---
title: "List categories."
method: GET
path: "/categories"
tags: ["Catalogue"]
---

# List categories.

`GET /categories`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1`
- URL: `https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/categories`
- Auth: none required

Answers the seven species groups with the label in the requested language, an emoji, a sort key and the number of species. Call this first to learn the valid `category` values.

## Query parameters

- `lang` 'en' | 'de' | 'es' | 'fr' | 'it' | 'nl' | 'pt' | 'pl': Display language of `name`, category labels and the summary. Falls back to `en`.

## Response `200`

Every category. Cached 1 hour.

- object
  - `data` Category[], required
    - `id` 'mammals' | 'birds' | 'reptiles' | 'amphibians' | 'fish' | 'insects' | 'other', required
    - `name` string, required: Label in the requested language.
    - `emoji` string, required
    - `sort` integer, required
    - `total` integer, required: Catalog taxa in this category.

## Other responses

- `400`: Invalid input.
- `404`: Not found.
- `429`: Rate limited.
- `500`: Unexpected error.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/animalchecklist/apis/animal-checklist-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/animalchecklist/apis/animal-checklist-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/animalchecklist/apis/animal-checklist-api/revisions/0910760ad25b?raw)