Animals That Start With B: 25 Animals From Baboon to Butterfly

Baboon

Baboons are large, dog-faced monkeys of the genus Papio. The six species live across much of Africa, and the hamadryas baboon is also found in southwestern Arabia. Baboons forage on the ground in troops during the day, then climb trees or cliffs to sleep safely at night. Ancient Egyptians linked the hamadryas baboon with Thoth, their god of wisdom.

Badger

“Badger” is a name shared by several stocky, burrowing mammals, most of them in the weasel family. The European badger lives in family groups in underground tunnel systems called setts, and some setts have been used by generation after generation of badgers for a century or more. The American badger is a solitary digger of the prairies, and the honey badger of Africa and Asia is not closely related to either.

Bald eagle

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States and lives near lakes, rivers and coasts across North America, feeding mainly on fish. It is not actually bald: “bald” is an old word meaning white-headed. Pairs build the largest tree nests of any bird in North America, up to about 4 m (13 ft) deep. Protected from shooting and the pesticide DDT, it recovered and was removed from the US endangered species list in 2007.

Barn owl

Barn owls, which some experts now split into several species, live on every continent except Antarctica. The pale, heart-shaped face works like a satellite dish, funneling sound to the ears, and experiments have shown that a barn owl can catch a mouse in complete darkness using hearing alone. It often nests in old barns, church towers and hollow trees.

Barn swallow

The barn swallow is the most widespread swallow in the world, breeding across North America, Europe and Asia. It catches flying insects on the wing and builds cup-shaped nests of mud on beams in barns and sheds. Swallows that nest in Britain spend the winter in southern Africa, flying roughly 10,000 km (6,000 mi) each way.

Barracuda

Barracudas are long, silvery predatory fish with fang-like teeth, found in warm seas around the world. Adult great barracudas are usually 60–100 cm (2–3.3 ft) long, and exceptional fish exceed 1.5 m (5 ft). They hunt with sudden bursts of speed. Divers often see them hanging almost motionless near reefs, and despite their fierce look, attacks on people are rare.

Basking shark

The basking shark is the second-largest fish in the world after the whale shark, typically reaching about 7–8 m (23–26 ft). Despite its size it is harmless: it swims slowly with its huge mouth wide open, filtering tiny plankton from the water. In summer it is often seen off the coasts of Cornwall, Ireland and western Scotland. It is listed as Endangered.

Bat

Bats are the only mammals capable of true flapping flight. With at least 1,500 species, they make up about a fifth of all mammal species. Most eat insects, while others feed on fruit, nectar, fish or even blood. They range from Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, which weighs about 2 g (0.07 oz), to flying foxes with wingspans of 1.5 m (5 ft) or more.

Beaver

Beavers are large rodents famous for building dams and lodges from branches and mud. There are two species, the North American beaver and the Eurasian beaver, and they are the largest rodents after the capybara. Their dams create ponds and wetlands used by fish, birds and amphibians. Hunted almost to extinction in Europe for fur, the Eurasian beaver has been reintroduced to many countries, including Britain.

Beluga whale

The beluga is a small, white whale of the Arctic and sub-Arctic seas. Its huge range of whistles, clicks and chirps earned it the nickname “sea canary”. Unlike most whales, its neck bones are not fused together, so it can nod and turn its head. Calves are born gray and gradually turn white as they grow up.

Bison

The American bison is the heaviest land animal in North America, with bulls mostly weighing 450–900 kg (1,000–2,000 lb). Tens of millions once roamed the continent, but by the late 1880s fewer than 1,000 were left. It became the national mammal of the United States in 2016. Europe has its own species, the European bison or wisent.

Black bear

The American black bear is the most common bear in North America, found in forests from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico. Despite its name, its fur can be black, brown, cinnamon, blond or even white: the Kermode or “spirit bear” of British Columbia is a white-coated black bear. It is a skilled tree climber and eats mostly plants, nuts, berries and insects.

Black mamba

The black mamba of sub-Saharan Africa is the second-longest venomous snake in the world after the king cobra, commonly growing to 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft). Its body is gray to dark brown; the name comes from the inky-black inside of its mouth, which it shows when threatened. It can move at up to about 16 km/h (10 mph) over short distances and avoids people when it can. A bite needs emergency medical help immediately.

