Animals that start with F

Fallow deer are medium-sized deer with a pale brown or gray coat that often shows spots and patches. Males grow broad antlers. They live in woodlands, hedges, and open grassy areas in parts of Europe and western Asia. They are most active around dawn and dusk.

Ferrets are domestic animals, usually kept as pets. They are related to the polecat and weasel. Ferrets eat small pest animals like rats and rabbits.

Finches are small, seed-eating songbirds. They come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, and can be found all over the world. Many finches are very pretty and make good pets.

Fish live underwater, in either salt or fresh water. They can only breathe underwater, but they use gills to breathe, not lungs like we do. Fish are covered in scales. Some people keep very small fish in their houses as pets. The biggest kind of fish is a whale shark, which is just a really big kind of shark. Whales grow a lot bigger than sharks but they are not fish, as they don't have gills and have to come to the surface of the water to breathe, just like we do.

A flea is a small insect that lives in the hair or fur of an animal. Fleas bite the animal and drink their blood, and can make the animal very itchy because of all the bites. If you have a pet cat or dog you should get it a flea collar or some other flea treatment so they don't get fleas.

Flounder is a common name for a large number of related flat fish species that typically live on the bottom of the sea where they camouflage with the sea bed. They eat smaller fish, catching them by surprise as their prey simply cannot see them.

Flying fish are a type of fish with very big fins. They can jump out of the water to get away from things that want to eat them, and then they glide through the air for some distance before they fall back into the water again.
They can glide for around 50-400 metres, and reach speeds of up to 70km/h. Flying fish eat plankton, and are themselves eaten by tuna and dolphins.

Flying squirrels are a variety of squirrel that has a flap of skin joining its front and back legs. Flying squirrels can spread out this flap like a parachute to glide between trees.

Foxes are a small hunting animal, or carnivore, that is found all over the world. They eat smaller animals like rabbits and rats. The most common type of fox is the red fox, as shown in the picture. A female fox is called a vixen.

Frogs can be found around fresh water, including in deserts when it only rains every few years. They can breathe through their skin when they are in water. Frogs lay eggs, which hatch into tadpoles. Frogs come in a great variety of colours and can range in size from as small as a fingernail up to about 30cm long. Frogs that are very warty are often called toads.