World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/uakari): Uakari — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a short-tailed, crimson-faced primate found exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon; its fiery red face signals health to potential mates and makes it one of the most distinctive monkeys in South America.

## Introduction
Deep in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon, the bald uakari stands out as one of South America's most striking primates. Its bare, vivid crimson face and bald head contrast sharply with a long, shaggy coat that ranges from white to rusty red depending on the species. Unlike most New World monkeys, it has a remarkably short tail — a stubby appendage that barely clears its haunches. The uakari belongs to the family Pitheciidae and the genus Cacajao, which recent DNA analyses have split into several distinct species. These monkeys are ecological specialists, tied almost entirely to várzea and igapó flooded forests along Amazonian river systems in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia — habitats now under mounting pressure from deforestation, climate-driven changes to flood cycles, and sustained hunting.

## Takeaway
The uakari's bare crimson face is a genuine health signal — pale-faced individuals are more likely to be ill with malaria or other blood-borne diseases.

## Takeaway
Uakaris are among the only short-tailed New World monkeys, with a stubby tail around 15 cm long.

## Takeaway
They are ecological specialists of Amazonian flooded forests (várzea and igapó), making them highly sensitive to climate-driven disruptions in annual flood cycles.

## Takeaway
Their powerful jaws let them crack open hard-shelled seeds inaccessible to most other primates, making them important seed dispersers in their ecosystem.

## Takeaway
Females reproduce slowly — one offspring every two years after a roughly six-month gestation — meaning populations recover very slowly from hunting pressure.

## Takeaway
Recent (2024) IUCN reassessments split the former Cacajao calvus into multiple species; conservation status and population size now vary significantly between them.

## What is a uakari monkey?
The uakari (pronounced wah-KAH-ree) is a medium-sized New World primate in the genus Cacajao, family Pitheciidae — a group that also includes sakis and titis. What immediately sets uakaris apart from other Amazonian monkeys is a combination of features found nowhere else in the New World: a completely bald head, a shockingly crimson or scarlet face devoid of fur, and an unusually short tail that represents only a fraction of the animal's body length. Most New World monkeys have long, often prehensile tails; the uakari's stubby tail — roughly 15 cm, compared to a 45 cm body — is the most dramatic exception. The coat varies by species from white or cream in the white bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) to deep russet-orange in the red bald uakari (C. rubicundus). Adults typically weigh between 2.75 and 3.5 kg, with males slightly larger than females. Taxonomically, the genus has been revised substantially: DNA analyses published around 2022 elevated each former subspecies of the old Cacajao calvus grouping to full species status, so the number of recognised Cacajao species is now larger than it was a decade ago. All species share the genus's hallmark dental toolkit — enlarged canines and flat, crenulated molars for processing hard seeds — and all are restricted to the Amazon basin.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/uakari): Uakari — wildlife guide.

## Where do uakari monkeys live?
Uakaris are habitat specialists of exceptional precision. They are found almost exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon basin — primarily the várzea (white-water floodplain forests) and igapó (black-water flooded forests) that line the Amazon and its major tributaries in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and southern Colombia. These forests flood for several months each year, sometimes by as much as ten metres of water, and the uakari has evolved to exploit this dynamic environment with remarkable agility — swimming between trees when necessary and foraging in the forest canopy during peak flood season. During the dry season, when waters recede, uakaris descend to the forest floor to forage for fallen seeds and seedlings. Their range is strongly correlated with the distribution of specific tree species whose hard-shelled fruits they depend on, meaning that even subtle alterations to forest composition can render an area unsuitable. Home ranges are large — groups have been recorded travelling several kilometres per day — and the monkeys aggregate in fission-fusion societies of up to 100 individuals that temporarily break into smaller foraging subgroups and reconvene. The core range of the white bald uakari (C. calvus) straddles the Brazilian state of Amazonas and adjacent Peru, while the red bald uakari (C. rubicundus) is restricted to floodplain forests of the Solimões River basin in Brazil.

## Why is the uakari's red face so important?
Few features in the primate world carry as much biological information as the uakari's bare crimson face. Research published in Royal Society Open Science (2015) confirmed that the intense red colouration is produced not by pigment but by the exceptionally high density of superficial blood capillaries visible through thin, largely amelanotic (non-pigmented) skin — the same phenomenon that makes humans blush, but permanent and extreme. This arrangement allows the colour of the face to function as an honest signal of health: a deeply red face indicates strong vascular flow, high haemoglobin levels, and freedom from blood-borne disease. In contrast, a pale or washed-out face suggests illness. This matters because the Amazon's flooded forests are a prime breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and uakaris are susceptible to Plasmodium falciparum, the same malaria parasite that infects humans. Females consistently prefer mates with the most intensely coloured faces, using facial redness as a proxy for immune fitness — a classic example of honest signalling driven by parasite pressure. The bald head itself likely arose to reduce ectoparasite load and enhance thermoregulation in a hot, humid canopy environment. Interestingly, captive uakaris kept away from natural sunlight often develop a paler face, which may explain their historical reputation for looking 'sickly' in older zoo collections compared to wild individuals.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/uakari): Uakari — wildlife guide.

## What do uakari monkeys eat?
Uakaris are classified as seed predators and frugivores, with a dietary strategy that sets them apart from most other Amazonian primates. Their most distinctive feeding adaptation is their ability to crack open the hard outer shells of unripe fruits and woody seed pods that are entirely inaccessible to other mammals. Powerful jaw muscles, enlarged canines, and flat, heavily crenulated molar teeth allow them to bite through structures that would defeat most primate dentitions. During the wet season, when the forest floor is submerged and the canopy is laden with fruit, uakaris feast on seeds and pulp high in the trees, often processing dozens of hard fruits per day. As floodwaters recede in the dry season, they descend to forage on fallen seeds, seedlings, insects, and occasionally small vertebrates. This dietary flexibility is critical for survival across the dramatic seasonal flux of Amazonian flooded forests. Despite being seed predators — meaning they often destroy the seeds they eat rather than dispersing them intact — uakaris do contribute to forest regeneration by dropping and moving partially processed seeds and by consuming fruit pulp and passing smaller seeds in their dung. Their foraging behaviour and reliance on specialist tree species means they function as important bio-indicators: the presence of a healthy uakari population reliably indicates a structurally intact, species-rich flooded forest beneath them.

## Are uakari monkeys threatened, and what are the key dangers?
The conservation picture for uakaris is nuanced and shaped by recent taxonomic revision. In 2024, the IUCN updated assessments for the now-separate Cacajao species: the white bald uakari (C. calvus) was downlisted to Least Concern, reflecting that much of its range falls within legally protected areas with relatively low human population density. However, the IUCN notes that climate change represents the most imminent future threat, as predictions point to significant disruption of the annual precipitation cycle in Amazonian flooded forests — the very habitat upon which C. calvus depends entirely. Other species within the genus, including C. rubicundus, face more acute pressure; genomic analyses have revealed effective population sizes of under 1,000 individuals in some river catchments. Across the genus, the two most persistent threats are hunting — uakaris are targeted for bushmeat in Peru and used as fishing bait in parts of Brazil — and the progressive degradation of flooded forest from agricultural expansion (cattle ranching, soy cultivation), illegal logging, and dam construction that alters river flood regimes. Uakaris' slow reproductive rate — one offspring every two years, after a gestation of approximately six months — means local populations struggle to recover from even modest hunting pressure. All Cacajao species are listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting commercial international trade, and national laws in both Brazil and Peru provide additional protections.

## WARN work
WARN runs active rescue and conservation projects in Brazil, putting it directly within the uakari's core range in the Amazon basin. Protecting flooded forest habitat in Brazil is central to the long-term future of these primates, and awareness among the public — knowing why these forests matter and what makes species like the uakari so ecologically irreplaceable — is one of the most powerful tools conservation partners have. This guide is offered as free educational content to build that awareness.

## Donation hook
Amazonian flooded forests — the only home the uakari has ever known — are vanishing to agriculture and dams. Supporting WARN's work in Brazil helps protect the river-edge habitats these scarlet-faced primates cannot live without.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/uakari): Uakari — wildlife guide.

## Why does the uakari have a red face?
The crimson colour comes from an unusually dense network of blood capillaries just beneath very thin, non-pigmented facial skin. The redness is an honest health signal — deeply coloured individuals are free from blood-borne diseases like malaria, while sick animals develop a noticeably paler face. Females use this as a mate-quality cue.

## Why does the uakari have such a short tail?
Unlike virtually all other New World monkeys, uakaris have a short, non-prehensile tail roughly 15 cm long. The precise evolutionary reason is not fully resolved, but it is thought to be related to the species' locomotion in dense flooded-forest canopies, where a long tail would be a hindrance rather than an aid.

## What is the difference between várzea and igapó forest?
Both are Amazonian flooded forests, but várzea is inundated by nutrient-rich white-water rivers (such as the Amazon and Solimões), while igapó is flooded by nutrient-poor black-water rivers (such as the Negro). Uakaris use both forest types but are most strongly associated with várzea.

## How many uakari species are there?
Taxonomy has changed significantly. Until around 2022, most authorities recognised one to four species or subspecies. DNA analyses have now elevated former subspecies to full species, so the genus Cacajao currently includes the white bald uakari (C. calvus), red bald uakari (C. rubicundus), Ucayali bald uakari (C. ucayalii), black-headed uakari (C. melanocephalus), and others depending on the authority consulted.

