20+ Farm Animals Names in English with their Characteristics
In this lesson we will study farm animal names in English. The names of farm animals are usually used in singular, but it is also possible to use them in plural. Farm animals live on farms and are bred by farmers for their meat or skin. Some examples of farm animals are chicken, cow, pig, sheep and turkey. There are about 24 million chickens in the UK alone! So let us start our todays lesson:
List of Farm Animals Names
Cow
Cow is a farm animal that is kept to produce milk. It has two horns on its head and likes to eat grass. A cow can live up to 25 years!
Sheep
Sheep are farm animals that have a thick layer of wool. They have no upper teeth like cows do, but only lower teeth. Sheep are very social animals and like to be in groups.
Pig
Pigs are farm animals that have flat snouts and short legs. A pig’s favorite food is acorns! Pigs can be very dangerous because they can bite really hard. But there are also some pigs which you might think to be nice, but if you do so, they might bite you too…
Chicken
A chicken is a bird that is kept for its eggs or meat. A hen (a female chicken) only lays eggs when it sees the light of day; at night she covers them with straw or feathers to keep them warm. A rooster (a male chicken) is usually bigger than hens, has longer neckfeathers and makes lots of noise in the morning when he wants to tell the hens to go out of the chicken coop.
Turkey
A turkey is a farm animal that looks very similar to a chicken, but has a much bigger body and eats from plants. The male turkeys are called “toms” and have red wattles on their head and neck. Hens don’t have wattles or combs. Turkey eggs are blue or greenish in color!
Chicken vs Hen
As you can see in the picture above, a hen has a rounder shape than a chicken which has pointy feathers on its head. There are more differences, but it would be too complicated to list all of them here so I will just give you one: chickens like to eat meat while hens eat only plants.
Rabbit
A rabbit is a small farm animal with long ears and small paws. Rabbits eat carrots! Wild rabbits live in burrows, but pet rabbits usually live in hutches. A baby rabbit is called a kit or a kitten.
Mouse vs Rat
Rats are bigger than mice and can be very dangerous for your home because they like to steal things, e.g. seeds from your bird table outside… And sometimes rats carry diseases, so you should definitely get rid of them as soon as possible!
Mouse vs Hamster
Hamsters are much smaller than mice and cannot see well at night, but they have a better sense of smell and hear really well! Hamsters love to eat nuts and! One type of hamster is called Syrian hamster, they are the biggest ones and have a very short tail.
Dove
Doves are birds that eat seeds and make a cooing sound. There are male and female doves, but it is very difficult to see the difference between them for an untrained eye!
Owl
An owl is a nocturnal bird with big eyes which helps it see well at night. Owls can turn their head almost 360 degrees because their neck can move in all directions! They also like to hunt mice (and sometimes even bigger animals)!
Frog vs Toad
Frogs live near water while toads don’t. Frogs have slim bodies and long back legs, but toads have short stubby bodies and shorter legs. However, there is one type of frog called “toad” so you should be careful which animal you are talking about.
Chicken vs Duck
A chicken is a bird that lays eggs, but ducks lay eggs too! However, the egg of a duck is bigger and tastier than the one from a hen. Ducks also quack and not cackle like hens do, they have webbed feet and don’t fly as good as chickens do.
Deer
Deer is a farm animal that can be white, black or brown. A male deer is called a stag and has antlers on its head during the rutting season (the mating season). The female deer is called a doe and doesn’t have antlers!
Rabbit vs Hare
Having discussed rabbits and mice, we can now move to hares: there is a difference between rabbits and hares! A rabbit’s tail is very short and has no white color on it, but the tail of a hare (a brown one in this case) does have white patches. The ears of a rabbit are much bigger than those of a hare, but when both animals are running they use their long back legs to move faster!
Cow vs Bull
A cow is a female farm animal that has recently had a calf, but the male one is called a bull. Cows only give milk when they have calves and never give milk after they are pregnant again. A bull can mate with many cows in one season, but each cow only mates once per year.
Duck vs Goose
A duck is a farm animal that lives near water and can fly, but a goose doesn’t fly! A goose eats grass or plants while ducks eat fish or plants. Ducks are also very good swimmers. If you look at the picture above you can see that goose necks are longer than those of ducks.
Owl vs Eagle
An eagle has much bigger wings than an owl and likes eating meat, but the body of an owl is bigger than that of an eagle. An eagle cannot turn its head because it doesn’t have a flexible neck like an owl does! Eagles also build nests in high places while owls often live in hollow trees.
Bee
Bee is a farm animal that collects nectar from flowers to make honey. Bees live in beehives with one queen bee and many worker bees. The job of the worker bees is to get food for the hive, clean the hive, defend it against possible enemies, take care of new bees, etc.
Fish
Fish is a farm animal and a great source of food and it lives in the sea! There are many different types of fish: for example, bony fish (which have fins and bones), shark (which is a fish with rough skin) or flatfish (which has both eyes on one side)!
Turkey
It is a farm bird that eats nuts, seeds and plants. A male turkey is called a tom or gobbler, has red flesh on its head (called caruncle) and it makes gobbling sounds to attract the female turkeys!
Sheep
Sheep is a farm animal that eats grass and often lives in flocks. A female sheep is called a ewe, but the male one is called a ram. Sheep are very gentle animals!
Rabbit vs Hare
Having discussed rabbits and mice, we can now move to hares: there is a difference between rabbits and hares! A rabbit’s tail is very short and has no white color on it, but the tail of a hare (a brown one in this case) does have white patches.
Farm Animals (Infographics)
