Language/Tagalog/Vocabulary/Animal

Animals, or mga hayop, are abundant in the Philippines. The nation's status as a mega-biodiverse country means several species of animals live within the archipelago, some of which are unique to the country,

Common Words

Listed below are the Tagalog names for animals common in the Philippines.

• Hayop - Animal
• Aso - Dog
• Pusa - Cat
• Agila - Eagle
• Kalabaw - Water buffalo. National animal of the Philippines.
• Tamaraw - Dwarf buffalo.
• Manok - Chicken
• Baka - Cow
• Baboy - Pig
• Kabayo - Horse
• Kambing - Goat
• Palaka - Frog
• Daga - Mouse
• Ahas - Snake
• Pagong - Turtle
• Kuneho - Rabbit
• Unggoy - Monkey
• Langaw - Fly
• Lamok - Mosquito
• Ibon - Bird
• Isda - Fish
• Uod - Worm
• Gagamba - Spider
• Langgam - Ant
• Alimasag - Crab
• Hipon - Shrimp
• Kabibe - Clam

In folklore

Philippine folklore has its own selection of fables, passed down as oral tradition from one generation to another, usually as bedtime stories.

Ang Pagong At Ang Matsing (The Turtle and The Monkey)

The fable tells of a conniving and selfish monkey and a clever turtle. After finding a banana tree, the two have a dispute as the monkey eats all the bananas without leaving any for the turtle. The disagreement becomes a battle of wits and ends with the frustrated monkey drowning after throwing the turtle into the river, not knowing that the water is the turtle's home.

Dr. Jose Rizal wrote the tale in Filipino by the end of the 19th century to entertain his family, popularizing it into a village tradition.

Ang Aso at Ang Uwak (The Dog and The Crow)

This story involves a crow that found a tasty piece of meat and flew to a tall branch to eat it. However, while eating it, it heard the voice of a dog below praising the crow for being the greatest among all birds. The crow, flattered, opened its mouth to thank the dog, but the meat dropped from its beak and into the dog's clutches. The moral of the story is that praise can be trickery in disguise.

A comparison can be drawn with the English tale, "Chantecleer and the Fox", where flattery causes the titular protagonist to be caught off-guard by the fox and kidnapped, and later, causes the fox to do exactly as the crow did in the Filipino fable.

Practice Phrases

• Si Ditz ang aking aso - Ditz is my dog.
• Ano ang pangalan ng iyong pusa? - What is the name of your cat?
• Sino ang may-ari ng kabayo na ito? - Who is the owner of this horse?
• Magkano ba ang isang kilo ng baboy? - How much is one kilo of pork?
• Dumami ang mga isda natin - Our fishes have multiplied.
• Ang sarap ng mga hipon! - These shrimps are very tasty! (Lit. How tasty are these shrimps!)