Fauna
The Rocky Mountains are important habitat for a great deal of well-known wildife, such as elk, moose, mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorns, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, coyotes, lynxes, and wolverines. For example, North America's largest herds of moose is in the Alberta-British Columbia foothills forests. The status of most species in the Rocky Mountains is unknown however, due to incomplete information. Even basic regional information is not available on many nocturnal species (for example, bats, raccoons, and so forth); invertebrates; lichens, mosses, and fungi; and soil microorganisms.
European-American settlement of the mountains has adversely impacted native species. Examples of some species that are known to have declined include western toads, greenback cutthroat trouts, white sturgeons, white-tailed ptarmigans, trumpeter swans, and bighorn sheep. In the United States portion of the mountain range, apex predators such as grizzly bears and gray wolves had been extirpated from their original ranges, but have partially recovered due to conservation measures and reintroduction. Other recovering species include the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon. Species such as the black bear and mountain lion, many small mammals, and common bird and plant species are described as stable because, in most instances, the populations are persistent and not rapidly increasing or declining.
Read more about this topic: List Of Animals Of The Rocky Mountains
Famous quotes containing the word fauna:
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)