## Are uakari monkeys dangerous to humans?
No. Uakaris are not aggressive toward people and are generally shy and elusive in the wild. Habitat loss and hunting by humans represent a far greater threat to uakaris than uakaris ever pose to people.

## What do bald uakaris eat?
Bald Uakaris eat Hard seeds, fruit pulp, insects, small invertebrates. The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a short-tailed, crimson-faced primate found exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon; its fiery red face signals health to potential mates and makes it one of the most distinctive monkeys in South America.

## Where do bald uakaris live?
Bald Uakaris live in Várzea and igapó flooded forests. The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a short-tailed, crimson-faced primate found exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon; its fiery red face signals health to potential mates and makes it one of the most distinctive monkeys in South America.

## How long do bald uakaris live?
A precise wild lifespan for bald uakaris is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a short-tailed, crimson-faced primate found exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon; its fiery red face signals health to potential mates and makes it one of the most distinctive monkeys in South America. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

## How big is a bald uakari?
A Bald Uakari is about Fission-fusion societies up to 100 individuals. The bald uakari (Cacajao calvus) is a short-tailed, crimson-faced primate found exclusively in the seasonally flooded forests of the western Amazon; its fiery red face signals health to potential mates and makes it one of the most distinctive monkeys in South America.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/urial): Urial — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The urial (Ovis vignei) is a Vulnerable wild sheep of Central and South Asia, with around 30,000 individuals remaining and populations declining across most of its range due to poaching, habitat loss, and livestock competition.

## Introduction
The urial (Ovis vignei) is one of Asia's most distinctive wild sheep, inhabiting the rugged mountain ranges and semi-arid steppes that stretch from Iran and Pakistan through Central Asia to the Kashmir region. Males carry sweeping, outward-curved horns that can reach nearly a metre in length — a feature that has made them a target of trophy hunters for generations. Females are considerably smaller and hornless. Six subspecies are recognised, each adapted to its specific landscape, from the Punjab urial of Pakistan's Salt Range to the Ladakh urial of the high Himalayas. Classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2020, with a total population estimated at around 30,000 individuals and a declining trend, the urial faces relentless pressure from poaching, livestock competition, habitat degradation, and the slow encroachment of agriculture into its mountain strongholds.

## Takeaway
The urial is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (2020) with a declining population trend across most of its range.

## Takeaway
Six subspecies are recognised; the Punjab urial of Pakistan's Salt Range is among the most restricted, with population estimates varying widely by survey area — from around 800 to over 3,400 individuals depending on methodology and extent of area surveyed.

## Takeaway
Males bear dramatic outward-curving horns up to 99 cm long; horn size drives dominance hierarchies during the November–December rut.

## Takeaway
Poaching — including the capture of lambs as pets and the illegal shooting of mature rams — is the primary short-term threat in Pakistan.

## Takeaway
Strict community-based game reserves in Pakistan's Salt Range have demonstrated that enforced protection can reverse local population declines.

## Takeaway
The species is listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting international commercial trade in specimens and their parts.

## What is a urial?
The urial is a medium-to-large wild sheep belonging to the genus Ovis, the same group that includes the mouflon and the ancestors of domestic sheep. Adult males typically weigh 60–90 kg and stand around 80–90 cm at the shoulder, while females are noticeably lighter at 30–50 kg. The most arresting feature of a mature ram is his horns: sweeping outward and then curling back in a broad arc, they can exceed 99 cm in length and carry a basal circumference of up to 30 cm. Horn size is not merely decorative — it determines a ram's rank in the social hierarchy and therefore his breeding opportunities. Both sexes wear a reddish-brown to sandy coat that bleaches paler in summer and darkens in winter, providing effective camouflage against the tawny rock and scrub of their home ranges. Rams are further distinguished by a striking black ruff running from the throat to the chest, which becomes especially conspicuous during the autumn rut. Taxonomically, the urial sits within the family Bovidae, subfamily Caprinae, alongside ibex, markhor, and domestic sheep. Some authorities formerly treated the urial as a subspecies of the mouflon (Ovis aries), but current consensus — supported by molecular studies — recognises it as a full species, Ovis vignei, with six subspecies across its Central and South Asian range.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/urial): Urial — wildlife guide.

## Where do urials live?
Urials occupy a broad but fragmented arc from northwestern Iran in the west, through Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the high valleys of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to the Ladakh region of northern India in the east. Within Pakistan alone, several subspecies overlap: the Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) is endemic to the Salt Range of Punjab province, the Ladakh urial (O. v. vignei) reaches into Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Afghan urial (O. v. cycloceros) ranges across Balochistan and the northwest. In Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the Transcaspian urial (O. v. arkal) inhabits the Ustyurt plateau. Despite this wide geographic spread, suitable habitat is increasingly restricted. Urials favour steep, rocky hillsides and grassy steppes at elevations ranging from near sea level to roughly 4,500 m, preferring open terrain that gives them sightlines against approaching predators. They move seasonally — descending to valley floors and foothills in winter where grasses and forbs remain accessible, and retreating to higher, cooler elevations in summer. This altitudinal migration exposes them to agricultural land, road networks, and herding communities, heightening conflict and the risk of disease transmission from domestic livestock. Population fragmentation — herds cut off from one another by roads, fields, and settlements — is now one of the defining challenges for the species.

## What do urials eat and how do they behave?
Urials are strict herbivores, grazing on grasses, sedges, herbaceous plants, and shrubs depending on the season and elevation. In leaner months they will browse on woody shrubs and dried grasses. Like most wild bovids, they are selective feeders, targeting the most nutritious plant parts available, and they will forage for much of the daylight hours. Social organisation is segregated by sex outside the rut: ewes, lambs, and young animals form nursery herds, while older rams group together in bachelor bands. Dominance within ram groups is established through displays and ritualistic clashes — males charge and clash horns in contests that can produce audible impacts over considerable distances, though serious injury is rare. Predators include grey wolves, snow leopards, and golden eagles, with eagles targeting lambs specifically. Urials are alert and fast-moving; their first response to a threat is to run uphill over broken terrain where four-legged pursuers lose their speed advantage. The rut runs from late November through December, when dominant rams compete intensely for access to ewes. After a gestation of approximately 150–160 days, ewes give birth to one lamb — occasionally two or three in older females — in April or May. Lambs begin nibbling vegetation within their first month of life and are weaned after five to six months. In the wild, urials live around 8–12 years.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/urial): Urial — wildlife guide.

## Why is the urial Vulnerable and what are the biggest threats?
The IUCN assessed the urial as Vulnerable in 2020, estimating approximately 15,000 mature individuals (with a total population of around 30,000) and documenting a declining population trend. The species qualifies for Vulnerable status primarily because of a suspected reduction of at least 30 percent over three generations driven by ongoing exploitation and habitat deterioration. Poaching is the most acute short-term threat. In the Eastern Salt Range of Pakistan, peer-reviewed research found that roughly a quarter of the annual lamb crop was removed by poachers, and virtually all mature rams older than six years had been eliminated by illegal shooting. The capture of lambs as pets by local communities is a particular problem, removing juveniles before they can contribute to breeding. Habitat loss compounds hunting pressure: expanding agriculture, road construction, new settlements, and deliberate vegetation burning (to improve grazing for livestock) steadily erode and fragment urial range. Competition with domestic livestock reduces available forage, and close contact with sheep and goats exposes urials to diseases to which they have limited immunity. Climate variability also threatens high-altitude subspecies by shifting vegetation zones and reducing the reliability of seasonal forage. Trophy hunting, while regulated in some range states, has historically removed a disproportionate number of prime breeding males. The Punjab urial is among the most affected subspecies, with its entire global range restricted to the Salt Range and Kala Chitta hills, and population estimates varying considerably across surveys depending on the area sampled.

## What conservation efforts are protecting the urial?
Despite the pressures, targeted conservation in Pakistan has demonstrated that recovery is possible when enforcement is coupled with community engagement. The Kalabagh Game Reserve in Punjab enforces strict anti-poaching regulations and maintains low human population pressure near urial habitat; comparative studies show significantly healthier population age structures there compared to unprotected areas in the eastern Salt Range. Community-based organisations operating private game reserves in the Potohar region have adopted a model where trophy hunting of old males is auctioned — with permit fees reaching USD 20,000–25,000 in recent auction cycles — and proceeds flow directly to local communities and conservation management. A 2024–25 survey at Kalabagh estimated 532 Punjab urials at an average density of 8.9 animals per square kilometre, suggesting stabilisation in protected zones. The species is listed on CITES Appendix I, meaning international commercial trade in urials and their parts is prohibited, reducing the market for illegally taken animals. In Iran, Tajikistan, and India, protected area networks provide some refuge for other subspecies, and transboundary collaboration — though limited — is increasingly discussed in conservation literature. Captive breeding programmes for the Punjab urial are under development as a genetic insurance policy. Education and awareness programmes in Pakistani schools and communities are also helping to shift local attitudes toward the urial from a harvested resource to a wildlife heritage asset worth protecting.

## WARN work
WARN's active rescue and conservation partnerships operate in its partner-network countries. Pakistan is firmly within WARN's network — and the urial is one of Pakistan's most emblematic wild mammals, found in the Salt Range of Punjab and the high valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan. Public awareness and on-the-ground conservation support in Pakistan directly benefits species like the urial. This guide is offered as free educational content to help global audiences understand the urial's plight; learning about threatened wildlife is itself a form of conservation action.

