Animal pain models are essential for understanding the mechanism of pain and development of effective therapy for its management. Various animal pain models have been developed to simulate the clinical pain conditions with assorted etiology. Research into the connectivity of systems, as in single unit activity or anatomical tract tracing studies, can define linkages, but the behavioral relevance of these linkages to pain or nociception can only be assessed in the context of the intact and unanesthetized organism. A systematic study of behavior in well-defined paradigms can provide insights that are not obvious in the complexity of human behavior. Such mechanistic dissection in animal models can reveal elements that are important components to the overall pain behavior. Development of these animal pain models has contributed enormously in understanding the pain and underlying peripheral as well as central pathogenic mechanisms. Research has resulted in the development of new therapeutic agents for pain management, and the preclinical data acquired with these animal pain models have been consecutively applied to effective pain management in clinical fields. The present review will briefly introduce the methodology, and characteristics of various animal pain models.