Funny Animal Names

Looking for some funny animal names? Let us introduce you to the tasseled wobbegong, slippery dick and 28 other incredible animal names. (Yes, they are all real animals, and real funny names!).

Some of these animal names are weird, some funny, and some just downright rude. None of them are made up, and all names are either the real scientific name or the real common name for the animal.

So without further ado here are our 30 favourite funny animal names in alphabetical order, along with a photo and brief description of each animal:

Agra cadabra

Funny, and creative! This ground beetle is part of the Agra family and named after the magician’s favourite catchphrase. It’s actually one of several pun names for species of Agra beetles, including Agra vation and Agra phobia.

Aploparaksis Turdi

The Aploparaksis turdi is a type of animal that you hopefully haven’t met – it’s a type of hermaphrodite tapeworm that relies on ciliary gliding to move around… and is found in faeces

Aye-aye

The aye-aye is not a gremlin come to life, but rather a nocturnal lemur found in Madagascar. On top of their funny name, their straggly hair, bulging eyes, continually growing incisors, and oversized ears combine to make them one of the ugliest primates around.

Blobfish

A funny name for a funny looking fish (and one that made it on to our list of the world’s ugliest fish). Out of water the blobfish is aptly named, as it’s one big gelatinous blob, but in their high-pressure deep-sea habitats, they look a little more like normal fish.

Boops Boops

The boops boops is a species of seabream fish native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black seas. Its name supposedly refers to its very large eyes which they use to hunt down crustaceans and plankton.

Chicken Turtle

What can we say, other than ‘chicken turtle’ is a pretty funny name! Rather than looks or behaviour, the name relates to the fact that this turtle from the Southeast United States apparently tastes like chicken, and used to be a popular food source.

Colon Rectum

One of the most unflattering names in the animal kingdom? The colon rectum is a rounded fungus beetle found worldwide, and seems to have done nothing whatsoever to deserve its name, poor thing.

Common Cockchafer

This is an example of a beetle with a great name! The cockchafer is a type of flying beetle, growing up to 3 centimeters long and sometimes called a ‘doodle-bug’ or May bug.

Dik-Dik

Are we being immature including the dik-dik on this list of funny animal names? Perhaps, but the name of this small antelope from eastern and southern Africa makes us smile. They are named after the female’s alarm call.

Fried Egg Jellyfish

Pretty obvious why this jellyfish is called the fried egg jellyfish. Each sunnyside up jellyfish has an orangy yellow dome surrounded by a white ring, and can grow up to 40 centimeters across. They’re fairly common in Europe’s Mediterranean Sea.

Frilled-Necked Lizard

Kind of a funny name, but suitably descriptive for this lizard that does indeed have a large frill around its neck. Most of the time the frill is kept folded down, and used only to intimidate predators or other males.

Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla

So good they named it twice thrice. The latin name of the Western lowland gorilla really is Gorilla gorilla gorilla – just in case you forget what it is you’re looking at.

Hellbender

The hellbender is the largest amphibian in North America, growing up to 75 centimeters long. It’s thought this rather cool name comes from the salamander’s incredible size and strange appearance – a creature straight out of hell!

Ice Cream Cone Worm

One of the least tasty ice creams around, the aquatic ice cream cone worm lives in a home that it makes from sand and shell fragments. They secrete a kind of glue from their glands that is used to stick the sand and shell pieces together to eventually create a tube to live in.

Leafy Seadragon

Though the leafy seadragon may look like some sort of fairy tale sea dragon it is actually a fish. Their leaf-like appendages act as camouflage, allowing them to look like a piece of floating seaweed.

Some leafy seadragons take their camouflage even further, with the ability to change their colour to match their surroundings.

Mountain Chicken

A straightforward name for a chicken… but the mountain chicken is actually a frog! It’s commonly called a giant ditch frog, but locals in the Caribbean call this frog a mountain chicken because it’s so large, and is hunted to kill and eat.

Moustached Puffbird

Another example of an amusingly descriptive animal name. The moustached puffbird has small tufts of white feathers around its beak (hence the ‘moustached’) and is plump, round, and fluffy (hence the puffbird).