## Donation hook
Every urial that survives in Pakistan's Salt Range or the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan depends on active protection on the ground. Supporting WARN helps sustain the kind of community-based wildlife work in Pakistan that is proving most effective at turning the tide for species like the urial.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/urial): Urial — wildlife guide.

## Is the urial the same as a domestic sheep?
No. Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) descend primarily from the Asian mouflon (Ovis gmelini/orientalis) of the Near East and Anatolia, not from the urial. While urials did contribute some genetic material through post-domestication interbreeding, genomic studies have shown they were not the primary ancestor. The urial is a distinct, fully wild species — faster, more agile, equipped with dramatically curved horns in males, and never selectively bred for wool or docility.

## How many urial subspecies are there?
Six subspecies are currently recognised: the Punjab urial, Ladakh urial, Blanford's (Baluchistan) urial, Bukhara urial, Afghan (Turkmenian) urial, and the Transcaspian urial. Each occupies a distinct geographic range and shows subtle differences in coat colour, horn shape, and body size.

## How big can a urial's horns get?
The record horn length for a urial is 990.6 mm (just under one metre), with a maximum basal circumference of approximately 304.8 mm. Horns grow throughout a male's life, and their size directly influences a ram's social rank — older, larger-horned rams win breeding rights during the rut without having to fight every rival.

## Why is the Punjab urial considered especially restricted?
The Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) is endemic to the Salt Range and Kala Chitta hills of Pakistan — it exists nowhere else on Earth. Population estimates vary considerably depending on the survey area and methodology, ranging from around 800 to over 3,400 individuals, making it one of the most range-restricted wild sheep subspecies in the world.

## What is being done to stop poaching of urials?
In Pakistan, a combination of government-run game reserves with active enforcement and community-based conservation areas has shown measurable results. Poaching rates fall sharply when patrols are consistent and when local communities receive economic benefits — such as a share of regulated trophy hunting fees — that make living wildlife more valuable than harvested wildlife.

## What do urials eat?
Urials eat Grasses, forbs, shrubs. The urial (Ovis vignei) is a Vulnerable wild sheep of Central and South Asia, with around 30,000 individuals remaining and populations declining across most of its range due to poaching, habitat loss, and livestock competition.

## Where do urials live?
Urials live in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan. The urial (Ovis vignei) is a Vulnerable wild sheep of Central and South Asia, with around 30,000 individuals remaining and populations declining across most of its range due to poaching, habitat loss, and livestock competition.

## Are urials dangerous?
Urials are domesticated animals and are not dangerous to people in the wild-predator sense. The urial (Ovis vignei) is a Vulnerable wild sheep of Central and South Asia, with around 30,000 individuals remaining and populations declining across most of its range due to poaching, habitat loss, and livestock competition. Usual risks are husbandry and handling, not unprovoked attacks.

## How long do urials live?
Urials typically live 8–12 years. The urial (Ovis vignei) is a Vulnerable wild sheep of Central and South Asia, with around 30,000 individuals remaining and populations declining across most of its range due to poaching, habitat loss, and livestock competition. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world's rarest marine mammal, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's Gulf of California, with fewer than ten individuals remaining as of 2025 due to drowning in illegal gillnets.

## Introduction
The vaquita — Spanish for "little cow" — is the world's smallest porpoise and the most critically endangered marine mammal on Earth. Endemic to a tiny corner of Mexico's northern Gulf of California, this elusive, shy cetacean has been driven to the very edge of extinction within a single human generation. As recently as 1997, approximately 567 individuals were estimated to exist; by 2025, acoustic and visual surveys detected between seven and ten individuals, including at least two calves. The primary culprit is not deliberate hunting but incidental drowning in illegal gillnets set for the totoaba, a large fish whose swim bladder commands black-market prices rivalling gold. With reproduction confirmed and calves still being born, scientists insist the vaquita is not yet beyond saving — but time is measured in months, not years.

## Takeaway
The vaquita is the world's smallest porpoise, reaching just 1.5 m (5 ft) in length, and is found nowhere else on Earth except the northern Gulf of California.

## Takeaway
Fewer than ten individuals were detected in the 2025 IUCN survey, making it the rarest marine mammal alive — and possibly the rarest vertebrate of any kind.

## Takeaway
Vaquitas do not die from poaching directly; they drown as bycatch in illegal gillnets targeting the totoaba fish, whose prized swim bladder fuels an international black-market trade worth tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram.

## Takeaway
Despite the catastrophically small number, scientists confirmed two calves in the 2025 survey, proving the species is still reproducing and has not yet crossed a biological point of no return.

## Takeaway
Both the vaquita and the totoaba are listed on CITES Appendix I, making international trade in either species illegal — yet enforcement in the remote Upper Gulf remains deeply challenging.

## Takeaway
Mexican authorities have established a Zero Tolerance Area (ZTA) covering 288 km² where no vessels are permitted, patrolled by the Mexican Navy and international observers using drones and acoustic monitoring.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## What is a vaquita and what does it look like?
The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the smallest member of the family Phocoenidae — the true porpoises — and the smallest cetacean species on the planet. Females are slightly larger than males, reaching up to 150 cm (4.9 ft) in length and weighing between 27 and 55 kg (60–120 lb). Males average around 140 cm (4.6 ft). Calves are born at roughly 70–80 cm and about 7 kg.

The vaquita's appearance is unmistakable among porpoises. Its body is pale grey on the dorsal surface, grading to white on the belly, with striking dark grey patches encircling the eyes and edging the lips — facial markings that lend it an almost spectacled appearance. The dorsal fin is tall and triangular relative to body size, unusually prominent compared to other phocoenids.

Like all porpoises, the vaquita lacks a true beak and produces high-frequency clicks for echolocation rather than the whistles used by dolphins. It is profoundly shy, consistently avoiding boats and human activity, which has made direct observation extraordinarily difficult. Most confirmed sightings have come from dedicated research vessels moving slowly and quietly through its preferred shallow, turbid waters. This evasiveness also means population surveys must rely heavily on passive acoustic monitoring — underwater microphones that detect the characteristic click trains of vaquita echolocation — combined with careful visual observation.

## Where does the vaquita live?
The vaquita occupies the smallest geographic range of any cetacean species in the world. It is found exclusively in the shallow, murky waters of the northern Upper Gulf of California — also called the Sea of Cortez — in the Mexican state of Baja California. Its total historical range encompasses roughly 4,000 square kilometres, centered on a zone of nutrient-rich, highly turbid water created by sediment from the Colorado River delta. Surviving individuals are now concentrated in a smaller area near the Rocas Consag archipelago, close to San Felipe.

Vaquitas consistently choose water depths of less than 50 metres close to shore, typically in the shallowest 10–50 m band. The species is uniquely tolerant of large annual temperature swings, from around 14°C in winter to over 30°C in summer — remarkable for a phocoenid, most of which are restricted to cool waters below 20°C. This thermal tolerance appears to be an evolutionary adaptation to the extreme seasonality of the Upper Gulf.

The Mexican government designated a Vaquita Refuge covering 1,263 km² in 2005, and in 2020 created a stricter 288 km² Zero Tolerance Area (ZTA) within it, where all vessel traffic is prohibited. A 2024 survey revealed that some individuals are now venturing beyond the ZTA into adjacent areas of the larger refuge, indicating the remaining animals use a wider swathe of habitat than previously assumed — and underscoring the urgency of expanding protection beyond the inner sanctuary.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## Why is the vaquita endangered?
The vaquita's collapse has a single, well-documented cause: entanglement in gillnets as accidental bycatch. Gillnets — walls of near-invisible mesh suspended vertically in the water column — are used extensively by local fishermen to catch shrimp, corvina, and other commercial species. When a vaquita swims into such a net, it becomes entangled and cannot surface to breathe, drowning within minutes.

The catastrophic acceleration of the decline is linked directly to the illegal market for the swim bladder of the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), a large endangered fish that shares the vaquita's habitat. Totoaba swim bladders — known as buche — are smuggled primarily to China, where they are sold in traditional medicine markets at prices of USD 20,000 to over USD 80,000 per kilogram, rivalling or exceeding the price of gold. Criminal trafficking networks, including organised crime cartels operating in the region, deploy large gillnets specifically for totoaba during the fish's spring spawning season, placing enormous pressure on the Upper Gulf precisely at the time vaquitas are most active.

The totoaba is itself listed on CITES Appendix I alongside the vaquita, making international trade illegal — yet enforcement in the remote, underfunded Upper Gulf has proved persistently inadequate. Both animals share the same small patch of ocean; the vaquita has nowhere else to go. Modelling suggests the population declined by a cumulative 99% between 1998 and 2018 alone. Despite a Mexican government fishing ban introduced in 2015 and subsequent naval patrols, illegal gillnet activity has continued, driving numbers to their current nadir of fewer than ten individuals.

## Can the vaquita be saved from extinction?
The answer, according to the scientists closest to the problem, is a cautious yes — but only if gillnet entanglement is eliminated immediately and completely. The critical indicator is reproduction: surveys in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2025 have all confirmed the presence of calves — with two calves documented in the September 2025 survey — meaning the remaining animals are still breeding. Female vaquitas produce a calf every one to two years after a gestation of roughly ten to eleven months, and life expectancy is around twenty years. If even five or six reproductively active females survive, a slow recovery is mathematically possible, provided mortality stops.

