Animal begining with U

[Kiranbathija]

I need the name of an animal begining with U please!

[andyjevs]

There is a tropical south American fish called a uaru !!!! Don't know if that's any use Urangatang (or is it Orangatang)....christ knows

[dilligaf]

Unicorn?

[Jude123]

A urial  I think its a type of sheep

[Chessman]

jude123 is correct, a Urial is a sheep, and not very woolly one either.

[Quizmonster]

Apologies for any duplication with above answers...
All of the following - except the upupa - are listed in Chambers Dictionary...uakari (monkey), umbrella ant, umbrella bird, umbrette (stork), unau (sloth), upupa (or hoopoe bird), urchin (sea-), urial (sheep), urson (porcupine), urubu (vulture), urva (mongoose).  Ukulele is the name of a musical instrument in English, but the word comes from the Hawaiian for �flea'...and there is always the wonderful, mythical unicorn.

[curragh]

no its Oran-Utan it actually has no 'g'. Well in different book and things it has different spellings.

[Quizmonster]

The Malay word for 'man' - which is where the name comes from - is 'orang' and for 'woods' or 'wilds' it is '(h)utan'. For the natives there, the creature is simply 'the man of the woods' or 'jungle man'. There is quite definitely a 'g' at the end of the word.

[Quizmonster]

I should, of course, have said "at the end of the first part of the word"! There is generally no 'g' at the end of the second part, though some people do insert one there to match up with the first element, I suppose..

[peanut]

how bout the Underdog ?

[curragh]

differernt wesite/books have different spellings

[Quizmonster]

The point is, Curragh, that not all books/websites are equally authoritative. The Oxford English Dictionary (TOED) is generally regarded as the 'bible' of English words. It offers the following (quote)...

"orang-outang more correctly orang-utan..."

The reason it thinks the latter is "more correct" is because of the etymology from the Malay words concerned...ie as I explained in my earlier response. There are all sorts of variants including (almost) the one offered above by Andy. TOED also lists 'urang-utang' for example. (By the same token, I understand there are some 400 ways of spelling the name 'Shakespeare', but - if you don't spell it as I've just done - people in the know would probably take the mickey!)
I still think one needs a very good reason to choose any of the 'man of the jungle' spellings other than the one TOED opts for as 'correct'. Cheers