Animals in the United States
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. It has been on the Great Seal of the country since 1782, and in December 2024 a law made it the official national bird. This large eagle, with its white head and yellow beak, lives near lakes, rivers and coasts, where it catches fish. In the twentieth century it came close to disappearing from most of the country, mainly because of hunting and a pesticide called DDT, which made its eggshells too thin. After DDT was banned in 1972 and the bird was protected, its numbers grew again, and in 2007 it was taken off the endangered species list. The country also has a national mammal, the American bison, chosen in 2016.
Wildlife in the United States
The United States is one of the largest countries on Earth, and it stretches across almost every kind of climate, from the Arctic coast of Alaska to the tropical islands of Hawaii and the warm swamps of Florida. About 340 million people live there, mostly in the cities of the coasts and the East, yet huge areas of the West and Alaska remain wild, much of it public land. Its landscapes shape where animals live. The forests of the East shelter white tailed deer, black bears and raccoons. The Great Plains, a sea of grass in the middle of the country, were once home to tens of millions of bison and still hold pronghorn and coyotes. The Rocky Mountains and the parks of the West, like Yellowstone, keep grizzly bears, wolves and cougars, while the deserts of the Southwest belong to rattlesnakes and other animals built for the heat. Alaska adds polar bears, moose and caribou, and the Everglades of Florida add alligators and manatees. Along both coasts, whales, sea lions and sharks feed in rich waters.
People nearly wiped out some of these animals and then brought them back. By the late 1800s hunting had left fewer than a thousand bison, and the bald eagle almost disappeared in the 1900s. The country also invented the national park: Yellowstone, created in 1872, was the first in the world, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 helped bring back the bald eagle, the gray wolf, which returned to Yellowstone in 1995, and many other animals.
Today wildlife is one of the main reasons people visit the national parks, which receive hundreds of millions of visits a year. Visitors watch bison and wolves in Yellowstone, bears in Alaska, alligators in the Everglades and whales off Cape Cod, California and the San Juan Islands.
Most Dangerous Animals in the United States
The United States has several animals that can be dangerous, but serious incidents are rare. Bears are the best known risk. The large bears of Alaska and the northern Rockies are the most dangerous, so hikers there carry bear spray and make noise on the trail, while the smaller bears of eastern and western forests are more common and usually shy. In Yellowstone, bison have injured more visitors than any other animal, because people walk too close to take photos, and moose can charge in the northern forests.
Venomous snakes live in much of the country, from the deserts of the West to the swamps of the Southeast, and alligators live in Florida and other southern states, so it is best not to swim in lakes where they live. Along the coasts, Florida records the most shark bites in the country, although they are rarely serious. Surprisingly, the wild animal linked to the most human deaths is the white tailed deer, because it causes many car crashes. Keeping your distance, following park rules and driving carefully at dawn and dusk prevent most problems.
Top 10 Animals in the United States
America's best known animals are spread from the Arctic to the Pacific coast, and each one has its own place and season. Grizzly bears live in Alaska and in a few western areas like Yellowstone and Glacier National Park, and summer at Katmai, in Alaska, is famous for bears fishing at the falls. Gray wolves came back to Yellowstone in 1995 after being gone for about 70 years, and the Lamar Valley is now one of the best places in the world to watch them, especially in winter. Moose live in the northern forests, from Maine to Alaska, while the wolverine and the Canada lynx survive in remote snowy mountains and are rarely seen. Cougars range across the West but are almost never spotted, even by people who live in their territory. In Alaska, caribou, the same species as the reindeer, gather in huge migrating herds. At sea, orcas are a regular sight around the San Juan Islands in Washington, blue whales feed off California in summer, and great white sharks visit Cape Cod and the coast of California, where scientists track them every year.
Macaque
Macaca spp.
