Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Western Small Footed Myotis
The western small-footed myotis occurs in limited areas of southwestern Canada, throughout much of the western United States, and into Mexico. It is better adapted to moist areas than to dry ones. Learn more about the Myotis ciliolabrum,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Short Tailed Shrew
Northern Short-tailed Shrews have poisonous saliva. This enables them to kill mice and larger prey and paralyze invertebrates such as snails and store them alive for later eating. Learn more about the Blarina brevicauda, more commonly...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Southern Short Tailed Shrew
The Southern Short-tailed Shrew is a highly active, primarily nocturnal predator. It is most common in moist, well-drained hardwood forests or pine stands, especially where deep organic litter provides easy burrowing for shelter and...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Abert's Squirrel
Abert's Squirrels have a complicated relationship with ponderosa pine trees. These squirrels mostly live in pine forests and use the trees for shelter, nesting sites, and food. Learn more about the Sciurus aberti, more commonly known as...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Round Tailed Ground Squirrel
Round-tailed Ground Squirrels occur primarily in sandy, relatively flat desert, from Death Valley, which is about 70 m below sea level, to elevations of 1,200 m. They dig their burrows in loose soil, often under a shrub. Learn more about...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
Restricted to the Cascade Mountains of Washington State and British Columbia, Cascade golden-mantled Ground Squirrels are so similar to golden-mantled Ground Squirrels that some scientists consider them the same species. However, their...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels are familiar residents of open woodlands, brushy forest-edge habitats, dry margins of mountain meadows, and rocky slopes. They are quick to invade sunny, disturbed areas where pioneer plants provide good...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Richardson's Ground Squirrel
Richardson's Ground Squirrels inhabit short grass prairie, and when prairie lands are cultivated, they are perfectly happy to eat grain and forage crop, so they are considered pests. Like other ground squirrels, they spend most of their...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
As its common name suggests, the pantropical spotted dolphin is a spotted dolphin that occurs in tropical waters around the world. It is one of the species that fisherman tend to follow as a means of finding yellowfin tuna, which swim...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Richardson's Collared Lemming
Richardson's Collared Lemmings are active 24 hours a day. They are found in tundra, and avoid marshy habitats and forested areas. Learn more about the Dicrostonyx richardsoni, more commonly known as a Richardson's Collared Lemming, in...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Agile Kangaroo Rat
Agile Kangaroo Rats are excellent swimmers. They can run on all four feet as well as hop on their large hind feet, and if they are fleeing a predator, can make sharp turns. Learn more about the Dipodomys agilis, more commonly known as an...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Chisel Toothed Kangaroo Rat
The Chisel-toothed Kangaroo Rat has chisel-shaped lower incisors, with which it strips the epidermis from the leaves of desert shadscale or saltbush, thereby reaching the palatable and water-rich interior of the leaf. This Kangaroo Rat...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: White Footed Vole
White-footed Voles inhabit a relatively small area of the Pacific coast of North America, from Humboldt Bay, California, north to the Columbia River. They have small eyes, and their claws are suitable for burrowing, so they probably have...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Plains Pocket Gopher
The Plains Pocket Gopher is a medium-size rodent with a disproportionately massive front end, including an impressive head and strong, curved claws. Its diet consists mostly of roots and tubers located by tunneling through loose soil....
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Short Finned Pilot Whale
The short-finned pilot whale is one of two species of the genus Globicephala living in North American waters, mostly in tropical to temperate waters of the continental shelf. "Globicephala" translates directly to the most prominent...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Long Finned Pilot Whale
Long-finned pilot whales live in the cool waters of the North Atlantic continental shelf and slope. Pods move seasonally inshore or offshore following their prey, mainly squid and Atlantic mackerel. Learn more about the Globicephala...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Risso's Dolphin
Much of what we know about Risso's dolphin, also called grampus, comes from studying stranded animals. They inhabit deep tropical and warm-temperate waters worldwide, usually where the water is deeper than 180 m, making them hard to...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Red Tree Vole
The home range of a Red Tree Vole may consist of just one tree, usually a large old Douglas-fir, where the vole builds its nest, eats the needles, and gets water by licking dew drops from the needles. Nests have been found more than 50 m...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Pygmy Sperm Whale
Pygmy sperm whales are usually seen in small groups of six or fewer individuals, but there are few documented sightings. They tend to stay in deep water, beyond the continental shelf, and not much is known about their behavior. Learn...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Sonoma Tree Vole
The Sonoma Tree Vole nests so high in trees that finding one in a forest interior is quite difficult, and many records are from individuals that were living in trees that were cut down. A few coniferous tree species provide all of the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Texas Pocket Gopher
Only soils with low percentages of silt, clay, and gravel will do for the Texas Pocket Gopher, so many of its populations are isolated from one another. The species occurs in southern Texas and extreme northeastern Mexico, burrowing in...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Flying Squirrel
Flying squirrels do not fly. They launch themselves into the air and glide long distances from tree to tree. Learn more about the Glaucomys sabrinus, more commonly known as a Northern Flying Squirrel, in this easy-to-read species...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Southern Flying Squirrel
Most of the Southern Flying Squirrel's range is east of the Mississippi River, but it occurs west of the river in central Texas, and as far south as Honduras, in Central America. Like the Northern Flying Squirrel, it has a gliding...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Wolverine
Wolverines are widely distributed in the northern reaches of both hemispheres. In North America, they occupy remote habitats from the high mountainous interior of the Rockies to Arctic coastal tundra. Learn more about the Gulo gulo, more...