How Many Rare Animals Can You Name?
You can name a cat or a dog in a heartbeat. But a rare mammal starting with N? A rare bird starting with K? Most people freeze. This game gives you a letter and a type, and you name the animal — then learn what it actually is. Find out how many of the world’s odd, obscure and vanishing animals you can pull from memory.
Tap an answer to start.
Six rare animals worth knowing
Half the fun of the game is meeting animals you didn’t know existed. Here are six that show up — each one real, each one genuinely uncommon, and several clinging on by a thread.
The giraffe’s only living relative, with zebra-striped legs. Western science didn’t confirm it until 1901 — one of the last large mammals to be described.
The only mammal with scales, and the most trafficked wild mammal on Earth — all eight species are now threatened.
A salamander that never grows up and can regrow limbs and parts of its brain. Almost extinct in the wild, yet kept in labs and tanks worldwide.
A cat-sized wallaby with a permanent "smile", most famous on Rottnest Island near Perth.
The "Asian unicorn", discovered in 1992 and not caught on camera in the wild since 2013. Possibly the rarest large mammal alive.
The world’s smallest and rarest porpoise — surveys suggest only around ten remain, lost as bycatch in illegal fishing nets.
Some of these are nearly gone
"Rare" isn’t always charming. Several animals in this game are among the most endangered on the planet. The vaquita, a porpoise found only in the northern Gulf of California, may be down to roughly ten individuals — drowned as accidental catch in nets set for another fish. The saola, found as recently as 1992, hasn’t been photographed in the wild since 2013. And the pangolin holds a grim record as the most trafficked wild mammal on Earth, taken for its scales.
Knowing an animal’s name is a small thing, but it’s where caring usually starts. If the game introduces you to a creature you’ll now recognise on a wildlife show or a conservation appeal, it has done its job.
Frequently asked questions
How does the rare-animal game work?
Each round gives you a clue — a rarity, a type (mammal, bird, fish and so on) and a starting letter — then four names. Pick the animal that matches the clue. You build a score and a streak, and every answer reveals a fact about the real animal.
What counts as a "rare" animal here?
We flag animals that are genuinely unusual or seldom-seen — either obscure to most people (xerus, jerboa, binturong) or scientifically rare and threatened (vaquita, saola, kakapo). The game draws only from that flagged set.
What is the rarest animal in the game?
The vaquita and the saola are the closest to vanishing. Recent surveys estimate only around ten vaquitas survive, and no saola has been photographed in the wild since 2013.
Where can I see the full A–Z list?
The companion explorer lets you browse every animal in the collection by letter and filter by type — including all the rare ones the game pulls from.
Sources
- IUCN Red List — conservation status for the vaquita (critically endangered), saola, pangolin and others featured.
- CITES & IFAW reporting — the pangolin as the world’s most trafficked wild mammal.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Australian Museum — natural-history detail for individual species.
- Companion A–Z explorer on howmany.pro — the shared animal list this game draws its clues from.
Related
Anyone can name the lion. The real test is whether you can reach past it — to the quokka, the okapi, the saola — the animals most people never learn are there at all.