Animals That Start With T: 25 Animals From Tapir to Turtle

Tapir

Tapirs are large, pig-shaped plant-eaters with a short, flexible trunk, and their closest living relatives are horses and rhinos. There are four widely recognized species, in the forests of Central and South America and Southeast Asia, and all are listed as Vulnerable or Endangered. The Malayan tapir is the biggest, usually 250–320 kg (550–710 lb). Baby tapirs are covered in white stripes and spots that hide them in dappled forest light.

Tarantula

Tarantulas are large, hairy spiders, with more than 1,000 species living mostly in warm regions of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. The goliath birdeater of northern South America is the heaviest spider in the world, at up to about 170 g (6 oz) with a leg span of up to 30 cm (12 in). Female tarantulas can live for 20 years or more, while males usually live only a year or two after reaching adulthood.

Tarsier

Tarsiers are tiny primates of the islands of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Borneo and Sulawesi. Each eyeball is about 16 mm (0.6 in) across, as large as or larger than the whole brain. Because the eyes cannot move in their sockets, a tarsier turns its head up to 180 degrees in each direction. Tarsiers are the only living primates that eat no plants at all, hunting insects and small animals at night.

Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil is a stocky, black marsupial about the size of a small dog, with males averaging about 8 kg (18 lb). It became the largest living carnivorous marsupial after the thylacine died out in 1936. Devils have one of the strongest bites for their size of any land mammal and eat carrion bones and all. A contagious facial cancer has made the species Endangered.

Tawny owl

The tawny owl is a round-headed, brown owl of woodlands and parks across Europe and western Asia, though it is absent from Ireland. Its famous “twit-twoo” is usually a duet: a female’s sharp “ke-wick” answered by a male’s wavering hoot. Pairs stay in the same territory for life. The tawny owl is listed as Least Concern.

Tenrec

Tenrecs are small mammals found only on Madagascar, where they have evolved into many forms that look like hedgehogs, shrews or even otters, although they are not related to any of them. The common tenrec, or tailless tenrec, has one of the largest litters of any mammal: a female can give birth to as many as 32 young, with 15–20 being typical. It can also hibernate for up to nine months.

Termite

Termites are social insects that live in colonies ruled by a king and queen, with about 3,000 described species. They are close relatives of cockroaches and are now classified in the same insect order. Most termites are harmless recyclers that break down dead wood and grass. In parts of Africa and Australia, their mounds can stand several meters tall and are built with tunnels that help air move through the nest.

Tern

Terns are slender, graceful seabirds with pointed wings and forked tails. The Arctic tern makes the longest known migration of any animal, flying from Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctic waters and back each year. Tracked birds from Greenland and Iceland covered about 70,900 km (44,000 mi) a year on average, and one bird from England’s Farne Islands logged 96,000 km (60,000 mi) in ten months.

Thomson’s gazelle

Thomson’s gazelle is a small, fast antelope of the grasslands of Kenya and Tanzania, recognized by the black stripe along each side. It is the most common gazelle in East Africa, with numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Its top speed is estimated at up to 80 km/h (50 mph), and its main predator is the cheetah.

Thorny devil

The thorny devil is a small desert lizard of central and western Australia, up to 21 cm (8.3 in) long and covered in sharp spines. It can drink by simply touching damp sand or dew: grooves between its scales draw the water along the skin to its mouth. A spiny knob on its neck acts as a “false head” when it ducks its real head away from a predator. It eats almost nothing but ants.

Tiger

The tiger of Asia is, with the lion, one of the two biggest cats in the world. Male Bengal tigers weigh 200–260 kg (440–570 lb), and Siberian tigers are similar in size. Tigers have lost at least 93 percent of their historic range, and in 2022 the wild population was estimated at about 3,726–5,578. The species is listed as Endangered.

Tiger beetle

Tiger beetles are fierce little predators that chase down other insects on sandy ground, beaches and riverbanks. Measured for its size, the Australian tiger beetle Rivacindela hudsoni is one of the fastest runners on Earth. It reaches about 9 km/h (5.6 mph), roughly 125 body lengths per second. It hunts in bursts, sprinting toward prey and then stopping briefly to find it again by sight.