Macaques are not native to the United States, but rhesus macaques have lived wild in central Florida since the 1930s, when a tour boat operator released them along the Silver River. The IUCN lists this introduced population as established. In 2015 researchers counted about 175 in Silver Springs State Park, and monkeys now turn up in other parts of the state. Many carry herpes B virus, so officials warn people not to feed them. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Ocelot
Leopardus pardalis
In the United States, the ocelot survives only in South Texas, where fewer than 100 live in dense thorn scrub at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and on private ranches in Willacy and Kenedy counties. Male ocelots from Sonora also turn up now and then in southern Arizona. Listed as Endangered since 1982, the species is threatened by road deaths, loss of brush and isolation from Mexico. IUCN status: Least Concern.
White tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus
The white tailed deer lives in almost every state of the lower 48, missing only from most of California, Nevada and Utah. Overhunting left perhaps a few hundred thousand around 1900, but hunting laws and restocking brought it back to tens of millions. Today regulated hunting keeps numbers in check, deer cause over a million car crashes a year, and chronic wasting disease is spreading. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Gray Wolf
Canis lupus
Gray wolves were once found across nearly all of North America but were eliminated from most of the contiguous United States by the mid twentieth century. Recovery programs, including the famous reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, have helped restore populations in the Northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region. Today wolves also appear in the Pacific Northwest. Their legal protection under the Endangered Species Act has been a key factor in their return.
Red Fox
Vulpes vulpes
The red fox lives in most of the United States, from Alaska and New England to the Midwest, the Rockies and California, but it is scarce in parts of the dry Southwest. Genetic studies suggest most eastern foxes are native rather than descendants of foxes brought from England. In the West, the native Sierra Nevada red fox is endangered, with only a few dozen left in California. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Reindeer
Rangifer tarandus
In the United States, wild caribou live only in Alaska, where herds such as the Western Arctic and Porcupine herds migrate across the tundra and are vital to Alaska Native communities. Further south they are gone: the last caribou of the South Selkirk herd, which crossed into Idaho and Washington, was captured in British Columbia in 2019. Domestic reindeer brought from Siberia in the 1890s are still herded in western Alaska. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Wild Boar
Sus scrofa
Wild pigs are not native to the United States. Spanish explorers brought domestic pigs in the sixteenth century, and European wild boars were later released for hunting. Today feral swine, about six million in 2013, live in dozens of states, with the most in Texas, and cause at least 3.4 billion dollars in damage a year. Cougars, black bears and alligators take some. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Wolverine
Gulo gulo
In the lower 48 states, wolverines are rare and found mainly in the snowy northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and in the North Cascades of Washington, with only a few hundred animals. In November 2023 they were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, mainly because warming threatens their snowpack. Alaska, by contrast, holds a large and healthy population. IUCN status: Least Concern.
American Bison
Bison bison
The American bison, the national mammal of the United States since 2016, once roamed the Great Plains in tens of millions until hide hunting left fewer than a thousand. Today about 31,000 live in conservation herds in places such as Wind Cave, Custer State Park and the Henry Mountains, while Yellowstone holds about 5,000, the only herd that has lived wild there since prehistoric times, and many tribal nations manage their own herds. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Arctic Fox
Vulpes lagopus
In the United States the arctic fox lives only in Alaska, on the tundra of the North Slope and the west coast and on islands of the Bering Sea, such as the Pribilofs, where the dark blue morph is common. White in winter and brown in summer, it hunts lemmings and seabirds and follows polar bears onto the sea ice. On the Aleutians it was introduced by fur farmers. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Beaver
Castor canadensis
The North American beaver is widespread across the contiguous United States, inhabiting streams, rivers, and wetlands in forests and grasslands alike. Once nearly wiped out by the fur trade, populations recovered strongly through the twentieth century. Today beavers are recognized as a keystone species, and their dam building is increasingly valued for watershed restoration and drought resilience. Their IUCN status is Least Concern.
