diff --git a/lib/iris/experimental/animate.py b/lib/iris/experimental/animate.py
index 9b4c46b5f4..ac60400ba7 100644
--- a/lib/iris/experimental/animate.py
+++ b/lib/iris/experimental/animate.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# (C) British Crown Copyright 2013 - 2015, Met Office
+# (C) British Crown Copyright 2013 - 2017, Met Office
 #
 # This file is part of Iris.
 #
@@ -40,8 +40,12 @@ def animate(cube_iterator, plot_func, fig=None, **kwargs):
         Each animation frame corresponds to each :class:`iris.cube.Cube`
         object. See :meth:`iris.cube.Cube.slices`.
 
-    * plot_func (:mod:`~iris.plot` or :mod:`~iris.quickplot` plot):
-        Plotting function used to animate.
+    * plot_func (:mod:`iris.plot` or :mod:`iris.quickplot` plotting function):
+        Plotting function used to animate. Must accept the signature
+        ``plot_func(cube, vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax, coords=coords)``.
+        :func:`~iris.plot.contourf`, :func:`~iris.plot.contour`,
+        :func:`~iris.plot.pcolor` and :func:`~iris.plot.pcolormesh`
+        all conform to this signature.
 
     Kwargs: