- large or giant animals, especially of a given area. Because megafauna tend to have long lives and slow population growth and recovery rates, many such species, as elephants and whales, are particularly vulnerable to overexploitation by humans.
- animals of a given area that can be seen with the unaided eye.
- large or giant mythical creatures, often resembling a familiar animal, as a hellhound, or a composite of different animals, as a griffin.
- the component of the fauna of a region or period that comprises the larger terrestrial animals
