The generic term for animals in Chinese is 动物 dong wu(4, 4), animal - literally moving thing
Below is a short gloss of some animals, you may notice that some animals have this radical 犭which is thought to originally be a side view of a dog
Now this radical is used to clue us in that we are looking at an animal character
马 ma (3), Horse
斑马 Ban ma (1,3), Zebra - literally striped + horse
河马 He ma (2, 3), Hippo - literally river + horse
猫 Mao (1), Cat
熊 Xiong (2), Bear
熊猫 Xiong mao (2, 1), Panda - literally bear + cat
小熊猫 Xiao xiong mao (3, 2, 1), Red panda - literally little bear cat
浣熊 Huan xiong (4, 2), Raccoon - literally washing bear (supposedly because raccoons wash their food before they eat it)
龙 Long (2), Dragon
恐龙 Kong long (3, 2), Dinosaur - literally fearful dragon
老鼠 Lao shu (3, 3), Rat/mouse - literally old mouse
松鼠 Song shu (1, 3), Squirrel - literally pine tree mouse
狗, Gou (3), Dog
狼, Lang (2), Wolf
牛, Niu (2), Cow
野牛, Ye Niu (3, 2), Buffalo, literally field cow
猪, Zhu (1), Pig (this character is considered taboo by muslim chinese people and not written out)
鸟, Niao (3), Bird
鸡, Ji (1), Chicken (also slang for female prostitute)
鸭子, Ya zi (1, neutral), Duck - literally duck child (also slang for male prostitute)
猫头鹰, Mao tou ying (1, 2, 1), Owl - literally cat head eagle
蛇 She, (2), Snake
蜘蛛, zhi zhu (1, 1), Spider, literally spider spider
蚂蚁, ma yi (3, 3), Ant, literally insect ant
密封, mi feng (4, 1), Bee, literally honey bee (if you reverse the placement of these characters it becomes the word for honey)
Below is a short gloss of some animals, you may notice that some animals have this radical 犭which is thought to originally be a side view of a dog
Now this radical is used to clue us in that we are looking at an animal character
马 ma (3), Horse
斑马 Ban ma (1,3), Zebra - literally striped + horse
河马 He ma (2, 3), Hippo - literally river + horse
猫 Mao (1), Cat
熊 Xiong (2), Bear
熊猫 Xiong mao (2, 1), Panda - literally bear + cat
小熊猫 Xiao xiong mao (3, 2, 1), Red panda - literally little bear cat
浣熊 Huan xiong (4, 2), Raccoon - literally washing bear (supposedly because raccoons wash their food before they eat it)
龙 Long (2), Dragon
恐龙 Kong long (3, 2), Dinosaur - literally fearful dragon
老鼠 Lao shu (3, 3), Rat/mouse - literally old mouse
松鼠 Song shu (1, 3), Squirrel - literally pine tree mouse
狗, Gou (3), Dog
狼, Lang (2), Wolf
牛, Niu (2), Cow
野牛, Ye Niu (3, 2), Buffalo, literally field cow
猪, Zhu (1), Pig (this character is considered taboo by muslim chinese people and not written out)
鸟, Niao (3), Bird
鸡, Ji (1), Chicken (also slang for female prostitute)
鸭子, Ya zi (1, neutral), Duck - literally duck child (also slang for male prostitute)
猫头鹰, Mao tou ying (1, 2, 1), Owl - literally cat head eagle
蛇 She, (2), Snake
蜘蛛, zhi zhu (1, 1), Spider, literally spider spider
蚂蚁, ma yi (3, 3), Ant, literally insect ant
密封, mi feng (4, 1), Bee, literally honey bee (if you reverse the placement of these characters it becomes the word for honey)