Diabetes is a disease characterized by a relative or absolute lack of insulin, leading to hyperglycaemia. There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is due to an autoimmune destruction of the insulin‐producing pancreatic beta cells, and type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance coupled by a failure of the beta cell to compensate. Animal models for type 1 diabetes range from animals with spontaneously developing autoimmune diabetes to chemical ablation of the pancreatic beta cells. Type 2 diabetes is modelled in both obese and non‐obese animal models with varying degrees of insulin resistance and beta cell failure. This review outlines some of the models currently used in diabetes research. In addition, the use of transgenic and knock‐out mouse models is discussed. Ideally, more than one animal model should be used to represent the diversity seen in human diabetic patients. LINKED ARTICLES Animal Models This paper is the latest in a series of publications on the use of animal models in pharmacology research. Readers might be interested in the previous papers. Robinson V (2009). Less is more: reducing the reliance on animal models for nausea and vomiting research. Holmes AM, Rudd JA, Tattersall FD, Aziz Q, Andrews PLR (2009). Opportunities for the replacement of animals in the study of nausea and vomiting. Giacomotto J and Ségalat L (2010). High‐throughput screening and small animal models, where are we? McGrath JC, Drummond GB, McLachlan EM, Kilkenny C, Wainwright CL (2010). Guidelines for reporting experiments involving animals: the ARRIVE guidelines. Kilkenny C, Browne W, Cuthill IC, Emerson M, Altman DG (2010). The ARRIVE guidelines. Emerson M (2010). Refinement, reduction and replacement approaches to in vivo cardiovascular research. Berge O‐G (2011). Predictive validity of behavioural animal models for chronic pain. Vickers SP, Jackson HC and Cheetham SC (2011). The utility of animal models to evaluate novel anti‐obesity agents. Percie du Sert N, Holmes AM, Wallis R, Andrews PLR (2012). Predicting the emetic liability of novel chemical entities: a comparative study. The complete series including future publications, as they occur, can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1476‐5381/homepage/animal_models.htm.