The article deals with the zoonymic vocabulary of the Russian language, which can perform the characterizing and invective functions in speech. The invective function (function of insult) is presented as a way to induce to act, because insult aims to get a reaction from the recipient and to confirm or improve the status of the one who insults. It is shown that the criterion of invectives of the zoonymic vocabulary can be the position of a zoonym as addressing.