Count number of rows which contains same value

Question

What is the MySQL query to count the total number of rows which contains the same value. For example:

Consider a table animal which contains all animal names. If there are 5 rows in the table which contains the value name as 'cow' then what would be the query for it?

Answer 1

SELECT animal_name,
       COUNT(*) AS animal_count
FROM   animal_table
GROUP  BY animal_name;  

Answer 2

SELECT name, COUNT(*) c FROM animal WHERE name='cow' GROUP BY name

Answer 3

SELECT COUNT(*) AS CowCount 
FROM tableName
where animalName = 'cow';