Blue-footed booby

This seabird of the eastern Pacific, from the Gulf of California to Peru and the Galápagos Islands, is famous for its bright blue feet. Males show them off to females in a slow, high-stepping courtship dance, and the brightest feet belong to the healthiest, best-fed birds. The name “booby” is thought to come from the Spanish bobo, meaning fool, because of the bird’s clumsy walk on land.

Blue jay

The blue jay is a noisy, crested bird of eastern and central North America and a member of the crow family. Its blue color is not a pigment: it comes from the way light scatters inside the feathers, so a crushed blue feather looks brown. Blue jays bury acorns to eat later, helping oak trees spread, and they can imitate the calls of hawks.

Blue whale

The blue whale is the largest animal known to have ever lived, bigger than any dinosaur. Adults commonly reach 24–27 m (79–89 ft), and the heaviest on record weighed an estimated 190 tonnes or more. Blue whales feed almost entirely on krill, tiny shrimp-like animals, and their calls are among the loudest sounds made by any animal. Commercial whaling wiped out most of them, and the species is Endangered.

Boa constrictor

The boa constrictor lives in forests and dry scrub of Central and South America and is the only living animal commonly known by its full scientific name, Boa constrictor. It is not venomous. Instead, it coils around its prey and squeezes, which stops the blood flow. Females give birth to live young rather than laying eggs.

Bobcat

The bobcat is North America’s most widespread wild cat, found from southern Canada to central Mexico. About twice the size of a house cat, it gets its name from its short, “bobbed” tail. Mostly active at dawn and dusk, it hunts rabbits, hares, rodents and birds, and it lives in forests, swamps, deserts and even suburbs.

Bonobo

The bonobo is a great ape found only in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, south of the Congo River. Together with the chimpanzee, it is the closest living relative of humans. Bonobo groups are usually led by females, and bonobos often ease tension through social contact rather than fighting. The species is Endangered because of hunting and forest loss.

Brown bear

Brown bears live across northern Europe, Asia and northwestern North America, making them the most widespread bear species. The grizzly is a North American brown bear, and the Kodiak bears of Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago rival the polar bear as the largest land carnivores. In Europe, the largest populations live in Russia, Scandinavia and the Carpathian Mountains.

Budgerigar

Wild budgerigars are small green-and-yellow parrots from the dry interior of Australia, where they travel in nomadic flocks that can number in the thousands. They follow the rain, moving to wherever grass seeds are plentiful. The blue, white and other colors seen in budgies around the world were all produced by breeding in captivity since the 19th century.

Buffalo

True buffalo live in Africa and Asia. The African buffalo, or Cape buffalo, lives in large herds on the savanna and is considered one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, while the water buffalo of Asia has been domesticated for thousands of years for milk, meat and plowing. The American “buffalo” is really a bison; see bison vs buffalo for how to tell them apart.

Bullfrog

The American bullfrog is the largest true frog in North America, with a body usually 9–15 cm (3.6–6 in) long and sometimes up to 20 cm (8 in), not counting the legs. Males make a deep, booming call that sounds a little like a bellowing bull. It has been introduced to more than 40 countries, including parts of Europe, where it is an invasive species that eats and outcompetes native frogs.

Bumblebee

Bumblebees are large, furry bees, with more than 250 species found mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. They can fly in cooler weather than most bees because they shiver their flight muscles to warm up. Many crops depend on them, and they “buzz pollinate” tomatoes and blueberries by shaking pollen loose with vibrations. The old claim that science says they should not be able to fly comes from a 1930s calculation that wrongly treated their wings like airplane wings.

Butterfly

Butterflies are insects with large, often colorful wings, and there are roughly 18,500–20,000 species worldwide. They taste with sensors on their feet; see do butterflies taste with their feet? for how that works. Each one starts life as a caterpillar and changes into an adult inside a chrysalis. The monarch butterfly migrates up to about 4,800 km (3,000 mi) from Canada and the United States to wintering forests in Mexico.