How do I start the family-tree game?

Open the animal guessing game. Search a local common name or scientific name, then choose an animal. On a phone, tap a suggestion to guess immediately; on desktop, select an animal and submit. Every accepted guess uses one of your 20 chances. A wrong guess reveals a shared ancestral branch; use that clue to choose your next animal.

How to play the animal photo game

Identify an animal in five attempts. Start with a clearer pixelated photo; the final three attempts show the full photo. Finish a round and play again immediately.

Search for a name and choose an animal. You have five chances: each guess or skip uses one. Unknown or repeated guesses do not use a chance.

How to play the animal relatives quiz

Compare two animals and choose which is more closely related to the animal in the question. Each game contains five comparisons, with explanations and NCBI sources. Finish one game and start the next.

Your choice is locked when you answer. Read the explanation and its NCBI links, then continue when you are ready. There is no timer.

How to play animal order

Arrange four animals from lightest to heaviest, then check once per round. Each game has three rounds; after the result, start another game immediately. Answers use sourced adult weight ranges that do not overlap within a round. Progress stays in this browser; shared results do not reveal the animals.

How to play animal logic

Tap to place an animal. One per row, column and region; no animals may touch, even diagonally.

Use Exclude to mark a square with ×. Tap again to clear it. Undo takes back one action, and a reset can be undone too. Every board has one solution reachable by deduction. Finish a board to start the next; rounds are unlimited and progress stays in this browser.

What does a hint cost?

After your first guess, an available branch hint costs three chances. It reveals the next ancestral branch, without naming the answer or revealing a species or a narrower group. When only three chances remain, taking a hint uses them all and ends the round. You can also choose to reveal the answer and finish the round.

What does the family tree show?

The tree follows NCBI Taxonomy, including groups without a formal rank. Branches show classification, not a similarity percentage or a measured time since divergence. Wikipedia may use a different classification.

You must guess the exact catalogued animal. Guessing one of its descendants does not count as a correct answer. When the closest shared branch would name the mystery animal, the game shows a higher ancestor to keep the answer hidden.

Can I keep playing after a game?

Every game supports unlimited rounds. Finish a round, then select the next-game button. Animal guessing lets you continue guessing animals. Historical daily statistics remain saved.

Do I need an account?

No login is needed. Progress, preferences, and statistics are saved with localStorage in this browser. They do not sync between devices or browsers, and clearing site data removes them. See the privacy and source notes.

Where can I learn about the animals?

Browse the field guide for animal names, classification, reading, and source links. Wikipedia excerpts and adaptations identify their source revision and CC BY-SA licence. Image credits link to the creator, original source, and individual licence; check those terms before reusing an image.

What stays in your browser

Game progress, preferences, and daily statistics stay in this browser’s localStorage; saved-game storage is not sent to PostHog and does not sync between devices. Clearing site data removes these records. We use PostHog with an anonymous browser identifier to collect key interaction events and sampled session replays, with input contents masked. PostHog may store that identifier in your browser and receive basic device and request information. We respect browser Do Not Track preferences when provided.

Images and external links

Some images load from Wikimedia Commons. Its servers receive normal request information, including your IP address and browser request headers. Following a source link opens an external website, which follows its own privacy policy. See the Wikimedia privacy policy for its practices.

The animal family tree

Classification follows NCBI Taxonomy. The game uses the catalogued lineage, including unranked groups, to connect guesses. It does not measure visual resemblance or genetic similarity, and other sources may use different classifications.

Reading, images, and licences

Wikipedia excerpts and adaptations retain a link to their source revision and credit Wikipedia contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. Images have individual licences and creator credits in their field notes; not every image uses the same licence. The local image credits and profile image credits list bundled media sources.

Read the game instructions, explore the field guide, or start an animal guessing game.