What Type of Animals Live in the Great Plains?
The Great Plains of North America, despite receiving little rainfall, are some of the richest lands in the world in terms of wildlife. According to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM), animals that live on the plains have adapted over thousands of years to handle the dry, treeless environment. Although the Great Plains animals are not nearly as abundant as they were in the days of the great explorers Louis and Clark, many Great Plains species still call this region home.
Other People Are Reading
-
The Great Plains Defined
-
The Great Plains is an expansive region of land in North America once characterized by "seas" of grasses. The rough boundaries are set by the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River, but according to John Lindell of Trails, the Great Plains extend well into Canada. The JNEM claims the Great Plains take up as much as 1/4 of the continent. The wildlife diversity of the region results in part from this vastness.
Requirements
-
In the Great Plains, trees and water aren't as plentiful as in other areas. All of the animals of the Great Plains thus have to be able to survive without the cooling shade and food trees provide. Since the lack of trees means that there are few places to escape predators, animals of the plains also generally must be able to run extremely fast or burrow into the grasses or earth to hide.
-
Diversity
-
According to Lindell, rodents, hooved animals and carnivores are plentiful on the Great Plains. Rodents such as prairie dogs, ground squirrels, beavers, ferrets, badgers, moles and weasels are crucial to the Great Plains according to JNEM, since their burrowing naturally aerates the soil and allows vegetation to grow. The larger hooved animals like bison (buffalo), antelope and deer depend on this vegetation as their primary source of food. These rodents also provide a food source for birds like eagles and hawks and other predators such as foxes and bobcats.
Climate Change
-
Larry O'Hanlan of Discovery claims that one of the biggest threats to the Great Plains and its current wildlife is climate change. Climate change doesn't mean wildlife couldn't live in the Great Plains, but it does mean that different kinds of animals would be attracted to the region, since vegetation would change.
Human Impact
-
According to JNEM, although some regions of the prairie have been preserved, it is impossible to see them as they appeared to the original American settlers and Native American Indians. In the past, Native American Indians hunted the animals of the plain but took only what they needed. The Indians also practiced techniques that aided in vegetation growth (e.g., burning portions of the prairie) and thereby attracted the wildlife upon which they depended. The American settlers hunted some animals such as the bison and prairie dogs nearly to extinction and took over much of the wildlife's habitat for crops. Today, humans still impact Great Plains wildlife through pollution and habitat loss.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bison image by Melissa Schalke from Fotolia.com
