Fauna
The state contains 41 species of reptiles and amphibians, 89 species of fish, of which 12 are non-native; 193 species of breeding birds, 58 species of mammals, more than 15,000 insect species, and 2,000 higher plant species, plus fungi, algae, and 75 different types of natural communities.
Vermont contains one species of venomous snake, the Eastern timber rattlesnake, which is confined to a few acres in western Rutland County.
By the mid-19th century, wild turkeys were exterminated in the state through overhunting and destruction of habitat. Sixteen were re-introduced in 1969 and had grown to an estimated flock of 45,000 in 2009.
Since 1970, reduction of farmland has resulted in reduced environment for, and reduced numbers of various shrubland birds including the American woodcock, brown thrasher, Eastern towhee, willow flycatcher, golden-winged warbler, blue-winged warbler, field sparrow, and Baltimore oriole.
DDT destroyed the eggshells of ospreys which resulted in their disappearance from the state. This species began reviving in 1998. As of 2010, they were no longer endangered in the state.
White-nose syndrome killed an estimated two-thirds of all cave-wintering bats in the state from 2008 to 2010.
The New England cottontail disappeared from the state in the early 1970s, out-competed by the eastern cottontail rabbit, imported in the 1800s for hunting, and which is better able to detect predators.
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)