All New Animal Variants in Minecraft – Complete Guide

TL;DR

• The Spring to Life update (Java 1.21.5 / Bedrock 1.21.70, March 25, 2025) added biome-based animal variants for cows, pigs, and chickens.
• Each animal now has three versions: cold, temperate (original), and warm.
• The temperate cow also received a visual update — new extruded snout and mirrored legs. Both Mooshroom variants got updated snouts too.
• Sheep don’t get new model variants but now spawn with different wool colors based on biome. In Java Edition they can now also eat Ferns and Dry Grass to regrow wool.
• Wolves got 6 new sound personalities (7 total including Classic) — not new textures, just unique sounds per wolf.
• Baby mobs also got redesigned looks for chickens, cows, pigs, wolves, and cats.
• Breeding two variants gives the baby a random variant from either parent, regardless of the biome you’re in.
• Camels now spawn naturally in desert biomes (not just desert villages) — a useful new 1.21.5 change.
• All spawn eggs were redesigned with unique mob-specific visuals in the same update.

Minecraft has been running for over 15 years, and for most of that time, a cow was a cow. It looked the same in the snow as it did in the desert. That changed with the Spring to Life update, released on March 25, 2025 as Java Edition 1.21.5 and Bedrock Edition 1.21.70. None of these animal changes have been altered in any subsequent patch — they are stable and current as of May 2026.

The update focuses on nature-related features, including warm and cold variants for passive farm animals, new foliage blocks, and ambience features like falling leaf particles and ambient biome sounds.

This guide covers every new animal variant added, which biomes they spawn in, how breeding works, and what changed for baby mobs too.

What Are Animal Variants in Minecraft?

Animal variants are alternate looks for existing mobs. They don’t change how a mob behaves or what it drops. A warm cow still gives you beef and leather. A cold pig still drops porkchops. The difference is purely visual — but it makes a huge difference to how your world feels.

All variants of these farm animals function identically to their original counterparts. The designs are inspired by real-life breeds of cows, pigs, and chickens. They breathe new life into old mobs without changing anything mechanically.

There are three temperature categories:

• Temperate — the original look, spawns in most standard biomes
• Cold — spawns in snowy and icy biomes
• Warm — spawns in hot biomes like deserts, jungles, and savannas

New Cow Variants in Minecraft

Cows got the biggest visual overhaul of all the farm animals. They didn’t just get new textures for the cold and warm variants — the temperate cow (the original) also received a model update: a new extruded snout and mirrored legs, bringing it in line with the new variants visually. Both red and brown Mooshroom variants also received the extruded snout treatment. Horns were added for both warm and cold variants, which the temperate cow doesn’t have.

Cold Cow

The cold cow is modeled after real-world highland cattle. It has a fuzzy, furry coat that extends beyond the cow’s body and repositioned horns that feel rugged and natural. It is widely considered the best-looking of all the new farm animal variants.

You’ll find cold cows in:

• Snowy Plains
• Taiga
• Frozen Ocean
• Windswept Hills
• Old-Growth Spruce Taiga

Warm Cow

The warm cow is inspired by longhorn breeds. It has longer, more prominent upward-pointing horns and reddish-brown coloring. It fits perfectly into the cowboy vibe of the badlands and still feels at home in jungles and savannas.

Warm cows spawn in:

• Desert
• Savanna
• Jungle
• Badlands
• Bamboo Jungle
• Eroded Badlands

Temperate Cow

This is the regular cow you already know — dark brown and white spotted — but in 1.21.5 it received a refreshed model with a new extruded snout and mirrored legs. No horns on the temperate variant. It still spawns in plains, forests, and any biome that isn’t marked cold or warm. Use wheat to breed any cow variant.

New Pig Variants in Minecraft

Pigs got two new variants with completely new textures and 3D models. Both the cold and warm pig feel distinct from the classic pink pig you’ve always known.

Cold Pig

The cold pig is coated in fluffy, curly fur — built for the cold. The off-cream color blends into snowy surroundings naturally. It’s a subtle design but fits the biome well.

Cold pigs spawn in:

• Snowy Plains
• Taiga
• Windswept Hills
• Old-Growth Spruce Taiga
• Snowy Taiga

Warm Pig

The warm pig has a rust-brown and orange tone. It stands out well against the greens of jungles and the dry browns of savannas. It also has a slightly muddy look around the feet — a nice detail that makes it feel grounded in its environment.

Warm pigs spawn in:

• Savanna
• Jungle
• Bamboo Jungle
• Eroded Badlands
• Wooded Badlands

Temperate Pig

The classic pink pig. Spawns everywhere that isn’t a cold or warm biome. Use carrots, potatoes, or beetroot to breed any pig variant.

New Chicken Variants in Minecraft

Chickens got two new biome-based variants. They are smaller mobs so the changes are more subtle, but the differences are clear up close.

Cold Chicken

The cold chicken is inspired by a Polish chicken breed. It has a puffier, fuller feather coat and a distinct tail feather style that sets it apart from the regular chicken. It spawns in the same cold biomes as the cold cow and pig.

