Mammalian species such as the vampire bat, vervet monkey, Virginia opossum, volcano rabbit, and Visayan warty pig; avian species such as vultures, vireos, and the velvet asity; insect species like the viceroy butterfly; and fish like the viperfish are among those that begin with V.
Beginning with v, you’ll discover pictures and information on a number of fascinating creatures on this page. Links to additional information, photos, and videos are provided below for many of the animals.
Included in this list are individual species (e.g., vervet monkeys) and well-known groups of species (e.g., vultures) whose names begin with V. The scientific name and conservation status are provided for each of the individual species.
List of Animals Beginning With V
1. Vampire Bat (Common)
- Scientific name: Desmodus rotundus
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Phyllostomidae
- Subfamily: Desmodontinae
- Where found: Central America, South America
- Conservation status: Least Concern
The hairy-legged vampire bat and the white-winged vampire bat are the other two types of vampire bats. The common vampire bat is one of them. Central and South America are home to all three vampire bats.
Vampire bats are well-known for their tendency to feed on the blood of other creatures. Hematophagy is the scientific term for this activity.
Vampire bats are mammals (like all bats) and, as a result, are unrelated to birds because of their wings. On extended finger bones, a bat’s wings are spread out.
From southern Mexico to central Argentina and Chile in South America, the common vampire bat may be found. It enjoys grassland and woodland environments. The bat rests in huge roosts in caverns and abandoned structures throughout the day.
Mammalian (particularly domestic) animals are the most common victims of vampires bats, which feed on sleeping creatures.
The bat can sense where blood is flowing nearest to its victim’s skin using heat sensors in its nose. Using its folded wings as legs, it can walk (and even jump).
The vampire bat creates an incision in the victim’s skin with its razor-sharp incisor teeth, then drinks. The saliva of the bat contains anticoagulant substances, which keep blood from clotting in the victim’s body.
The vampire bat’s bite alone has no long-term negative consequences, despite the fact that it takes relatively little blood. The species, on the other hand, has been shown to transmit illness.
2. Vampire Squid
- Scientific name: Vampyroteuthis infernalis
- Type of animal: Cephalopod
- Family: Vampyroteuthidae
- Where found: tropical and subtropical waters
- Conservation status: Unassessed
Cephalopods (animals that include squids, cuttlefish, and octopuses) belong to the class Cephalopoda. The vampire squid is one of them.
The vampire squid is related to octopuses, despite its name, and it is an eight-legged marine creature. It is the sole known species in the Vampyromorphida order.
The vampire squid, a deep-sea species found in tropical and sub-tropical seas, lives at depths of up to 900 meters (3,000 feet).
The vampire squid has huge blue-colored eyes and is reddish in hue. Webbing connects the eight arms. It has two feelers and two fins.
The animal’s cloak-like webbing can accommodate the feelers. The vampire squid grows to be around 30 cm / 1 foot long. It is approximately 2 meters long.
The vampire squid is capable of generating a light-emitting mucous cloud if it feels threatened by a predator, despite not being able to create ink like other squids. Furthermore, the vampire squid’s body is equipped with light-producing organs that may be used to blind approaching attackers.
The vampire squid moves about in water using its fins or a kind of jet propulsion, in which water is quickly evacuated from a hole in its body. Younger vampire squids are more likely to employ the jet-propulsion technique.
3. Vancouver Island Marmot
- Scientific name: Marmota vancouverensis
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Sciuridae
- Where found: North America
- Conservation status: Critically Endangered
The squirrel family, Sciuridae, includes marmots, which are mid to large rodents. Marmot is a genus of fifteen species that includes the marmot. During the winter, they hibernate in grasslands and mountainous regions of Eurasia and North America.
Canada’s most endangered mammal is the Vancouver Island marmot. The species’ natural adult population was just 90 individuals in 2017, according to estimates.
Dark brown fur with white markings on the cheeks and chest distinguish the Vancouver Island marmot. It’s about 5 kg/11 lb in weight. It is one of the largest squirrel family members, Sciuridae, with a total length (including tail) of around 72 cm / 2.36 feet.
The subalpine meadows (meadows located just below the treeline) are home to this rodent, which is only found on Canada’s Vancouver Island. It lives in tiny communities in shared burrows.
4. Vanga
Helmet vanga (Euryceros prevostii) in tropical rainforest in northern Madagascar.
- Type of animal: Birds
- Family: Vangidae
- Where found: Africa (Madagascar)
Each vanga species has established its own ecological position. Adaptive radiation is the process of many species evolving from a single ancestral species and filling separate niches.
Vangas can be found in Madagascar, a small African island nation. Newtonias and helmetshrikes, two additional species of the same family, may be found across Africa and Asia.