Canada Lynx
Lynx canadensis
In the contiguous United States, the Canada lynx occupies a limited range across the northern Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes region, and parts of New England. Populations here are smaller and more fragmented than in Canada, and the species is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Its dependence on deep snow and snowshoe hares makes it particularly sensitive to habitat loss and climate shifts. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Cougar
Puma concolor
In the United States, where it is usually called the mountain lion, the cougar is most firmly established in the western states, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast ranges. A small and critically endangered population, the Florida panther, survives in the swamps of southern Florida. Once found across the entire country, the cougar was eliminated from most of the East by the early twentieth century. Populations in the West remain stable across much of the region.
Coyote
Canis latrans
The coyote is one of the most widespread wild mammals in the United States, found in every state except Hawaii. It thrives in deserts, prairies, forests, wetlands and city parks alike. Despite decades of hunting, trapping and federal control programs, its numbers have grown and its range has spread from the western plains to the Atlantic coast. It plays a vital role in keeping rodent and rabbit populations in balance. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Grizzly Bear
Ursus arctos horribilis
In the lower 48 states about 2,000 grizzlies survive in parts of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington, mainly around Glacier National Park and in Greater Yellowstone, where numbers grew from about 136 in 1975 to more than 1,000. They are protected as threatened, and 2025 was their deadliest year in Yellowstone. The famous Grand Teton mother Grizzly 399 was killed by a car in 2024 at age 28. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Moose
Alces alces
In the lower 48 states, moose live in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, the Adirondacks of New York, Minnesota, Michigan and the northern Rocky Mountains, with Maine holding the most, about 60,000 to 70,000. Alaska adds around 200,000 more. Warmer winters are a growing problem in the Northeast, where winter ticks multiply and kill many calves, and Minnesota's moose have fallen sharply since the 2000s. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Musk Ox
Ovibos moschatus
In the United States, musk oxen live only in Alaska, where the native herds were hunted out in the 1800s. Their return began with 34 animals from Greenland in 1930, moved to Nunivak Island in 1935 and 1936. Today about 4,300 roam Nunivak and Nelson islands, the Seward Peninsula and the North Slope. They are often seen near Nome, and the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer keeps a domestic herd for qiviut, which Alaska Native knitters turn into scarves and hats. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Bobcat
Lynx rufus
The bobcat is the most common wild cat in the United States, found in nearly every state of the lower 48 but not in Alaska or Hawaii. A 2010 study estimated 2.35 to 3.57 million bobcats, with numbers rising in most states. It lives in forests, swamps, deserts, farmland and suburbs, and has returned to Midwest states such as Ohio and Iowa. Most states manage it as a furbearer with seasons. IUCN status: Least Concern.
American Black Bear
Ursus americanus
The American black bear lives in more than 40 states, from Alaska and the West to the Appalachians, New England and Florida, and is returning to places like Missouri and Ohio. Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone has about 1,900. The Louisiana black bear left the endangered species list in 2016, and Florida held its first bear hunt in a decade in 2025. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Raccoon
Procyon lotor
The raccoon lives in every one of the lower 48 states but not in Hawaii, from eastern hardwood forests and Gulf Coast marshes to prairie rivers and large cities. It is one of the country's most common wild mammals and a game and fur animal in many states. A rabies variant adapted to raccoons spread from Florida in the 1950s across the East, where vaccine baits are dropped to contain it. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
The pronghorn thrives across the sagebrush flats, grasslands and desert shrublands of the American West, and Wyoming has more than any other state. Wyoming's Path of the Pronghorn, between the Green River Basin and Grand Teton, became the first federally designated wildlife migration corridor in 2008. In Arizona, the endangered Sonoran pronghorn has recovered from 21 animals in 2002. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Armadillo
Dasypus novemcinctus (complex of four species)
The armadillo of the United States is the northern nine banded armadillo, Dasypus mexicanus since the 2024 split. It crossed into Texas from Mexico in the mid nineteenth century and now lives from Texas and Florida to Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska and the Carolinas, held back only by cold winters. It is one of the few wild animals that can carry leprosy. Its cone shaped holes are common in Southern lawns. IUCN status: not yet evaluated as a separate species.