Conservation efforts are multifaceted. Mexico's Zero Tolerance Area, established in 2020, is patrolled continuously by the Mexican Navy and international monitoring teams using acoustic arrays, drones, and long-range surveillance vessels. In March 2025, authorities seized over nine kilometres of illegal gillnets containing 72 dead totoaba in a single operation, illustrating both the scale of ongoing illegal activity and the enforcement response.

An alternative fishing-gear programme has been developed — vaquita-safe trawls and hook-and-line methods that allow local fishermen to catch corvina and shrimp without gillnets — but uptake has been uneven due to economic pressures on fishing communities.

A 2017 attempt to capture vaquitas and breed them in a temporary sanctuary ended when one individual died of capture stress, convincing scientists that ex-situ breeding is not a viable option. The only viable path is in-situ protection: making the Gulf of California safe for vaquitas to breed in the wild.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## What is the vaquita's relationship to the totoaba, and why does it matter globally?
The fate of the vaquita is inseparable from that of the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi), a massive drum fish that can reach 2 metres in length and 100 kg in weight. Like the vaquita, the totoaba is endemic to the Gulf of California and is itself Critically Endangered, listed on CITES Appendix I since 1976. The two species share overlapping habitat in the Upper Gulf, and both decline together when illegal gillnets proliferate.

The totoaba's swim bladder — a gas-filled organ used for buoyancy control — has been traded in Chinese markets for well over a century, prized in traditional medicine for purported benefits including reproductive health and longevity. As China's middle class expanded in the 2000s and 2010s, demand surged and prices soared to between USD 20,000 and USD 80,000 per kilogram or more, creating a lucrative trade route from small Mexican fishing villages through international smuggling networks to Hong Kong and mainland China. The CITES-illegal trade is estimated to have involved hundreds of millions of dollars.

This interconnection carries an important global lesson: the extinction of one charismatic megafauna species is rarely caused by a single local actor. It involves transnational criminal networks, demand from distant consumer markets, enforcement gaps across multiple jurisdictions, and the economic vulnerability of local fishing communities caught between poverty and law. The vaquita's plight has become a case study in how wildlife trade policy, fisheries management, poverty alleviation, and international diplomacy must be coordinated simultaneously. Its survival — or loss — will shape how the world responds to the next species on this same precipice.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run conservation projects for the vaquita, whose range is restricted to Mexico — outside WARN's in-network focus countries of its partner-network countries. This guide is offered as free educational content, because public awareness of critically endangered species like the vaquita strengthens the global political will that all marine conservation ultimately depends on. Understanding what drives a species to the brink — illegal wildlife trade, bycatch, and enforcement failures — informs action everywhere, including in the countries where WARN does work.

## Donation hook
The vaquita's story shows how quickly a species can slide from thousands to single digits when illegal wildlife trade goes unchecked. Supporting WARN helps fund the education campaigns and habitat-protection work that keep other vulnerable species from reaching the same precipice.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## How many vaquitas are left in 2025?
The most recent IUCN-coordinated acoustic and visual survey, conducted in September 2025, detected between seven and ten individual vaquitas, including at least two calves. This makes the vaquita the rarest marine mammal on Earth and one of the rarest vertebrate species of any kind. The population has declined by more than 99% since the late 1990s, when approximately 567 individuals were estimated.

## Why is the vaquita going extinct?
Vaquitas are not hunted directly. They drown as unintentional bycatch in gillnets — mesh fishing nets suspended vertically in the water — set illegally to catch the totoaba fish. The totoaba's swim bladder fetches between USD 20,000 and USD 80,000 per kilogram on black markets, primarily in China, where it is used in traditional medicine. Once trapped in a gillnet, a vaquita cannot surface to breathe and suffocates within minutes. The legal fishing ban introduced by Mexico in 2015 has been difficult to enforce in the remote Upper Gulf.

## Where does the vaquita live?
The vaquita is found exclusively in the northern Upper Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) in Mexico — the smallest range of any cetacean species. It favours shallow, turbid waters of less than 50 metres depth, close to shore, influenced by sediment from the Colorado River delta. In 2024, surveys confirmed that some individuals now range beyond the government's designated Zero Tolerance Area into the broader 1,263 km² Vaquita Refuge.

## Can the vaquita recover from such a small population?
Scientists believe recovery is still biologically possible, but only if gillnet mortality is halted completely and immediately. Two calves were recorded in the September 2025 survey, confirming that the surviving animals are still reproducing. Female vaquitas can live around 20 years and produce a calf every one to two years. If a handful of reproductively active females survive and entanglement deaths cease, a very slow population increase is theoretically achievable. Captive breeding was ruled out after a vaquita died of stress during a 2017 capture attempt.

## Are vaquitas and dolphins the same thing?
No. Vaquitas are porpoises, not dolphins. While both belong to the order Cetacea, porpoises (family Phocoenidae) are a distinct group: they are generally smaller and more robust than dolphins, lack a pronounced beak, have spade-shaped teeth rather than conical ones, and communicate with high-frequency clicks rather than the broader vocal repertoire of dolphins. The vaquita is the smallest member of the porpoise family and indeed the smallest cetacean species on Earth.

## What do vaquitas eat?
Vaquitas eat Demersal fish (grunts, croakers), crustaceans, squid. The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world's rarest marine mammal, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's Gulf of California, with fewer than ten individuals remaining as of 2025 due to drowning in illegal gillnets.

## Are vaquitas dangerous?
Endemic to a tiny corner of Mexico's northern Gulf of California, this elusive, shy cetacean has been driven to the very edge of extinction within a single human generation. Give wild vaquitas space; do not corner or handle them.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/vaquita): Vaquita — wildlife guide.

## How long do vaquitas live?
Vaquitas typically live ~20 years. The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world's rarest marine mammal, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's Gulf of California, with fewer than ten individuals remaining as of 2025 due to drowning in illegal gillnets. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.

## How big is a vaquita?
A Vaquita is about 140–150 cm (4.6–4.9 ft). The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is the world's rarest marine mammal, a small porpoise found only in Mexico's Gulf of California, with fewer than ten individuals remaining as of 2025 due to drowning in illegal gillnets. Conservation status: Appendix I.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Xerus are African ground squirrels — small, sociable, burrowing rodents found across sub-Saharan Africa that are famous for using their bushy tails as portable parasols to stay cool in scorching heat; all four species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
African ground squirrels of the genus Xerus are compact, burrowing rodents found across the savannas, semi-arid grasslands, and open shrublands of sub-Saharan Africa. Belonging to the squirrel family Sciuridae and the arid-adapted subfamily Xerinae, the genus contains four recognised species: the Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris), the unstriped ground squirrel (Xerus rutilus), the striped or African striped ground squirrel (formerly Xerus erythropus, now Euxerus erythropus), and the mountain ground squirrel (Xerus princeps). These diurnal, social mammals are celebrated for a remarkable adaptation — they arch their large, bushy tails over their backs like a built-in parasol to shade themselves from intense African heat, extending daily foraging time by several hours. All four species are assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, reflecting wide distributions and stable populations.

## Takeaway
Xerus ground squirrels arch their bushy tails over their bodies like a parasol, reducing surface temperature by more than 5 °C and allowing up to seven hours of continuous surface activity in desert heat.

## Takeaway
The genus Xerus contains four species spread across sub-Saharan Africa, occupying habitats from Kalahari scrubland to East African savanna and Namibian mountain slopes.

## Takeaway
Cape ground squirrels (X. inauris) live in highly social colonies of up to 100 individuals; females remain in kin-based burrow groups while males disperse on reaching sexual maturity.

## Takeaway
Xerus are classified ecosystem engineers: their burrowing aerates soil, redistributes nutrients, and creates shelter used by reptiles, invertebrates, and smaller mammals.

## Takeaway
When confronted by venomous snakes such as puff adders, Xerus perform coordinated 'mobbing' behaviour — approaching and harassing the predator as a group to drive it away from burrows.

## Takeaway
All four Xerus species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, though localised pressures including agricultural conflict and climate-driven habitat change warrant monitoring.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## What is a Xerus, and how many species are there?
Xerus is a genus of ground-dwelling squirrels in the family Sciuridae, tribe Xerini, native to the arid and semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The genus name comes from the Greek word for 'dry', reflecting the parched landscapes these animals call home. Molecular studies using mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences suggest the Xerini lineage diverged from other African squirrels roughly 10–15 million years ago, making them one of the continent's oldest squirrel radiations.

The genus traditionally contains four species. The Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris) is the most studied, found in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. The unstriped ground squirrel (Xerus rutilus) ranges across East Africa from Kenya and Tanzania north into Ethiopia and Eritrea. The mountain or Damara ground squirrel (Xerus princeps) occupies a narrow belt of hilly terrain from southern Angola into Namibia. The striped ground squirrel, now often reclassified as Euxerus erythropus, spans a wide arc of West and East Africa from Senegal to Sudan.

All four species share a suite of features: coarse, shortish fur without a soft undercoat, prominent white lateral stripes, relatively small ears, and powerful digging claws. Adults typically weigh between 260 and 710 grams depending on species and sex, with body lengths (excluding tail) of around 23–30 cm. Their closest living relative is the Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) of Morocco and the Canary Islands.

