Animals

Check out the NPS Species List

What animal species are at Knife River Indian Villages NHS? Use the link below to find detailed lists of mammals, insects, amphibians, birds, and more.

 

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

Select a Park:

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Select a Species Category (optional):

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Species attribute definitions

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A porcupine is one of the animals that can be found in the park.

NPS Photo by John Moeykens

Within the various vegetative communities are many species of fauna. Larger birds and mammals rely on the wooded areas for winter cover and as an area for rearing young, but often feed in the open prairie.

Animals

White tailed deer, coyote, porcupine, skunk, beaver and thirteen-lined ground squirrels are some of the more common sightings. Prairie pocket gophers are rarely seen but are evident because of their prominent tunnel activities amongst the historic village sites. A large number of birds can be seen on a walk in the park.

Birds

Game birds such as wild turkey, pheasants, canada geese and mourning doves often find a refuge within the park. Raptors such as northern harriers, red-tailed hawks, kestrels, and bald eagles are often seen. Other large birds such as owls, white pelican, snow geese, and great blue heron are frequently spotted. Songs birds are common and the species change as you move from the prairie into the wooded areas.

 

Bull snakes can be frightening, but are harmless.

NPS Photo by Reed Weisenburger

Invertebrates

Although the park’s invertebrate inventory isn’t completed, a good selection of invertebrates have been located and documented within its borders. The most common order of insects are the Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Hemiptera (true bugs), Homoptera (leaf hoppers), and Hymenoptera (bees, wasp, ants) have been collected, resulting in over 200 different species of invertebrates having been identified.

Because of the presence of the Missouri and Knife Rivers, twenty-six species of aquatic mollusk are known to exist within the park.