Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a type of acute infectious pneumonia. The initial symptoms of infected patients are faintness, cough, and fever. Patients may gradually develop more serious symptoms such as dyspnea. COVID-19 transmission route, occurrence and development, vaccine development, and treatment remain to be fully clarified. Animal models are widely used to study the pathogenesis of many human diseases. However, there is no suitable experimental animal model that can completely simulate the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 patients to clarify COVID- 19 pathogenesis. Therefore, it is very important to establish and screen suitable animal models for COVID-19 research. This review summarizes the research status of COVID-19 animal models, compares the advantages and shortcomings of different animal models in COVID-19 basic research, and reviews the latest research progress and prospects of different types of COVID-19 animal model. The findings may provide a reference for the further development of animal models for the post- COVID-19 era.