Fauna of the United States

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Alaska
.

The fauna of the United States of America is all the animals living in the

Neotropic, and Oceanic faunistic realms, and shares a great deal of its flora and fauna with the rest of the American supercontinent.[1]

An estimated 432 species of mammals characterize the fauna of the continental U.S. There are more than 800 species of bird

American beaver, North American river otter and red fox. The red-tailed hawk
is one of the most widely distributed hawks not only in the U.S., but in the Americas.

Huge parts of the country with the most distinctive indigenous wildlife are protected as national parks. In 2013, the U.S. had more than 6770 national parks or protected areas, all together more than 1,006,619 sq. miles (2,607,131 km2).

grizzly bear.[5]

Western United States

lower 48
states.
Mountain lions
live throughout the western U.S.

The ecoregions and ecology found in the

alpine glaciers in the lower 48. The densely forested areas found in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana have mostly species adapted to living in temperate climates, while Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, southern Utah, and New Mexico
have a fauna resembling its position in the dry deserts with temperature extremes.

The western continental coast of the U.S., just as the East Coast, varies from a colder-to-warmer climate from north to south. Few species live throughout the entire West Coast, however, there are some, including the

California Channel Islands. In most of the contiguous Western U.S. are mule deer, white-tailed antelope squirrels, cougars, American badgers, coyotes, hawks
and several species of snakes and lizards are common.

While the

Southwest. The Sonoran Desert has eleven species of rattlesnakes - more than anywhere else in the world.[6]

Along the southwestern border there are

ocelots. Other mammals include the Virginia opossum, which occurs throughout California and coastal areas in Oregon and Washington. The North American beaver and mountain beaver live in forested areas of Washington, Oregon and Northern California. The kit fox lives throughout Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, while the gray fox
occurs throughout the Western U.S.

The

ring-tailed cat occurs throughout Arizona, New Mexico, Western Texas, Utah, Colorado, and most of California. The American black bear
occurs in most western states, including Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Colorado.

Channel Islands

The

Channel Islands spotted skunk and the non-native Catalina Island bison herd
.

Southern United States

The

salt marshes in every coastal state from the Carolinas, through Georgia to Texas, including the Mobile Delta that lies in the borders of Alabama
.

official state reptile of Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi
.

The Southern United States is home to a multitude of reptiles and amphibians. The

coal skink
.

Mammals of the region include the

grey fox
are other mammals that inhabit parts of every state in the region. Wild horses roam parts of the South in small groups, which are remnants of horses brought by settlers in the 1400s and 1500s. These are mostly in coastal habitats.

Many water-dwelling mammals inhabit the South including the

eastern fox squirrel can both be found in every southern state. The southern range of the American red squirrel dips into the higher elevations of Virginia and North Carolina. Other common mammals are the Virginia opossum, raccoon striped and spotted skunk, groundhog and in parts of the South, the nine-banded armadillo
.

There are over 1,100 species of bird in the Southern U.S. ranging from upland birds, to waterfowl. The South is home to many coastal birds including

bobwhite quail and the woodcock. The eastern whip-poor-will and the Chuck-will's-widow belong to the nighthawk
family and are found in every southern state. Songbirds make up the largest portion of birds found in this region.

Central United States

The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere and can reach speeds up to 55 mph.[8]

In the

pronghorn antelope, the Franklin's ground squirrel
and several other species of ground squirrels.

Reptiles include

Lower 48
, as well as Alaska.

Rabbits live throughout the Great Plains and neighboring areas; the black-tailed jackrabbit is found in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas, the white-tailed jackrabbit in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the swamp rabbit in swampland in Texas, and the eastern cottontail is found in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and every state in the Eastern U.S.

The groundhog is a common species in Iowa, Missouri, and eastern portions of Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The groundhog is widespread throughout Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota. Virginia opossum is found is states such as Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas.

The

American beaver
is found in every central state.

The American bison is the heaviest land animal in North America and can be as tall as 6.5 feet (2.0 m) and weigh over a ton.[9]

Maybe the most iconic animal of the American prairie, the American buffalo, once roamed throughout the central plains. Bison once covered the Great Plains and were critically important to Native-American societies in the Central U.S. They became nearly extinct in the 19th century, but have made a recent resurgence in the Great Plains. Today, bison numbers have rebounded to about 200,000; these bison live on preserves and ranches.[9]

Some of the species that occupy every central state include the

beaver. The wild boar is common in the South, while the American mink lives in every central state with the exception of Texas. The least weasel is found around the Great Lakes
as well as states such as Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The

meadow vole. The plains pocket gopher lives throughout the Great Plains. Shrews include the cinereus shrew, southeastern shrew, North American least shrew, and the Elliot's short-tailed shrew
.

Eastern United States

The White-tailed deer is common in all eastern states.

In the Appalachian Mountains and the Eastern United States are many animals that live in forested habitats. They include deer, rabbits, rodents, squirrels, hares, woodpeckers, owls, foxes and bears. The New England region is particularly famous for its crab and the American lobster living along most of the Atlantic Coast. The bobcat, raccoon and striped skunk live in every eastern state, while the American alligator lives in every coastal state between North Carolina and Texas.

Some species of mammals found throughout the Eastern U.S. includes the red fox and gray fox, the North American beaver, North American porcupine, Virginia opossum, eastern mole, coyote, white-tailed deer, American mink, North American river otter, and long-tailed weasel. The American black bear lives throughout most of New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Virginias, and parts of the Carolinas and Florida.

American beaver
is found throughout the U.S., except for Florida, Nevada and Hawaii.

Shrews are common: the cinereus shrew, long-tailed shrew and American water shrew are widespread in the New England region, while the North American least shrew and southeastern shrew are common in the southeastern states. The American pygmy shrew, smoky shrew, and northern short-tailed shrew are found from the Appalachian Mountains to New England. The star-nosed mole lives throughout the Eastern U.S., while the hairy-tailed mole is more common from the Appalachians to New England in the north.

Hares are also common: the

meadow vole is found from the Appalachians to New England and the southern red-backed vole is found in New England.[10][11]

continental United States
.

The

woodchuck are found throughout the region, while the southern flying squirrel and northern flying squirrel are more common in the southeast, the American red squirrel is more common in the northeast. The least weasel is native to the Appalachian Mountains.[10][11]

The

northern long-eared myotis, and in most regions the eastern small-footed myotis, gray bat and Indiana bat.[10][11]

Of the marine life, the

killer whale, Cuvier's beaked whale, True's beaked whale, and the Blainville's beaked whale.[10][11]

The

short-beaked common dolphin, striped dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin and the common bottlenose dolphin. Dolphin species found in New England include white-beaked dolphin and Atlantic white-sided dolphin, while species roaming the southeastern parts of the coastline include the Fraser's dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin, Clymene dolphin, spinner dolphin, and the rough-toothed dolphin.[10][11]

Several sea turtles live along the Atlantic coast, including the

yellow- and red-eared slider. While common species in the northeast include Blanding's turtle, wood turtle, and bog turtle, common species in the southeastern U.S. include gopher tortoise, pond slider, Escambia map turtle, Barbour's map turtle, eastern river cooter, striped mud turtle, loggerhead musk turtle, and the Florida softshell turtle. The smooth softshell turtle
is for instance found in the Ohio River and the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania.

The American black bear occurs in most states.

Some of the snake species found in much of the Eastern U.S. includes the

northern ribbon snake, and the eastern worm snake
.

Snakes limited to the southeast includes the

eel moccasin, and the mud and corn snakes. The eastern fence lizard
is common throughout the Eastern United States, with the exception of New York and New England.

The

gray wolf once roamed the Eastern U.S., but is now extinct from this region. The eastern cougar as well was once as widespread as the cougar in the western parts of the country, but was deemed extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011.[12] Eastern elk once lived throughout the east, but was extirpated in the 19th century and declared as extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1880.[13] Moose as well once roamed throughout the east, but is currently only found in northern New England. Due to its highly prized fur, the sea mink was hunted to extinction in 1903.[14]

Hawaiian Islands

A green sea turtle (honu in Hawaiian) swimming by coral reefs in Kona.

Much of the fauna in

Kauaʻi
.

Famous birds include

Kalihi Valley on Oʻahu. The Hawaiian monk seal, wild goats, sheep and pigs
live throughout most of the archipelago.

In

Hawaiian spinner dolphin is widespread. Hawaii's coral reefs are home to over 5000 species, and 25 percent of these are found nowhere else in the world.[17]

Alaska

Main article:
Fauna of Alaska
Grizzly bears are found throughout Alaska, parts of Montana and on the Canada–US border in Idaho. They are also found in Yellowstone National Park.

The

caribou. Life zones in Alaska
range from grasslands, mountains, tundra to thick forests, which leads to a huge diversity in terrain and geology throughout the state.

Alaska has also over 430 species of birds and the largest population of bald eagles in the nation. From pygmy shrews that weigh less than a penny to gray whales that weigh 45 tons, Alaska is the "Last Frontier" for animals as well as people. Many species endangered elsewhere are still abundant in Alaska.

Aleutian Islands

The

Kiska Island, Gareloi Island, Semisopochnoi Island, Bogoslof Island, and several others.[20]

The islands are also frequented by vagrant Asiatic birds, including the

northern sea otter, horned puffin, tufted puffin, Steller sea lion, spotted seal, ringed seal, northern fur seal and many more.[20]

Territories

American Samoa

The blue-crowned lorikeet is a parrot found throughout the Samoan islands.

