Animal or plant species that have been introduced into an area
(non-native)
Muskrat
Habitat: Marshes, edges of ponds, lakes, and streams; cattails, rushes, water lillies, open water.
Diet: aquatic vegetation, clams, frogs, and occasionally fish
Introduced species in
California
Predators: chief predator is the mink, but while on land they also fall prey to foxes, coyotes and lynx as well as some of the larger avian predators.
American Bullfrog
Native to Eastern U.S.
Introduced to California probably during gold rush as a food source for miners
Diet: voracious appetite, will eat almost anything that moves and that it can swallow, including invertebrates and small vertebrates such as mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, even turtles and other frogs.
This aggressive frog is a big threat to native animals of all kinds
Opossum Omnivorous: eats insects, snails, rodents, berries, overripe fruit, grasses, leaves, and carrion; occasionally will eat snakes, ground eggs, corn or other vegetables.
Solitary and nocturnal:
predators: humans (and cars), dogs, cats, owls, and larger wildlife
North America’s only marsupial
Ring-necked Pheasant
descended from stock brought from several different parts of the Old World
Adult pheasants feed on berries, seeds, buds and leaves; chicks feed largely on insects.
approximately 100 birds introduced in New York
City's Central Park in the early 1890s. A society dedicated to introducing into America all of the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare set these birds free.
Diet: invertebrates, fruits and berries, grain, will also scavenge through garbage .
Starling
Endemic
Any species of plant or animal which exists only in a certain geographical area
Yellow-billed Magpie
feeds mainly on animal matter, including insects, bird eggs, nestling, and carrion, They will also eat acorns, seeds, grass, and berries
Habitat: oak woodlands and urban area
Endemic to Central
Valley California
Giant garter snake
found only in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys
inhabit agricultural wetlands and associated waterways. These include irrigation and drainage canals, rice fields, marshes, sloughs, ponds, small lakes, lowgradient streams, and adjacent uplands
feed primarily on fish and amphibians
Predators include raccoons, skunks, foxes, opossums, hawks, egrets, bullfrogs
Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle
Endemic to the upland riparian areas of the Central
Valley of California
Adults feed on the elderberry leaves and flowers, eggs are laid on the stem or leaves of an elderberry plant, and the larval and pupal stages develop within the elderberry stem pith
Extirpated
A species of plant or animal that no longer exists in a certain geographic are that used to be its home
Grizzly Bear
omnivores, they feed on a variety of plants and berries including roots or sprouts and fungi as well as fish, insects and small mammals
Became extinct from the Central Valley by the mid 1800s due to hunting and habitat destruction
Pronghorn Antelope
Pronghorns were extirpated from
California by the end of the 1800s
The destruction of the herds of pronghorn and tule elk may have dealt a critical blow to the
California condor, which relied on their carcasses as a primary food source.
Grey Wolf
Human fear, superstition, and outright hatred of this animal decreased its population drastically and eradicated it from
California.
Domesticated Animals that have been released into the wild
Feral Cats
Cause a serious threat to native animals especially birds
Carry disease
Eat wide variety of vegetation, including roots, acorns, tubers, grasses, fruit, and berries, but also eats crayfish, frogs, snakes, salamanders, mice, the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds, young rabbits, and any other easy prey or carrion
Chief predator is human
By wallowing and rooting around the edges of watercourses and swamps, they destroy the vegetation that prevents erosion and provides food and nesting sites for native wildlife
They compete with native animals for food, pose a threat to ground-nesting birds, and can spread environmental weeds.
Feral pigs can be a serious agricultural pest. year. In some areas, they kill newborn lambs, carry diseases crepuscular
Feral Pigs