Warm Chicken

The warm chicken has warmer-toned feathers that blend naturally into desert and jungle environments. It’s a cleaner look than the cold chicken but still feels like it belongs somewhere hot and dry.

New Chicken Eggs

This is something unique to chickens — the eggs they lay change based on the variant. Two new egg items were added:

• Blue Egg — laid by cold chickens, hatches cold chicken variants, and works in crafting recipes (such as cake) just like a regular egg
• Brown Egg — laid by warm chickens, hatches warm chicken variants, and also works in crafting recipes
• Regular White Egg — still laid by temperate chickens as before

This is very useful. Find a cold biome, collect the blue eggs, bring them back to your base, and throw them there. You can hatch cold chickens wherever you want without staying in a cold biome. If you’re planning efficient farms, check out our guide on how to build an automatic farm in Minecraft.

Sheep Wool Colors by Biome

Sheep don’t have a new 3D model variant like cows and pigs. Instead, they now spawn with different wool colors depending on the biome they’re in. Several related changes also landed in 1.21.5:

• Wool undercoat now shows dyed color — in Java Edition, shearing a dyed sheep now correctly reveals the dyed color on the undercoat (a parity fix with Bedrock)
• Sheep eat Ferns in Java — new in 1.21.5, also a parity fix. Sheep in Java Edition can now eat Ferns, Short Dry Grass, and Tall Dry Grass to regrow wool, not just grass blocks

Cold Biome Sheep

• Common: Black wool
• Uncommon: Gray, light gray, white, brown
• Rare: Pink

Temperate Biome Sheep

• Common: White wool
• Uncommon: Gray, light gray, black, brown
• Rare: Pink

Warm Biome Sheep

• Common: Brown wool
• Uncommon: Gray, light gray, white, black
• Rare: Pink

The pink sheep can still spawn in any biome — always rare, and that hasn’t changed. This matters a lot for wool farming. If you need brown wool, head to a warm biome. If you need black wool, go north. Check out our villager trading tiers guide — shepherd villagers accept wool, so knowing where to farm specific colors saves a lot of time.

Wolf Sound Variants in Minecraft

Wolves didn’t get new textures in this update. What they got is personality through sound. Six new wolf sound variants were added alongside the original Classic sounds — giving each wolf one of 7 possible sound personalities assigned randomly when it spawns.

All 7 Wolf Sound Personalities

• Classic — the original wolf sounds, still in the game
• Big — deeper, more intimidating growls
• Cute — soft, playful whines and barks
• Puglin — slightly snorty and playful
• Angry — aggressive and sharp
• Grumpy — low-pitched and grumbling
• Sad — whimpering and quiet

The sound variant is completely independent of the texture variant. A snowy wolf could sound cute. A pale wolf could sound angry. It’s fully random and makes each tamed wolf feel a little more individual. If you want to tame animals in general, our guide to taming animals in Minecraft covers everything you need to know.

New Baby Mob Designs

Alongside the adult variants, baby mobs got redesigned appearances too. These are visual changes only — baby mobs can’t be sheared, milked, or bred. They grow into their adult variant naturally over time.

Baby Cows (Calves)

Five calf variants now exist. The cold calf has a fluffy coat. The warm calf carries the warm colorings of its parent. The temperate calf matches the updated temperate cow model — complete with its newly extruded snout. Mooshroom calves also got updated designs and are found only in mushroom fields.

Baby Pigs (Piglets)

Fluffy piglets live in cold biomes. Brown-coated piglets live in warm biomes. The classic pink piglet trots around temperate biomes as always.

Baby Chickens (Chicks)

Three chick variants match their respective climates. They are tiny and easy to miss but each one looks slightly different from the others. The cold chick, warm chick, and temperate chick all have distinct feather colors matching their adult versions.

Wolf Pups and Kittens

All nine wolf texture variants got chunkier, rounder pup designs. All eleven cat variants got softer, squishier kitten redesigns. Wolf pups and kittens now also have their own unique baby sounds — separate from the adult sounds — recorded from real-life puppies and kittens.

Spawn Egg Visual Overhaul

Every spawn egg in the game was redesigned in the Spring to Life update. Instead of the old generic two-color spotted egg pattern, each spawn egg now has a unique visual that captures the personality and character of the mob it spawns. The size of the egg also scales to reflect the in-world size of the mob — smaller mobs like chickens have smaller eggs, while larger mobs have chunkier ones.

The creative menu spawn egg tab icon was also changed from a pig to a creeper. This is a purely visual update with no impact on gameplay, but it makes the Creative inventory much easier to navigate when looking for specific mobs.

How Breeding Works with Animal Variants

This is something a lot of players miss. When you breed two animals of different variants, the baby inherits a random variant from one of its parents — not from the current biome you’re standing in.

So if you breed a cold cow with a warm cow, the calf will be either cold or warm. Not temperate, even if you’re in a plains biome. This is really important to understand for farm planning.