## Where do African ground squirrels live and what do they eat?
Xerus ground squirrels are found across a vast sweep of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Kenya in the east, and south through Tanzania and Zimbabwe to the arid heart of southern Africa including Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa's Northern Cape. Each species occupies a distinct ecological zone: X. inauris prefers open Kalahari savanna and semi-desert scrub; X. rutilus favours dry East African bushland; X. princeps inhabits rocky mountain slopes in Namibia and Angola; and Euxerus erythropus tolerates a broader range of woodland, grassland, and agricultural fringe habitats.

All species are obligate burrowers, excavating networks of tunnels with multiple entrances that serve as sleeping chambers, refuges from predators, and thermal shelters. Burrow complexes may extend for metres underground and are often shared across generations.

Diet is predominantly herbivorous and highly opportunistic. Seeds, roots, bulbs, grasses, and plant stems form the dietary backbone, supplemented seasonally by insects, eggs, and occasionally small vertebrates. Cape ground squirrels are known to forage in loose groups, an arrangement that increases vigilance against predators. Their taste for agricultural crops — particularly maize, groundnuts, yam, and cassava — sometimes brings them into conflict with smallholder farmers across their range, though the scale of damage rarely threatens the broader population.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## How do Xerus survive extreme heat?
One of the most celebrated adaptations in the mammal world belongs to the Cape ground squirrel: the so-called 'parasol tail'. Xerus inauris lives in some of southern Africa's hottest environments, where midday ground temperatures can exceed 40 °C. Rather than retreating underground during peak heat, Cape ground squirrels arch their large, bushy, black-and-white tails over their heads and backs, creating a portable patch of shade. Research published in Physiological Zoology (Bennett et al., 1984) demonstrated that this behavioural trick reduces the animal's surface temperature by more than 5 °C, more than doubling continuous foraging time — from approximately three hours without the tail-shade to up to seven hours with it.

A follow-up study using implanted body-temperature data loggers (Fick et al., 2009, PubMed PMID 19041951) confirmed that free-ranging squirrels use the tail parasol in combination with burrow-shuttling — periodically retreating underground to offload accumulated body heat — to maintain safe core temperatures throughout the day. This two-pronged strategy makes Xerus unusual among small mammals, almost all of which avoid peak heat by remaining nocturnal or retreating into burrows entirely.

The tail's thermoregulatory value is so significant that bushy, reflective tail hairs appear to be under positive selective pressure in hot, open habitats. When environmental temperatures drop — particularly during the cold semi-arid winters of the Kalahari — squirrels instead press their bodies flat against sun-warmed earth to absorb radiant heat, demonstrating remarkable behavioural flexibility.

## How do Xerus behave socially, and how do they defend themselves?
Cape ground squirrels are among the most social members of the genus, living in colonies that can number up to 100 individuals. Female kin groups of typically three to four adults share a core burrow system, cooperating in pup-rearing and anti-predator vigilance. Males, by contrast, disperse from their natal group upon reaching sexual maturity at around eight months of age and form separate, loosely affiliated bachelor groups that roam between female territories during the breeding season.

Gestation lasts approximately 42–49 days, after which females give birth to one to three altricial pups — born blind, naked, and helpless. Young are weaned relatively quickly and begin appearing at burrow entrances within weeks. Females typically produce one to two litters per year depending on food availability.

Defence against predators is both sophisticated and communal. The squirrels' known predators include black-backed jackals, puff adders, monitor lizards, caracals, martial eagles, and secretary birds. When a venomous snake approaches a burrow, Xerus mount a 'mobbing' response: adults approach the intruder in a coordinated group, fluffing their tails and lunging repeatedly to harass and exhaust the snake, often driving it away entirely. Females protecting young display the most intense mobbing behaviour. Against aerial predators, alarm calls — distinct from terrestrial predator calls — trigger immediate retreat into burrow entrances. This varied predator-specific alarm vocabulary has attracted research interest as a model of animal communication complexity.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## What role do Xerus play in their ecosystem, and what are the key threats?
Ecologists classify Xerus as ecosystem engineers — species that physically modify their environment in ways that benefit a broader community of organisms. Their burrowing activity aerates compacted soils, moves nitrogen-rich nutrients from deep layers to the surface, reduces soil hardness, and creates moister, cooler microsites where seeds can germinate more successfully. A 2022 study in the Journal of Zoology (published via ScienceDirect) found that Cape ground squirrel disturbance improved conditions for disturbance-dependent shrubs, which in turn provide forage for antelope and cover for invertebrates and smaller mammals. Abandoned burrows are colonised by snakes, lizards, meerkats, suricates, and various insects, amplifying the biodiversity value of each excavation.

Xerus also act as incidental seed dispersers: seeds buried in cheek pouches or cached near burrows often escape retrieval and germinate, contributing to plant community regeneration in otherwise nutrient-poor soils.

Despite their robust numbers, localised threats are real. Agricultural expansion removes and fragments grassland habitat. In some farming communities, particularly across West Africa, striped ground squirrels are actively trapped or poisoned as crop pests, creating localised population sinks. Climate change is increasingly altering rainfall patterns across the Sahel and southern African drylands, compressing the vegetation zones on which Xerus depend. While no species in the genus currently faces extinction risk, the IUCN notes that continued monitoring is warranted as arid-zone habitats come under growing pressure from desertification and land conversion.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run field projects for the Xerus or other African ground squirrel species, and this guide is offered as free educational content for anyone who loves African wildlife. However, the threats these animals face — habitat loss, agricultural conflict, and climate-driven change in dryland ecosystems — are the same pressures WARN works to counter for wildlife across the tropics. Raising public awareness of even the continent's most abundant and adaptable species helps build the broader constituency for habitat protection that benefits all wildlife.

## Donation hook
Healthy grasslands and semi-arid savannas support thousands of species alongside the Xerus — from eagles to antelope to the burrowing reptiles that shelter in abandoned squirrel tunnels. Supporting habitat protection anywhere keeps these interconnected communities intact. If you would like to help fund conservation work that protects wild habitats and the animals that depend on them, consider donating to WARN.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## Are African ground squirrels the same as meerkats?
No. Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) belong to the mongoose family (Herpestidae) and are carnivores, whereas Xerus are rodents in the squirrel family (Sciuridae). The two animals share semi-arid southern African habitats and both live in social burrow colonies, which sometimes leads to confusion, but they are not closely related.

## Do Xerus hibernate?
No. Unlike many temperate-zone squirrels, Xerus do not hibernate. They are active year-round. During cold Kalahari winters, they warm themselves by pressing flat against sun-heated soil; during hot summers, they use their tail-parasol and burrow-shuttling to manage heat. Their daily activity follows a bimodal pattern — most active in the cooler morning and late afternoon, resting underground during peak midday heat.

## Are Xerus dangerous to humans?
Xerus are generally not dangerous. They are wild animals and will bite if handled or cornered, so close contact should be avoided. In agricultural settings where squirrels are associated with crop damage, local farmers occasionally set traps, but unprovoked attacks on people are not recorded. Like all wild rodents, they may carry ectoparasites, so handling without protective gear is inadvisable.

## Can Xerus be kept as pets?
In most countries within their native range, keeping wild-caught Xerus as pets is either illegal or strongly discouraged by wildlife authorities. They have highly specific social, dietary, and burrowing needs that are difficult to meet in captivity. Captive Xerus can live up to 10–12 years, but isolated individuals deprived of conspecific social contact suffer significant welfare costs.

## Why do Xerus mob snakes?
Snake mobbing is a high-risk, high-reward group defence strategy. Venomous snakes such as puff adders (Bitis arietans) are major predators of Xerus pups in burrows. By jointly harassing a snake — approaching, tail-flagging, and lunging repeatedly — the group exhausts or confuses the predator and drives it away before it can reach the burrow entrance. Research has shown that females with dependent young exhibit the most intense mobbing behaviour, suggesting the strategy is driven by kin-selection.

## What do african ground squirrels eat?
African Ground Squirrels eat Seeds, roots, bulbs, grasses, insects. Xerus are African ground squirrels — small, sociable, burrowing rodents found across sub-Saharan Africa that are famous for using their bushy tails as portable parasols to stay cool in scorching heat; all four species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

## Where do african ground squirrels live?
African Ground Squirrels live in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa. Xerus are African ground squirrels — small, sociable, burrowing rodents found across sub-Saharan Africa that are famous for using their bushy tails as portable parasols to stay cool in scorching heat; all four species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

## How long do african ground squirrels live?
African Ground Squirrels typically live 4–8 years wild; up to 12 in captivity. Xerus are African ground squirrels — small, sociable, burrowing rodents found across sub-Saharan Africa that are famous for using their bushy tails as portable parasols to stay cool in scorching heat; all four species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Wild and captive figures can differ; use the sources listed on the guide for the underlying studies.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/xerus): Xerus (African Ground Squirrel) — wildlife guide.

## How big is an african ground squirrel?
An African Ground Squirrel is about 23–30 cm (excluding tail). Xerus are African ground squirrels — small, sociable, burrowing rodents found across sub-Saharan Africa that are famous for using their bushy tails as portable parasols to stay cool in scorching heat; all four species are currently Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/wombat): Wombat — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Wombats are stocky Australian marsupials in the family Vombatidae; the common wombat is Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, while the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered with fewer than 400 individuals surviving in Queensland.

