- National endangered animal day was on May 17th.
Do you know about all the endangered species in our nation? There are more than 1,300 endangered and threatened species in the United States and these are some of them.
Red Wolf
Red wolves are known as shy and elusive but are considered top predators. Red wolves can only be found in the wild in an area of eastern North Carolina called Albemarle Peninsula, though they are equally at home in forests, swamps and coastal prairies.
Wolf
The wolf is also known at the gray wolf or grey wolf. They have over 200 million scent cells, can hear up to six miles away in the forest and can eat 20 pounds of meat in one meal. Did you know the wolf was an endangered species?
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Loggerhead sea turtles can grow up to 3 feet long and weigh up to 250 pounds. It can take them as long as 39 years to reach sexual maturity and females return to the same nesting grounds where they were born to lay their eggs.
Bog Turtle
Bog turtles are the smallest turtle specie in North America and they can grow up to 4.5 inches and live longer than 60 years in the wild. They like open groundwater-fed wet meadows and bogs with grasses and tussock sedge. Did you know that the bog turtle was an endangered species?
Giant Kangaroo Rat
There are 20 known species of kangaroo rat and they live in the desert climates of North America. These rats don’t need to drink water as they get the hydration they need through the seeds they eat.
Gunnison Grouse
These animals eat leaves, buds, flowers, forbs and insects like beetles, grasshoppers and ants. They live about elevations of 7,000 feet or higher and use several types of sagebrush depending on the time of year.
Jollyville Plateau Salamander
As a neotenic (meaning it doesn’t transform into a terrestrial form) it’s a member of the Plethodontidae family. They have external gills and live in aquatic habitats like springs, spring-runs and wet caves. What interesting facts about this endangered species.
Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
These mice do well in tidal salt marshes because they can handle the high level of salt in their food and water. They are good climbers and strong swimmers. They are active all year long but nocturnal, so you won’t see much of them.
American Burying Beetle
Also called the Nicrophorus americanus, the American buying beetle is the largest carrion beetle in North America. It can be 1 to 1.8 inches in length and they like to bury themselves under vegetation litter or into soil. This beetle is native to 35 states in the United States and one of the endangered animals in the United States.
Indiana Bat
These bats are dark grey with soft fur and look similar to little brown bats and northern long-eared bats. Indiana bats are about 3.5 inches long and can weigh an average of about seven grams or just less than the weight of two nickels.
Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
The Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle has a triangular face and a slightly hooked beak. They are grayish-green in color with a pale yellow bottom shell. They must come to the surface to breathe while they’re in the water. Nesting for these turtle is predominantly in the beaches of the western Gulf of Mexico and 95% of worldwide nesting happens in Tamaulipas, Mexico but has also been seen, in much smaller numbers, in Veracruz, Mexico and Texas, and even occasionally in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
Did you know about these endangered animals? Let me know in the comments!