Jaguar
Panthera onca
Jaguars once lived across the American Southwest, but the resident population was wiped out by the mid twentieth century. Today, single males cross from Sonora, Mexico, into the sky island mountains of southern Arizona, and researchers have documented five different jaguars there in about fifteen years, the latest in 2025. No breeding females have been confirmed for decades. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Opossum
Didelphis spp. (6 species)
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial in the United States, living across most of the East, South and Midwest and spreading north for more than a century. It was introduced to California around 1910 and now lives along the Pacific coast too. It thrives in woods, farms and suburbs, eats almost anything, and is famous for playing possum when terrified. IUCN status: Least Concern.
River Otter
Lontra canadensis
In the United States, the river otter has made one of the great wildlife comebacks. Trapping and pollution wiped it out of much of the center and east by the early 1900s, but cleaner water and the release of more than 4,000 otters in 21 states brought it back. Today it lives in almost every state, from Alaska to Florida, often sharing ponds with beavers and rivers with bald eagles. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Gray Fox
Urocyon cinereoargenteus
The gray fox lives in most of the United States, from New England and Florida to Texas and California, but is missing from the northern Great Plains and much of the northern Rockies. It favors woods, brushy hills and rocky ground, and it is the only fox in the country that climbs trees. In parts of the Midwest, such as Iowa and Illinois, it has declined. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Blackbuck
Antilope cervicapra
Blackbuck were brought to the United States as exotic game in the 1930s, and Texas now holds the largest population outside Asia, around 20,000 animals living outside fences, most of them on the Edwards Plateau. Smaller herds are kept on ranches in other states. As an introduced species it has no federal protection and is managed privately on game ranches, while it remains protected in India. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Sambar Deer
Rusa unicolor
In the United States, the only well established wild herd of sambar lives on St. Vincent Island, a national wildlife refuge off the Florida Panhandle, where the deer were introduced in 1908. A small herd survives there in the island's marshes and pine forests, and the refuge holds a lottery hunt each year to keep numbers in check. Elsewhere, especially in Texas, sambar are kept mainly on private hunting ranches. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Red Wolf
Canis rufus
The red wolf is a wolf found only in the United States, and its last wild population lives on the Albemarle Peninsula of eastern North Carolina, around Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes national wildlife refuges. Only a few dozen roam there, hunting white tailed deer, raccoons and rabbits among pine forests, marshes and farm fields. Shootings, road deaths and crossing with coyotes are its main threats. IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
Elk
Cervus canadensis
The elk is one of the great animals of the American West. Colorado alone has close to 300,000, Yellowstone holds 10,000 to 20,000 in summer, and herds winter on the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. Hunted out of the east by 1900, elk returned to Kentucky and Pennsylvania through reintroductions. Bulls bugle in September and October, and wolves, cougars and grizzly bears hunt them. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Iguana
Iguana iguana
The green iguana is not native to the United States but has invasive breeding populations in South Florida, from the Keys to Palm Beach and beyond, and on Oahu in Hawaii. They began with escaped and released pets. In Florida they damage seawalls and gardens, and during cold snaps they fall from trees stunned. Florida bans keeping them without a permit, and Hawaii bans them without one too. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Green turtles nest and forage in several parts of the United States. Florida's east coast beaches host the country's largest nesting population, which grew to more than 37,000 nests in 2015, and Hawaii has its own population of honu, which bask on beaches across the islands. Green turtles also forage along the Texas coast and even in San Diego Bay, California. Protection since 1978 has helped them recover strongly. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Alligator
Alligator mississippiensis
The American alligator lives only in the southeastern United States, from North Carolina to Texas, with Louisiana and Florida holding the largest populations. It thrives in swamps, rivers, lakes and bayous and has become a symbol of wild Florida, especially in the Everglades. Hunted nearly to extinction, it was protected in 1967 and declared recovered in 1987, and today there are about five million. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Rattlesnake
Crotalus and Sistrurus (about 40β50 species)
The United States has rattlesnakes in nearly every mainland state, with the most species in the Southwest; Arizona alone has 13. Well known species include the eastern and western diamondbacks, the timber and prairie rattlesnakes and the massasauga. About 7,000 to 8,000 venomous snakebites happen each year, mostly by rattlesnakes, but only around five people die. Roads, habitat loss and roundups threaten many populations. IUCN status: varies by species.
