The coyote once lived primarily in open prairies and deserts, but live in forest and mountainous terrain as well. They have even colonized cities like Los Angeles and are now found over most of North America.

These adaptable animals will eat almost anything. They hunt rabbits, rodents, fish, frogs, and even deer. They also eat insects, snakes, fruit, grass, and carrion. Because they sometimes kill lambs, calves, or other livestock and pets, many ranchers and farmers regard them as destructive pests.

Coyotes are impressive in the field where they enjoy sharp vision and a strong sense of smell. They can run up to 40 miles an hour. In the fall and winter, they form packs for more effective hunting.

Coyotes form strong family groups. In spring, females give birth to litters of three to twelve pups. Both parents feed and protect their young and their territory. The pups are able to hunt on their own by the following fall.

Red foxes are solitary hunters who feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small wild animals, but their diet will vary with their home habitat. Foxes will eat fruits and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms. If living among humans, foxes will opportunistically feed on garbage and pet food.

Red foxes are also known for their tails which help them balance, serves as a warm cover in cold weather, and as a signal flag to communicate with other foxes. Foxes also signal each other by making scent posts by urinating on trees or rocks to announce their presence.

In winter, foxes meet to mate. The female typically gives birth to a litter of 2 to 12 pups. At birth, red foxes are actually brown or gray. A new red coat usually grows in by the end of the first month, but some red foxes are golden, reddish-brown, silver, or even black. Both parents care for their young through the summer before they are able to strike out on their own in the fall.

Red foxes are hunted for sport, though not extensively, and are sometimes killed as destructive pests or frequent carriers of rabies.

In nature, raccoons catch a lot of their food from the water. They eat crayfish, frogs, and other aquatic creatures. On land, they catch mice and insects from their lairs and attack nests for tasty eggs. Raccoons also eat fruits and plants including those from gardens and farms. They will even open garbage cans to find food.

Raccoons are equally opportunistic when it comes to choosing living areas. They may live in a tree hollow, fallen log, or the attic of a house. Females have one to seven cubs in early summer. The young raccoons often spend the first two months or so of their lives high in a tree. Later, mother and cubs move to the ground where the young begin to explore on their own.

There are six other species of raccoons other then the North American variety. Most others live on tropical islands and usually hunt at night or at dawn. North American raccoons overeat themselves in spring and summer to store up body fat. They then sleep much of the winter away in their den.

Opossums are the size of a large cat. They have grey to black fur; black eyes and ears; pink nose, feet, and tail; and pointed nose. These critters are the only marsupial mammal living in United States; mothers carry and nurse her young in her pouch until they are about 2 to 3 months old. Then they are carried on her back another 1 to 2 months whenever they are away from their home.

Opossums are omnivorous; they eat bugs, insects, snails, rodents, berries, over-ripe fruit, grasses, leaves, and carrion. However, they sometimes will eat snakes, ground eggs, corn or other vegetables. They are attracted to our neighborhoods by the availability of water, pet food left out at night, and rotting overripe fruit that has fallen from trees. The opossum in turn helps keep our neighborhoods clean and free of unwanted, harmful garden pests and rodents, which may carry diseases.

Opossums are solitary and nocturnal. They are usually slow moving when frightened and if unable to escape may freeze in an involuntary shock-like state. Opossums will hiss or growl and show their fifty sharp teeth when frightened. But they are usually gentle and placid; they prefer to avoid all confrontations and wish to be left alone.

Few Opossums live beyond the age of one year in the wild but they can live up to ten years in captivity. They are often killed by many predators: humans (and cars), dogs, cats, owls, and larger wildlife.

Mountain lions are also known as a puma, cougar, and catamount. These cats are found in many areas typically steep, rocky canyon country, or mountainous terrain. Mountain lions once roamed nearly all of the United States from Florida swamps to Canadian forests. Now they are distinct due to hunting.

Mountain lions are solitary hunters and spend most of their lives alone. Mountain lions like to prey on deer, though they also eat smaller animals such as coyotes, deer, porcupines, pronghorn, hares, badgers, skunks, bighorn sheep, fish, and rodents. The cat uses stealth and sudden power, stalking their prey until an opportunity arrives to pounce, then going for the throat with a powerful bite. They have great speed for short distances and can leap 20 to 23 feet from a standstill. These cats have specialized teeth for killing and eating prey. They have enlarged and rough taste buds on their tongues to help in scraping meat from bones. They will hide large carcasses and feed on them for several days.