Because of its remote location, diversity among the terrestrial species is low. The archipelago has a huge variety in animals and more than 9,000 acres is a national park:

Ta‘ū. Eight mammal species have been recorded at American Samoa, of which none of them are critically endangered.[a]

The mammals include several species of native bats, including the Samoa flying fox and insular flying fox. The avifauna includes 65 species of bird[21] where the more unusual distinctive ones are the blue-crowned lorikeet, the spotless crake, the many-colored fruit dove, the wattled honeyeater, tropical pigeons, the samoan starling, white tern, black noddy and the red-tailed tropicbird.[22]

There are many reptiles in the islands, including five species of geckos, eight species of skinks and two species of snakes: the

Pacific boa and the Australoasian blindsnake.[23] The marine life is magnificent and much concentrated around the colorful coral reefs. The Samoan ocean is a home to sea turtles as hawksbill sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle and the green sea turtle. Five species of dolphins live in the area: spinner dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin and striped dolphin.[23]

Guam

Shortly after World War II, the

marine toad and the giant African land snail.[24]
Several native species of skinks, geckos and a monitor lizard are still found on the island.

Northern Mariana Islands

The Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is home to 40 indigenous and introduced bird species. Some endemic bird species are the

coconut crabs, the mahi-mahi, the barracuda, tridacna, marlin and tuna
.

Puerto Rico

Main article: Fauna of Puerto Rico
The Mona ground iguana is the largest native terrestrial lizard in Puerto Rico and is an endangered species.

Puerto Rico has 349 bird species, 83 mammals, 25 amphibians, 61 reptiles and 677 species of fish. Birds found nowhere else on earth include for instance the

elfin coqui and the bronze coqui. Endemic fish include the Puerto Rican snake eel and the Puerto Rico coralbrotula.[27]

Virgin Islands

Main article: Fauna of the United States Virgin Islands

The

archipelago. There are three species of sea turtles in the USVI that inhabit the local waters and utilize beaches for nesting: the green sea turtle, the hawksbill sea turtle and the leatherback sea turtle.[29]
Several species of sharks, manatees and dolphins roam the seas.

Articles by area

Insular areas

See also

Notes

  1. ^ This list is derived from the IUCN Red List which lists species of mammals and includes those mammals that have recently been classified as extinct (since 1500 AD). The taxonomy and naming of the individual species is based on those used in existing Wikipedia articles as of 21 May 2007 and supplemented by the common names and taxonomy from the IUCN, Smithsonian Institution, or University of Michigan where no Wikipedia article was available.

References

  1. ^ "United States | History, Map, Flag, & Population". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  2. ^ "Birds". Audubon.
  3. ^ "Number of Native Species in United States - Current Results". www.currentresults.com.
  4. ^ "NPS.gov Homepage (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
  5. ^ "Yellowstone Fact Sheet - Yellowstone National Park". Archived from the original on June 2, 2013.
  6. ^ "Rattlesnake facts". Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  7. ^ C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Torrey Pine: Pinus torreyana, Globaltwitcher, ed. Nicklas Stromberg [1] Archived 2012-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ISBN 9781402756238
    .
  9. ^ a b "American Bison | National Geographic". Animals. May 10, 2011. Archived from the original on April 13, 2021.
  10. ^
    ISBN 9780801434754
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 9780801874161
    .
  12. ^ "Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service". www.fws.gov. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  13. ^ "USFWS: Extinct Species". www.fws.gov.
  14. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T40784A45204492.en
    . Retrieved January 15, 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Hawaii fauna - the Hawaiian animals". www.to-hawaii.com.
  16. ^ "Turtles in the Hawaiian Islands". Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  17. ^ "Hawaii Animals!".
  18. ^ "Travel Alaska - Southwest Alaska - the Aleutian Islands".
  19. ^ "Buldirbirds". Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Campaign". Oceana.
  21. ^ Watling, Dick (2001) A Guide to the Birds of Fiji & Western Polynesia, Environmental Consultants (Fiji), Suva
  22. ^ "Marine & Wildlife Topics" (PDF). Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "List" (PDF). www.nps.gov. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  24. ^ a b "NOAA CoRIS - Ecosystem Essays: Guam - Terrestrial Fauna of Guam". Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  25. ^ a b Brad Lendon (February 28, 2013). "Deadly mice to rain down on Guam snakes". CNN.
  26. ^ "Podróże - Kobieta.pl". Archived from the original on September 12, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  27. ^ "Animals and Plants Unique to Puerto Rico". lntreasures.com.
  28. ^ John, Mailing Address: 1300 Cruz Bay Creek St; Us, VI 00830 Phone:776-6201 x238 Headquarters/Visitor Center phone contact Information Contact. "Animals - Virgin Islands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Sea Turtles of the U.S. Virgin Islands". Archived from the original on April 9, 2013.
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