Online Zoo: Discover The Animal Kingdom In A Virtual Zoo For Kids And Adults

Welcome to the Active Wild Online Zoo, a virtual zoo for kids (& adults). Discover amazing animals from all over the world... without leaving your home!

  • View incredible animal pictures;
  • Discover amazing animals from all over the world;
  • Talk about each species with other animal fans in the comments section on every page;
  • Share the incredible species you’ve discovered with your friends on social media – there are share buttons on every page!
  • New animals added regularly – be sure to visit often to see the new arrivals!

Online Zoo Page Index

Click on the pictures below to see a particular group of animals, or continue scrolling to browse all of the animals in the zoo.

Online Zoo Amphibians
Online Zoo Birds
Online Zoo Fish
Online Zoo Invertebrates
Online Zoo Mammals
Virtual Zoo Carnivora
Mammals - Carnivora
Online Zoo Bears
Mammals - Bears
Cats
Mammals - Cats
Virtual Zoo Dogs
Mammals - Dogs
Online Zoo Pinnipeds
Mammals - Pinnipeds
Virtual Zoo Cetaceans
Mammals - Cetaceans
Ungulates
Mammals - Ungulates
Online Zoo Elephants
Mammals - Elephants
Marsupials
Mammals - Marsupials
Online Zoo Monotremes
Mammals - Monotremes
Primates
Mammals - Primates
Rodents
Mammals - Rodents
Online Zoo Reptiles
Reptiles
Crocodilians
Reptiles - Crocodilians
Online Zoo Sea Turtles
Reptiles - Sea Turtles
Virtual Zoo Snakes
Reptiles - Snakes

Online Zoo: A Virtual Zoo For Animal Fans All Around The World

Click on the pictures to discover more about any of the animals in the virtual zoo; you'll find facts, pictures, information and videos!


Amphibians

Online Zoo Amphibians

Amphibians are animals that begin their lives in the water before moving onto land when they mature.

In order for amphibians to make this change, their bodies undergo a transformation known as "metamorphosis".

During metamorphosis, amphibians switch from breathing with gills to breathing with lungs.

There are exceptions: some amphibians (for example the axolotl) never lose their gills and live their whole lives in the water.

Axolotl
Axolotl - an amphibian that doesn't grow up!
fire salamander amphibian
The fire salamander's bright colours warn potential predators that it is poisonous.
Red Eyed Tree Frog
Red eyed tree frog - a well-known rainforest frog.
Golden Poison Frog Facts For Kids
The Golden Poison Frog is one of the world's most poisonous animals!

Online Zoo Amphibian Links

You can discover more about amphibians on the following pages:

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Birds

Online Zoo Birds

Birds are animals with wings and feathers; adaptations that allow most birds to fly.

Well-known birds that can't fly include ostriches, cassowaries and penguins.

Like reptiles, birds hatch from eggs. Scientists now believe that birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs.

Birds are found on every continent on Earth. The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird, the largest is the ostrich.

Adelie Penguin Facts For Kids
Adélie Penguin: lives and breeds in Antarctica
African Grey Parrot
African Grey Parrot: a highly intelligent bird.
Ostrich Male And Female
Common ostrich: the world's largest and heaviest bird
Harpy Eagle
Harpy Eagle - the largest bird of prey in the Americas.
Online Zoo Emperor Penguin
Emperor Penguin: the world's biggest species of penguin.
Cassowary
Southern Cassowary: an amazing flightless bird from Australia

Online Zoo Bird Links

You can discover more about birds on the following pages:

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Fish

Online Zoo Fish

Fish are aquatic animals with organs called gills that allow them to breathe underwater.

Fish have fins to propel them through the water and are streamlined so that they can move using little energy.

Fish are found in freshwater and marine habitats.

There are two main types of fish: cartilaginous fish and bony fish.

The skeletons of cartilaginous fish are made of a substance called cartilage, which is more flexible than bone. Sharks, rays and skates are all examples of cartilaginous fish.

Bony fish such as cod and salmon have skeletons that are made of bone. There are more species of bony fish than any other type of vertebrate. (A vertebrate is an animal with a backbone).

