Animal models of carcinoma of the pancreas provide new information regarding the pathways for histogenesis of the tumors. Four models, induced by chemical carcinogens or transgenic methods, are reviewed briefly from this perspective. Recent reports indicate that carcinomas with a ductal phenotype can arise from transformed acinar cells in rodents. A transgenic mouse model provides evidence that anaplastic carcinomas and islet cell tumors may arise from primitive cells that express the elastase gene, yet retain the potential to differentiate as islet cells. In a nitrosamine-induced hamster model, ductal carcinomas appear to arise directly from ductal cells. Carcinomas in this model contained mutations in the c-K-ras oncogene that are similar to those reported in about 75 percent of human pancreatic carcinomas, whereas acinar cell carcinomas of rats lacked this mutation. The histologic type of a carcinoma may reflect the cell of origin, but this statement is not always true. Therefore, classification of tumors on the basis of phenotype rather than on the presumed cell of origin is recommended. Among the animal models, the carcinomas in hamster pancreas rank as most similar to human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas in regard to the phenotype of the tumors and the prevalence of the c-K-ras mutation.