Wildlife Found In The Western United States
There’s a great variety of wildlife in the western United States. Here are a few of them.
Birds
The golden eagle’s habitat includes Alaska down to the coast of Mexico. It’s a powerful predator and hunts animals like hare and grouse. It will also eat carrion. It’s about 30 inches long. As with many raptors, the female is larger than the male.
The California quail is a small game bird with a comma-shaped crest at the front of its head. It forms flocks in open woodlands and eats seeds, parts of green plants and insects. Though it’s native to the western United States, it’s been introduced in some countries as an ornamental bird that lives in gardens and parks.
Mammals
The Roosevelt elk is a large deer found in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Indeed, it’s the largest elk in North America and can grow to 10 feet long and stand up to five feet high at the shoulder. Only the males have antlers, which are shed in the winter, then grow back in the spring. As a ruminant, it feeds on vegetation like grass and blueberries.
The wolverine is a large weasel found in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains and the Tahoe National Forest in California. It’s both a predator and a scavenger and is so strong and persistent as a hunter that it can take down prey several times larger than it is, including deer. The wolverine itself is only about 42 inches long and weighs about 50 pounds.
Reptiles
Horned lizards have a squat, prehistoric look and live only in the Western deserts. When they’re frightened, they puff up or flatten out or squirt blood from their eyeballs to deter predators. However, they make good pets if they are raised in the right conditions.
The gopher snake is the western version of the bull snake. The snake can grow to about five feet long. It subdues its prey by constriction and can be a bit short tempered; when molested it will hiss and bite. However, it’s a valuable snake, as it eats rodents and other vermin.