Cottonmouth Snake
Agkistrodon piscivorus
The cottonmouth, or water moccasin, is the only semiaquatic viper in North America and lives only in the United States, from southeastern Virginia to Florida and west to eastern Texas and Oklahoma, reaching north to southern Illinois. It favors swamps, marshes, creeks and ditches. When threatened, it gapes its bright white mouth as a warning. Bites need hospital care, but deaths are very rare. IUCN status: Least Concern.
CoquΓ
Eleutherodactylus coqui
The coqui is not a native American frog. It reached Hawaii in the late 1980s in potted plants from Puerto Rico and exploded there, hitting around 91,000 frogs per hectare on islands with no native frogs and nothing that eats them. A few nursery sites in southern California hold small, fragile pockets of it, and earlier introductions in Florida and Louisiana died out. Hawaii treats the nightly chorus as noise pollution and sprays citric acid against it.
Green Pheasant
Phasianus versicolor
The green pheasant, Japan's national bird, was introduced to the United States as a game bird, and the only place where it became established is Hawaii. It now lives wild on several islands, including Hawaii Island, Maui and Kauai, in grassland and open country, where it often interbreeds with introduced ring necked pheasants. Attempts to release it in mainland North America failed. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Barn Owl
Tyto alba
The barn owl breeds across most of the United States, from California and the deserts of the Southwest to the farmland of the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, becoming scarcer in the colder north. It nests in barns, silos, hollow trees, cliffs and nest boxes and hunts voles, mice and gophers at night. Farmers and vineyards in states such as California use nest boxes as natural rodent control. It was also introduced to Hawaii. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
Puffin
Fratercula arctica
In the United States, Atlantic puffins nest primarily on small islands off the coast of Maine, including Eastern Egg Rock and Seal Island. These colonies were reestablished through the work of Project Puffin, run by the Audubon Society, after the birds had been wiped out in the region by the early twentieth century. The project is considered one of the great seabird restoration successes in history. Populations remain small but stable, and are carefully managed each breeding season.
White Wagtail
Motacilla alba
The United States is the only country in the Americas where the white wagtail breeds, and only in western Alaska. A few pairs of the East Siberian wagtail nest each summer on the coast of the Seward Peninsula and around the Bering Strait, and they migrate back to Asia for the winter. Elsewhere in the country, including California, it is a rare vagrant that draws birders from far away. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus
The peregrine falcon is one of America's great conservation success stories. Pesticide use in the mid twentieth century wiped out nearly all eastern breeding populations, but after DDT was banned in 1972 and intensive reintroduction programs began, the species recovered fully. Today it breeds on cliffs, river gorges, and city buildings across the country, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999.
