LEGO Minecraft Animals

Before we begin, I have to admit something, even if it means I’ll get mobbed for it. I have never, ever liked Minecraft. Even the LEGO sets weren’t enough to make me warm up to the game. It’s not just Minecraft, though, I dislike pixelated games in general. I mean, it’s not like we’re in the 90s and the technology isn’t developed enough for higher graphics. Still, when I was writing the Bestiary, I couldn’t help but notice how many LEGO Minecraft animals there were. I was actually thinking about writing an article on them, but when I was asked if I collect them, I realized it was time.

There’s another reason why I didn’t originally include them in the Bestiary. Most of them are brick-built, and even though some of their parts have unique moulds, I didn’t include brick-built animals in the Bestiary to begin with. However, now that they have their own post, the rules no longer apply. So, I say bring on the LEGO Minecraft animals!

Like the others in the series, this article will be updated as new animals are released. The name of the colors used here are BrickLink colors. To see a better image of the color, please visit this link, search for the color, and click on its name to go to Rylie Howerter’s Flickr page.

PS: Since I have no knowledge of the game whatsoever, I may misinterpret things. Feel free to correct me and I’ll update accordingly!

PPS: The size of the animals in grouped pictures are not proportionate to one another.

2013

LEGO Minecraft comes into the world in 2013, and with it the first animal: The pig. With a bright pink color, it only has two parts, a modified brick and a face tile. Does it look like a pig? Yeah, I’m not answering that :) But it’s our first animal, appearing in only one set (21105).

2014

We get eight more LEGO Minecraft animals in 2014; two cows, a sheep, a different pig and a spider, along with three dragons. Not just any dragon, though, it’s the Ender Dragon (whatever that means). Two of the dragons are larger, one is a micro-build. Of the two large dragons, one is listed as original version and the other as redesigned version. What’s the difference? I couldn’t find one. It may be in the building technique, but for me, they’re both the same, and only appear in the same set, 21117, so I’m guessing one may be an earlier release and the other a later one. The smaller Ender Dragon appears in one set as well, 21107.

As for the farm animals, the red cow (apparently called a Mooshroom) only appears in one set, and never again (21116), and the same is true for the pig (21115). The sheep appears in three sets in total (21114, 21125, 21127), and the cow can be found in four (21114, 21135, 21155, 21187). The spider appears in two sets in 2014 (21113, 21118) and vanishes.

2015-2016

2015 isn’t very productive in terms of animals, we only get a wolf (21121), and it’s tamed – apparently, you can tame some animals in the game which changes the way they look.

Four different animal species are released in 2016, and a total of five animals. We have yet another pig, a baby pig, another spider, a horse, and an ocelot. Ocelot – now that’s a name you don’t hear too often, and first time ever in the history of LEGO animals. It’s a beautiful, mid-sized wild cat in real life. In Minecraft form – well, let’s skip the comments. But it’s as close to a cat as a Minecraft animal can be, so that’s a plus.

The difference between the spiders is easy to spot at first glance – the second one has dark blue parts along with black ones. However, the build seems to be different as well since the first one is made of 22 parts and the second one 16.

As for the pig, the only difference between the first and the second is the replacement of the 1×2 plate with a 2×2 plate.

The pig can be found in 21128 and 21133; the baby pig in 21123, 21128 and 21144; the spider in 21124, 21137, 21147 and 21263; the horse in 21127; and the ocelot in 21125, 21132.

2017

We get a load of LEGO Minecraft Animals in 2017 from all three categories: Land, air and sea. The bat, appearing 21137, 21141, 21147, is actually kind of cute. We have two Guardians, a regular one and an Elder coming in one set, 21136, and I have no idea what kind of animal they represent. The best guess I can fathom is a pufferfish. We also get a squid in the same set, and another one later in 21259.

As for land animals, we have a Tuxedo cat (21134), another Mooshroom with its baby (21129), a baby cow (21131, 21187, 21253), a different colored horse (21135), a Magma Cube (21130) (hey, if Rock Monsters count as animals, why shouldn’t Magma Cubes?), two sheep, medium azure (21134) and black (21137), a slime (21137) (again, skipping comments), another spider (21131), an angry wolf and an angry baby wolf (21137).

Now, let’s see why these are listed as different animals.

The only difference between the first and the second Mooshroom is a pixel. No, seriously, the first one has light bluish gray pixel and the second has a dark bluish gray pixel. But we’re already used to changing the, let’s say, eye color ever so slightly and listing it as a different animal, so yeah, they’re different.