Electric Eel
The electric eel has the extraordinary ability to generate potentially dangerous amounts of electricity!
Great white shark: one of the most feared ocean predators.
Ocellaris Clownfish
The Ocellaris clownfish lives in a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones.
Online zoo - Tiger Shark
Tiger shark: every bit as dangerous as the great white shark!

Online Zoo Fish Links

You can discover more about fish on the following pages:

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Invertebrates

Online Zoo Invertebrates

Invertebrates are animals that don't have a backbone.

Animals such as insects, crustaceans (e.g. crabs and lobsters), arachnids (e.g. spiders and mites), snails and worms are all invertebrates.

Although most invertebrates are small in size, they make up for this in numbers: over 95% of all animals are invertebrates!

Bullet Ant
Bullet Ant: its bite is the most painful of all insect bites and stings!
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing: The world's largest butterfly!
Redback Spider
Redback Spider: can deliver a potentially deadly bite!
Mexican Redknee Tarantula
Mexican Redknee Tarantula: often used in horror films!

Online Zoo Invertebrate Links

You can discover more about invertebrates on the following pages:

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Mammals

Online Zoo Mammals

Mammals evolved from prehistoric, reptile-like animals around 195 million years ago.

Characteristics shared by all mammals include: being warm-blooded; feeding their young with milk; and having hair.

Most mammals (but not all, as we’ll discover with the monotremes) give birth to live young.

There are many different types of mammal. In this online zoo they have been separated into a number of groups. We start with the Carnivora...


Carnivora

Virtual Zoo Carnivora
  • Download a free printable Carnivora worksheet here.

Members of the order Carnivora* are mammals that all stem from a common, meat-eating ancestor. Members of the Carnivora order are called Carnivorans.

All carnivorans have a certain type of tooth, which evolved to cut through meat.

* An order is a group of related animals that can contain many different animal families and species. You can learn more about terms such as "family", "order" and "species" on this page: Animal Classification

Carnivorans are also known as ‘carnivores’, but this word can also apply to any meat-eating animal. Remember, not all carnivores (meat-eaters) are carnivorans (members of the carnivore order)!

Carnivora is split into two smaller groups, or suborders: feliforms and caniforms.

Feliforms are 'cat-like' carnivorans. As well as cats, this group includes animals such as hyenas and mongooses.

Caniforms are 'dog-like' carnivorans. This group includes dogs, and animals such as bears and seals.


Bears

Online Zoo Bears

Bears are large, powerful animals that are found in a variety of habitats in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Most bears are omnivores, eating anything from nuts and berries to meat.

The polar bear is the only bear that is almost entirely carnivorous. By contrast, the giant panda is almost entirely herbivorous.

Panda Eating Bamboo
Giant Panda: a bear whose diet consists almost entirely of plants
Grizzly Bear Roaring
Grizzly Bear: a subspecies of brown bear found in North America
Online zoo: Polar Bear
Polar Bear: a fearsome Arctic hunter

Online Zoo Bear Links

You can discover more about bears on the following pages:

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Cats

Cats

Cats belong to the family Felidae. Expert predators, cats are fast and agile, with excellent senses of sight and hearing.

All cats are almost entirely carnivorous and most of the "big cats" sit at the very top of the food chain wherever they are found.

Online zoo: Cheetah
Cheetah: the world's fastest land animal.
Clouded Leopard
Clouded leopard: a mysterious jungle cat.
Virtual zoo: Jaguar
Jaguar: a strong and stealthy rainforest predator
Leopard
Leopard: an adaptable and strikingly beautiful big cat.
Lion
Lion: one of the best-known of all animals
Bengal Tiger
Tiger: the biggest member of the cat family. These stunning animals are endangered, and desperately need our help.

Online Zoo Cat Links

You can discover more about cats on the following pages:

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Dogs

Virtual Zoo Dogs

Members of the dog family Canidae, which includes wolves, foxes and jackals, are found on every continent except Antarctica.

Highly intelligent, with acute senses of smell and hearing, dogs are capable predators. Some, such as wolves, live in packs, hunting as a team to capture prey animals much larger than themselves.

Virtual zoo: African Wild Dog
African Wild Dog: a ferocious pack animal
Coyote
Coyote: the wolf's smaller cousin
Eurasian Wolf
Eurasian Wolf: a European subspecies of gray wolf.

