American Animals Arizona and Arkansas

Wildlife of Arizona

Arizona is a desert state but also has various climates that can offer homes to many different kinds of wildlife.

Arizona does not have an official animal but the Official Mammal is the ringtail cat which is related to the raccoon.

Official State Bird

Cactus wren

Official State Amphibian

Arizona tree frog

Official State Butterfly

Two-tailed swallowtail butterfly

Official State Fish

Apache trout

Official State Reptile

Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake

The state parks where you can see the wildlife of Arizona include Catalina, Cattail Cove, Lyman Lake, Lost Dutchman, Patagonia Lake, Lake Havasu, the San Rafael State Natural Area, Tonto Natural Bridge, and the Verde River. These parks are found mostly in the central, southern, and western areas of the state.

Small Mammals

The small mammals of the state include skunks and shrews.

Rodents found here are the American beaver, North American porcupine, gophers, pocket mice, kangaroo rats, voles, wood rats, cotton rats, and deer mice.

The state is also home to the nutria, a largish, introduced rodent that’s a bit of a pest because of its voracious appetite for vegetation.

Other rodents are types of chipmunks, squirrels, and prairie dogs.

Besides the ring-tailed cat, there is also the raccoon and the white-nosed coati.

Mustelids are the river otters, weasels, ferrets, and American badgers.

The collared peccary or javelina can also be found in the state parks.

Deer and Other Ungulates

Mule deer, named for their large ears, and a subspecies of white-tail deer called the Coues whitetail occupy different habitats in Arizona. The mule deer, which is a bit more acclimated to the desert, can be glimpsed at Lost Dutchman and Picacho Peak State Parks.

Whitetail deer can be found in Patagonia State Park and Kartchner Caverns as well as Oracle State Park.

Arizona is also home to the Sonoran pronghorn, bighorn sheep, the American bison, and elks.

Predators

Arizona’s top predators include the coyote, the black bear, mountain lions, three types of foxes, lynxes, and ocelots.

A visitor might even glimpse a rare Mexican wolf, a subspecies of the gray wolf, or a jaguar.

Black bears are seen in Tonto Natural Bridge as well as Slide Rock.

Birds

The birds of Arizona include hummingbirds, woodpeckers, warblers, goldfinch, grackles, phoebes, and sparrows.

Birds that are found in places such as Dead Horse Ranch and Lyman Lake include waterfowl such as blue herons, black ibis, grebes, egrets, ducks, and geese.

Roadrunners, quail, and owls can be glimpsed at Kartchner Caverns.

Birds of prey include ospreys and several species of hawks.

The California condor is also seen in Arizona. Though much effort has been put into its conservation, this huge and magnificent bird is still endangered.

Reptiles

The chuckwalla is a type of iguana and can be commonly seen in most of Arizona’s state parks. It’s an herbivore that can grow to 16 inches in length and change color to camouflage itself.

The famous Gila monster is known for the lovely patterns on its beaded skin and for being a rare venomous American lizard. It is difficult for a human to be envenomated by one of these robust-bodied lizards since the animal has to hang on and chew, but the venom is used to paralyze its prey. Dinner for the Gila monster includes birds, smaller reptiles, and small mammals such as mice. Gila monsters also eat carrion and eggs.

Arizona has several species of rattlesnake, with the Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake being the state reptile.

The western diamondback rattler can also be found in most state parks. These snakes get their name because of the keratinous rattles at the ends of their tail that they shake when they feel threatened.

Endangered Animals

Black-footed ferret

Mexican spotted owl

Mexican gray wolf

Jaguars are still one of the rarest of the big cats in North America and are considered endangered.

The Wildlife of Arkansas

The southern state of Arkansas borders Oklahoma and Texas to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Mississippi and Tennessee to the west. The state refers to itself as "The Natural State" Arkansas is bordered by the Ozark Mountain on one side and on the other by the Ouachita Mountains. There are lovely deep valleys and rushing mountain streams. The state has densely forested timberland and fertile lowlands. The lower part of the state is on the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf of Mexico. Its wetlands include cypress swamps, headwater swamps, and slope wetlands.

Official State Mammal

White-tailed deer

Official State Bird

Mockingbird

Official State Butterfly

Diana Fritillary

Official State Insect

Honeybee

Official State Fish

Alligator gar

Arkanasa has 400 native bird species and over 150 butterfly and moth species. You can see great blue herons, snowy owls, ruby-throated hummingbirds, white ibis, golden-crowned kinglets, and four species of oriole.

Arkansas is home to the red-cockaded woodpecker, one of the rarest endangered birds.

There are 16 native bat species among them the endangered Rafinesque's big-eared bat, the hoary bat, and the Seminole bat.

In the state coyotes, gray foxes, red foxes, and bobcats are among the predators.

There are twelve mouse species, ground squirrels, and the southern flying squirrel.

River otters, shrews, pocket gophers, cottontail rabbits, and opossums are the small mammals that live in the state.

Arkansas is also home to some strange mammals including the nine-banded armadillo and the eastern woodrat.

Unusual rodents that are only found in this state are the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, the southern bog lemming, and the Texas deer mouse.

The state is home to two species of skunk, the eastern spotted skunk and the striped skunk, and several shrew species.

Among the reptiles and amphibians found in Arkansas are prairie lizards, Texas horned lizards, bull snakes, eastern garter snakes, and Gulf crayfish.

The state is also home to alligators, turtles, and geckos.

Once gone extinct elk has returned in the area surrounding the Buffalo National River in northwest Arkansas. Black bears have also come back.

Dangerous Animals in Arkansas

Animals that are dangerous to humans are mostly snakes and spiders.

Snakes: Arkansas has timber rattlesnakes and the western banded rattlesnake.

Spiders: Arkansas is home to the venomous brown recluse spider.

Endangered Animals in Arkansas

Arkansas has 32 threatened and endangered species. They include:

Ozark big-eared bat

Ozark cavefish

Ozark hellbender

This is one of the rarest species, the endangered salamander only makes its home in the mountain streams of the Ozarks. Both Arkansas and Missouri are working together to preserve the hellbender.

Curtis pearly mussel

Ivory-billed woodpecker

Rattlesnake-master borer moth

One of the rarest moths the rattlesnake-master borer moth exists in only five states - Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina and Oklahoma. Its only food source a prarier plant called the rattlesnake-master gives this moths its name.