The Badlands provide a home for a variety of species.
NPS Photo
Badlands National Park is home to many resilient creatures, including some of the most endangered species in North America. To survive the bitter winters and searing summers of the Great Plains, you need a good plan -- and the wildlife of the park have arrived at many ingenious solutions to the problems of exposure, heat, cold, and drought. Check out the articles below to learn the amazing stories of such iconic animals as the American Bison, Black-footed Ferret, and Pronghorn!
Many reptiles live in the Badlands. Read about them and get a species list here.
Species Attribute Definitions
Definitions
Occurrence
Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.
Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.
Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.
Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.
Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.
Occurrence Tags
Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.
False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.
Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.
Abundance
Abundant:
Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.
Common:
Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.
Uncommon:
Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.
Rare:
Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.
Occasional:
Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).
Unknown: Abundance unknown
Nativeness
Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.
Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.
Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.
List Differences
The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.
The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.
The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.
Locations:Assateague Island National Seashore, Badlands National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Channel Islands National Park, Everglades National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Katmai National Park & Preserve, North Cascades National Park, Padre Island National Seashoremore »
National parks offer so many unique experiences to see wildlife in their natural habitats. Learn seven ways to safely watch wildlife. And see just a few of our favorite places to watch wildlife in parks around the country. Can't visit a park? Check out a few wildlife watching webcams, too!
2025 Update! Horses at Assateague Island National Seashore are managed as a wildlife population. Regular monitoring of population dynamics is necessary to support the long-term fertility control program that was initiated in 1994 to reduce the numbers of the Maryland herd, and now, management of the population close to the goal range of 80-100 individuals.
Assateague Island, way out on the Maryland coast, may be famous for its wild horses, but it’s also a great spot for birds. In this episode of Outside Science (inside parks), park scientists and interns are giving birds a health check-up to make sure they’re doing okay.
Locations:Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve
Offices:Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network
Read a summary and get a link to a published journal article on denning duration of bears in the Brooks Range of Alaska: Deacy, W., M. S. Sorum, M. D. Cameron, G. V. Hilderbrand, D. D. Gustine, and K. Joly. 2025. Denning chronology in an Arctic brown bear population. Wildlife Biology e01420.
Locations:Acadia National Park, Alagnak Wild River, Alaska Public Lands, Aleutian Islands World War II National Historic Area, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Assateague Island National Seashore, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Big Bend National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Big Thicket National Preserve, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Biscayne National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Bluestone National Scenic River, Cabrillo National Monument, Canaveral National Seashore, Cape Cod National Seashore, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Channel Islands National Park, Everglades National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Padre Island National Seashore, Yellowstone National Parkmore »
At night, birds use the stars to find their way. But bright lights from buildings can confuse them. That's why national parks are so important - they're like bird hotels! They give birds safe places to rest and eat, especially after flying across the ocean.
Locations:Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve
After nearly 20 years, the snowshoe hare population in the central Brooks Range on the eastern boundary of Gates of the Arctic National Park is building toward a peak in the population. Traditional ecological knowledge of the area tells us that the coming peak should be considerably larger than the small population increase we saw in 2008-2010. Based on the report: Snowshoe hare population trends at mineral and non-mineral sites in the central Brooks Range, Alaska.
The Point Reyes mountain beaver—a primitive rodent that isn’t a beaver—is a sort of mythical creature at Point Reyes National Seashore. Almost no one has seen one in-person with their own eyes. Not even National Park Service Wildlife Biologists Taylor Ellis and Matt Lau, who just completed their first season of surveys as a part of a 2-year mountain beaver habitat modeling project in collaboration with UC Berkeley. Still, the survey season was a great success.
Locations:Bandelier National Monument, Yosemite National Park
U.S. national parks are part of an international network tracking vulnerable migratory birds. They are also vital training grounds for future bird conservationists.