Online Zoo Dog Links

You can discover more about dogs on the following pages:

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Pinnipeds

Online Zoo Pinnipeds

Pinnipeds are mammals that have special adaptations for a semi-aquatic lifestyle.

With flippers for limbs and streamlined bodies, these ocean predators are skilled swimmers. However, they are slow and clumsy on land.

Leopard seal: named on behalf of its leopard-like black spots.
Online Zoo: Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Elephant Seal: the world's largest carnivoran.
Walrus
Walrus: the only species in the Odobenidae family.

Online Zoo Pinniped Links

You can discover more about pinnipeds on the following pages:

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Cetacea: Whales, Dolphins & Porpoises

Virtual Zoo Cetaceans

The cetaceans are a group of aquatic mammals that live their whole lives in the water.

Although fish-like in appearance, cetaceans are warm-blooded, give birth to live young, and breathe air - all characteristics of mammals.

Cetaceans evolved from even-toed ungulates, a group of hooved mammals that also includes pigs and hippopotamuses.

Virtual zoo: Blue Whale
Blue Whale: the world's biggest animal.
Orca
Orca: apex predator of the seas.

Online Zoo Cetacean Links

You can discover more about cetaceans on the following pages:

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Ungulates (Hoofed Animals)

Ungulates

Ungulates are mammals that have hooves, and are therefore also known as ‘hoofed animals’.

There are two main types of ungulate: Even-toed ungulates and odd-toed ungulates.

Even-toed ungulates bear their weight on their third and fourth toes. This group contains animals such as pigs, hippopotamuses and deer. This group also contains the cetaceans, but these animals have evolved flippers instead of feet.

Odd-toed ungulates bear their weight on their third toes, or have an odd number of toes. Animals in this group include horses, tapirs and rhinoceroses.

Other types of ungulate include the aardvarks (Tubulidentata), and the dugongs and manatees (Sirenia).

Aardvark
Aardvark: an expert at digging.
Hippopotamus online zoo
Hippopotamus: the world's third largest type of animal.
Zebra
Zebra: a distinctive African herd animal

Online Zoo Ungulate Links

You can discover more about ungulates on the following pages:

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Elephants

Online Zoo Elephants

Elephants are large, powerful mammals with trunks, tusks, and thick grey skin.

The African bush elephant is the largest land animal in the world.

Until recently, scientists used to think that there were two species of elephant: the African elephant and the Asian elephant.

Today, the African elephant has been separated into two species: the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant, taking the total number of elephant species to three.

African Elephant
African Bush Elephant: one of two species of African elephant.
Indian Elephant facts for kids
Indian Elephant: an Asian elephant subspecies

Online Zoo Elephant Links

You can discover more about elephants on the following pages:

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Marsupials

Marsupials
  • Download a free printable Marsupials & Monotremes worksheet here.

Marsupials are also known as ‘pouched mammals’. When born, their young are undeveloped, and continue to grow in a special pouch in their mother’s body.

Most of the world’s marsupials live in Australia, although some are found in the Americas.

One of the best-known American marsupials is the Virginia Opossum.

Koala
Koala: this furry marsupial is asleep for much of the time.
Tasmanian Devil
Tasmanian devil: has the strongest bite (for its weight) of any animal!
Red Kangaroo
Red Kangaroo: the biggest species of kangaroo.
Online zoo - Wombat
Wombat: a burrowing marsupial from Australia

Online Zoo Marsupial Links

You can discover more about marsupials on the following pages:

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Monotremes

Online Zoo Monotremes
  • Download a free printable Marsupials & Monotremes worksheet here.

Monotremes are possibly the strangest mammals in the online zoo!

What makes monotremes different to other mammals is that they lay eggs rather than giving birth.

There are only five species of monotreme: four echidnas and the platypus.

Echidna
Echidnas are also known as "spiny anteaters".
Platypus
The platypus is found only in eastern Australia.

Online Zoo Monotreme Links

You can discover more about monotremes on the following pages:

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Primates

Primates

Primates is an order of mammals that includes monkeys, gibbons, lemurs, great apes, and related animals.

Primates have forward-facing eyes to judge distances, flexible limbs for climbing, and hands (and sometimes feet) that can hold onto objects.

