Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Coast Mole
Coast Moles are difficult to distinguish from Townsend's Moles where their ranges overlap in the Pacific Northwest. Both have velvety, dark-gray fur and tiny eyes and ears that are hidden under their fur. Learn more about the Scapanus...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Baird's Shrew
Baird's Shrew has a very limited range in Oregon, in moist conifer forests. Its fur is darker brown in winter than in summer, when it is brownish-chestnut or olive-brown, with paler sides and belly. Learn more about the Sorex bairdi,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Arizona Shrew
The Arizona Shrew was at first found only in Arizona, but it is now known to occur in New Mexico and northern Mexico as well. Until the 1990s, only about 22 specimens had ever been collected. Learn more about the Sorex arizonae, more...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Arctic Shrew
Arctic Shrews prefer grassy clearings and marshes within coniferous forests and are never very dense in population. Mortality is high early in life. Learn more about the Sorex arcticus, more commonly known as an Arctic Shrew, in this...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Cinereus Shrew
Mainly nocturnal and rarely seen, the Cinereus Shrew is nonetheless common and widespread below the timberline in northern deciduous and coniferous forests, in both wet and dry habitats. It is also known as the Masked Shrew and the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: American Badger
Badgers look like short, shaggy, medium-sized dogs. They are powerful diggers. Learn more about the Taxidea taxus, more commonly known as an American Badger, in this easy-to-read species overview by the Smithsonian's National Museum of...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Attwater's Pocket Gopher
Common and abundant within its limited range in Texas, Attwater's Pocket Gopher requires habitats with vegetation dominated by grasses, which it feeds on both aboveground and belowground. Built to burrow, Attwater's Pocket Gopher is...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Blue Whale
As far as we know, the blue whale is the largest animal ever to have existed on the planet. Weights up to 190,000 kg (as much as 30-40 African elephants) have been recorded. Learn more about the Balaenoptera musculus, more commonly known...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: California Myotis
California myotis are found in deserts and arid basins. They drink at small waterholes, and when they forage, they fly low and slow over water and other open areas, and at forest edges. Learn more about the Myotis californicus, more...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Bryde's Whale
Found worldwide in warm-temperate and tropical waters, Bryde's whale avoids cold water, unlike most rorquals. Some individuals tend to live in coastal waters; others are migratory and occur well offshore. Learn more about the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: American Beaver
The largest North American rodent and the only one with a broad, flat, scaly tail, the Beaver is now common and widespread, even in areas it did not inhabit during pre-colonial times. The modifications it makes to the environment by...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Columbian Ground Squirrel
Columbian Ground Squirrels live in large colonies, and both males and females are territorial. Males defend a small core area within their home range, trying to keep other males from access to females. Learn more about the Spermophilus...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Arctic Ground Squirrel
Arctic Ground Squirrels must cope with a harsh environment that offers long, cold winters, strong winds, a short growing season, permafrost, poor drainage, and limited cover. The squirrels are, by necessity, dormant for seven months each...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Cliff Chipmunk
Cliff chipmunk fossils about 2,300 and 8,000 years old have been found in caves in Utah and Nevada. The chipmunks still live in those states, in habitats where sagebrush, fourwing saltbush, chokecherry, wild rose, and cliffrose grow....
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Colorado Chipmunk
Colorado chipmunks are solitary and territorial, and adults avoid each other except during the breeding season. Males emerge from their burrows in the spring ready to mate. Learn more about the Tamias quadrivittatus, more commonly known...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins have widely spaced eyes, relatively long flippers, a rounded forehead (called a melon), a relatively short, broad snout, and a mouth that seems permanently twisted into a grin. Inside the mouth are as many as 100...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Brown Bear, Grizzly Bear
Brown Bears are solitary, powerful predators who can be aggressive to one another. There is a social hierarchy: adult males are dominant, and females with cubs are dominant over juvenile males and females without cubs. Learn more about...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: California Sea Lion
California sea lions are the best-known eared seals. All seals can hear, but earless seals (in the family Phocidae) have internal ears. Learn more about the Zalophus californianus, more commonly known as a California Sea Lion, in this...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Big Brown Bat
Big brown bats make their homes in rural areas, towns, and cities, sometimes choosing barns, houses, or other buildings as roosts. Males usually live alone; females gather in maternity colonies in the spring and summer to give birth and...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Bearded Seal
Bearded seals have relatively small heads and prominent whiskers. Males and females are similar in size and appearance. Learn more about the Erignathus barbatus, more commonly known as a Bearded Seal, in this easy-to-read species...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Northern Right Whale Dolphin
With no dorsal fin, a slender body shape that tapers steadily toward the tail, and small flippers and flukes, the northern right whale dolphin appears to be built for speed. It has been clocked at 34 km per hour and can dive as deep as...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: American Mammals: Alaska Marmot
The Alaska Marmot lives in the Brooks Range, in northern Alaska, squeezing between big, bulky rocks on slopes to dig its dens. Denning on rocky ledges or under boulders offers them some protection from grizzly bears, which would...
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...