Monthly Archives: November 2021

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The Wildlife of Missouri

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The US state of Missouri has a humid continental climate in the north a humid subtropical climate in the rest of the state. The wild animals in this state make their home in the many bodies of water, forests, and wilderness areas among them the famous Mark Twain National Forest.
State Mammal
Missouri Mule
State Bird
Eastern Bluebird
State Fish
Channel Catfish
State Insect
Western Honeybee
State Amphibian
American Bullfrog

Mammals


Among the rodents making their home in Missouri are several species of mice and rats, among them the golden mouse and the fulvous harvest mouse. Other rodents include voles adn woodrats, the southern bog lemming, the eastern gray squirrel, flying squirrels, the eastern chipmunk, the groundhog and the pocket gopher. Among the larger rodents in the state are beavers and the nutria.
Shrews that resemble mice aren’t rodents but belong to the Soricidae family, The ones living in Missouri are the northern and southern short-tailed shrew, Elliot’s short-tailed shrew and the common shrew. Their somewhat distant relative, the eastern mole can also be found here.
The American bison can be found in Prairie State Park. Other large mammals include the white-tailed deer and elk, including the Rocky Mountain elk.
The top canine predator is the coyote. There are also gray and red foxes. Another predator in the state is the bobcat. The largest of the predators is the black bear.
Other mammals in Missouri are the opossum, the American mink, types of weasels, the North American river otter and the striped and eastern spotted skunk. There are many species of bats among them the Mexican free-tailed bat which is one of the most common chiropterans. You can also find rabbits here and the nine-banded armadillo.
Birds

Birds make their home in the freshwater lakes, ponds, streams, and rivers of Missouri. Among them are swans, ducks, geese and wading birds such as herons and egrets. You can also find gulls and the American and brown pelicans here as well as cormorants, and the roseate spoonbill. The common loon with its haunting call is here and even birds that are normally at sea like the northern storm petrel and frigatebirds visit in landlocked Missouri.
Besides the eastern bluebird, other songbirds found in the state include vireos, wood peewees, flycatchers, kingbirds, bluejays, crows, chickadees, larks, swallows, nuthatches, wrens, thrashers and mockingbirds.
You can also find finches, buntings and sparrows here as well as warblers and tanagers. There are many woodpeckers among them the rarest woodpecker, the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Reptiles and Amphibians

Reptiles that make their home in Missouri include the Texas horned lizard and several species of skink, the glass lizard and many species of snakes and turtles, including the huge alligator snapping turtle.
Most of the snakes in the state are nonvenomous but you should look out for the venomous cottonmouth, the copperhead, and at least three species of rattlesnakes.
Amphibians include the common mudpuppy and other species of salamander including the grotto salamander and the central newt.

Besides the American bullfrog also living here at the common toad, the eastern narrow-mouthed toad, the striped chorus frog and the crawfish frog, named because it lives in crawfish burrows most of the time.

Insects

Insects in the state include ants, bees, wasps, butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, beetles and true bugs.

Among the true bugs is the masked hunter, a type of assasin bug whose nymph tries to camouflage itself under layers of dust and dirt. It eats bedbugs but can deliver a nasty bite to a human.

Blister beetles give off a chemical that can raise blisters on the skin, The blue death-feigning beetle can roll over and play dead for hours. The American ermine moth is pure white with black spots.
Other Arthropods

The spiders found in Missouri are American house spiders, crab spiders, orb-web weavers, wolf spiders and jumping spiders. There are also the brown recluse and black widow spiders. The Missouri tarantula is the only tarantula found here and its venom is not life-threatening.

Other arthropods found in the state are centipedes, millipedes, crayfish, isopods and amphipods.

Fish


There are much fish in Missouri like the lake sturgeon found at the bottom of lakes or wide rivers. A fish that is native to the state is the bowfin. Other fish include suckers, quillbacks, buffalos, redhorses, sunfish, darters and bluegill, different species of bass, walleye, sauger and crappie.


Missouri has chubs and minnows, pikes, pickerel, muskellunge and different species of catfish, including bullheads and madtoms. There are also gars, including the alligator gar and the longnose gar. Rainbow and brown trout can be found in lakes, rivers and streams, and the rainbow trout can be found beneath dams.

Freshwater Mollusks

There are many species of freshwater mollusks, especially freshwater mussels. They include the elktoe and the snuffbox, which are both endangered, the spectacle case, the white heelsplitter and the paper pondshell, which can be both male and female at the same time. Other mussels are the monkeyface, the wartyback and the pimpleback.

The Asiatic clam which is native to eastern Asia had found its way into the waters of Missouri.
Endangered Animals In Missouri

Grotto sculpin – This fish is now only found in Perry County’s Bois Brule drainage and is endangered.





Pink mucket – The pink mucket is one of the rarest of freshwater mussels. It is endangered throughout the country and not just in Missouri.

Ozark hellbender – This strange salamander with its flat head and frilled sides is classified as endangered.
Pallid sturgeon – The pallid sturgeon is one of the rarest of the sturgeons and is rarely seen in the wild. It is in danger of extinction due to habitat destruction.