Since I have two pet dogs in my house along with my husband and 7 years old daughter, she has grown up loving animals. So, now when she has started going to school, she connects every letter with her favorite animals.
As a parent, you want to discover the most interesting way to teach your child about the animal kingdom. Otherwise, they’ll write it off as just another dull biology lesson and tune out.
To aid you in this endeavor, we have decided to go for the alphabetical order and compiled a list of animals that start with E. What, you ask, could possibly be so fascinating about such mundane creatures?
Nothing much, just a few interesting facts and knowledge that you can tell stories about to your kids at the dinner table.
Here you’ll find various groups of animals that begin with the letter E: birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, mammals, and invertebrates. I have also tried to cover the scientific categorization, food, behavior, and intriguing details of several common animals.
List of Animals that Start with E by Types
Want to know what happened when my kid asked to name a few cute animals that start with E? I blanked out completely, and all I could remember was rabbit which is cute, however, doesn’t start with e.
So, do you think you can name a few animals if your kid asks you to name a few fishes and amphibians? It will be hard for you to remember one when you tried to go through all the names from a list without a categorization.
Therefore, before moving to the facts about animal names with the letter e, let me give you the detailed list of animals divided by their classification. This way, it will be easier for you to inform your kid which animals is a bird and which one is a fish.
Mammals That Start With Letter E
Birds That Start With Letter E
Reptiles That Start With Letter E
Amphibians That Start With Letter E
Fish That Start with E
Insects and Invertebrates Beginning with E
List of Animals That Start With E: Classification, Behavior, and Facts
While I was looking for animal list that starts with the letter E, I found different species of animals that belong to any of the classification mentioned above. Since many of them were unknown to me, I decided to collect their scientific name, their diet, where they live and behavioral pattern.
To make the learning part interesting, I have included any fun facts about these animals that came across me. Continue reading to know more about them.
1. Eagle
Scientific name: Aquila chrysaetos
Type of animal: Bird
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: You may find Eagles in large open spaces where water is available for example, lakes, rivers, or coastal regions.
Average lifespan: Healthy Eagles can live from 15 and up to 30 years.
Diet: This is a carnivore animal that eats after catching its prey.
Fun Fact: Eagles have eyesight that is 4 to 8 times stronger compared to an average human.
Usually, you will find eagles flying alone to pray from a very high altitude. They don’t like to eat dead animals. However, if you want you can train which can be a really difficult job.
2. Earthworm
Scientific name: Lumbricina
Type of animal: Annelid
Phylum: Annelida
Habitat: You may find earthworms doing their great work in humus-filled, moist soil.
Average lifespan: Although they don’t seem like living a long life in their tiny body, they can live a maximum of 8 years.
Diet: Omnivore or both animal and plant-originated food.
Fun Fact: They are well-known to have both male and female organs.
Earthworms don’t breathe through their lungs, they use their skin for breathing. And since they have both organs, they don’t need another partner to reproduce. They move from one place to another with the help of their segmented body.
3. Earwig
Scientific name: Dermaptera
Type of animal: Insect
Phylum: Arthropoda
Habitat: From their name, you may think they live in animal hair, which isn’t true. They live in woodlands and grass.
Average lifespan: Lives around a year with good food.
Diet: They are omnivorous; eat whatever they find in the way.
Fun Fact: There are nearly 2000 species of this little insect.
An earwig uses their pincers for hunting, defense and courtship and the male pincers are more attractive and curved than the females. Almost all of them can fly and use their hindwings. Their forewings are believed to have evolved to protect from predators.
4. Echidna
Scientific name: Tachyglossus Aculeatus
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: In the deep forests where the environment is dry and the temperature is cooler than other areas.
Average lifespan: They can live up to 40 years and minimum of 15 years.
Diet: They are carnivores and their favorite food is ants.
Fun Fact: Their spines are adapted hairs. And have a common name of spiny anteaters.
They have sticky tongues with which they pray earthworms and ants since they lack teeth.
5. Edible Frog
Scientific name: Pelophylax esculentus
Type of animal: Amphibian
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Prefers to live in moist places for example, ponds and woodland swamps.
Average lifespan: Their duration to live is typically 5 to 15 years.
Diet: Omnivore, eats insects, dragging them with their long tongue.
Fun Fact: Their name’s edible frog cause they guard the banks around where they live. Sadly, french people found them, and now they are part of their fancy cuisine!
You can find different colors of edible frogs. For example, brown, tan, black or green. Their skin type is permeable and becomes sexually mature after 2 years of their birth.
6. Egret
Scientific name: Ardea alba
Type of animal: Bird
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: To find food easily, they fly from one place to another and find streams, ponds and lakes.
Average lifespan: If they find perfect weather, temperature and abundance of food, these birds can live up to 10 years. In other cases 5 years.
Diet: Carnivore, prefers to eat fish, reptiles, insects and small mammals.
Fun Fact: The most interesting fact about them is that they make noise and harsh croaking sounds if they see any threats or need to call their partner.
These animals are beautiful to observe from a distance. Their wings can spread from 2-5 feet and start hunting from the age of 7 weeks.
7. Egyptian Goose
Scientific name: Alopochen aegyptiacus
Type of animal: Bird
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Prefers to set near water. So, they find places for example, rivers, and lakes.
Average lifespan: Their living duration can be 15 to 25 years.
Diet: Omnivore, eats insects and terrestrial worms. Frogs are their favorite diet.
Fun Fact: Have you ever seen a goose fly? Well, the Egyptian Goose can even though it is a duck species.
You can distinguish them with their striking hunting capabilities and distinct honking call. They used to be native to Africa and thought to live around the Nile River before moving to American subcontinents.
