Carnivora is an order of placental mammals that includes about 270 species of bears, cats, dogs, weasels, pinnipeds, and many other meat-eaters. This order is divided into about 11 families. Carnivora does not include all meat-eating mammals (and not all members of the order Carnivora eat meat). The earliest members of this order evolved during the late Paleocene.

Members of the order Carnivora have a simple stomach and a characteristic tooth pattern that includes the carnassial pair (an enlarged fourth upper premolar and lower first molar); most carnivora have a primitive number of incisors.

Order Carnivora:

Superfamily Caniformia (Dog-like): Family Canidae (dogs, wolves, foxes, coyotes) Family Odobenidae (walruses) Family Mustelidae (mustelids: weasels, ferrets, minks, wolverines, skunks, badgers) Family Otariidae (eared seals: sea lions, northern fur seal) Family Phocidae (true seals: Weddell seal, harbor seal) Family Procyonidae (raccoons, kinkajous, coatimundi) Family Ursidae (bears and the giant panda)

Superfamily Feliformia (Cat-like): Family Felidae (cats, lions, tigers, cheetahs, Smilodon) Family Herpestidae (mongooses, meerkats, suricats, fossas) Family Hyaenidae (hyenas, aardwolves) Family Viverridae (civets, binturongs, linsangs, genets)

AFRICAN WILD CAT African Wild Cats are fierce, solitary cats that are fast hunters.

ARCTIC FOX This small, white fox lives farther north than any other land animal.

ARCTIC WOLF Arctic wolves are meat-eaters that live in Northern Canada.

BADGER The badger is a nocturnal mammal with a black-and-white striped face.

BEAR Bears are a big, furry members of the family Ursidae.

BINTURONG A dark, furry mammal from southeast Asia.

BLACK BEAR The Black Bear is a big bear that can be black or brown.

BOBCAT A fierce, short-tailed wild cat from North America.

BROWN BEAR The Brown Bear is a large bear with a muscular hump on its shoulders.

CALIFORNIA SEA LION California sea lions are eared seals that live off the coast of western North America.

Cats Cats are fast-moving, carnivorous mammals.

CHEETAH The cheetah is the fastest land animal.

COATI (pronounced ko-WAH-ti) Coati (also called coatimundi) are long-nosed, long-tailed mammals from the Americas.

COYOTE Coyotes are meat-eaters related to wolves.

DINGO The dingo is a wild dog from Australia.

Dogs Dogs are meat-eating mammals.

ELEPHANT SEAL, NORTHERN The Northern Elephant Seal is a huge seal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

ERMINE Also known as stoat or short-tailed weasel, this tiny, ferocious mammal lives in cold areas.

FENNEC FOX The Fennec fox is a small, desert fox with very large ears; it lives in the Sahara and in northern Saudi Arabia.

FERRET Ferrets are a type of weasel.

FOSSA The fossa is a meat-eating mammal from the island of Madagascar.

FOX The fox is a meat-eating mammal with a long, bushy tail.

GRIZZLY BEAR The Grizzly Bear is a large mammal with a muscular hump on its shoulders.

Harbor Seal Harbor Seals live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals. (Family Phocidae, Subfamily Phocinae)

HARP SEAL Harp Seals live are marine mammals that live in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.

HYENA A meat-eating mammal that hunts and scavenges prey.

JAGUAR The jaguar is a large, spotted wild cat from South and Central America.

KINKAJOU A long-tailed, nocturnal mammal from rainforests in the Americas.

LEOPARD Leopards are widely-distributed, spotted wild cats.

LION A group of lions is called a pride.

LYNX A powerful wild cat from Europe, Eurasia, and North America.

MEERKAT Meerkats (also called suricates)are a type of cat that can stand upright..

MINK Minks are small, short-legged members of the weasel family that live in wet environments.

MONGOOSE Mongooses are sleek, meat-eating mammals.

MUSTELIDS The weasel family (family Mustelidae) consists of carnivorous mammals including the weasel, badgers, ferrets, fishers, otters, and others.

NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL The Northern Elephant Seal is a huge seal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

NORTHERN FUR SEAL The Northern Fur Seal is a marine mammal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

OCELOT Ocelots are wild cats from the Americas.

OTTER An otter is a playful aquatic mammal.

PANDA Pandas are black and white bears from China.

PINNIPEDS Pinnipeds are marine mammals. They spend most of their life in the seas, but go onto land or ice at times.

POLAR BEAR Polar bears are large and live in the far north.

RACCOON The raccoon is a mammal with mask-like markings on its face and a ringed tail.

RED PANDA Red Pandas are bear-like mammals from mountains in Asia.

RED WOLF Red wolves are endangered carnivores from the eastern USA.

RIVER OTTER River otters are streamlined, aquatic mammals from North America.

Seals Seals live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals.

Sea Lion Sea lions are eared seals. (Family Otariidae, Subfamily Otariinae)

SEA OTTER Sea otters are marine mammals with very dense, waterproof fur.

SKUNK Skunks are black and white mammals that can produce a terrible odor.

SMILODON Smilodon was the largest saber-toothed cat. It was a meat eater that lived during the last ice age and is now extinct.

SNOW LEOPARD Snow Leopards are rare, pale leopards from the snowy central mountains of Asia.

TARSIER Tarsiers are small mammals with enormous eyes.

TIGER Tigers are large, fierce cats that have stripes.

WALRUS A walrus is a northern marine mammal with ivory tusks.

WEASEL Weasels are small, furry mammals with short legs.

WEDDELL SEAL The Weddell seal is a large, nocturnal pinniped from Antarctica.

WOLVERINE The Wolverine is a ferocious type of weasel that lives in cold areas.

WOLF The wolf is a meat-eating mammal.

ZORILLA The Zorilla is a skunk-like mammal that lives in Africa.

ZORRO The zorro is a dog-like fox from South America.