The spider uses the same parts as the first spider, except for a 2×3 tile instead of a 2×2 and 2×1.

While the wolf uses more or less the same parts as the previous wolf, its face print is different – hence the name angry wolf while the first one was called tamed.

2018

The animal craze continues! We have a Ghast (21143) and at this point I’m clueless. It looks like a ghostly creature, Google confirms it, but why is it listed under animals? No idea. Moving on.

Land animals include a silverfish (21147), and unlike its name suggests, apparently it’s not a fish in the game. It has a very unique and interesting mould, though, gotta admit. The polar bear and its cub (21142) are cute, the cub more so. We get three bunnies, a dark tan baby (21144, 21181), black (21144), and white (21145). The white one is called a Killer Bunny, and I’m curious not about the how, but the why of that. The baby bunny has a more compact build, but the other two have the same one.

Next up, the chickens. We have one regular chicken (21140, 21174), one with its wings spread out (21140), and one baby chicken (21140, 21273). There’s a skeletal horse (21146) and a donkey (21144) as well.

The last three LEGO Minecraft animals of 2018 are a pig, but with a saddle this time (21138), a red sheep (21146), and yet another tamed wolf (21140). The only difference from the previous tamed wolf is that this one uses a blue 1×2 plate instead of a red one.

2019

Not many new land animals this year, we only get a red and a yellow sheep accompanied by a white lamb (21153).

There’s a new bat (21155, 21183) released as well. Honestly, it doesn’t feel right to call it new. The build is the same, but it uses newer parts. An open stud round plate instead of a closed one, a bracket with a thick wall instead of a thin one. That’s it. But it is what it is, and so it’s new.

The Ender Dragon (21151), on the other hand, has a new build, using brick-built wings instead of… well, regular wings. There’s also a new parrot (21152, 21282), and despite its blockiness, it represents the scarlet macaw perfectly.

Two new species emerge from water as well. We get a dolphin (21152) and a turtle (21152, 21254, 662505).

2020

2020 is the year of the bee! We get two, a passive one (21165, 21241, 21260, 21268, 662308) and an angry one (21165, 21241). Yeah, bees can be angry in Minecraft, who would’ve guessed?

The land animals include a Calico cat (21160), a fox (21162, 21178), another ocelot (21158, 662103), a tan and a white llama/alpaca (21167), a panda (21158) and its baby (21158, 30672), yet another pig (21160, 21161, 21170, 21244, 662101), a pig with a chest on it, called a Piggy Bank (21163), a Ravager (21160) which looks like an oversized bull, a sheep (21159, 662103), a lamb (21165), another spider (21166, 662207, 662410), and another wolf (21162, 21261).

With the list out of the way, let’s see the differences with the previous ones.

The new ocelot uses 1×1 round plates for feet, while the old one used a flower piece. The difference in the pig lies on its face, it has a different print. The new sheep uses a 2×2 plate instead of a 2×2 brick, so the build is different. The lamb has white legs instead of tan. The spider seems to be thinner than all the previous ones and uses the least number of pieces.

2021

We get a proper pufferfish, and two versions of it, inflated (21164) and uninflated (21164, 21188). We also get a phantom (21173), which, apparently, is a flying undead creature.

Three cats are released, in medium lavender (21169), red (21173), and light bluish gray (21174), representing a British Shorthair. The so-called red cat isn’t red at all, it’s bright light orange and I’m wondering why it’s called a red cat – maybe it’s a Minecraft thing?

A chicken (21174, 21187) and a new type of cow, called a Moobloom (21169) are among the LEGO Minecraft animals of 2021, so are an adult (21168) and a baby hoglin (21172). Since I don’t know the game, I didn’t know what hoglins were, but they reminded me of the Bantha from Star Wars. They turned out to be hogs :)) Yeah, that kinda makes more sense, given the name.

There’s a horse and a foal (21171), another skeletal horse (21171, 21250, 662206), a baby pig (21170, 21177), a sheep with horns (not a ram, mind you) (21169), and a dark purple lamb (21172).

The new chicken uses the new neck bracket with a thick back wall. The new baby pig uses the new face print of the pig. The sheep with horns is the same as the 2020 sheep, except it has horns.

2022

2022 brings my favorite Minecraft animal – and the only one I have: Axolotl! There are three colors, bright light orange (21180, 30647), bright pink (21180, 21247) and medium blue (21280, 662303). We also get a new Guardian, Guardian Elder, and a squid (21280).

