Objective To summarize the modeling characteristics of animal models of ulcerative colitis (UC) and provide a reference to establish an ideal animal model of UC. Methods We searched the China Knowledge Base for topics of “ulcerative colitis” and “animals”, screened the relevant literature on animal experiments of UC from January 2012 to July 2022, and constructed a database using Excel 2017. The research contents, animal strains, modeling method, and detection indexes were sorted to analyze the model characteristics and main application directions of UC animal models. Results After comparative analysis, we found that SD rats (247 reports, 43. 03%) and Wistar rats (105 reports, 18. 29%) were the animal strain used for modeling, male (355 reports, 64. 43%) was the main sex, and TNBS-ethanol solution enema (231 reports, 39. 69%) and DSS-free drinking (225 reports, 38. 66%) were the most common modeling method for both drug efficacy verification and mechanistic studies. Among these tests, colon pathology (269 reports, 13. 63%), disease activity index (DAI) score (246 reports, 12. 46%), general condition (231 reports, 11. 70%) and serum biochemical indices (225 cases, 11. 40%) and colonic tissue protein expression (171 reports, 8. 66%) were predominant. Conclusions UC animal experiments are often performed in male SD and Wistar rats, which are modeled by a TNBS-ethanol enema and DSS-free drinking method. These method ologies have the advantages of ease, a high model establishment rate, and low cost, combined with colon histopathology, DAI scores, general conditions, serum biochemical indexes, and Colonic tissue protein expression, which provide the basis for UC animal experiments.