## Introduction
Wombats are barrel-bodied marsupials found only in Australia and Tasmania, instantly recognisable by their low-slung silhouette, powerful digging claws, and famously cube-shaped droppings. Three species make up the family Vombatidae: the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus), the southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons), and the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii). Adults typically weigh 20–35 kg and measure around one metre in length, with a stubby tail almost invisible beneath thick fur. Despite their rounded, placid appearance, wombats can sprint up to 40 km/h in short bursts and defend themselves with a cartilage-reinforced rump that doubles as a burrow plug. Nocturnal and largely solitary, they are also exceptional ecosystem engineers whose burrow networks sustain entire communities of other wildlife.

## Takeaway
Wombats are the only animals known to produce cube-shaped faeces, a trait caused by uneven elasticity in the walls of the large intestine.

## Takeaway
The northern hairy-nosed wombat is one of the rarest land mammals on Earth, with the entire wild population restricted to a handful of sites in Queensland.

## Takeaway
Wombat burrows act as firebreaks and refuges; post-megafire research published in the Journal of Mammalogy (2024) found they are hotspots for small vertebrate survival.

## Takeaway
All three wombat species are endemic to Australia — they occur nowhere else on Earth.

## Takeaway
Sarcoptic mange, spread by foxes and domestic dogs, can kill entire wombat colonies and is among the most severe health threats the animals face.

## Takeaway
The northern hairy-nosed wombat has rebounded from roughly 35 individuals in the 1980s to over 400 by mid-2024, thanks to predator-proof fencing and active management.

## What is a wombat?
Wombats are large, herbivorous marsupials belonging to the family Vombatidae, one of only a handful of marsupial families found exclusively in Australia. Three living species are recognised: the common or bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus), the southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons), and the northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii). All share a stocky, muscular body plan optimised for digging — short, powerful limbs armed with long flat claws, a broad head with ever-growing rodent-like incisors, and a rump reinforced with four fused bony plates surrounded by cartilage. This cartilaginous rump has remarkably few nerve endings, allowing a wombat to block its burrow entrance and absorb bites or scratches from pursuing predators with little pain. Wombats are classified within the order Diprotodontia alongside kangaroos and koalas, and their closest living relative is the arboreal koala. Despite their chunky appearance, wombats can reach sprint speeds of approximately 40 km/h over short distances, and captive individuals have lived beyond 30 years, with one recorded at 34 years.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/wombat): Wombat — wildlife guide.

## Where do wombats live?
Common wombats occupy the cooler, more humid forests, heathlands, and alpine meadows of southeastern Australia and Tasmania, including Flinders Island and the Bass Strait islands. Southern hairy-nosed wombats favour the semi-arid scrublands and grasslands of South Australia and adjacent parts of Western Australia, relying on hard, dry soils ideal for their warrens. The critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat is now confined primarily to Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland, with small translocated populations at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge and the newly established Powrunna State Forest site in Queensland, giving the species three known populations for the first time in recorded history. All three species are profoundly terrestrial and burrowing; a single wombat can excavate up to 3 feet of soil in one night using its powerful forelimbs. Burrows reach several metres underground, maintaining stable temperatures and humidity, and are used across generations. Their range has contracted significantly since European settlement, with the common wombat absent from much of its historical extent across southeastern mainland Australia due to habitat clearing and persecution.

## What do wombats eat and how do they digest food?
Wombats are strict herbivores, feeding primarily on native grasses, sedges, roots, bark, and herbs. Adults consume roughly 0.9 kg of vegetation per night during their nocturnal foraging bouts. One of their most extraordinary biological traits is an exceptionally slow metabolic rate: food takes between 8 and 14 days to pass through the digestive tract — among the longest digestion times recorded for any mammal of comparable size. This slow throughput allows wombats to extract maximum nutrients and water from tough, low-quality plant material, making them highly adapted to drought-prone environments. Their unique cubic faeces — of which a wombat may produce up to 100 pellets per day — result from uneven elasticity in the walls of the large intestine, a mechanism described in detail by researchers at Georgia Tech and published in 2021. The cubes stack reliably on rocks and logs rather than rolling away, serving as highly effective territorial scent markers. Southern hairy-nosed wombats in particular can survive extended dry periods without free water by obtaining moisture almost entirely from their food, a critical adaptation in the arid South Australian scrubland where temperatures routinely exceed 35 °C.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/wombat): Wombat — wildlife guide.

## Why is the northern hairy-nosed wombat Critically Endangered?
The northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii) is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (assessed 2015), making it one of the rarest land mammals on the planet. The species was once widespread across much of inland Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, but by the 1980s the entire global wild population had been reduced to an estimated 35 individuals at a single location — Epping Forest National Park. The primary drivers of decline were habitat clearing for cattle grazing, competition for grass with livestock and rabbits, and predation by dingoes. A predator-proof fence enclosing the Epping Forest colony, completed in 2000, proved transformative: numbers climbed to around 113 individuals by 2003, approximately 230 by 2015, over 300 by 2021, and above 400 by June 2024 — a remarkable 40-year recovery story. Critically, around 95 percent of the global population still exists at a single site, meaning any localised catastrophe — disease outbreak, extreme drought, or wildfire — could be catastrophic. The IUCN criteria that triggered the Critically Endangered listing remain relevant: extreme small population size and extreme restriction of range, with fewer than 50 breeding females recorded historically. Active monitoring, genetic management, and further translocations to new sites are the conservation priorities.

## How do wombat burrows benefit other Australian wildlife?
Wombats are widely described as ecosystem engineers — species whose physical activities substantially modify habitats in ways that benefit many other organisms. By excavating extensive, multi-entrance burrow systems up to 30 metres long and two metres deep, wombats aerate soil, increase water infiltration after rainfall, cycle nutrients, and disperse fungal spores. Their diggings also create critical microhabitats: lizards, frogs, small mammals, invertebrates, and even echidnas regularly shelter in wombat burrows. A 2024 study published in the Journal of Mammalogy examined wombat burrows in landscapes scorched by the Black Summer megafires of 2019–2020 and found that burrows functioned as refuge hotspots for small vertebrates, supporting significantly higher species diversity than surrounding fire-affected ground. Wombat dung, rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, fertilises soils and promotes new plant growth. Their grazing behaviour also shapes grassland structure. As Australia faces more frequent and intense bushfire seasons linked to climate change, the ecological value of wombat burrows as refugia for other threatened species is increasingly documented. Losing wombats from a landscape therefore carries cascading consequences that extend far beyond the animals themselves, affecting biodiversity, soil health, and post-fire ecosystem recovery across the Australian continent.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run field projects for wombats, as WARN's active rescue and conservation partnerships are focused in its partner-network countries. This guide is offered as free educational content because understanding iconic species like wombats — and the science of ecosystem engineering and marsupial conservation — strengthens the global culture of wildlife protection that benefits animals everywhere.

## Donation hook
The forces driving wildlife loss — habitat clearing, invasive predators, disease, and climate-driven drought — threaten animals across every continent, not just Australia. Supporting WARN helps fund the ground-level rescue and habitat protection work that keeps vulnerable species from crossing the line into extinction.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/wombat): Wombat — wildlife guide.

## Are wombats dangerous to humans?
Wombats are generally shy and avoid people, but they are powerful animals and can inflict serious injuries if cornered or handled carelessly. Their thick claws, designed for digging through hard soil, can cause deep lacerations, and a frightened wombat can deliver a forceful bite. Wild wombats should never be approached or fed, as habituation to humans increases their risk of road accidents and conflict.

## Why do wombats produce cube-shaped poo?
Wombat faeces are cubic because the walls of the wombat's large intestine have varying elasticity — two stiff regions alternating with more flexible sections — which mould soft material into roughly cubic pellets during the drying process. Research published in 2021 confirmed this as the first known biological mechanism for producing cube-shaped faeces. Wombats stack these pellets on prominent surfaces to mark territory; the flat faces stop them rolling away.

## How long do wombats live?
In the wild, common wombats typically live 15 years, though survival varies with disease pressure and food availability. In captivity, where mange, predation, and drought are absent, wombats have been recorded living past 30 years; the longest-lived captive individual reached 34 years of age.

## What is sarcoptic mange and how does it affect wombats?
Sarcoptic mange is a highly contagious skin disease caused by the parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei. The mites burrow into a wombat's skin, causing intense itching, progressive fur loss, thickened crusty skin, and secondary infections. Untreated, the disease is almost always fatal. Mange is believed to have been introduced to Australia by European foxes and domestic dogs. It remains one of the greatest threats to common wombat populations, and outbreak mapping via citizen science is helping prioritise treatment programmes.

## How many wombat species are there?
There are three living species of wombat, all endemic to Australia: the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) of southeastern Australia and Tasmania; the southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) of South Australia and adjacent areas; and the northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii) of central Queensland. All three belong to the family Vombatidae. Several prehistoric relatives, including the giant wombat Diprotodon, became extinct after the last ice age.

## Can wombats run fast?
Yes — despite their compact, rotund build, wombats can sprint at up to approximately 40 km/h (25 mph) in short bursts. This speed is sufficient to outpace many predators over a short distance and reach the safety of a burrow. After sprinting for 30–60 seconds, however, they tire quickly. Their primary defence is retreating underground and using their cartilage-armoured rump to block the burrow entrance.

## What do wombats eat?
Wombats eat Herbivore — grasses, sedges, roots, bark. Wombats are stocky Australian marsupials in the family Vombatidae; the common wombat is Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, while the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered with fewer than 400 individuals surviving in Queensland.

