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Wildlife includes all wild, non-domesticated animals. The term covers everything from huge mammals to tiny insects.
In the past, biologists focused more on game animals (like deer and turkeys) and game fish (like trout and bass). However, they are examining more closely nongame wildlife—animals not hunted or fished. This group includes most of West Virginia’s species, such as wild birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
Currently, there are about 320 species of nongame animals compared to just 50 species of game animals.
Over the last century, West Virginia's wildlife has seen huge changes. Animals like the buffalo, elk, gray wolf, and passenger pigeon had disappeared by 1900. Thanks to protection and reintroduction programs, once-rare animals like the beaver, river otter, wood duck, and black bear are now abundant. The coyote has moved into every county, and the elk is being reintroduced from herds in other states.
Most wildlife live here year-round, but over 230 bird species are seasonal, either nesting here in the summer (like warblers) or stopping during their migrations.
Here's a look at the wildlife included in e-WV.
West Virginia is home to 87 known species of amphibians and reptiles, including 34 types of salamanders and 20 types of snakes.Amphibians (like frogs and salamanders) have moist skin and lay eggs covered in a jelly-like substance. Their sensitive ...
The Cheat Mountain salamander is a special creature found only in West Virginia. It's small, only about four inches long as an adult. It has a black or dark-brown back with shiny, brassy spots. Its belly is a plain dark gray. Its tail is shorter t...
West Virginia is home to 20 species of snakes, all of which are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperature matches their surroundings. Common snakes include the following:Ringneck snakes (small, with a yellow neck ring) and black rat snakes (our...
Since the first state encyclopedia (1929), West Virginia's bird populations have changed dramatically, mostly due to changes in habitat and new laws.In the past, the wild turkey and wood duck were rare or almost gone. Thanks to successful reintrod...
The bald eagle was adopted as the national symbol in 1782. Once common, with over 100,000 birds in the lower 48 states, its population nearly disappeared due to habitat loss and pesticides.By 1963, only 417 nesting pairs remained in the continenta...
The Northern Cardinal is West Virginia's official State Bird. It was picked for several reasons:Color and Crest: The male has brilliant red feathers and a distinct crest.Song: They sing a beautiful, cheerful song throughout the spring and summer.U...
The wild turkey is West Virginia's largest game bird and a tough challenge for hunters because it's very wary and has excellent eyesight. The turkey is a good sign of a healthy environment because it needs open areas with lots of insects for its y...
West Virginia's lakes, streams, and rivers are home to about 178 total fish species, with about 160 of those being native to our state. Most belong to five main groups: carps and minnows (the largest group), perches, suckers, basses and sunfishes,...
The brook trout is West Virginia's only native trout species and is the official state fish. Fishermen often call them "natives." These fish embody the "Mountaineer spirit" because they thrive only in the cold, pristine streams of the high mountai...
The West Virginia Centennial Golden Trout is a unique, bright yellow fish that was first widely stocked in 1963, the state's 100th anniversary. The golden trout is not a different species but a natural color mutation of the common rainbow trout. I...
Crayfish, or crawdad, are small crustaceans that look like tiny lobsters and live in West Virginia's rivers and streams. Their claws are used for defense and digging burrows in banks and stream beds. Each has a head/chest section called the cephal...
Freshwater mussels, also called bivalves, are members of the mollusk family. They are important animals that live buried in the bottoms of West Virginia's streams and rivers.They have a hard outer shell (two halves called valves) and a soft inner ...
Insects are small, six-legged animals that don't have an internal skeleton. They are the most successful animal group on Earth. Of all the named animal species, about one million are insects. West Virginia is estimated to have 20,000 or more speci...
Invertebrates—animals without a backbone—make up most of the animal kingdom. West Virginia is home to thousands of species. We have freshwater jellyfish in the Ohio River and ponds and worms of all kinds. Flatworms are small, flat, and often found...
Butterflies are brightly colored insects with four scaled wings and clubbed antennae. West Virginia is a fantastic place for them, hosting about 135 species. West Virginia's diverse plant life, which includes species from both the North and South,...
The periodical cicada is an amazing insect that spends most of its life underground. People sometimes incorrectly call them "17-year locusts," but this is wrong—locusts are a type of grasshopper.The female lays eggs in tree twigs. The young, calle...
The gypsy moth is one of the worst insect pests for hardwood trees in the eastern United States. It was accidentally brought from Europe to Massachusetts in 1869.Gypsy moth caterpillars damage forests by eating all the leaves (defoliating) a tree....
The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a tiny, aphid-like insect, is a major threat to hemlock trees in West Virginia. The HWA is native to Asia but was accidentally introduced into the eastern United States in the 1950s. Because it has no natural enem...
West Virginia is home to 67 native species of wild mammals and seven non-natives. Most animals you see today, like the deer, are survivors from the large eastern forests that existed when European-American settlers arrived. A few animals, like the...
The Allegheny woodrat is a rare and threatened native North American rodent. Unlike common non-native rats (like the Norway rat), the Allegheny woodrat has a hairy tail (dark on top, light underneath) and large ears. It also has silky fur and a bl...
West Virginia is home to 14 known species of bats. All are insect eaters, which helps to control pests in the state.Most of our bats hibernate in caves during winter. Caves stay cool but above freezing, allowing bats to enter a deep sleep, slow th...
The black bear (Ursidae americanus) is the state animal of West Virginia. It is part of a large family of bears, though the even larger grizzlies and polar bears live far to the north and west.Black bears are generally less than six feet long and ...
The white-tailed deer is the most common deer in West Virginia and has an amazing ability to survive. Deer are primarily browsing animals, eating shrubs and trees, but they also graze in fields. They see only in black and white but have good eyesi...
The mountain lion is a large wild cat that once roamed freely in West Virginia, especially in the Allegheny Mountains. This cat is also known as a cougar, puma, or panther. You can still see its influence in places across the state named "Panther ...
The opossum, often called a "possum" in West Virginia, is the only marsupial (carried as a baby in its mother’s pouch) found in North America. They are easy to spot with their pointy snout, naked ears, beady eyes, and a grasping tail (called a pre...
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