critter vs animate being

critter and animate being both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
critter	Yes	No	No	No
animate being	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, animate being is a hypernym of critter; that is, animate being is a word with a broader meaning than critter:

Other hypernyms of critter include animal, beast, brute, creature, fauna.

critter (noun)	animate being (noun)
a regional term for `creature' (especially for domestic animals)	a living organism characterized by voluntary movement