## Where do wombats live?
Wombats live in Forests, heathlands, grasslands, semi-arid scrubland. Wombats are stocky Australian marsupials in the family Vombatidae; the common wombat is Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, while the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered with fewer than 400 individuals surviving in Queensland.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/wombat): Wombat — wildlife guide.

## How big is a wombat?
A Wombat is about 20–35 kg (44–77 lb). Wombats are stocky Australian marsupials in the family Vombatidae; the common wombat is Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, while the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered with fewer than 400 individuals surviving in Queensland.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chipmunk): Chipmunk — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Chipmunks are small striped rodents of the subtribe Tamiina — found across North America and in one Asian species — that are mostly Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, though one New Mexico subspecies was listed as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in December 2024.

## Introduction
Chipmunks are small, ground-dwelling squirrels belonging to the subtribe Tamiina within the tribe Marmotini. Three living genera comprise the group: Tamias (eastern chipmunk, eastern North America), Neotamias (roughly 23 western North American species), and Eutamias (the Siberian chipmunk, ranging from Russia across to Japan). They are instantly recognisable by the bold pattern of alternating dark and pale stripes running from snout to tail base — a pattern unique among North American rodents. Weighing just 30–150 g and measuring 10–20 cm in body length, chipmunks punch well above their ecological weight. They are prolific seed-cachers whose forgotten winter stores germinate into trees, dispersers of mycorrhizal fungal spores, and a critical prey base for hawks, foxes, and weasels across temperate and boreal forests.

## Takeaway
Chipmunks belong to three distinct genera — Tamias, Neotamias, and Eutamias — with about 25 living species spread across North America and northern Asia.

## Takeaway
Rather than fattening up like true hibernators, chipmunks cache up to 3.6 kg of seeds and nuts in their burrows and enter repeated bouts of torpor throughout winter, waking to feed every few days.

## Takeaway
Their expandable cheek pouches can hold up to 70 sunflower seeds or 12 acorns at once, tripling the apparent size of the head and enabling a single chipmunk to collect around 165 acorns in a day.

## Takeaway
By burying and frequently forgetting food caches, chipmunks act as unintentional foresters, germinating oaks, maples, and other tree species across vast stretches of North American woodland.

## Takeaway
The Peñasco least chipmunk (Tamias minimus atristriatus), an isolated New Mexico subspecies, was federally listed as Endangered in December 2024, with only a few dozen animals surviving in the Sacramento Mountains.

## Takeaway
Climate change poses a growing threat to several western chipmunk species, altering food-plant phenology, shrinking alpine habitat, and reducing genetic diversity in isolated montane populations.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chipmunk): Chipmunk — wildlife guide.

## What is a chipmunk?
Chipmunks are small, diurnal, ground-dwelling members of the squirrel family Sciuridae, grouped within the subtribe Tamiina of the tribe Marmotini. Three genera hold all living species: Tamias, represented solely by the eastern chipmunk (T. striatus) in eastern North America; Neotamias, encompassing roughly 23 species of western North American chipmunks; and Eutamias, containing the Siberian chipmunk (E. sibiricus), the one Asian representative, which ranges from European Russia across Siberia, China, Korea, and northern Japan.

The taxonomy has been debated for decades. Through most of the twentieth century many authorities lumped all chipmunks into a single genus (Tamias), but mitochondrial DNA studies conducted between 2000 and 2010 confirmed that the genetic divergence between the three groups is comparable to the gap between marmots and ground squirrels — supporting recognition of three separate genera. The word 'chipmunk' is thought to derive from the Odawa term 'jidmoonh', meaning 'red squirrel'.

All chipmunks share the same immediately recognisable hallmark: bold alternating dark-brown and white or pale-buff stripes running from the nose, over the crown, and down the back to the tail base. Body length ranges from about 10 cm in the smallest least chipmunks to 20 cm in the eastern chipmunk, with bushy tails adding a further 7–12 cm. Weight spans roughly 30 g to 150 g. Running speed can reach up to 21 mph (34 km/h) — impressive for an animal the size of a human fist.

## Where do chipmunks live?
The geographic range of chipmunks is centred on North America, which holds 24 of the approximately 25 known living species. Eastern chipmunks occupy a broad band from the Atlantic coast west to the Great Plains and from southern Canada to the Gulf states, thriving in deciduous and mixed woodland with abundant ground cover. The western North American species of Neotamias occupy a dizzying variety of habitats: dense coniferous forests, chaparral, alpine meadows, sagebrush flats, and rocky canyons across the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and coastal ranges. The least chipmunk (N. minimus) has the widest range of any chipmunk, stretching from Yukon to Michigan and down through the Great Basin.

The Siberian chipmunk extends the family's footprint into Asia, occupying coniferous and mixed forest from the Ural Mountains through Siberia to Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, northern China, Korea, and Hokkaido, Japan. Its extraordinary thermal tolerance — surviving ambient temperatures from −65 °C to +30 °C — makes it the most climatically resilient of all chipmunks. Introduced populations of Siberian chipmunks also exist in parts of Europe, established from the pet trade in the 1960s.

At the local scale, chipmunks are edge-habitat specialists. They favour areas where dense understorey shrubs, fallen logs, and rocky outcrops provide cover adjacent to open foraging ground. Burrow systems can extend more than 9 metres horizontally, with separate chambers for sleeping, food storage, and waste, sited to avoid flooding and maximize concealment.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chipmunk): Chipmunk — wildlife guide.

## How do chipmunks behave and survive winter?
Chipmunks are solitary and strongly territorial around their burrow entrance, defending a radius of roughly 15 metres against same-species rivals, yet allowing home ranges — which span 0.1 to 0.5 acres — to overlap considerably in resource-rich areas. They are strictly diurnal, most active in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and disappear underground during rain, extreme heat, or the approach of a predator.

The defining survival strategy is food caching. Throughout summer and autumn a chipmunk makes hundreds of foraging trips daily, filling its remarkable cheek pouches — which can stretch to three times the width of the animal's head — with seeds, nuts, berries, fungi, and the occasional insect or bird's egg. Up to 3.6 kg of provisions may be amassed in the larder chamber of the burrow, enough to sustain the animal through a long winter. A single chipmunk can collect around 165 acorns per day; at peak capacity the pouches hold 32 beechnuts or 70 sunflower seeds.

Despite popular belief, chipmunks do not hibernate in the true physiological sense. Instead they enter repeated bouts of torpor, during which the heart rate drops from around 350 to just 4 beats per minute and body temperature falls to the mid-4 °C range. They rouse every few days to feed from their cache, then return to torpor — a pattern that continues until warming spring temperatures signal a permanent emergence. This cache-dependent strategy distinguishes them from fat-storing true hibernators such as ground squirrels and bears.

## What role do chipmunks play in the ecosystem?
Chipmunks are keystone contributors to forest health at three distinct ecological levels. First, as scatter-hoarders they are among the most important seed dispersers in temperate North American woodlands. When a chipmunk buries a nut and then fails to retrieve it — either because it died, forgot the cache's location, or simply stored more than it needed — that seed germinates. Studies in New England forests document chipmunks as major vectors in the regeneration of oak, maple, and beech stands. A single eastern chipmunk may bury several thousand seeds in a season, a meaningful proportion of which become new trees.

Second, chipmunks are potent vectors for mycorrhizal fungi. They consume subterranean fruiting bodies (truffles) and disperse fungal spores through their droppings across large areas. Mycorrhizal networks are essential to tree growth — the symbiotic fungi extend root systems and improve nutrient uptake — so chipmunk-mediated spore dispersal has cascading benefits for forest productivity.

Third, chipmunks form a vital link in predator food webs. Red-tailed hawks, Cooper's hawks, great horned owls, American kestrels, foxes, coyotes, weasels, domestic cats, and a range of snake species all prey on chipmunks. Population cycles of these predators can follow chipmunk abundance, and in some study areas chipmunks constitute 20–30 % of the diet of certain raptor pairs during the breeding season. Their role as 'prey glue' helps sustain the trophic diversity of temperate forest systems.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chipmunk): Chipmunk — wildlife guide.

## What threats do chipmunks face?
Most chipmunk species remain abundant and are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, but the group is not without conservation concerns. The most pressing recent development is the December 2024 listing of the Peñasco least chipmunk (Tamias minimus atristriatus) as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. This isolated New Mexico subspecies is now thought to number only a few dozen individuals in the Sacramento Mountains of Lincoln County. Its precipitous decline stems from a combination of habitat encroachment from forest succession into sub-alpine meadows, livestock grazing, feral hog predation, ski resort operations, and — crucially — increasing drought and wildfire driven by climate change. The US Fish and Wildlife Service designated approximately 4,386 acres of critical habitat alongside the listing.

More broadly, climate change is altering phenological timing across chipmunk ranges. A 2024 study in the Journal of Mammalogy found that the alpine chipmunk (N. alpinus) in the Sierra Nevada has shifted its range upslope by around 500 metres over the past century in response to warming, contracting its available habitat and reducing genetic diversity. Similar range-contraction pressures are documented for other montane specialist species.

Habitat fragmentation from roads, urban expansion, and agricultural clearing isolates chipmunk populations, reducing gene flow and resilience. Predation from feral and free-roaming domestic cats — which kill billions of small mammals annually across North America — also acts as a significant, often underappreciated, mortality source for chipmunks living near human settlements.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run field projects for chipmunks — their range is centred on North America and Siberian Asia, outside WARN's active conservation network. This guide is offered as free educational content because understanding the ecological value of small mammals, wherever they live, builds the public awareness that supports wildlife protection everywhere.

