Animal APIs provide fun and educational data about pets, wildlife, and everything in between. Whether you want random cat photos for your app or detailed breed information for a pet adoption site, these APIs deliver animal content on demand.
Last verified: November 12, 2026
| Name | Description | Auth | HTTPS | CORS | Uptime (30 days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AdoptAPet | Resource to help get pets adopted | apikey | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| Axolotl | Collection of axolotl pictures and facts | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| Breed Health Score | Dog breed health scores, median lifespans and conditions | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| Cat Facts | Daily cat facts | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| Cats | Pictures of cats from Tumblr | apikey | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| Dog Facts | Random dog facts | none | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| Dogs | Based on the Stanford Dogs Dataset | none | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| eBird | Retrieve recent or notable birding observations within a region | apikey | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| FishWatch | Information and pictures about individual fish species | none | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| IUCN | IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | apikey | No | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| MeowFacts | Get random cat facts | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| Movebank | Movement and Migration data of animals | none | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| Petfinder | Petfinder is dedicated to helping pets find homes, another resource to get pets adopted | apikey | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| RandomDog | Random pictures of dogs | none | Yes | yes | 100% (5 checks) |
| RandomDuck | Random pictures of ducks | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| RandomFox | Random pictures of foxes | none | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| RescueGroups | Adoption | none | Yes | unknown | 100% (5 checks) |
| The Dog | A public service all about Dogs, free to use when making your fancy new App, Website or Service | apikey | Yes | no | 100% (5 checks) |
| xeno-canto | Bird recordings | none | Yes | unknown | 100% (5 checks) |
13 of these APIs require no authentication — you can start making requests immediately without signing up for an account. Just pick one from the table above, check its documentation, and send your first request.
6 APIs in this category require a free API key. This usually means creating a free account on the provider's website and copying your key from the dashboard. The process typically takes less than a minute.
Not sure where to start? Check the uptime column: it shows how often each API's documentation responded to our daily checks over the last 30 days, and the dot shows whether it responded at the latest check. For browser-based projects, check that the API supports CORS.
Yes, all APIs listed on API Bouncer have a free tier. Some are completely open (no sign-up needed), while others require a free account to get an API key. Free tiers typically have rate limits — check each API's documentation for specifics.
It depends on your needs. Consider: Do you need authentication or prefer no-auth? Does your project need CORS support for browser access? How many requests will you make? Start with a no-auth API to prototype quickly, then switch to a more feature-rich option if needed.
We run periodic health checks on all listed APIs. The "Status" column shows whether each API was responding at our last check. APIs marked as "alive" were recently verified. You can also test any API yourself using curl or our guides on testing APIs.
Most free APIs allow commercial use, but terms vary by provider. Always check the specific API's terms of service. Some APIs have separate free and commercial tiers with different rate limits.
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