Animal Names Starts With Letter: X

Animals that start with X are few but fascinating. Tropical rivers sparkle with the translucent x-ray tetra, while African streams host the paddle-footed Xenopus (African clawed frog). Dry savannas bustle with Xerus ground squirrels, and Baja’s scrub echoes with the nectar-sipping Xantus’s hummingbird. Along Pacific coasts, nocturnal Xantus’s night lizard hides in crevices, and open seas occasionally reveal the graceful xiphosurid cousin better known as the horseshoe crab (ancient “living fossil”). Birders in the High Arctic may spot the fork-tailed xeme (Sabine’s gull), while South American rivers shelter the boldly patterned Xingu river ray. Look closer and you’ll find wood-boring Xylocopa carpenter bees shaping forest edges and tiny xerophilous insects adapted to desert heat. This “X” lineup spans carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores across rivers, deserts, savannas, forests, coasts, and open ocean. Browse the list below for species profiles—scientific names, habitats, diets, and conservation status—and explore the extraordinary animals hiding behind the letter X.