You may think you know your zoo animals in Spanish because you’ve got words down like perro, oso and maybe even conejo (dog, bear and rabbit, respectively) but I would be willing to bet that if you took a trip to the zoo, you’d be lost. While a lot of the names are easy to figure out due to to the Latin, there are some that may stump you. I have made a lot of trips to zoos in Argentina and Mexico, so I speak from experience. Here are some animal words you probably didn’t learn in Spanish class.
Animal English Names in Spanish: 11 Weird Examples That Will Surprise You
1. Lobos marinos – sea lions
2. Ciervo – deer
3. Oso hormiguero – anteater
4. Suricata – meerkat
5. Cabra – goat
6. Zorro – fox
7. Castor- Beaver
8. Nutria – otter
9. Erizo – hedgehog
10. Carpincho – capybara (yeah, don’t know what that is either, but it exists, it’s used for its furs)
11. Mara – And my favorite animal that I never knew existed, a Mara, which has no English translation, but is portrayed in the main photo (right) and runs free in the Buenos Aires, Argentina zoo.
What other Spanish zoo animals can add to the list?
Check out these other English Spanish articles.