fauna

American  

[faw-nuh] / ˈfɔ nə /

noun

• faunas,
  plural
• faunae
  plural

1. the animals of a given region or period considered as a whole.

2. a treatise on the animals of a given region or period.

3. (initial capital letter) Bona Dea.

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fauna British  

/ ˈfɔːnə /

noun

1. all the animal life of a given place or time, esp when distinguished from the plant life (flora)

2. a descriptive list of such animals

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fauna Scientific  

/ fô′nə /

• faunas
  plural

1. The animals of a particular region or time period.

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fauna Cultural  

1. Animals, especially the animals of a particular place and time.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• faunal
  adjective
• faunally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• faunae
  plural
• faunas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fauna

1765–75; < New Latin, special use of Latin Fauna, a feminine counterpart to Faunus; cf. Flora

Explanation

When you go on a nature walk in a school setting, your teacher might tell you to observe the flora and fauna in the woods. Flora is plant life; fauna refers to animals. Fauna derives from the name of a Roman goddess, but the handiest way to remember the difference between flora and fauna is that flora sounds like flowers, which are part of the plant world; fauna, however, sounds like "fawn," and fawns are part of the animal kingdom.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fauna faunae faunas

Furthermore, the discovery reinforces Rio Grande do Sul’s status as one of the world’s most important regions for the study of Triassic fauna.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026

The ruling officially extended the social philosophy of “buen vivir,” or good living, to Ecuador’s fauna.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

The Channel Islands, an archipelago that includes three additional islands outside the park, are nicknamed the “Galapagos of North America” for the flora and fauna found only there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026

The government insists it has met all "green" requirements and has pledged to protect Great Nicobar's peoples, communities, as well as its unique flora and fauna, by establishing protected zones.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

He was a shrewd naturalist in his own right, and often brought back samples of flora or fauna for pay.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

The winding evolutionary paths that these feathered faunae took to become so diverse, however, remains a mystery.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 4, 2024

This would be the more important as, with the exception of Brazil, hardly anything is known of the shore faunae upon the greater part of the South American coast.

From Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence by Louis Agassiz

These include some of the oldest dinosaurs like Nyasasaurus parringtoni from Tanzania and Mbiresaurus raathi from Zimbabwe, as well as rich dinosaur faunas from South Africa, Tanzania, Niger, and Morocco.

From Science Daily ● May 30, 2024

"This is one of the most diverse marine faunas seen anywhere, at any time in history, and it existed just before the marine reptiles and the dinosaurs went extinct," Dr Longrich said.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2024

With hunting of large mammals common almost everywhere today, the answer to our question, we speculated, could well be zero or at best very few places left on Earth with intact large-mammal faunas.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 22, 2013

“Definitely there was a change in population leading up to the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, so something was happening to the faunas prior to the impact,” he said.

From US News ● Feb. 24, 2011

The oldest of Sedgwick’s groups, containing distinctive fossils, retain the name Cambrian, and are of high interest, as they enclose the remains of the earliest faunas which are yet well known.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" by Various