Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Bottlenosed Whale
The northern bottlenose whale is the only species of the genus Hyperoodon that lives in the North Atlantic, but there is an unidentified species of whale living in the North Pacific that may turn out to belong to this genus. The northern...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: White Beaked Dolphin
White-beaked dolphins have similar habits to Atlantic white-sided dolphins and live in similar cold-water regions of the North Atlantic. They eat fish, squid, octopus, and crustaceans. Learn more about the Lagenorhynchus albirostris,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Silver Haired Bat
Somewhat resembling the larger hoary bat, the silver-haired bat has frosted tips on the black or dark-brown fur of its back. Silver-haired bats occur in both grassland and forest and are abundant in old-growth forest. Learn more about...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Eastern Red Bat
Common and widespread from far southern Canada throughout most of the United States and Mexico, and farther south through Central America and into South America, the Eastern Red Bat requires trees and shrubs for roosting. It is...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Southern Yellow Bat
A strong flier with yellowish fur, the southern yellow bat is a lowland species, adapted to both dry and wet habitats. It roosts in trees, particularly palms. Learn more about the Lasiurus ega, more commonly known as a Southern Yellow...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Sagebrush Vole
Sagebrush Voles usually live in colonies in semiarid, partly brushy habitat. The dominant plants where they live are sagebrush or rabbitbrush mixed with bunchgrass. Learn more about the Lemmiscus curtatus, more commonly known as a...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Margay
Margays are small spotted cats that closely resemble ocelots, but are about half the size and lack the ocelot's two prominent black cheek stripes. Margays are forest-dwellers and good climbers and jumpers, so agile that captives have...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Ocelot
Ocelots occur in a wide range of habitats, from rainforest to savanna to dry, scrubby terrain, at mid- to low elevations from Texas and Arizona to northern Argentina. They are feed on small mammals, and also frequently include birds,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Mexican Long Nosed Bat
The Mexican long-nosed bat feeds mainly on the nectar and pollen of agaves, and is found in Texas in June and July when the plants are in bloom there. Then it migrates southward into Mexico, where it lives in pine-oak forests and...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Lesser Long Nosed Bat
The lesser long-nosed bat is associated with arid grassland, scrub land, and tropical dry forest. Its daytime roosts include caves and abandoned mines, where upwards of 10,000 bats sometimes congregate. Learn more about the Leptonycteris...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: White Tailed Jackrabbit
White-tailed Jackrabbits live at a remarkably broad range of elevations, from 40 m to 4,300 m, and where they are in competition with Black-tailed Jackrabbits, they tend to move toward higher elevations. They are slightly larger than...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Snowshoe Hare
The Snowshoe Hare is broadly distributed in the north from coast to coast and occurs in a variety of habitat types, including swamps, hardwood forests, and mixed and evergreen forests. Nocturnal like most members of the family, this hare...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: White Sided Jackrabbit
The White-sided Jackrabbit strongly prefers level ground to hills, and does not require shrubs for cover, but uses clumps or dense stands of grass instead. Grass also makes up more than 99 percent of its diet. Learn more about the Lepus...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Pygmy Mouse
Northern Pygmy Mice are the smallest rodents in North America. They live in a variety of habitats where there is dense ground cover and eat grass seeds and leaves, prickly pear cactus fruit and stems, mesquite beans, and granjeno berries...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern River Otter
River Otters can be thought of - and in a very real sense are - semi-aquatic weasels. Like fishers, martens, and mink, they have long, slender bodies, short limbs, and a short face, plus a set of adaptations for their aquatic lifestyle:...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Yellow Bellied Marmot
The Yellow-bellied Marmot has the thickset build characteristic of the genus. Its fur is relatively long and coarse, with buffy to yellowish hair running from the sides of the neck down along the chest. Learn more about the Marmota...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Vancouver Marmot
Vancouver Marmots live only on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They are the only endangered mammal in Canada, with a population estimated at only 100-200 individuals. Learn more about the Marmota vancouverensis, more commonly known...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Striped Skunk
The Striped Skunk is the most common skunk in North America, yet most of what we know about it comes from studies of captive individuals. Like all skunks, it has a superb defense system, the ability to spray a foul-smelling fluid from...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: True's Beaked Whale
Found along the North American coastline from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas, True's beaked whale also inhabits temperate waters off the coast of Europe, and there are records of the species from near Australia and South Africa. Squid beaks...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Sei Whale
Unlike other rorquals, Sei whales have a dolphin-like dorsal fin. They are also unusual in using two different methods to fill their mouths with water during feeding - they both gulp and skim-feed. Learn more about the Balaenoptera...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Sowerby's Beaked Whale
Most stranded Sowerby's beaked whales have been found on the coast of the British Isles, and the North Sea may be the center of the species' distribution. We know very little about this whale, including what it eats and details of its...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Seminole Bat
Seminole bats, sometimes called mahogany bats, can be mistaken for red bats where the two species overlap (the red bat has a much larger range). The two are similar in color, size, and appearance. Learn more about the Lasiurus seminolus,...
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National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Yellow Bat
Clumps of Spanish moss make good daytime roosting places for northern yellow bats. Small groups of males or slightly larger groups of females are often found roosting together in forested areas near a permanent source of water. Learn...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Olympic Marmot
Olympic Marmots are highly social, living in groups made up of an adult male, one or more adult females, two-year-olds, yearlings, and young. Their diet consists of grasses and sedges, with flowering plants in season. Learn more about...