Tiger shark

The tiger shark is a large shark of tropical and warm seas worldwide, named for the dark stripes on young sharks that fade with age. Adults commonly reach 3.5–4.7 m (11.5–15.5 ft) and weigh 300–900 kg (700–2,000 lb). It is famous for eating almost anything, from sea turtles and seabirds to fish, and is listed as Near Threatened.

Timber rattlesnake

The timber rattlesnake is a heavy-bodied, venomous pit viper of the forests of the eastern United States. Adults are usually 91–152 cm (36–60 in) long, and many have a dark tail and a broken pattern of chevron bands. Timber rattlesnakes are shy, often lying motionless beside a fallen log to ambush small mammals. Some gather each autumn at the same rocky dens to spend the winter, and an unprovoked bite is rare.

Toad

Toads are frogs with dry, warty skin and short legs, built more for walking than leaping. Most true toads have large poison glands behind the eyes that make them taste bad to predators. In spring, common toads in Europe migrate back to the ponds where they were born. The cane toad, brought to Australia in 1935, has become one of the world’s best-known invasive animals.

Tortoise

Tortoises are land-dwelling turtles with high-domed shells and stumpy, elephant-like legs. Giant tortoises live on the Galápagos Islands and the Aldabra atoll in the Indian Ocean. Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise living on the island of St Helena, is believed to have hatched around 1832, which makes him the oldest known living land animal.

Toucan

Toucans are fruit-eating birds of the tropical forests of Central and South America, with more than 40 species. Their huge, colorful bills look heavy but are light and mostly hollow inside. The largest is the toco toucan, whose bill averages about 18–20 cm (7–8 in) long. The toco toucan can also lose body heat through its bill, which works like a radiator on hot days.

Tree frog

Tree frogs are climbing frogs with sticky, rounded pads on their toes that let them cling to leaves and even glass. There are hundreds of species worldwide. The red-eyed tree frog of Central American rainforests sleeps by day with its bright colors tucked away, then flashes its red eyes and orange feet when disturbed. The European tree frog is one of the few tree frogs native to Europe.

Tree-kangaroo

Tree-kangaroos are kangaroos that live in trees. Several species inhabit the mountain rainforests of New Guinea, and two live in far northeastern Queensland, Australia. Compared with ground kangaroos, they have shorter hind legs, strong front limbs with curved claws and a long tail for balance. Most species are threatened by hunting and forest loss, and Matschie’s tree-kangaroo is listed as Endangered.

Tuatara

The tuatara of New Zealand looks like a spiny lizard, but it is the only living member of the Rhynchocephalia, a reptile group that thrived alongside the dinosaurs. Hatchlings have a third, or “parietal”, eye on top of the head that becomes covered by scales as they grow. Tuatara grow very slowly and can live for more than 100 years.

Tufted puffin

The tufted puffin is a seabird of the North Pacific, nesting on islands and cliffs from California and Alaska to Japan. In the breeding season it has a thick red-orange bill, a white face and long golden plumes curling back from its head; its scientific name cirrhata comes from the Latin for these curls. The tufts are shed after breeding.

Tuna

Tunas are fast, streamlined ocean fish, with 15 species. Unlike most fish, they can keep their bodies warmer than the surrounding water, which helps them chase prey in cold seas. The Atlantic bluefin tuna is the largest: the heaviest one caught under game fishing rules, off Aulds Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1979, weighed 679 kg (1,496 lb).

Turkey

The wild turkey is a large ground bird of North American forests and the ancestor of the domestic turkey, which was first domesticated by Native peoples in Mexico. Males, called toms, puff out their feathers and gobble in spring. Despite their weight, wild turkeys are strong, fast fliers over short distances and roost in trees at night.

Turkey vulture

The turkey vulture is a large, dark scavenger with a bare red head, found from southern Canada to the southern tip of South America. It soars with its wings held in a shallow V and rocks from side to side. Unusually for a bird, it has an excellent sense of smell and can find dead animals hidden under forest trees by detecting a gas released as they begin to decay.

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles with a bony shell made largely of their ribs and backbone. There are about 360 living and recently extinct species, including tortoises and terrapins, and all of them lay their eggs on land. The leatherback sea turtle is the largest, with adults usually weighing 250–700 kg (550–1,540 lb). Learn how to tell the land and water forms apart in turtle vs tortoise.