The land animals include a bunny (21181), a black cat (21190, 662408), a baby chicken (21177), a Mooshroom (21179, 662407), a baby fox and an Arctic fox (21178), two goats with slightly different builds (21184, 21187), a horse (21187), a llama/alpaca and its baby (21188), a Magma Cube (21185), a lamb (21188), a spider (21179, 662307) and a weird-looking creature called the Strider (21185, 662402).

Now, the only difference between the old and the new Guardian is the color of the brick inside. That’s it. The Guardian Elders, while looking mostly the same, actually use a few different parts. The squid has a different color altogether.

The new black bunny has white eyes, while the old black one had light bluish gray eyes. The baby chicken’s feet have a different color, bright light orange instead of yellow. The Mooshroom… well, they added a line. Yes, a single line. And now it’s a different animal. Everything else is the same. The spider has a very similar build to the 2020 spider, with the addition of a bracket piece.

2023

We get a combination of new and old LEGO Minecraft animals in 2023. First, the bee (21241) gets a touch of bright light orange. We get a new axolotl in light aqua, along with one in a bucket. The dolphin gets a small part change, and there’s a white and orange pufferfish which, honestly, resembles a goldfish. The axolotls, the dolphin, and the pufferfish appear in a single set together, 21247.

The frog is the new animal of the year. We get two, dark orange (21240, 21256, 662412) and light bluish gray (21256, 21248). The baby bunny (21253, 21263) gets a color treatment and becomes tan. There’s another red cat (again, not red), but this time it’s sitting (21249). A tabby cat (21249) and a kitten (21253) accompany it. There’s a goat (21243) with a slightly different build, a baby llama/alpaca (662308) with studs on its back instead of a tile, an adult and a baby panda (21245) with exactly the same build as the previous ones, except for the color of one part. Then there’s a dark turquoise sheep (21249), a magenta lamb (21253), a baby wolf (21253), and finally, something called the Shulker (21242, 21264, 662413). I have no idea what it is, but hey, it’s on the list!

2024

A baby turtle? Using only the skate piece and a printed tile? If that’s not genius, I don’t know what is. It comes in one set (21254) with its mom, which was released in 2019, and siblings. We get a few re-made air animals, a bat (21263, 662411), a Ghast (21255, 662504), a phantom (21251) and the Ender Dragon (21264). However, my favorite has got to be the Big Beak (21257). It looks like the love child of a dodo and a toucan!

The land animals have both new and re-made ones as well. There’s a brand new camel (21259) and baby camel (21251). The Hoglin (21255) gets a makeover, and looks more like a hog now. There’s also an adult and a baby Sniffer (21260) – I didn’t know what they were, so I asked Google. The first source said it was a species of fictional dinosaur (you can probably hear my eyes rolling). Thankfully, another source made a more logical description: A mixture of camel, bison and platypus. Weird, but at least it sounds more logical than a dinosaur.

Moving on. We get a new color for the frog (21256), a micromob (?) cow and pig (21265), another donkey (21263), two new colors for the sheep (21262), and two tamed wolves (21261, 662404) with different colored plates.

2025

2025 brings my new favorite animal: The armadillo!! Seriously, I need one of these, and I’m officially accepting donations :))) As far as I can tell, it’s the only new species for this year, coming with 21269. However, we do get a lovely Calico cat (21270) with mismatched eyes, a large chicken (21272), an adult and a baby Mooshroom (21270), a dark tan Mooshroom (21270), a pig and baby pig (21268) with new face prints, a spider (21269), a Strider (21266), and yet another wolf (21269), now with a splash of color. As for air creatures, we get a lime parrot (21282) and two different phantoms (21270, 662501).

These are all the LEGO Minecraft animals listed in BrickLink. Let me quickly check Brickset for the new summer sets…

Okay, here’s what I have so far. The medium azure-yellow parrot (21275) is definitely new, so is the green sheep (21280). The baby Hoglin (662503) appears new and comes with a tiny Magma Cube, and the Ravager (21278) uses different colored parts. I’m not sure about the Polar bear cub (21277), the spider (21277), the pig (21278), and the chicken (21274). Even the smallest part change counts as a new animal, so I will make updates as new information becomes available.

Thoughts

There are a total of 163 LEGO Minecraft animals listed on BrickLink as of summer 2025. Add the new ones, it’s somewhere around 170. I’ve gone through them all, checked their builds from time to time, arranged the images and everything.

Did they manage to change how I feel towards Minecraft? No.

However, they did extend my knowledge and made me change my strict no-Minecraft-animals-EVER!-in-my-collection-(except)-(for)-(the)-(axolotl) rule.

