Nocturnal Animals:

a listing of names

Here is a starting list of animals that are usually classified as nocturnal. Some are discussed further on the "Duration and Schedule" page. Some of these animals' names are used in the animal Crossword puzzles. (Animal Crossword Puzzles # 7, 9, and 11-14 feature nocturnal animals.)

Please submit names of other nocturnal animals that we may have missed. If it is an unusual animal, please feel free to include a source or description, as we did about the "tent-making bat" and "southern flying squirrel."

• African hunting dog
• American Porcupine
• Armadillo
• Aye-aye
• Badger
• Bat (Although most bats sleep in caves or hanging from trees, the Tent-making bats of Central and South America live in trees and build their own tents from leaves. They chew halfway through the leaf. "The leaf folds down, but just enough of the vein remains to keep it attached and alive. To roost, the bat hooks his feet onto the ribs [or the leaf] and hangs head down in his own little tent. Now the bat has a shelter that keeps him shaded and dry, [and] hidden." (Whayne, Suzanne Santco. Night creatures. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1993, p. 35.)
• Beaver
• Bush baby (primate)
• Cat
• Coyote
• Deer
• Deer mouse
• Douroucouli (owl monkey)
• Fennec
• Firefly
• Fish (SOME: flashlight fish, flying fish, lantern fish, viper fish, wandering albatross)
• Flying squirrel
• Fox (Red fox)
• Frog (SOME: Asian flying frog)
• Gecko (flying gecko and tokay gecko)
• Gerbil
• Ghost crabs
• Green sea turtle
• Hamster
• Hare (snowshoe hare)
• Hedgehog
• Heron (the yellow crested night heron)
• Hippo (hippopotamus)
• Hyenas
• Kangaroo rat
• Kiwi
• Koala
• Leopard
• Loris (slender loris)
• Moth
• Nightjar (Whippoorwill)
• Oilbirds (birds which are similar to bats)
• Opossum
• Owl
• Pangolin
• Periwinkle
• Raccoon
• Rats
• Rhinoceros
• Skunk
• Snake (Some: sidewinder)
• Southern flying squirrel (who lives in hollow trees)
• Tiger
• Toad (Asian climbing toad)
• Weasel
• Whippoorwill (Nightjar)
• Wolf
• Wombat
• Woodcock (bird)