8. Electric Eel
Scientific name: Electrophorus electricus
Type of animal: Fish
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Prefers to live in murky pools and river basins of Orinoco River in Amazon.
Average lifespan: We still don’t know how long they live in the rivers, however, when captivated in a closed environment they live up to 22 years.
Diet: They are carnivores and hunt small fish, insects and crustaceans.
Fun Fact: As the name suggests, these eels can generate electricity to defend and hunt.
Electric eels can grow up to 8 feet! Scary, right? Their colors may vary from brown, grey, yellow and orange.
9. Elephant
Scientific name: Elephantidae
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: You may find elephants in flood plains and rain forests in many places in Asia and Africa.
Average lifespan: Without any disease condition, elephants can live from 55 to 70 years top.
Diet: Herbivore in nature and eats fruits, grass and roots. You may have seen many eating bananas.
Fun Fact: However, they are slow eaters and can spend 22 hours in a day eating.
Although they are massive giants for us, people keep hunting them for many years as their skin type is leather. You can find these animals in many mythologies, however, they are walking towards extinction and we may have to tell stories about them in the future.
10. Elephant Seal
Scientific name: Mirounga angustirostris
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: These seals move around the ocean water and spend time in the beaches on the lovely sand.
Average lifespan: They live a long life of 18 to 22 years.
Diet: Eats fish, octopus and squid available in the ocean water.
Fun Fact: Elephant Seal can hold their breath under the water for two hours.
The largest seal species can dive deep into the ocean more than 5000 feet. And have a trunk-like nose to get the name elephant seal.
11. Elephant Shrew
Scientific name: Elephantulus
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Woodland, forest and grassland.
Average lifespan: 2 to 6 years.
Diet: Insects, spiders and worms.
Fun Fact: Another name is jumping shrew as they can jump up to 3 feet.
They are native to Africa, which means you cannot find them anywhere else. These animals can grow well in the driest places, for example, the Namib Desert.
12. Elk
Scientific name: Cervus canadensis
Type of animal: Cervid
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Lives in forests, meadows and forest edges
Average lifespan: They live longer in captivity for 20 years and maximum 15 years while living in the forest.
Diet: they are the second-largest herbivorous.
Fun Fact: Male elks can jump as high as eight feet. The male elks can make sound by simultaneously whistling and roaring both of their lips and nostrils.
13. Emperor Penguin
Scientific name: Aptenodytes forsteri
Type of animal: Seabirds who are unable to fly
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Places of Antarctica where ice is compacted
Average lifespan: 15 to 50 years
Diet: Eats fish, squid, and krill.
Fun Fact: Animal fossils of Emperor Penguin can be found as old as 40 million years.
You can say they are excellent, loyal lovers as they have only one mating partner all their life.
14. Emperor Tamarin
Scientific name: Saguinus Imperator
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: Tropical forests
Average lifespan: 8 to 15 years
Diet: Insects, fruits, or rodents
Fun Fact: Tamarins first began to appear nearly 30 million years ago. They live in troops and have long white mustaches.
15. Emu
Scientific name: Dromaius novaehollandiae
Type of animal: Bird
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: they live in open lands where plenty of grass and water is available.
Average lifespan: 12 to 20 years.
Diet: They like to eat seeds, fruits, insects and flowers.
Fun Fact: Emu’s father changes color as they age.
16. English Shepherd
Scientific name: Canis lupus
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: they are found all over north-America
Average lifespan: English Shepherd can live up to 14 years.
Diet: Omnivore
Fun Fact: They are well known for their intelligence and they are shy and devoted in nature
17. Escolar
Scientific name: Lepidocybium flavobrunneum
Type of animal: Fish
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: They live in the tropical oceans of the northern Indian Ocean.
Average lifespan: They may live up to 11 years.
Diet: They prefer to eat squid, crustaceans, and cuttlefish.
Fun Fact: These fish cannot digest wax esters.
Although the fish tastes good, you may suffer from diarrhea if you eat too much of it.
18. Eskimo Dog
Scientific name: Canis lupus
Type of animal: Mammalia
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: They thrive their life in cold areas of North America.
Average lifespan: 14 years
Diet: Omnivore
Fun Fact: These dogs are renowned for their agility.
They are the decedents of German spitz. And you can have them as pets as they are intelligent and good with animals.
19. Ethiopian Wolf
Scientific name: Canis simensis
Type of animal: Mammals
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: They live in six to seven restricted mountain ranges situated at Ethiopia.
Average lifespan: They can live up to 9 years.
Diet: Omnivore, eats small animals.
Fun Fact: Have you heard any stories of the mighty red jackal? In Ethiopia these animals are locally called Ky Kebero or red jackel.
Although they have dens in deep forests, they only live there until their pups are mature enough to hunt.
20. Eurasian Lynx
Scientific name: Lynx lynx
Type of animal: Mammal
Phylum: Chordata
Habitat: They prefer to hunt in forests and mountains after hunting them with long run.
Average lifespan: A few of their species can live for up to 13 years.
Diet: Lynx hunt a lot of animals for example, deer, hare, foxes, elk, birds and rabbits.
Fun Fact: Lynx can run as fast as 30 miles/hour in a single burst.
Places where humans cannot reach, Lynx is responsible to keep a balance of the goat and deer populations as they prefer to hunt when they find food in abundance!
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Final Thoughts
Hopefully, my list of animals that start with e will help you to teach your kid about the scientific features of these animals. Although all of the information are not for kids or toddlers, you can always save the information for later when they will grow older.
However, in my opinion, it is better that you teach your kid about animals from the very beginning of their study as it will form their brain against any animal abuse. They will realize more about animal freedom, the threats and how the new generation can help protect animals!
