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The Sacramento sucker, aka western sucker, is an inferiorly mouthed (lower positioned mouth) fish that hails primarily from lakes, rivers, and streams of California, but can also be found in Oregon and Nevada. They face the threat of water diversions that drastically reduce natural streamflows, while heavy groundwater pumping lowers […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The Dixie Valley toad is the first new toad species to be described from the United States since the description of the Wyoming toad about 49 years earlier. These toads face the threats of habitat loss and destruction at the hands of renewable energy and dams; invasive species, primarily bullfrogs, […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The mountain beaver is sometimes confused with the North American beaver and the Eurasian beaver, however, these beavers are more closely related to squirrels. Although they are mostly considered pests throughout their ranges, they are still threatened by wildfires, grazing livestock, expansion of exotic plant species, rodent control methods, alteration […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The Devil’s Hole pupfish is the smallest of the known pupfish. They reside only in the state of Nevada, in the United States. They also only live in up to the first 80 feet of water and have a territory of between 3 – 5 feet across. Devil’s Hole is […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

This article is devoted to one of the world’s smallest known snake species, the southwestern threadsnake. This fossorial (burrowing) snake has many alternate names as well, names like Leptotyphlopidae, leptotyphlopid, wormsnakes, blind snake, brown blind snake, California blind snake, California rena, California worm snake, Cedros island worm snake, sheep-nosed snake, […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

Once found throughout the Great Plains in North America, the black-footed ferret is one of the most endangered animals in the U.S. They depend upon prairie dogs for food, almost exclusively, and use their burrows for homes and raising young. Consequently, their fate is coupled to that of prairie dogs. […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The round-tailed ground squirrel lives in northern Mexico, Baja California, and the southwest U.S.; including Arizona, Nevada, and California. They live in various parts of the Yuma, Mojave, and Colorado deserts where their habitat includes extreme temps and very low humidity. They prefer flat, sandy places like scrub and creosote […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The Chuckwalla belongs to the iguana family. As such, they have some of the same cool features as an iggy (iguana). They expel salts through their noses and even have a parietal eye. Chucks can be found in the southwestern regions of North America and in the northern parts of […]

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This article was originally published on Critter Science.

The California leaf-nosed bat is the only bat in North America with ears this large and leaf-like projections on their nose. Other North American bats have typical dimensions… normal sized ears and nose. At first glance, it would appear that these little flying critters are all ears. All the better […]

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