When their wild food source is limited, they may prey on livestock, and their natural instinct is to kill many animals when the panic behavior of the prey provokes them. Mountain lions hardly ever harm humans but they will attack in self-defense or to protect their cubs. Because they are territorial, they will defend their established areas particularly at courtship time.

Mountain lions have color vision and highly developed acute senses in the hunt. In dim light, most cats see up to six times better than humans. They are generally quiet, although their vocalizations include growls, hisses, and roars, as well as high-pitched screams. Mountain lions in the wild live approximately 10 years.
Young are born in a den, in litters ranging from one to six, averaging two to three.

Mountain lions are carnivorous. Male territories range from 15 to 30 square miles, and females range from 5 to 20 square miles, depending on the number of young they are providing for. They may hunt in a radius of 30 to 50 miles. A mountain lion's territory sometimes is not one large area but rather several separate ones connected by pathways. Mountain lions mark their territory and pathways with visible spots of feces and urine. Territorial pathways may overlap, but if the animals meet, one will always defer to the other rather than risk injury by fighting.

Adult white-tails have reddish-brown coats in summer which fade to a duller grayish brown in winter. Male deer, called bucks, are easily spotted in the summer and fall by their prominent set of antlers which are grown annually and fall off in the winter. During the mating season bucks fight over territory by using their antlers in sparring matches.

A female deer, or doe, will give birth to one to three young at a time, usually in May or June and after a gestation period of seven months. Young deer, called fawns, wear a reddish-brown coat with white spots that helps them blend in with the forest.

White-tailed deer are herbivores and graze on most available plant foods. Their stomachs allow them to digest a varied food including leaves, twigs, fruits and nuts, grass, corn, alfalfa, and even lichens and other fungi. Occasionally venturing out in the daylight hours, white-tailed deer are primarily nocturnal.

In the wild, white-tails, particularly the young, are preyed upon by bobcats, mountain lions, and coyotes. They use speed and agility to outrun predators, sprinting up to 30 miles per hour and leaping as high as 10 feet and as far as 30 feet in a single bound.

Skunks are typically black with 2 broad white stripes on back meeting in cap on head and shoulders; thin white stripe down center of face. They are bushy black tail with white fringe. Their color varies from mostly black to mostly white. Male is bigger than female and are about 6 to14 lbs. These animals are same family as weasel, mink, fisher, and otter. Skunks are mostly found in US and South part of Canada and live in areas such as deserts, woodlands, planes, and suburbs.

Skunks are famous for their powerful and horrible smelling spray. A skunk's spray is an oily liquid produced by glands under its large tail and it’s hard to remove. When blasted its’ mist can travel as far as ten feet. Skunk spray causes no real harm to its victims, but it sure makes them uncomfortable.

There are many different kinds of skunks. They vary in sizes and appear in a variety of striped, spotted, and swirled patterns; but all are a vivid black and white that makes them easily identifiable and may alert predators their overpowering potential.

Skunks usually nest in burrows constructed by other animals, but they also live in hollow logs or even abandoned buildings. In colder climates, some skunks may sleep in these nests for several weeks of the chilliest season. Each female gives birth to between two and ten young each year.

Skunks are opportunistic eaters with a varied diet. They eat insects and grubs, small mammals, the eggs of ground nesting birds, and amphibians. They also consume beetles and their larvae, grasshoppers and crickets, earthworms, butterfly and moth larvae, spiders, snails, ants, bees and wasps, and crayfish. In addition skunks eat fruits in season, such as wild cherries, ground cherries, blackberries, blueberries, and many others. In the fall, the animal over feed itself to fatten up in preparation for the lean winter months.

Bobcats are mysterious and nocturnal. Although they are rarely seen, they reside throughout North America and adapt well to such diverse habitats as forests, swamps, deserts, and even suburban areas.

Bobcats can kill prey much larger than themselves. They are stealthy hunters; a deathblow with a leaping pounce can cover 10 feet. However, they generally eat smaller animals such as rabbits, birds, mice, and squirrels. 

Bobcats are solitary animals. Females choose a secluded area to raise litters of one to six young kittens and will remain with their mother for 9 to 12 months. During this time they will learn to hunt before starting out on their own.

In some areas, bobcats are still trapped for their soft and spotted fur. There are as many as one million cats living in United States alone.