All articles A–Z
519,064 articles
Animal communication
Animal communication: transmission of signals between animals via visual, acoustic, chemical, and other channels; includes functional reference, vervet alarm calls, and comparisons with human language.
Animal consciousness
Animal consciousness: whether nonhuman animals have subjective experience, the distribution question. Interdisciplinary field; the 2024 New York Declaration affirms consciousness in mammals and birds and a realistic possibility in insects, reptiles, and molluscs.
Animal Control (TV series)
Animal Control is an American single-camera workplace sitcom created by Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg, and Dan Sterling, starring Joel McHale as ex-cop Frank Shaw at Seattle's animal control division. It premiered on FOX February 16, 2023, was FOX's first wholly owned live-action comedy, and reached a fifth season in 2026.
Animal Crackers (1930 film)
Animal Crackers (1930) is the Marx Brothers' second Paramount film, adapted from their 1928 Broadway musical, directed by Victor Heerman, starring Groucho as Captain Spaulding, and entering the US public domain in 2026.
Animal Crackers (2017 film)
Animal Crackers (2017) is a 3D computer-animated comedy-fantasy directed by Scott Christian Sava, Tony Bancroft, and Jaime Maestro, about magic cookies that turn eaters into animals; it premiered at Annecy 2017 and reached Netflix in 2020 after distribution disputes.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing (Dōbutsu no Mori) is Nintendo's real-time social simulation franchise begun in 2001 on N64; players live with animal villagers, earn Bells, and never "win." New Horizons (2020) sold over 44 million copies during the pandemic.
Animal Crossing (video game)
Animal Crossing (Dōbutsu no Mori, どうぶつの森) is Nintendo's 2001 N64 life simulation game, Japan-only, directed by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami, with a real-time clock; the GameCube port reached the West in 2002.
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Let's Go to the City) is Nintendo's 2008 Wii life simulation, third mainline entry, adding the City area and Wii Speak voice chat; Metacritic 73, lowest-rated mainline game.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) is Nintendo's life simulation game for Switch, released March 20, 2020, set on a deserted island with Tom Nook, crafting, terraforming, and real-time seasons; a COVID-era hit with Metacritic 90 and a 2026 3.0 update.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012, Nintendo 3DS) is the fourth main Animal Crossing game, where the player becomes mayor, enacting ordinances and public works projects. Sold 13.06 million units; Metacritic 88; Welcome amiibo update 2016.
Animal Crossing: Wild World (おいでよ どうぶつの森)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (おいでよ どうぶつの森) is Nintendo's 2005 Nintendo DS social simulation game, the series' first handheld entry, directed by Hisashi Nogami; it sold 11.75 million copies and its online service ended in 2014.
Animal disease
An animal disease is an impairment of an animal's normal state that interrupts or modifies its vital functions, from foot-and-mouth disease to zoonoses like rabies, threatening food supplies and human health.
Animal disease surveillance
Animal disease surveillance is the systematic, ongoing collection, analysis, and dissemination of animal health information, supporting early detection of infection, disease control, prevalence estimates, and trade based on demonstrated freedom from disease.
Animal Drug Availability Act 1996
The Animal Drug Availability Act of 1996 (ADAA) is a United States federal law signed in October 1996 that gave the FDA flexibility in approving new animal drugs.
Animal echolocation
Animal echolocation, also called biosonar, is the use of sound pulses and returning echoes by animals to sense their surroundings, most notably in bats and toothed whales.
Animal Enclosure
Animal enclosure: the constructed space housing captive animals in zoos and sanctuaries, also called habitat exhibit. Evolved from barred cages to Hagenbeck's moated panoramas and 1970s landscape immersion; design is now judged by welfare evidence and standards.
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the humane ending of an animal's life, minimizing pain and distress before loss of consciousness, governed by AVMA 2020 guidelines, using barbiturates for pets, CO2 or physical methods in laboratories, and distinct from slaughter and depopulation.
Animal Farm
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story is a 1945 novella by George Orwell, an allegory of the Soviet regime in which farm animals' rebellion descends into tyranny.
Animal Farm (1954 film)
Animal Farm is a 1954 British animated feature directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor, adapting Orwell's novella and covertly part-funded by the CIA as Cold War propaganda.
Animal Farm (1999 film)
Animal Farm (1999) is a TNT/Hallmark Entertainment live-action TV film of Orwell's novella, directed by John Stephenson, using Jim Henson Creature Shop animatronics, voiced by Patrick Stewart and Ian Holm, with a changed hopeful ending.
Animal Farm (video)
Animal Farm is a 1981 British-Danish pornographic compilation video, released in Germany, built from Danish hardcore loops starring the performer Bodil Joensen.
Animal feed
Animal feed: materials fed to food-producing animals, defined by Codex/FAO. Covers feed types, industry history from 1810 feed standards, EU/US regulation, additives, and environmental impact; livestock consume ~6 billion tonnes of feed dry matter yearly.
Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture
Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture (AnGR, livestock biodiversity) are genetic material of actual or potential value from livestock species, in live animals or cryopreserved form. Over 1,200 cattle breeds exist; 99 breeds went extinct 2000–2014; managed under FAO's 2007 Global Plan of Action.
Animal glue
Animal glue: collagen-based adhesive from boiling hide and bone; types include hide, bone, fish glue, isinglass. Used since 8000-year-old Nahal Hemar artefacts; dominant until synthetic glues of the 1950s–60s; still used in conservation, lutherie, gummed tape.
Animal health
Animal health: the field covering disease status and welfare of livestock, aquatic and wild animals, coordinated globally by WOAH (founded 1924 as OIE) through standards, WAHIS surveillance, and One Health collaboration with WHO, FAO, and UNEP.
Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) is a John Landis comedy starring John Belushi, the first National Lampoon film, about the Delta fraternity versus Dean Wormer at Faber College in 1962; a $3.5 million film that grossed over $90 million and entered the National Film Registry in 2001.
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry, also called stock breeding, is the managed breeding and care of livestock such as cattle, sheep, and pigs for meat, milk, and other products.
Animal husbandry in China
Animal husbandry in China is the large-scale raising of pigs, poultry, cattle, sheep, and goats, producing nearly a quarter of global meat; 2024 output reached 96.63 million tonnes.
Animal husbandry in Germany
Animal husbandry in Germany is the farming of cattle, pigs, poultry, sheep, and goats for meat, milk, and eggs; milk alone contributes about 19 percent of agricultural production value.
Animal husbandry in Himachal Pradesh
Animal husbandry in Himachal Pradesh, India: livestock rearing (cattle, goats, sheep, buffaloes, poultry) central to rural livelihoods; 44.13 lakh animals per 2019 census, transhumant Gaddi and Gujjar pastoralism, growing dairy sector.