Mute Swan
Cygnus olor
The mute swan is not native to the United States. Brought from Europe to decorate parks and estates starting in the late 1800s, it escaped and now breeds wild in the Northeast, the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes. Michigan's flock grew from one pair released in 1919 to about 15,500 birds in 2010. Because it eats huge amounts of underwater plants and drives off native birds, several states work to cut its numbers. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States, found in every state except Hawaii, from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to Florida and the Gulf Coast. After falling to 417 known nesting pairs in the lower 48 in 1963, it recovered thanks to legal protection and the ban on DDT, and by 2019 there were about 316,700 eagles there. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Golden Eagle
Aquila chrysaetos
In the United States, the golden eagle lives mainly in the West, from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Basin and the desert ranges of the Southwest, and in Alaska. It nests on cliffs and hunts jackrabbits, prairie dogs and ground squirrels. It no longer breeds in the East, where it is a winter visitor. It is protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Pairs keep the same territory for years and often have several nests. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Gyrfalcon
Falco rusticolus
In the United States the gyrfalcon breeds only in Alaska. Farther south it appears as a scarce winter visitor, moving down from the Arctic in years when prey runs short. Birds have been recorded across the northern Great Plains, the Great Lakes, New England and the Pacific Northwest, often around open farmland, shorelines and grain elevators with pigeons. Each sighting draws birdwatchers from far away. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Trumpeter Swan
Cygnus buccinator
Trumpeter Swans nearly vanished from the contiguous United States: by 1933 fewer than 70 wild birds were known, most around Yellowstone and Red Rock Lakes in Montana. Protection, the discovery of thousands more in Alaska and decades of reintroductions brought them back to states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. They nest on shallow lakes and marshes and feed on aquatic plants. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Flamingo
Phoenicopteridae (6 species)
The American flamingo is native to the United States, mainly in southern Florida. A study published in 2018 showed that the flamingos of Florida Bay and the Everglades are wild birds, part of the Caribbean population, and not zoo escapees, after being hunted almost out of the state in the 1800s. After Hurricane Idalia in 2023, flamingos were seen in more than a dozen states. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Monk Parakeet
Myiopsitta monachus
The monk parakeet is an introduced bird in the United States. Thousands were imported as pets between the 1960s and the 1980s, and by 1995 escaped birds had colonies in 15 states. Florida has the largest numbers, with thriving populations in Texas, New York and Chicago. Their stick nests on power poles can cause outages, and 13 states ban keeping them as pets, while others require permits or registration. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Snowy Owl
Bubo scandiacus
In the United States, snowy owls breed only on the tundra of northern and western Alaska. Every winter some reach the northern states, and in irruption years, like 2013 to 2014, thousands spread across the Great Lakes, New England and the Atlantic coast, a few reaching far into the south. Airports such as Boston's Logan trap and release the owls that settle on their runways instead of killing them. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Blue Whale
Balaenoptera musculus
The United States holds the healthiest blue whale population in the northern hemisphere, about two thousand animals that feed each summer and autumn along the Pacific coast, from California to Oregon and Washington. The species is protected under the Endangered Species Act, and ships are asked to slow down in key feeding areas to avoid collisions. Records on the Atlantic coast are rare and limited to northern waters. IUCN status: Endangered.
Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
The United States has some of the best humpback watching in the world. They feed in summer off Alaska, California and New England, where Stellwagen Bank, near Boston, is a classic spot from April to October, and they breed in winter around Hawaii. Since 2016 the species is managed as separate populations: most have recovered, but those of Central America and the western North Pacific are still listed as endangered. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Orca
Orcinus orca
The United States has some of the best known orcas on Earth. In Washington's Salish Sea live the Southern Residents, salmon eaters that numbered just 74 in 2025 and are listed as Endangered in the country. Mammal hunting orcas roam the whole West Coast, from Alaska to California, and Alaska holds large resident groups. On the Atlantic and in Hawaii they are seen only rarely, and a small group lives offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. IUCN status: Data Deficient.