Okay, okay, I don’t have a rule like that, I just collect what I like, but still, they made me shift my perspective on them. I’d definitely add the armadillo to my collection along with the parrots, and eventually a few may find a new home along with their not-so-blocky siblings.

When I manage to look past the blockiness, some of these animals are really well-designed, and some appear in LEGO form for the first time, like the armadillo, the axolotl, and the ocelot. I mean, I wouldn’t want to have a square-headed sheep – compared to the one in City sets, the Minecraft version is downright ugly. The llama/alpaca on the other hand, looks so much better than the only Friends llama/alpaca we have. The cats are meh, but the bunnies – especially the tiny ones – look as good as the standard ones. Both the standard and the Minecraft frog, in my eyes, are disappointing, but if I’m being objective, I’d prefer the Minecraft frog over the standard one any day. And don’t even get me started on the fox. We’re just getting a new fox mould in City sets and Minecraft fans had one for what? Five years? That’s just not fair.

In the end, I’m glad I dived into the LEGO Minecraft animals and added them to the Bestiary. There are enough of them and they deserve to have their time under the spotlight.

Like I said in the beginning, please feel free to let me know if something is missing or wrong. The Bestiary only gets better when there is more than one expert ;)

See you in the next one!

 

Image sources

Most of the images are from BrickLink, but I may have borrowed a few from Brickset & Rebrickable as well. The cover image, as usual, is all mine, but I borrowed my son’s LEGO Minecraft animals :)

 

I went ahead and prepared a list of LEGO part numbers for all the animals I mentioned above, so you can search to your heart’s content! Go wild – your Bricklink tab is already open, isn’t it?

LEGO Animal Part Numbers

minebat01, minebat02, minebat03, minebee01, minebee02, minebee03, minebigbeak01, minedragon01, minedragon02, minedragon03, minedragon04, minedragon05, mineghast01, mineghast02, mineparrot01, mineparrot02, minephantom01, minephantom02, minephantom03, minephantom04, 3128pb01, 3128pb02, 3128pb03, 36846pb01, minearmadillo01, minebear01, minebear02, minebunny01, minebunny02, minebunny03, minebunny04, minebunny05, minecamel01, minecamel02, minecat01, minecat02, minecat03, minecat04, minecat05, minecat06, minecat07, minecat08, minecat09, minecat10, minechicken01, minechicken02, minechicken03, minechicken04, minechicken05, minechicken06, minecow01, minecow02, minecow02a, minecow02b, minecow02c, minecow03, minecow04, minecow05, minecow06, minecow07, minecow08, minecow09, minedonkey01, minedonkey02, minefox01, minefox02, minefox03, minegoat01, minegoat02, minegoat03, minehoglin01, minehoglin02, minehoglin03, minehorse01, minehorse02, minehorse03, minehorse04, minehorse05, minehorse06, minehorse07, minellama01, minellama02, minellama03, minellama04, minellama05, minemagma01, minemagma02, mineocelot01, mineocelot02, minepanda01, minepanda02, minepanda03, minepanda04, minepig01, minepig02, minepig02a, minepig02b, minepig03, minepig03a, minepig03b, minepig04, minepig05, minepig06, minepig07, minepig08, minepig09, mineravager01, minesheep01, minesheep02, minesheep03, minesheep04, minesheep05, minesheep06, minesheep07, minesheep08, minesheep09, minesheep10, minesheep11, minesheep12, minesheep13, minesheep14, minesheep15, minesheep16, mineshulker01, mineslime01, minesniffer01, minesniffer02, minespider01, minespider02, minespider03, minespider04, minespider05, minespider06, minespider07, minestrider01, minestrider02, minewolf01, minewolf02, minewolf03, minewolf04, minewolf05, minewolf06, minewolf07, minewolf08, minewolf09, mineaxolotl01, mineaxolotl02, mineaxolotl03, mineaxolotl04, mineaxolotl05, minedolphin01, minedolphin02, mineguardian01, mineguardian02, mineguardian03, mineguardian04, minepufffish01, minepufffish02, minepufffish03, minesquid01, minesquid02, mineturtle01, mineturtle02.