The ecological roles of each vanga species vary in size from fifteen to thirty, and are designed by them. Adaptive radiation is the evolutionary process of numerous species developing from a single progenitor species to occupy different niches.
5.Vaquita
- Scientific name: Phocoena sinus
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Phocoenidae
- Where found: North America
- Conservation status: Critically Endangered
Only in the Gulf of California – a tiny section of the Pacific Ocean that separates Baja California and mainland Mexico – does the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise, live. It feeds on fish, squid, and crustaceans in shallow water here.
The vaquita is the world’s tiniest cetacean, measuring up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in length and weighing no more than 12 pounds (5.44 kilograms).
With a wild adult population of just 18 in 2017, the vaquita is the world’s most endangered cetacean. The use of gillnets by local fisherman, which continues (illegally) to this day, is the primary cause of this marine mammal’s critically endangered status.
6. Variegated Squirrel
- Scientific name: Sciurus variegatoides
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Sciuridae
- Where found: Central America
- Conservation status: Least Concern
A species of squirrel is the variegated squirrel, which may be found in Central American forests.
The species’ name alludes to the fact that the body of the animal is covered in diverse hues. The squirrel’s back and sides are covered in black and white streaks, giving it a variegated appearance. Individual coloration varies not only from area to area, but also from individual to individual.
The variegated squirrel spends the majority of its time in the trees, where it sleeps in a nest made of leaves. A squirrel nest is called a drey.
Unlike many other squirrels, the variegated squirrel isn’t thought to hold food. The majority of its food, which it forages in the trees, is made up of seeds. It occasionally eats other plant material, insects, and even baby birds.
7. Velvet Asity
- Scientific name: Philepitta castanea
- Type of animal: Bird
- Family: Philepittidae
- Where found: Africa (Madagascar)
- Conservation status: Least Concern
The velvet asity, a rainforest bird endemic to Madagascar’s African island, can be found there. It’s only found on the island, making it a unique species.
The look of male and female velvet asitys differs significantly, as it does with many bird species. Males have bright green wattles (fleshy growths) over their eyes, which are black in color. The chest of females is streaked and they are green.
“Sexual dichromatism” refers to a significant difference in the coloration of males and femen in the same species, such as that seen in the velvet asity.
The velvet asity is one of only four species in the Philepittidae family, which includes the velvet asity.
8. Verreaux’s Sifaka
- Scientific name: Propithecus verreauxi
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Indriidae
- Where found: Africa (Madagascar)
- Conservation status: Critically Endangered
In southern and southwestern Madagascar, Verreaux’s Sifaka is a lemur.
Lemurs are a kind of primate that is native to Madagascar, a small African island state. There are five primate families, each with approximately 100 species.
Sifaka, a mid-sized lemur with a 45 cm (17.7 in) body and a 60 cm (23.6 in) tail, is found in the genus Sifaka. It has brown on the sides and head of its thick white fur.
Verreaux’s Sifaka is an expert climber and jumper, making it ideal for a life spent in the trees. The species jumps instead of walking on the ground.
The Sifaka of Verreaux is a vegetarian. During the mornings and evenings, it forages for leaves and fruit in small groups, resting during the hottest part of the day.
Habitat loss is the greatest threat to this critically endangered species. Madagascar has a high amount of deforestation due to logging and other agricultural activities.
9. Vervet Monkey
- Scientific name: Chlorocebus pygerythrus
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Cercopithecidae
- Where found: Africa
- Conservation status: Least Concern
The vervet monkey is a primate that lives in savanna, woodland, and shrubland habitats across eastern and southern Africa. The conservation status of this grey-haired black-faced monkey is ‘Least Concern,’ which means it is widespread across most of its range.
Leopards, eagles, pythons, and baboons are the four major predators of the vervet monkey; each has its own distinct alarm call.
The vervet monkey is an omnivore that eats gum, leaves, insects, and bird nestlings in addition to plant matter.
10. Viceroy Butterfly
- Scientific name: Limenitis archippus
- Type of animal: Insect
- Family: Nymphalidae
- Where found: North America
- Conservation status: Least Concern
The viceroy butterfly looks a lot like a monarch butterfly, with orange wings with black veins and an extra black line running parallel to the body on the hindwing.
Predators find both the viceroy and the monarch disgusting. Müllerian mimicry is a phenomena in which different species with the same defensive features (i.e., butterflies’ toxicity) come to resemble one another, and the similarities in the viceroy and monarch’s coloration are an example of this. Since predators learn to avoid any animal with similar characteristics, this is a win-win situation for all of the similar-looking species.
Willows are frequently infested with viceroy caterpillars. From April through December, adults may be seen.
The Nymphalidae family includes roughly 6,000 species. The largest butterfly family is the Nymphalidae. Butterflies in this family may seem to have just four, rather than six, legs due to their reduced front legs.