Manatee
Trichechus manatus
The United States is home to the Florida manatee, one of the two subspecies of the West Indian manatee. Almost all live in Florida, crowding into warm springs and power plant outflows in winter, but in summer some travel along the Gulf coast to Alabama and Louisiana and up the Atlantic to Georgia and the Carolinas, and one famous wanderer reached New England. Florida had about 8,350 to 11,730 manatees in its 2021 to 2022 count. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Beluga Whale
Delphinapterus leucas
In the United States belugas live only in Alaska, in five populations spread from Cook Inlet near Anchorage to the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The Cook Inlet group, about 330 animals according to the 2022 survey, is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and has not recovered since the 1990s. The other Alaska populations are large and stable, and some are hunted for food by Alaska Native communities. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Polar Bear
Ursus maritimus
In the United States, polar bears live only in Alaska, along the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The species is listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 2008, the first animal listed mainly because of climate change, as the sea ice it hunts on shrinks. The Southern Beaufort Sea bears have declined in recent decades, while the Chukchi Sea group, shared with Russia, appears more stable. Kaktovik is the best known place to see them. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Walrus
Odobenus rosmarus
In the United States, walruses live only in Alaska, where the Pacific walrus spends the winter in the Bering Sea and the summer in the Chukchi Sea. Round Island, in Bristol Bay, is a protected haul out where thousands of males rest each summer and visitors can camp with a permit. Since 2007, as summer ice disappears, tens of thousands have also crowded onto beaches near Point Lay. Lone walruses reaching Maine or Massachusetts are only rare strays. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
The United States has some of the best known bottlenose dolphins in the world, along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in California and Hawaii. In the salt marshes of South Carolina and Georgia they chase fish onto mud banks, and in Sarasota Bay, Florida, the same community has been studied since 1970. In the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 harmed many of them. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Harbor Seal
Phoca vitulina
Harbor seals live on both coasts of the United States. In the Atlantic they breed in Maine and spread south in winter as far as New York and the Carolinas. In the Pacific they rest on rocks, sandbars and docks from Washington and Oregon to California, and Alaska holds the largest population in the country. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 ended their killing, and most groups grew back after it. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Common Dolphin
Delphinus delphis
The United States has large numbers of common dolphins on both coasts. In the Pacific they are the most common dolphin off California, where groups of hundreds are seen year round, and in the Atlantic they live from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Maine, often near the edge of the continental shelf. They are rare in the Gulf of Mexico and absent from Hawaii. They are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Elephant Seal
Mirounga spp.
Northern elephant seals breed on California beaches every winter, at Point Reyes, AΓ±o Nuevo, Piedras Blancas near San Simeon and the Channel Islands. Males arrive in December, pups are born in January and the adults come back in spring and summer to molt. Hunters left perhaps 100 of them in the 1800s, and under protection they have grown back to more than 200,000 animals. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Sea Lion
Otariinae (six living species)
Two sea lion species live in the United States. The California sea lion is the familiar one, barking on piers, buoys and rocks from Southern California to Washington, with famous groups at Pier 39 in San Francisco and La Jolla Cove. The Steller sea lion, the largest of all, lives from Northern California to Alaska. California sea lions have grown to about 257,000 since the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. IUCN status: Least Concern (California sea lion) and Near Threatened (Steller sea lion).
Sperm Whale
Physeter macrocephalus
In the United States sperm whales are seen most easily around Hawaii, where family groups live all year, and off Alaska, where adult males feed in summer. A resident population of about 1,200 animals lives in the Gulf of Mexico, and was hit by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. They also feed in the deep canyons off New England. The species has been listed as endangered in the country since 1970. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Sea Otter
Enhydra lutris
The United States holds most of the world's sea otters, and the large majority live in Alaska, from the Aleutians to Southeast Alaska. Others live on Washington's outer coast, descended from otters moved from Alaska in 1969 and 1970, and about 3,000 southern sea otters live in central California. The southern population and the otters of southwest Alaska are listed as threatened under federal law. IUCN status: Endangered.
