTigerTigressCub
ToadMaleFemaleTadpole
TurkeyGobbler or TomHenPoult
TurtleMaleFemaleHatchling
WalrusBullCowCub or Pup
WeaselHob, Dog, Buck, or JackBitch, Doe, or JillKit
WhaleBullSowCalf
WolfDogBitchPup
WombatJackJillJoey
ZebraStallionMareFoal
 
Source: James G. Doherty, general curator, The Wildlife Conservation Society.
 

What’s Good for the Goose Is Good for the Gander

Now that you are armed for the biology section of your next trivia night, check out our list of Animal Group Terminology to discover the collective nouns for animals on this list, such as a prickle of hedgehogs. Or take our quiz and see, Can You Name These Baby Animals?

And if you are looking for baby names for human infants, check out a list of Nature-Inspired Names!

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