11. Vicuña
- Scientific name: Vicugna vicugna
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Camelidae
- Where found: South America
- Conservation status: Least Concern
A hooved animal found in South America is the vicuña. It’s related to the alpaca and llama, both of which are domesticated, and belongs to the Camelidae family of camels.
(The guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is the only other wild member of the camel family discovered in South America.)
The closely-related alpaca, which was domesticated at least 2,000 years ago, is thought to be the wild progenitor of the vicuña.
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru are home to the vicuña, which thrives at high elevations in the Andes. Its wool (the species’ domesticated ancestor, the alpaca, is bred for its wool) is greatly valued. Peru’s national animal is the species.
When the population of the vicuña shrank to about 6,000 individuals due to overhunting in the 1970s, it became endangered.
Since then, the species has made a successful comeback. The adult population of vicuñas today is estimated to be 350,000, and their conservation status has been downgraded to ‘Least Concern.
12. Viper
- Type of animal: Reptile
- Family: Viperidae
- Where found: Worldwide, except Australia and Antarctica
- Conservation status: Various
The Viperidae family of snakes includes vipers, which are venomous. The family contains approximately 374 species. With the exception of Australia and Antarctica, vipers can be found across every continent (including numerous islands and island countries, such as Madagascar and Ireland).
A pair of hollow fangs used to inject venom are found on all vipers. When not in use, the fangs fold back and are only exposed when the animal connects with them.
Feas’ vipers, Crotalinae pit vipers, and Viperinae true vipers are the three major varieties of viper.
The pit vipers are the most diversified subfamily of vipers, with 271 species. Pit vipers have a “sixth sense” for hunting because of their heat-sensing “pit organs” between their eyes and nostrils.
All rattlesnakes, the bushmaster, and the sidewinder are examples of pit vipers.
Gaboon vipers, which live in African rainforests, are the world’s biggest viper. It is the snake with the longest fangs and the greatest quantity of venom.
13. Viperfish
- Type of animal: Fish
- Family: Stomiidae
- Genus: Chauliodus
- Where found: The bathyal zone
- Conservation status: Various
The genus Chauliodus includes nine predatory deep sea fish species. The fish’s mouth can be closed by folding back their enormous fangs.
Viperfish use photophores, which are organs that emit light, to attract prey. Both the fish’s underside and dorsal fin have them. The viperfish attacks with its terrifying jaws when the victim is close enough!
The bathyal zone is home to the viperfish. This section of the waterway, which lies between 1,000 and 4,000 meters (3,300 and 13,100 feet) below sea level, is unable to receive sunlight.
The viperfish, which includes shrimp, little fish, and squid, hunts its prey in this dark, chilly environment.
14. Vireo
- Type of animal: Bird
- Family: Vireonidae
- Where found: The Americas, Asia
- Conservation status: Various
Vireos are a group of about 60 little songbirds that live throughout the Americas, with the majority of them. A large beak, slightly hooked at the tip, is a characteristic of birds in this family. The faces of several vireo species are marked with what appear to be spectacles.
True vireos are birds from the genus Vireo, which has 32 species. The Americas are home to the genuine vireos, who are mostly migratory. They use spider webs and grass to create cup-shaped nests.
15. Virginia Opossum
- Scientific name: Didelphis virginiana
- Type of animal: Mammal (marsupial)
- Family: Didelphidae
- Where found: North America (including Central America)
- Conservation status: Least Concern
A cat-sized marsupial found in North America, the Virginia opossum is a cat. It’s the marsupial that can be found the furthest north, and it’s the only one in North America.
In comparison to placental animals like dogs, cats, whales, and humans, marsupials are animals that give birth to their offspring in a relatively immature form.
In a unique pouch in the mother’s body, newborn marsupials known as “joeys” continue to develop. They are here to seek shelter, safety, and milk (all mammals give their young milk).
After around ten weeks, Virginia opossum babies exit their mother’s pouch. They then remain on the mother’s back until they are able to survive on their own.
The earliest true marsupials arose in the Americas, despite the fact that most of the world’s marsupials are now found in Australia.
16. Visayan Spotted Deer
- Scientific name: Rusa alfredi
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Cervidae
- Where found: Asia
- Conservation status: Endangered
Only in the Western Visayan Islands of central Philippines, the Visayan spotted deer is an endangered species. It eats grass and leaves in forest clearings on the island’s dense rainforests, where it lives.
The Visayan spotted deer is fairly well-built despite its small size and short legs. It has dark brown skin with pale specks on its back and sides. Its undersides are white, and it has no wings.
The Visayan spotted deer is a critically endangered species with a population of 700 adults. Deforestation is the biggest threat to the species’ survival. Locals also hunt the deer for food.
