# Animal
In NetHack, some monsters are classified as animals, identified by the is_animal() macro and ultimately defined by the M1_ANIMAL flag in monst.c.

Contents

1 Description
2 List of animals in NetHack
3 Body parts
4 References

Description
The "animal" classification has the following implications:

Animals with an item-stealing attack will attempt to take an object and flee on foot rather than teleport if successful, as nymphs do. They cannot steal cursed objects stuck to you, rings worn under a curse-welded weapon or armor that takes more than one move to take off. The same caveats apply to theft by muggers in variants.
Animals with an engulfing attack can remove you from a steed, even if your saddle is cursed. They are affected by a chameleon, doppelganger, nurse, wraith, or cockatrice corpse dropped or thrown inside of them. They can be forced to release you by spinning a web, ringing the Bell of Opening or using opening magic inside of them.
Animals can't use (and don't generate with) armor, offensive, defensive, miscellaneous items or tins, and will not deliberately use traps or stairs to flee.
Chameleons usually imitate animals.
List of animals in NetHack
all acdfmpqrstwxzBJRSY, excluding werecreatures in either of their forms
u ponies, horses and warhorses (but not unicorns)
E&nbsp;stalkers
H&nbsp;ettins and H&nbsp;minotaurs
all ​: lizards except salamanders
all ​; sea monsters except jellyfish
Body parts
Animal also refers to the grouping of body parts for the forms of many animals. It affects the messages referring to the appropriate body parts as follows:

Bodypart[1]
Description

arm
forelimb

eye
eye

face
face

finger
foreclaw

fingertip
claw tip

foot
rear limb

hand
foreclaw (paw for dfY)

handed
clawed (pawed for dfY)

head
head

leg
rear limb

light headed
light headed

neck
neck

spine
spine

toe
rear claw tip

hair
fur

blood
blood

lung
lung

nose
nose (trunk for mumakil and mastodons)

stomach
stomach

References

↑ src/hack.h in NetHack 3.6.6, line 410