guardian_learning | Some animal chengyu

In episode 2 of "你好种地少年 2", the farmboys play a game where they have to use a chengyu containing an animal word (dragons allowed 🐉) in a sentence. I compiled all the chengyu the guys came up with. Unless otherwise indicated, the links go to the Wiktionary page in English, which will also give the traditional characters. Baidu links are in Chinese.

猪朋狗友 - zhū péng gǒu yǒu - disreputable friends ("pig friend, dog friend")
贼眉鼠眼 - zéi méi shǔ yǎn - to look shifty ("thief's eyebrow, rat's eye")
鹤立鸡群 - hè lì jī qún - an outstanding person in a group of common people ("a crane standing in a flock of chickens")
狗急跳墙 - gǒu jí tiào qiáng - when forced by circumstances, one will take bold risks and desperate actions ("the dog jumps over the wall when it is in a hurry")
对牛弹琴 - duì niú tán qín - to talk about something the listener can't understand; to talk to a brick wall; to preach to deaf ears ("playing the guqin to a cow"). The Wiktionary entry contains the etymology.
龙飞凤舞 - lóng fēi fèng wǔ - vivid and vigorous; bold, majestic, and lively ("dragons flying and phoenixes dancing"). Baidu has more information than Wiktionary and lists a synonym: 龙蛇飞动 - lóng shé fēi dòng).
狼心狗肺 - láng xīn gǒu fèi - cruel and evil; ungrateful; biting the hand that feeds ("heart of a wolf, lungs of a dog")
狗仗人势 (Baidu) - gǒu zhàng rén shì - be a bully under the protection of a powerful person
一马当先 - yī mǎ dāng xiān - to take the lead
虎视眈眈 - hǔ shì dān dān - to glare like a tiger watching its prey; to watch with a vigilant eye; to eye covetously. The Wiktionary entry contains the etymology.
小肚鸡肠 - xiǎo dù jī cháng - narrow-minded; petty ("small belly, chicken's gut")
马到成功 - mǎ dào chéng gōng - to instantly succeed
虎落平阳 (Baidu) - hǔ luò píng yáng - although one is strong, one's advantage is lost (from the original phrase: “龙游浅水遭虾戏，虎落平阳被犬欺” - "A dragon in shallow water is bullied by shrimps, a tiger in the plain is bullied by dogs")
指鹿为马 - zhǐ lù wéi mǎ - to be a false witness; to deliberately misinterpret. The Wiktionary entry contains the etymology.
猪狗不如 - zhū gǒu bù rú - base; contemptible; vile ("not the equal of pigs and dogs/worse than pigs and dogs")
画龙点睛 - huà lóng diǎn jīng - one step away from perfection; to add the finishing touch ("draw a dragon and dot the eyes"). The Wiktionary entry contains the etymology.
一马平川 - yī mǎ píng chuān - wide expanse of flat land
望子成龙 - wàng zǐ chéng lóng - hope that one's child succeeds in life ("hope the child becomes a dragon")
马马虎虎 - mǎ mǎ hū hū - careless; sloppy; so-so. Baidu gives its origin from 《三侠五义》.
鱼死网破 - yú sǐ wǎng pò - to fight until both you and your opponent perish ("the fish are dead, the fishnet is broken")
打狗看主 (Baidu) - dǎ gǒu kàn zhǔ - you should pay attention to the background of the person you have a conflict with ("before hitting the dog, consider the owner")
杯弓蛇影 - bēi gōng shé yǐng - false alarm; self-created suspicion; atmosphere of fear and admonition ("to mistake the shadow of a bow in one's cup for a snake"). The Wiktionary entry gives the etymology.
叶公好龙 - yè gōng hào lóng - to pretend to like something which one actually dislikes or fears ("the Duke of Ye liking dragons"). The Wiktionary entry gives the etymology, and also gives an alternative pinyin of shè gōng hào lóng, but Baidu only gives the pinyin yè gōng hào lóng.
虎虎生威 (Baidu) - hǔ hǔ shēng wēi - awesome momentum like a tiger (This isn't a chengyu, according to Baidu and other Chinese sources. It's just a compound word.) [Aha! So the farmboy who used this one (Zhao Yibo) should've lost the game, lol.😆]
害群之马 - hài qún zhī mǎ - bad apple; black sheep; a horse that harms the herd. Baidu gives its origin from 《庄子·杂篇·徐无鬼》.
五马分尸 - wǔ mǎ fēn shī - to execute; to sentence someone to death; to split something into small fragments ("five horses dismember the corpse")
Farmboy Zhuo Yuan loses the game with 龙年大吉 - lóng nián dà jí - Happy Year of the Dragon.😂

These last two weren't part of the game, but I caught them in other farmboy contexts:
九牛一毛 - jiǔ niú yī máo - a drop in the ocean; a drop in the bucket ("nine oxen, one hair"). The Wiktionary entry contains the etymology.
虎头蛇尾 - hǔ tóu shé wěi - to start strong but finish weak; anticlimactic ("tiger's head, snake's tail")