17. Visayan Warty Pig
- Scientific name: Sus cebifrons
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Suidae
- Where found: Asia
- Conservation status: Critically Endangered
The Visayan warty pig is a wild pig that may be found in the central Philippines, including Negros, Panay, and possibly Masbate (where it was last seen in 1993).
The Visayan warty pig belongs to the Suidae family and the genus Sus (species in this genus that aren’t warthogs or babirusas include pigs).
With a barrel-shaped body, a long snout, short legs, and a short tail, the Visayan warty pig is small and pig-like in appearance.
The species’ name comes from the six fleshy, wart-like structures on its snout. During a fight, the warts may provide protection against an opponent’s tusks.
Over-hunting and deforestation have endangered the Visayan warty pig.
18. Vizsla
- Scientific name: Canis familiaris, Canis lupus familiaris
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Canidae
- Where found: First bred in Hungary
- Conservation status: Domestic
Hungary’s Vizsla is a domestic dog breed. It’s a red-brown haired mid-sized hunting dog with short hair.
The domestic dog has been selectively bred to generate breeds that are suited for specific jobs since it was domesticated.
This also explains why dog breeds are so diverse; little tiny dogs were developed to catch rats, while huge dogs were developed to protect people.
The Vizsla is a pointer, a kind of gun dog that has been selectively bred over many years to enhance its natural tendency to “point” at game (by standing still and looking at it).
The gray wolf is either regarded as a separate species or a subspecies of the domestic dog. The former has the scientific name Canis familiaris, whereas the latter has the scientific name Canis lupus familiaris (the three-word term indicating that it is a subspecies).
19. Vlei Rat
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Muridae
- Where found: Africa
- Conservation status: Various
The genus Otymys (a genus is a group of closely related species) includes the Vlei rats, which are rodents. In Sub-Saharan Africa (i.e., the region south of the Sahara desert), all 26 species of vlei rats are found.
The Afrikaans term “vlei” means “a shallow, seasonal lake,” and the vlei rats’ name comes from this term. (A vlei frog is also present.)
The Murinae subfamily of rats and mice includes the Vlei rats, which are a kind of rodent.
The incisors of vlei rats grow continuously throughout their lives, preventing them from being worn down by constant gnawing on tough plants, as do those of all rats.
20. Volcano Rabbit
- Scientific name: Romerolagus diazi
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Leporidae
- Where found: Mexico
- Conservation status: Endangered
Mexico is home to the volcano rabbit, which is a unique breed of rabbit. On four volcanoes to the south of Mexico City, it lives in forests and grasslands.
The pygmy rabbit, Brachylagus idahoensis, is the world’s smallest species of rabbit. The volcano rabbit is the second-smallest.
The order Lagomorpha includes rabbits, hares, and pikas. The presence of four (rather than two) incisors in the upper jaw and a nearly entirely herbivorous diet distinguishes lagomorphs from rodents.
Lagomorphs, like rats, have continuously growing incisor teeth throughout their lives. This permits them to bite on tough plant matter without wearing their teeth down.
The volcano rabbit’s endangered status is exacerbated by habitat degradation brought on by the conversion of its original environment to agricultural land, as well as urban growth in Mexico City.
21. Vole
- Type of animal: Mammal
- Family: Cricetidae
- Where found: Northern Hemisphere
- Conservation status: Various
Voles belong to the Arvicolinae subfamily of tiny rodents, along with lemmings and muskrats.
(The Cricetidae family, which includes hamsters and New World rats and mice, includes Arvicolinae.)
Voles have short, hairy tails and smaller ears and eyes than mice do.
Voles come in a variety of colors and sizes. Many predators rely on tiny rodents for food, and they play an important role in the ecosystem.
Voles have been known to agricultural crops. As a result, farmers prefer the presence of natural vole predators like barn owls.
The presence of voles teeth on a site can be used by archaeologists to determine its age.
22. Vulture
Lappet-faced vulture, an Old World vulture found in Africa
- Type of animal: Bird
- Family (Old World vultures): Accipitridae
- Family (New World vultures): Cathartidae
- Conservation status: Various
Vultures are among the most well-known animals that begin with V. Vultures are carrion-scavenging birds that eat the bones of dead animals.
Old World vultures, which may be found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and New World vultures, which are found in the Americas are the two primary types of vultures.
The Accipitridae family of vultures includes predatory birds such as eagles and hawks, as well as Old World vultures.
Cathartidae, a new world vulture family, is made up of vultures.
New World vultures have an keen sense of smell, which they use to locate food, in addition to sight. Old World vultures hunt by sight alone.
New World and Old World vultures are not closely related, despite their similarities in appearance and behavior. Convergent evolution, or the occurrence when unrelated species develop similar traits, is exemplified by their resemblance.