Pink Fairy Armadillo

The pink fairy armadillo is pink, and as the smallest armadillo species in the world grows to just 15 centimeters long. Perhaps it’s this tiny size that accounts for the ‘fairy’ portion of its name.

Endemic to central Argentina, this armadillo is nicknamed the “sand-swimmer” because of its ability to “burrow through the ground as fast as a fish can swim in the sea”. As well as having a funny name, the pink fairy armadillo makes it onto our list of the smallest animals in the world.

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

There are over 2,000 different species of pleasing fungus beetle, named after their habit of feeding on fungus, along with plant matter. A few of these species have gained notoriety as significant pests. Why pleasing? Your guess is as good as ours!

Rasberry Crazy Ant

These ants do have a reddish tinge, but are actually named after an exterminator – Tom Rasberry – who first noticed the increasing prominence of this invasive species from South Africa in Texas. As for crazy, they’re known to chew through electrical wires, causing short circuits, which is pretty crazy behaviour…

Sarcastic Fringehead

Why it’s sarcastic nobody knows, but the sarcastic fringehead is an aggressive small fish with a giant mouth that it uses to battle for territory with other fringeheads. Funny name, but aggressive looking fish!

Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko

We’re not sure if this name is funny, cool, or just evil, but it certainly stands out. The gecko is only found in Madagascar, where it’s also known as the eyelash leaf-tailed gecko or the fantastic leaf-tailed gecko.

It has a flattened tail that looks like a leaf, and the satanic part of its name is likely related to its strange appearance, and occasional red colouring.

Screaming Hairy Armadillo

Another example of a straightforward descriptive – if unattractive – name for a species. The screaming hairy armadillo is hairier than most other armadillo species, with thick, bristly hairs all over its body and shell. When threatened handled by humans it has a tendency to squeal loudly in distress, hence the funny name.

Slippery Dick

Is the ‘slippery dick’ an insult, a cocktail, or a fish? Yup, it’s a type of wrasse found in the Atlantic Ocean, and owner of one of the funniest animal names on this list!

Sparklemuffin

Two stunning new species of peacock spiders were found in Australia in 2015. Pictured is the one named ‘sparklemuffin’ after the bright bluish and reddish stripes on its abdomen. It may look very cool, and have some of natures’ warning red on its abdomen, but the sparklemuffin isn’t one of the most venomous spiders around.

Spiny Lumpsucker

All members of the Cyclopteridae family are called ‘lumpsuckers’. The ‘lump’ portion of their name relates to their looks of being a round lump of flesh. The ‘sucker’ part refers to the fish’s modified pelvic fins that act as adhesive discs so they can stick onto rocks and remain attached. Some species also have spines on them, leading to the full name of spiny lumpsucker.

Strange-Tailed Tyrant

The reason for the ‘strange-tailed’ portion of this bird’s name is obvious enough, but why is it a tyrant? Simple, it comes from the bird’s genus – Tyrannus.

Tasseled Wobbegong

This is an example of an animal name that’s just plain weird. The tasseled wobbegong is a carpet shark that looks as weird as its name, with a long, flattened body patterned with colorful blotches, and a fringe of tassels around its head. Wobbegong is an Australian Aboriginal term that means ‘shaggy beard’, so it all kind of makes sense.

Tufted Titmouse

It’s quite an amusing name as it is, but even funnier when you consider that the tufted titmouse is not a mouse, but instead a bird!

Wunderpus Photogenicus

Someone was definitely having a laugh when they named this octopus the wunderpus photogenicus. “Wunderpus” is a combination of the German word “Wunder” which means “miracle” or “wonder”, and the English “octopus.”

Wunderpus photogenicus are typically rusty brown with white blotches forming a pattern unique to each animal, however, as with all octopi they are able to change patterns and shape at will to evade predators.

And that’s your lot for our round-up of funny animal names. Which is the funniest? Have we left any great animal names off the list? Let us know in the comments section below!