The fauna of the United States of America is all the animals living in the contiguous United States and its surrounding seas and islands, the Hawaiian Archipelago, Alaska in the Arctic, and several island-territories in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. The U.S. has many endemic species found nowhere else on Earth. With most of the North American continent, the U.S. lies in the Nearctic, Neotropic, and Oceanic faunistic realms, and shares a great deal of its flora and fauna with the rest of the American supercontinent.
An estimated 432 mammal species comprise the fauna of the continental U.S. There are more than 800 species of bird and more than 100,000 known species of insect. There are 311 known reptiles, 295 amphibians and 1154 known fish species in the U.S. Known animals that exist in all of the lower 48 states include white-tailed deer, bobcat, raccoon, muskrat, striped skunk, barn owl, American mink, 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). The first national park was Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming, established in 1872. Yellowstone National Park is widely considered to be the finest megafauna wildlife habitat in the U.S. There are 67 species of mammals in the park, including the gray wolf, the threatened lynx, and the grizzly bear.
Western United States
The ecoregions and ecology found in the Western United States are extremely varied. For instance, large areas of land are made up of everything from sand dunes in the Central Basin and Range ecoregion, which makes up much of the State of Nevada, to the ecology of the North Cascades in Washington state, which has the largest concentration of active 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. varies from a colder climate in the north to a warmer climate in the south. While few species live throughout the entire West Coast, there are some, such as the bald eagle, that inhabit both the Alaskan Aleutian Islands and the California Channel Islands. In most of the contiguous Western U.S., mule deer, white-tailed antelope squirrels, cougars, American badgers, coyotes, hawks and several species of snake and lizard are common.
While the American black bear lives throughout the U.S., brown bears and grizzly bears are more common in the northwest and in Alaska. Along the West Coast there are several species of whales, sea otters, California sea lions, eared seals and northern elephant seals. In the dry, inland desert areas of states such as California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico there are some of the world's most venomous lizards, snakes and scorpions. The most notorious might be the Gila monster and Mohave rattlesnake, both found in deserts in the Southwest. The Sonoran Desert has eleven species of rattlesnakes - more than anywhere else in the world.
Along the southwestern border there are jaguars and 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 red fox occurs mostly in Oregon and Washington, while the island fox is a native to six of the eight Channel Islands in Southern California. These islands are also famous for their marine life and endemic species such as the Channel Islands spotted skunk, Garibaldi, island fence lizard, island scrub jay, bald eagle, and their non-native Catalina Island bison herd. The raccoon and spotted skunk occur throughout the Western U.S., while 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 National Park consists of five of the eight California Channel Islands. The Channel Islands are part of one of the richest marine biospheres of the world. Many unique species of plants and animals are endemic to the Channel Islands, including fauna such as the island fox, Channel Islands spotted skunk, island scrub jay, ashy storm-petrel, island fence lizard, island night lizard, Channel Islands slender salamander, Santa Cruz sheep, San Clemente loggerhead shrike and San Clemente sage sparrow.C. Michael Hogan. 2008. Torrey Pine: Pinus torreyana, Globaltwitcher, ed. Nicklas Stromberg Other animals in the islands include the California sea lion, California moray, bald eagle, Channel Islands spotted skunk and the non-native Catalina Island bison herd.
Southern United States
The South has a large variety of habitats that range from the Mississippi River basin in Arkansas and Mississippi to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. As far north as the hills of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, all the way down to the Everglades in the southern end of Florida. From the eastern-most point on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, as far west as the deserts and prairies of West Texas and Oklahoma. The warmer climate allows for rich biodiversity ranging from cypress swamps in Louisiana to the thick bays and the longleaf pine biome of the South Carolina Lowcountry. It is riddled along the way with countless salt marshes in every coastal state from the Carolinas, through Georgia to Texas, including the Mobile Delta that lies in the borders of Alabama.
The Southern United States is home to a multitude of reptiles and amphibians. The American alligator lives in much of the South - including every coastal state from North Carolina to Texas, along with parts of the inland states of Arkansas and Tennessee- while the less widespread American crocodile is only found in southern Florida. The Alligator snapping turtle and more than forty other species of turtle are found in the southern U.S. including the eastern box turtle, red-eared slider, and the softshell turtle. Snakes in the region include the eastern copperhead, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, timber rattlesnake, pigmy rattlesnake, cottonmouth, and eastern coral snake, all of which are venomous. Some of the other reptiles and amphibians thriving in the South include the Carolina anole, razor-backed musk turtle, broad-headed skink, American bullfrog, southern toad, spring peeper and the coal skink.
Mammals of the region include the elk, the largest of which that was wiped out in the 1800s, but has been reintroduced and is making promising recoveries in Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. There still remain resident populations in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The American black bear is native to much of the South, but are prevalent in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The Florida panther is the largest feline in the South and is exclusive to the wetlands of South Florida. White-tailed deer, bobcat, coyote, wild boar, red and 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 American beaver, muskrat, river otter, and nutria, which is an invasive species and has decimated plant life in the swamps of Louisiana. Weasels and mink also prefer being near water. Rabbits are common in the South; the eastern cottontail is found throughout the region, while the desert cottontail and black-tailed jackrabbit is primarily found in Texas, and Oklahoma. The swamp rabbit is found in wetlands of states like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas, while the marsh rabbit resides along the coastal regions of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Squirrels are also abundant. The eastern grey squirrel and 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 Mexican long-nosed 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 gulls, rails, gallinules, skimmers, grebes, sandpipers, cranes, and herons. Upland birds include wild turkey and ruffed grouse. Various game bird species such as the 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
In the prairie in the Central United States live mostly animals adapted for living in grasslands. Indigenous mammals include the American bison, eastern cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, plains coyote, black-tailed prairie dog, muskrat, opossum, raccoon, prairie chicken, wild turkey, white-tailed deer, swift foxes, pronghorn antelope, the Franklin's ground squirrel and several other species of ground squirrels.
Reptiles include bullsnakes, common collared lizard, common snapping turtle, musk turtles, yellow mud turtle, painted turtle, western diamondback rattlesnake and the prairie rattlesnake. Some of the typical amphibians found in the region are the three-toed amphiuma, green toad, Oklahoma salamander, lesser siren and the plains spadefoot toad. In the Rocky Mountains and other mountainous areas of the inland is where the bald eagle is most observed, even though its habitat includes all of the 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 widespread throughout Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota. Virginia opossum is found in states such as Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas.
The Mexican long-nosed armadillo is found throughout the South and states such as Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The muskrat is found throughout the Central U.S., excluding Texas, while the American beaver is found in every central state.
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.