Black Hills Wildlife
Mammals of the Black Hills
& Surrounding Area
Copyright 2002-2006 Travis N. Wood | | Mammal Pages by Simple Categories | | 1) Meat Eaters and Opossums | opossums, coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, wolves, skunks, weasels otters martens wolverines ferrets fishers minks badgers, raccoons, ringtails, coatis, cacomistle, bears, lynx, bobcat, mountain lion | | 2) Bats, Rabbits, and Insect Eaters | bats, desmans, moles, shrews, shrew-moles, shrews, hares, rabbits, pikas | | 3) Rodents—Mice, Squirrels, etc | chinchilla rats, cavies, nutria, porcupines,, mice, rats, birch mice, jumping mice, pocket gophers, kangaroo mice, kangaroo rats, pocket mice, voles, muskrats, squirrels, beavers, chipmunks, marmots, ground hogs | | 4) Hoofed Animals | pronghorn, antelope, cattle, bison, goats, sheep, caribou, elk, wapiti, moose, deer, horses, burros | | | Mammal Pages by Abbreviated Taxonomy | | i | Kingdom Animalia
.Phylum Chordata—with spinal chord
..Subphylum Vertebrata—with vertebra
...Class Amphibia—Amphibians
...Class Reptilia—Reptiles | | 1 | ...Class Mammalia—Mammals
......Subclass Prototheria—egg-laying mammals
......Subclass Theria—placentals and marsupials
.......Infraclass Metatheria—marsupials, pouched animals
........Superorder Marsupialia—marsupials, pouched animals
.........Order Didelphimorphia—American marsupials,
............Family Didelphidae—American opossums
.......Infraclass Eutheria—placental mammals etc.
.........Order Carnivora—flesh eating mammals
..........Suborder Caniformia—Dog-like carnivores
............Family Canidae—coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, wolves
............Family Mephitidae—skunks
............Family Mustelidae—weasels otters martens wolverines ferrets fishers minks badgers
............Family Procyonidae—raccoons, ringtails, coatis, cacomistle, etc
............Family Ursidae—bears
..........Suborder Feliformia—Cat-like carnivores
............Family Felidae—cats, lynx, bobcat, mountain lion | | 2 | .........Order Chiroptera—bats
..........Suborder Microchiroptera—bats
............Family Vespertilionidae—vespertilionid bats
.........Order Insectivora—insect-eating mammals
............Family Talpidae—desmans, moles, shrews, shrew-moles
............Family Soricidae—shrews
.........Order Lagomorpha—hares, rabbits, pikas
............Family Leporidae—hares, rabbits
............Family Ochotonidae—pikas | | 3 | .........Order Primates—primates
.........Order Rodentia—rodents
..........Suborder Hystricognatha—chinchilla rats, cavies, nutria, porcupines,
...........Infraorder Hystricognathi—chinchilla rats, cavies, nutria, porcupines
............Family Erethizontidae—New World porcupines
..........Suborder Myomorpha—mice, rats, souris
............Family Dipodidae—birch mice, jeroboas, jumping mice
............Family Geomyidae—pocket gophers
............Family Heteromyidae—heteromyid rodents, kangaroo mice, kangaroo rats, pocket mice
............Family Muridae—campagnols, mice, rats, souris, voles, muskrats
..........Suborder Sciuromorpha—squirrels, beavers, chipmunks, marmots, ground hogs
............Family Castoridae—beavers
............Family Sciuridae—chipmunks, marmots, squirrels | | 4 | ........Superorder Ungulata—Hoofed animals (Disputed category.)
.........Order Artiodactyla—cloven-hoofed-ungulates, even-toed-ungulates
............Family Antilocapridae—pronghorns
............Family Bovidae—antelopes, cattle, bison, muskoxen, goats, sheep, chamois
............Family Cervidae—caribou, elk, wapiti, moose, deer
.........Order Perissodactyla—odd-toed-ungulates: horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs
............Family Equidae—asses, horses, zebras | Which Species are Included? Bears, wolves, and bison were once native to the Black Hills but no longer are. Extirpated by industrialized civilization, they are restricted now to "wildlife" sanctuaries or, as in the case of bison, they have been domesticated as livestock. We include them anyhow. With mammals especially, an outdoors-person may encounter some safety risks associated with a few species. So he or she might as well be familiar with species of outlying areas. We who hike in the Black Hills also hike the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Northern Colorado. There we may encounter a bear, wolf, moose, wolverine, and so on. It is more important to us to consider here all possibilites in a broader region than to adhere strictly to an empirical accounting of a restricted area's mammalian population. However, it is the larger mammals that interest us in that broader area, so we have not hurried to include all mice, squirrels, or bats that may be found in the extended area. For now we have added merely a few of the larger species we may find in the Central Rocky Mountains. We hope to add the smaller mammals of outlying areas later. A slight variation from a Black Hills species of mouse found near the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming is not so important to us as the presence of such animal as a moose. With many animals, their tracks may be all we see. And our weekend recreation or summer vacation may include considering fossil species such as mammoth, dinosaur, or even horse. Their "tracks" are ancient, but while we are considering the association of mammal species to our own, we can consider the impressions those prehistoric species have left. If we include them, fossil forms and additional species from outlying areas are not so numerous that we risk forgetting which actually inhabit the Black Hills now. The taxonomic structure on these pages generally follows the Integrated Taxonomic Information System employed by the United States Department of Agriculture. For species details, we resort to the University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web. There may be small discrepancies between these taxonomic structures, but they are of little concern for our purposes. Most current taxonomies favor evolutionary lines of development over older categories which have been based upon supposed similarities in species. An examination of various taxonomies from the last few decades demonstrates that taxonomic systems are continually subject to change as research progresses. It's unavoidable and instructive that we find small discrepancies between sources. We have begun with mammals because of our interest in cataloging their tracks. That project remains for the future, as time allows. Resource Links: Integrated Taxonomic Information System ITIS
Animal Diversity Web
Northern State University
Mammals of South Dakota
Wind Cave National Park Mammals List
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Wyoming Game & Fish Species Index (1.8 megabytes)
Sidwell Classification Pages
Wikipedia
Systema Naturae
British Columbia Adventure
Mammal Society—Mammals by State
Colorado Wildlife
Mountain Nature |
|
