Animal
noun
A moving thing... think about the "things" that move. Technically it could be a lot of things (aka basically anything), but in this case we are talking about moving living things. We won't include humans, because humans are too good to be called things. This refers to animals instead.
どうぶつ
This is a jukugo word that uses the on'yomi readings of the kanji. You should be able to read this on your own.
動物は苦手なんです。
I don't like animals.
この辺に大きな動物は住んでいますか？
Are there large animals living around here?
動物園では野生動物も近くで見ることができます。
At the zoo, you can see wild animals up close.