Key Breeding Rules to Remember

• Breeding two cold variants always produces a cold baby
• Breeding two temperate variants always produces a temperate baby
• Breeding two different variants gives a 50/50 chance of either parent’s variant
• The biome you’re standing in has no effect on the baby’s variant
• Sheep wool color still follows parent wool color, not biome color

This matters a lot for farm planning. You can keep rare variant animals at your base without worrying about which biome you built in. For more farm ideas, check out our iron golem farm guide and our full automatic farm guide.

Where to Find Every Animal Variant

Here’s a full quick-reference for where each variant spawns naturally in the world.

Cold Variant Biomes

Snowy Plains, Taiga, Old-Growth Pine Taiga, Old-Growth Spruce Taiga, Snowy Taiga, Frozen Ocean, Windswept Hills, Windswept Gravelly Hills, Windswept Forest

Warm Variant Biomes

Desert, Savanna, Savanna Plateau, Windswept Savanna, Jungle, Sparse Jungle, Bamboo Jungle, Badlands, Eroded Badlands, Wooded Badlands

Temperate Variant Biomes

Everywhere else — plains, forests, swamps, regular rivers, flower forests, and so on. If you want to find specific biomes quickly, check out the best Minecraft seeds for 2026 — some seeds place you near multiple biome types right at spawn, saving a lot of travel time.

Tips for Collecting All Animal Variants

Keep Your Breeding Lines Clean

If you want to maintain a cold variant farm, always breed cold with cold. Breeding a cold cow with a temperate cow gives a 50/50 chance of losing the cold variant in the next generation. Keep your variant herds separate.

Use Chicken Eggs to Transport Variants

You don’t need to move adult chickens across the map. Just collect their biome-specific eggs and bring them home. Blue eggs hatch cold chickens. Brown eggs hatch warm chickens. All three egg types also work in crafting recipes like cake, so there’s no downside to stocking up.

Build a Pen Inside the Biome

If you aren’t ready to manage breeding yet, just set up a small pen inside the right biome and breed animals there. You’ll always get the correct variant naturally spawning nearby. Our underground bunker guide and all Minecraft base builds guide can give you ideas for building near or inside specific biomes.

Wolf Personality Is Random — Embrace It

You can’t choose your wolf’s sound personality. Just tame with a bone and enjoy whatever you get. Think of it as each wolf having its own character. The sound variant doesn’t affect texture or behavior in any way. Learn more about how to tame animals in Minecraft if you’re new to the process.

Sheep Wool Color Follows the Parent

Once you bring sheep back to your base, their babies follow parent wool color — not biome color. If you want a consistent colored flock, start with the right-colored sheep from the right biome and breed from there. Remember that in Java Edition sheep can now eat Ferns and Dry Grass to regrow their wool — useful if you’re building in a taiga or desert where grass is limited.

Do Animal Variants Change Gameplay?

No — with one notable exception. Every variant of cow, pig, and chicken drops the same items, eats the same food, breeds the same way, has the same health, and has the same behavior.

The only functional difference tied to variants is the chicken eggs. Blue eggs hatch cold chickens. Brown eggs hatch warm chickens. All three egg types work in crafting recipes. That is the only real gameplay impact from the entire variant system.

Everything else is visual. But the visual changes make a real difference to exploration. Walking into a snowy biome and seeing furry cold animals just feels right. It’s the kind of small detail that makes the world feel genuinely alive rather than copy-pasted.

What About Other Animals in Minecraft?

The Spring to Life update focused on the four classic farm animals — cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep (via wool color). Several other animals also received smaller changes worth knowing about:

• Camels now spawn naturally in desert biomes — not just inside desert villages. This is a significant change for players who want a camel without hunting for a village. Camels are rideable, can sprint and dash, and seat two players.
• Wolves already have 9 texture variants from the 1.21 wolf armor update and cats already have 11 variants. These weren’t changed visually in Spring to Life — only wolf sounds and baby mob looks were updated.
• The Warden has no variants and spawns deep underground via sculk shriekers
• The Breeze mob found in Trial Chambers also has no variants
• If you want a mob you can ride, check out our guide on how to tame and ride a Strider in the Nether
• For frogs specifically, our guide to breeding frogs in Minecraft covers their existing variants by biome

Final Thoughts

The animal variant update sounds small on paper. Six new mob textures, some wool color tweaks, a few new egg items, and an overhauled spawn egg menu. But when you actually walk from a plains biome into a snowy tundra and see cold, furry versions of the animals you already know, the world feels more real.

It doesn’t change how you play. Your farms work the same. Your food sources are unchanged. But it adds to the feeling that Minecraft’s world is genuinely varied — not just the same template repeated with different-colored grass.

Combined with the new plant blocks, firefly bushes, ambient sounds, camel wild spawning, and falling leaf particles added in the same update, the overworld got a meaningful refresh in Spring to Life. And this is likely just the beginning — more biome-based variants could come in future updates as Mojang continues to expand the game.

If you’re new to exploring all these biomes, start with how to survive your first night in Minecraft and build from there. Once you’re stable and geared up, go find that cold cow. The trip is worth it.