Animal APIs
Free animal APIs with tested curl examples: random cat and dog images, pet facts and wildlife data. No authentication needed, CORS enabled for browser use.
15 tested APIs with full docs · 15 need no key · 22 more listed
Tested, with full documentation
We called each of these before publishing. Every page carries a working curl command, the real JSON response it returned, parameters and common errors.
Cat Facts
Free cat facts API with no key. Random feline facts as JSON, with pagination and length filtering. CORS enabled. Tested curl example and live response.
Cataas (Cat as a Service)
Free cat image API with no key: random cats, tag filtering, text overlays and on-the-fly resizing, as an image or as JSON metadata. Tested example included.
Dog CEO
Free dog image API with no key: 20,000+ photos across 100+ breeds and sub-breeds, random or filtered. CORS enabled. Tested curl example and live JSON.
Dog API (Facts)
Free dog facts API with no key, using a JSON:API response format. Returns random canine facts with pagination. Tested curl example and live JSON response.
HTTP Dog
Free HTTP status code API with no key: a dog photo for every HTTP status, as JSON metadata or direct images in JPG, WebP and AVIF. Tested example.
OBIS
Free marine biodiversity API with no key: 100M+ georeferenced species occurrence records with full taxonomy, depth, date and dataset provenance. Tested example included.
Paleobiology Database
Free fossil record API with no key: georeferenced occurrences with taxonomic identification, geological age bounds and collection provenance. Tested example included.
place.dog
Free placeholder image service with no key: dog photographs at any width and height straight from the URL path, with greyscale and specific-image options. Tested example included.
PlaceBear
Free placeholder image service with no key: width and height in the path returns a bear photograph at that exact size, with greyscale and colour-shift options. Tested example included.
random.dog
Free random dog API with no key: returns a URL to a photo, GIF or video with its file size in bytes, so you can filter before downloading. Tested example included.
Random-d.uk
Free random duck picture API with no key: JPG, PNG and GIF ducks, plus HTTP-status duck images. Tiny two-field JSON response. Tested example included.
RandomFox
Free fox image API with no key. Returns a random fox photo URL as JSON. CORS enabled, minimal payload. Tested curl example and live response included.
TheCatAPI
Free cat image API with breed data, filtering and search. Works without a key for basic use; free key unlocks more. Tested curl example and live JSON.
TinyFox
Free animal image API with no key: dozens of species behind one endpoint, returning either the image itself or a JSON path you can build a URL from. Tested example included.
WoRMS
Free WoRMS REST API with no key: authoritative marine species names, full taxonomic hierarchy and synonym resolution for over 240,000 accepted species. Tested example included.
Choosing between these Animal APIs
Animal APIs are deceptively useful beyond novelty projects: they return images and short text records with no auth, which makes them perfect fixtures for testing image loading, lazy rendering, caching and infinite-scroll behaviour.
Each page below documents the exact response shape, because these APIs differ more than you would expect — some return a bare string URL, others wrap it in a status envelope, and a few return arrays.
More Animal APIs in the directory
22 further APIs in this category, of which 15 need no API key. These are catalogued from the public-API lists and link straight to each provider's own documentation — we have not tested them yet, so treat the auth and CORS flags as the upstream list's claim rather than ours. They are promoted to a full tested page as we work through them.
| API | What it does | Auth |
|---|---|---|
| AdoptAPet | Resource to help get pets adopted | KeyCORS |
| Axolotl | Collection of axolotl pictures and facts | None |
| Cataas | Cat as a service (cats pictures and gifs) | None |
| Cats | Pictures of cats from Tumblr | Key |
| Cats | Pictures of cats from Tumblr | Key |
| Dog Facts | Random dog facts | NoneCORS |
| Dog Facts | Random facts of Dogs | NoneCORS |
| Dog Pics | Pictures of dogs based on the Stanford Dogs Dataset | NoneCORS |
| Dogs | Based on the Stanford Dogs Dataset | NoneCORS |
| Dogs | Random facts and breed information about dogs | NoneCORS |
| eBird | Retrieve recent or notable birding observations within a region | Key |
| FishWatch | Information and pictures about individual fish species | NoneCORS |
| HTTP Cat | Cat for every HTTP Status | NoneCORS |
| IUCN | IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | Key |
| MeowFacts | Get random cat facts | None |
| Movebank | Movement and Migration data of animals | NoneCORS |
| Petfinder | Petfinder is dedicated to helping pets find homes, another resource to get pets adopted | KeyCORS |
| RandomDuck | Random pictures of ducks | None |
| RescueGroups | Adoption | None |
| Shibe.Online | Random pictures of Shiba Inu, cats or birds | NoneCORS |
| The Dog | A public service all about Dogs, free to use when making your fancy new App, Website or Service | Key |
| xeno-canto | Bird recordings | NoneCORS |