• LEGO part minebat01
• LEGO part minebat02
• LEGO part minebat03
• LEGO part minebee01
• LEGO part minebee02
• LEGO part minebee03
• LEGO part minebigbeak01
• LEGO part minedragon01
• LEGO part minedragon02
• LEGO part minedragon03
• LEGO part minedragon04
• LEGO part minedragon05
• LEGO part mineghast01
• LEGO part mineghast02
• LEGO part mineparrot01
• LEGO part mineparrot02
• LEGO part minephantom01
• LEGO part minephantom02
• LEGO part minephantom03
• LEGO part minephantom04
• LEGO part 3128pb01
• LEGO part 3128pb02
• LEGO part 3128pb03
• LEGO part 36846pb01
• LEGO part minearmadillo01
• LEGO part minebear01
• LEGO part minebear02
• LEGO part minebunny01
• LEGO part minebunny02
• LEGO part minebunny03
• LEGO part minebunny04
• LEGO part minebunny05
• LEGO part minecamel01
• LEGO part minecamel02
• LEGO part minecat01
• LEGO part minecat02
• LEGO part minecat03
• LEGO part minecat04
• LEGO part minecat05
• LEGO part minecat06
• LEGO part minecat07
• LEGO part minecat08
• LEGO part minecat09
• LEGO part minecat10
• LEGO part minechicken01
• LEGO part minechicken02
• LEGO part minechicken03
• LEGO part minechicken04
• LEGO part minechicken05
• LEGO part minechicken06
• LEGO part minecow01
• LEGO part minecow02
• LEGO part minecow02a
• LEGO part minecow02b
• LEGO part minecow02c
• LEGO part minecow03
• LEGO part minecow04
• LEGO part minecow05
• LEGO part minecow06
• LEGO part minecow07
• LEGO part minecow08
• LEGO part minecow09
• LEGO part minedonkey01
• LEGO part minedonkey02
• LEGO part minefox01
• LEGO part minefox02
• LEGO part minefox03
• LEGO part minegoat01
• LEGO part minegoat02
• LEGO part minegoat03
• LEGO part minehoglin01
• LEGO part minehoglin02
• LEGO part minehoglin03
• LEGO part minehorse01
• LEGO part minehorse02
• LEGO part minehorse03
• LEGO part minehorse04
• LEGO part minehorse05
• LEGO part minehorse06
• LEGO part minehorse07
• LEGO part minellama01
• LEGO part minellama02
• LEGO part minellama03
• LEGO part minellama04
• LEGO part minellama05
• LEGO part minemagma01
• LEGO part minemagma02
• LEGO part mineocelot01
• LEGO part mineocelot02
• LEGO part minepanda01
• LEGO part minepanda02
• LEGO part minepanda03
• LEGO part minepanda04
• LEGO part minepig01
• LEGO part minepig02
• LEGO part minepig02a
• LEGO part minepig02b
• LEGO part minepig03
• LEGO part minepig03a
• LEGO part minepig03b
• LEGO part minepig04
• LEGO part minepig05
• LEGO part minepig06
• LEGO part minepig07
• LEGO part minepig08
• LEGO part minepig09
• LEGO part mineravager01
• LEGO part minesheep01
• LEGO part minesheep02
• LEGO part minesheep03
• LEGO part minesheep04
• LEGO part minesheep05
• LEGO part minesheep06
• LEGO part minesheep07
• LEGO part minesheep08
• LEGO part minesheep09
• LEGO part minesheep10
• LEGO part minesheep11
• LEGO part minesheep12
• LEGO part minesheep13
• LEGO part minesheep14
• LEGO part minesheep15
• LEGO part minesheep16
• LEGO part mineshulker01
• LEGO part mineslime01
• LEGO part minesniffer01
• LEGO part minesniffer02
• LEGO part minespider01
• LEGO part minespider02
• LEGO part minespider03
• LEGO part minespider04
• LEGO part minespider05
• LEGO part minespider06
• LEGO part minespider07
• LEGO part minestrider01
• LEGO part minestrider02
• LEGO part minewolf01
• LEGO part minewolf02
• LEGO part minewolf03
• LEGO part minewolf04
• LEGO part minewolf05
• LEGO part minewolf06
• LEGO part minewolf07
• LEGO part minewolf08
• LEGO part minewolf09
• LEGO part mineaxolotl01
• LEGO part mineaxolotl02
• LEGO part mineaxolotl03
• LEGO part mineaxolotl04
• LEGO part mineaxolotl05
• LEGO part minedolphin01
• LEGO part minedolphin02
• LEGO part mineguardian01
• LEGO part mineguardian02
• LEGO part mineguardian03
• LEGO part mineguardian04
• LEGO part minepufffish01
• LEGO part minepufffish02
• LEGO part minepufffish03
• LEGO part minesquid01
• LEGO part minesquid02
• LEGO part mineturtle01
• LEGO part mineturtle02