Jacanas are probably most famous for their extraordinarily long toes, which allow them to spread their weight over floating aquatic vegetation, earning them the sobriquet of ‘lily trotters’. 

We included it as one of our favourite birds in our round up of the weirdest birds in the world.

Jackal

A member of the canine family, jackals look a bit like an Alsatian. there are three species; the black-backed jackal; the golden, or common, jackal; and the side-striped jackal. 

Jackdaw

Noisy and gregarious, this small crow is best distinguished by its lively aerobatics accompanied by a high-pitched cry – the ‘tchack’ from which it takes its name. Up close, the jackdaw is easy to distinguish by its grey head and startling pale blue eyes.

Jaguar

The jaguar Panthera onca is the largest cat in the Americas and the third-largest cat in the world (after the lion and tiger).

Japanese Macaque

Japanese Macaque are a type of old world monkey that is native – to yes you have guessed it – Japan. They are the most northern-living primates – apart from humans – and are also sometimes known as snow monkeys.

Jay

The most colourful bird in the corvid or crow family, jays have vibrant pink and punky blue colouring. Despite their appearance the jay is a secretive bird, and can often be found in woodlands.

Jellyfish

Though jellyfish may seem little more than a bag of angry water, they are sophisticated predators that can eat, swim, reproduce and taunt humans all without a centralised brain. Instead, they have networks of nerves that send signals around the body so that, for example, a single tentacle can deftly move a piece of prey to the invertebrate’s mouth.

Jerboa

These weird-looking – but cute – leggy rodents live in the deserts of North Africa and Asia. And these long legs come in useful when chased as they help generate speeds of up to 24 km/h.

Johnson’s abyssal seadevil