These are all adaptations for living in trees; the ancestors of today's primates were tree-dwelling animals. Most primates still live in trees.

If you look in a mirror you’ll see a primate! Humans are members of the family Hominidae, a primate family also known as the "great apes".

Bonobo
Bonobo: closely related to the chimpanzee, and to humans!
Chimpanzee
Common chimpanzee: with the bonobo, the most intelligent primate.
Online Zoo: Howler Monkey
Howler Monkey
Mountain Gorilla
Mountain Gorilla: an endangered African primate.

Online Zoo Primate Links

You can discover more about primates on the following pages:

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Rodents

Rodents

There are around 2,000 species of rodent. This huge group makes up around 40% of all mammals.

Most rodents are small animals with long tails. All have long incisor teeth that never stop growing. This allows the rodent to gnaw on tough plants with no danger of its teeth wearing down.

Capybara
Capybara: the world's biggest rodent.
North American Beaver
North American Beaver

Online Zoo Rodent Links

You can discover more about rodents on the following pages:

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Reptiles

Online Zoo Reptiles

Reptiles belong to the order Reptilia. Most reptiles are cold-blooded, egg-laying animals. Some reptiles–most vipers, for example–give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.

Reptiles are an ancient, and highly diverse, group of animals. Although crocodiles, snakes and sea turtles are all reptiles, all are very different from each other.

In fact, some reptiles are more closely-related to animals in other groups than they are to other reptiles. Crocodiles, for example, are more closely related to birds than they are to snakes.

During the Mesozoic Era, reptiles–in the shape of dinosaurs–were the dominant land animals.

After the Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction Event that occurred around 66 million years ago, it was the turn of the mammals to become the dominant large land animals.


Crocodilians

Crocodilians

Crocodilia is a group of carnivorous reptiles that includes the crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials.

Crocodilians are more closely related to birds than they are to other reptiles such as lizards and snakes.

Both crocodiles and birds are descended from archosaurs, a group of reptiles that first appeared in the Triassic Period.

Caiman With Fish
Caiman
Gharial
Gharial: a critically endangered Indian reptile.
Nile Crocodile Facts For Kids
Nile Crocodile: Africa's largest reptile.
Saltwater Crocodile
Saltwater Crocodile: the world's biggest reptile.

Online Zoo Crocodilian Links

You can discover more about crocodilians on the following pages:

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Sea Turtles

Online Zoo Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are reptiles that are adapted to a marine lifestyle. After hatching from eggs laid on the beach, they make their way to the sea.

Sea turtles travel thousands of miles during their lives, but always return to the same beaches to breed.

The females leave the water to lay their eggs, but the males, after hatching, will never set foot (or flipper) on dry land again.

Leatherback Sea Turtle
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Facts For Kids
Olive Ridley Sea Turtle: its mass emergences from the sea are a famous natural spectacle.

Online Zoo Sea Turtle Links

You can discover more about sea turtles on the following pages:

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Snakes

Virtual Zoo Snakes

Snakes are reptiles with scales and long slender bodies. Snakes don’t have limbs and move by bending and flexing their bodies.

There are over 3,000 species of snake, the longest being the reticulated python; the heaviest the green anaconda.

Boa Constrictor
Boa Constrictor: rainforest predator and popular pet.
Green Anaconda
Green Anaconda: the world's heaviest snake.

Online Zoo Snake Links

You can discover more about snakes on the following pages:

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Active Wild Online Zoo

We hope that you've enjoyed your visit to the online zoo. Be sure to tell your friends, and share on social media using the share buttons at the top of the page!

You can learn more about the animal kingdom here: Animals: The Ultimate Guide.

12 thoughts on “Online Zoo: Discover The Animal Kingdom In A Virtual Zoo For Kids And Adults”

  1. Hi Admin! My name is Lacey Marie, age 13. I love Horses because there really smart and are really cute! I also love dolphins, cats and dogs. (I have 5 dogs) I don’t like sharks and bugs though!

    Reply
    • Hi Gracey,

      Thank you for your comment. You’re right, big cats are similar to domestic cats in many ways. I wouldn’t want a pet lion though!

      Reply
  2. What’s your favorite animal? If it’s not already in the online zoo, we’ll try to include it!
    Let us know below!

    The Active Wild Team

    Reply

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