Barracuda
Sphyraena barracuda
In the United States the great barracuda lives in the warm waters of the southeast: all around Florida and the Keys and along the Gulf of Mexico, with young fish carried farther up the Atlantic coast in summer. It also lives around Hawaii, where it is called kΔkΕ«. Divers meet it on reefs and wrecks, and on the Florida flats it is a prized sport fish that many anglers release. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Tiger Shark
Galeocerdo cuvier
In the United States the tiger shark lives along the warm Atlantic coast, from the Carolinas to Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico and around Hawaii, where it is the shark most often involved in bites on people. Federal rules limit how many can be caught, and in the northwest Atlantic its numbers appear stable. Tagging studies off Florida and Hawaii have shown that individuals can travel thousands of kilometers each year. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Hammerhead Shark
Sphyrnidae (Sphyrna mokarran, S. lewini and others)
The United States has hammerheads on several coasts. Great hammerheads are common off Florida, especially around the Keys and Jupiter, scalloped hammerheads school over the Flower Garden Banks off Texas, and young scalloped hammerheads grow up in KΔneΚ»ohe Bay, Hawaii, one of the best studied nurseries in the world. Off the Atlantic coast, numbers have begun to recover under federal fishing limits. IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
Great White Shark
Carcharodon carcharias
The United States has great white sharks on both coasts. In the Pacific they gather at the Farallon Islands and along central California, and young sharks grow up off southern California. In the Atlantic, they have become a common sight off Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, as gray seals have recovered, and newborn pups use a nursery off Long Island, New York. In winter many move south to the Carolinas and Florida. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Reef Shark
Several species (Carcharhinus melanopterus, C. perezi, C. amblyrhynchos, Triaenodon obesus)
In the United States the Caribbean reef shark lives in the warm waters of southern Florida, especially around the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas, and on offshore reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most common large shark on many Caribbean reefs, but it is less common in Florida. Federal rules ban shark finning and protect several shark species in United States waters. IUCN status: Endangered.
Bull Shark
Carcharhinus leucas
In the United States the bull shark lives along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, from Texas and Florida to the Carolinas, and visits farther north in summer. It enters rivers and bays, and one was caught in the Mississippi at Alton, Illinois, more than 1,000 kilometers inland. Thanks to fishing rules, numbers off the United States are growing, unlike in much of the world. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals live in America?
The United States has an amazing variety of animals. On land there are grizzly bears, American black bears, polar bears, gray wolves, cougars, bobcats, coyotes, moose, white tailed deer, American bison, pronghorn, beavers, raccoons, opossums and armadillos. Reptiles include alligators, rattlesnakes and cottonmouths. Its birds include the bald eagle, the golden eagle, puffins and trumpeter swans. In its seas and coasts live orcas, humpback whales, blue whales, manatees, sea lions, sea turtles and several kinds of sharks.
What is the national animal of the United States?
The United States has two official animal symbols. The bald eagle is the national bird. It has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782, and a law signed in December 2024 made it the official national bird. The American bison became the national mammal in 2016. Yellowstone National Park is the only place in the country where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times, and it is one of the best places to see both animals in the wild.
What are the most dangerous animals in the United States?
Bears are the most dangerous large animals in the United States, especially in Alaska and the northern Rockies. Bison injure more people in Yellowstone than any other animal, usually when visitors get too close, and moose can charge in northern forests. Venomous snakes live in much of the country, and alligators can be dangerous in Florida and other southern states. Sharks bite a few people each year, mostly in Florida. The wild animal linked to the most deaths, though, is the white tailed deer, because of car crashes.
Where can you see wildlife in the United States?
Yellowstone National Park is one of the best places, with bison, gray wolves, grizzly bears and pronghorn. Alaska is the place for polar bears, walruses, puffins and humpback whales, and Denali National Park has grizzlies and moose. In Florida, the Everglades are famous for alligators, and manatees gather in warm springs like Crystal River in winter. On the Pacific coast, sea lions and elephant seals rest on California beaches, and orcas can be seen around the San Juan Islands in Washington.
Are there wolves in the United States?
Yes. Gray wolves live in Alaska, which has the largest population in the country, and in the lower 48 states mainly around the western Great Lakes, especially Minnesota, and in the northern Rockies. They were wiped out from most of the country by the 1930s, but legal protection helped them come back, and in 1995 they were returned to Yellowstone National Park, where they now help control the herds of grazing animals. The Lamar Valley in Yellowstone is one of the best places to see them, especially in winter with binoculars or a spotting scope.
Researched and written by Juan Pablo. Sources: IUCN Red List, scientific literature and regional field guides. Last updated: .