## Donation hook
Small mammals like chipmunks are the unsung architects of healthy forests — their seed-caching and fungal-spore dispersal quietly rebuilds woodland year after year. WARN's habitat-protection partners work to keep wild spaces intact for animals great and small. If this guide sparked your curiosity, consider supporting that work.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/chipmunk): Chipmunk — wildlife guide.

## Are chipmunks rodents?
Yes. Chipmunks are rodents belonging to the squirrel family Sciuridae. They sit within the tribe Marmotini alongside marmots, prairie dogs, and ground squirrels, grouped in the subtribe Tamiina.

## Do chipmunks hibernate?
Not in the strict sense. Chipmunks enter repeated bouts of torpor rather than continuous hibernation. They do not build large fat reserves; instead they cache up to 3.6 kg of food underground and wake every few days throughout winter to eat from their larder before returning to torpor.

## How many chipmunk species are there?
There are approximately 25 living species across three genera: one eastern North American species (Tamias striatus), roughly 23 western North American species (Neotamias), and one Asian species, the Siberian chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus).

## Are any chipmunks endangered?
Most chipmunk species are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN. However, the Peñasco least chipmunk (Tamias minimus atristriatus), a subspecies found only in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico, was listed as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in December 2024, with its population estimated at only a few dozen animals.

## What do chipmunks eat?
Chipmunks are omnivores. Their diet centres on seeds, nuts, berries, and fungi, supplemented with insects, earthworms, bird's eggs, and occasionally carrion. They transport food in expandable cheek pouches that can hold up to 70 sunflower seeds or 32 beechnuts at once.

## How long do chipmunks live?
Eastern chipmunks typically live around three years in the wild, though individuals occasionally reach five or more years. In captivity, eastern chipmunks have been recorded living up to eight years. The Siberian chipmunk generally lives two to five years in the wild.

## Where do chipmunks live?
Chipmunks live across North America and Asia in forests, woodland edges and scrub where they can dig burrows. The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) ranges through eastern North America, roughly 23 western species belong to Neotamias, and the Siberian chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus) extends from Russia to Japan. Burrows may reach up to 9 m (30 ft) long.

## Are chipmunks dangerous?
No. Chipmunks are not dangerous to people. They weigh 30–150 g and measure 10–20 cm in body length, fleeing at up to 21 mph (34 km/h) when alarmed. They may bite only if cornered. Their main ecological roles are as seed dispersers and as prey for hawks, foxes and weasels across temperate woodland.

## How big is a chipmunk?
Most chipmunks measure 10–20 cm (4–8 in) in body length and weigh 30–150 g (1–5.3 oz). Their expandable cheek pouches can hold up to 70 sunflower seeds or 32 beechnuts at once, making the head appear much wider when stuffed with food for caching underground.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/skunk): Skunk — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The skunk (family Mephitidae) is a small-to-medium omnivorous mammal found throughout the Americas, best known for its powerful sulphur-compound defensive spray, which it can aim accurately at threats up to six metres away.

## Introduction
Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae, a group of small-to-medium mammals best known for the remarkable sulphur-based spray they deploy against threats. The family includes 16 species across four genera — Mephitis, Conepatus, Spilogale, and Mydaus — found mainly in the Americas, with two stink badger species in South-East Asia. The most familiar is the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), whose bold black-and-white pattern has become a globally recognised warning signal. Far from being merely a nuisance, skunks are keystone insectivores whose digging aerates soil and keeps grub populations in check. Adaptable enough to thrive from dense forest to urban parks, they are among North America's most ecologically valuable yet least appreciated mammals.

## Takeaway
Skunks are not true hibernators — they enter a lighter torpor state in winter and can emerge on warm days to forage.

## Takeaway
Skunk spray is a cocktail of thiols, principally trans-2-butene-1-thiol; tomato juice does not neutralise it — hydrogen peroxide and baking soda do.

## Takeaway
Striped skunks are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN (assessed 2016) with a stable population across most of North America.

## Takeaway
Skunks are valuable pest controllers, with insects and grubs making up 52–96% of their diet depending on the season.

## Takeaway
Vehicle collisions and rabies are the leading documented causes of skunk mortality, not predation.

## Takeaway
The bold black-and-white colouration of skunks is a classic example of aposematism — a warning signal that predators learn to respect.

## What is a skunk, and how many species are there?
Skunks are carnivoran mammals placed in their own family, Mephitidae, after genetic research in the 1990s separated them from the weasel family Mustelidae. The family contains 16 living species in four genera. The genus Mephitis holds the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura). Spilogale contains eight species of spotted skunks, the smallest members of the family, while Conepatus comprises four hog-nosed skunk species ranging from the south-western United States to Patagonia. The stink badgers of South-East Asia — placed in Mydaus — complete the family. Body size ranges enormously: spotted skunks can weigh as little as 0.5 kg, while some hog-nosed skunks exceed 8 kg. The striped skunk, the most studied species, averages 1.4–6.6 kg and roughly 68 cm in total length. All mephitids share the family's defining feature — paired anal scent glands capable of projecting a noxious secretion — and all display warning colouration in black, white, brown, or cream patterns, even from birth.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/skunk): Skunk — wildlife guide.

## Where do skunks live, and what habitats do they prefer?
The striped skunk occupies the widest range of any mephitid, spanning southern Canada from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, all contiguous US states, and northern Mexico. Other Mephitis and Conepatus species extend through Central America into Patagonia, while spotted skunks cover much of the same North American range at smaller, patchier scales. Skunks are habitat generalists. They favour mixed woodland with brushy edges, open grassland interspersed with wooded ravines, farmland margins, and rocky outcrops where den sites are plentiful. Their adaptability to human-modified landscapes is pronounced: striped skunks are common in suburban gardens, parks, and even city centres, where food is abundant and natural predator pressure is reduced. Dens are often appropriated burrows of other animals, hollow logs, rock crevices, or spaces beneath buildings. During the coldest winter months in northern parts of the range, skunks enter communal dens and reduce activity, sometimes sharing space with several individuals to conserve warmth — an unusual degree of sociality for an otherwise solitary animal.

## How does a skunk's spray work, and can it really blind you?
The skunk's spray is produced by two walnut-sized anal glands flanking the rectum, each connected to a nipple the animal can aim with muscular control. The striped skunk can project its secretion accurately at targets up to six metres away. The chemical cocktail consists primarily of volatile thiols — sulphur-containing organic molecules including trans-2-butene-1-thiol and 3-methyl-1-butanethiol — which have an extraordinarily low odour threshold detectable by humans at concentrations of parts per billion. A third major component, trans-2-butenyl thioacetate, is less immediately odorous but breaks down slowly into thiols, which explains why the smell lingers for days on porous surfaces. Direct eye contact with the spray can cause temporary intense irritation and, in rare cases, brief vision impairment, but permanent eye damage is not documented in healthy individuals. Before spraying, skunks give clear warnings: they stomp their front feet, raise and fan their tail, and arch their body into a U-shape so both eyes and the gland can face the threat simultaneously. The popular tomato-juice remedy is a myth — it only masks the odour through olfactory fatigue. Oxidising agents such as hydrogen peroxide combined with baking soda chemically break down the thiol bonds and genuinely neutralise the smell.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/skunk): Skunk — wildlife guide.

## What do skunks eat, and what role do they play in their ecosystem?
Skunks are opportunistic omnivores whose diet shifts markedly with season. In warmer months, insects and larvae — beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and especially soil-dwelling grubs — can constitute 52–96% of intake by volume, making skunks some of the most productive insectivores in temperate North America. They supplement this with small vertebrates, bird eggs, berries, seeds, fungi, and carrion. Their powerful front claws make them efficient diggers capable of excavating larvae from compacted soil, and this digging aerates ground and cycles nutrients. Skunks are also effective controllers of pest species, consuming large numbers of agricultural insects and rodents. As prey animals themselves — primarily taken by great horned owls, which appear largely immune to the spray's deterrent effect, and occasionally by coyotes, foxes, and bobcats — skunks contribute energy to upper trophic levels. In winter, northern populations enter torpor (not full hibernation), reducing their metabolic rate and relying on fat reserves, though they may emerge on mild days. Females give birth to litters of two to ten kits after a gestation of 59–77 days, with young weaning at around six to seven weeks.

## What are the main threats facing skunks today?
The striped skunk is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN with a stable overall population trend, a status last formally assessed in 2016 that remains current. However, not all mephitids share this security. Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus humboldtii) of southern South America is listed on CITES Appendix I, reflecting genuine concern over its restricted Patagonian range. Eastern spotted skunks have undergone local declines exceeding 90% in some parts of the US Midwest since the mid-twentieth century, attributed to loss of grassland and forest-edge habitat. For the striped skunk, vehicle collisions represent a significant documented mortality source across the range, particularly during spring dispersal of juveniles. Rabies is another major pressure: skunks are among the most important wildlife reservoirs of terrestrial rabies in North America, and periodic epizootic outbreaks can drive sharp local population crashes. Secondary poisoning from rodenticide use, particularly first and second-generation anticoagulants, is an emerging concern. Habitat fragmentation from urban sprawl continues to reduce connectivity between populations, and fur trapping — though much reduced from historical levels — still occurs in some jurisdictions. Despite these pressures, the striped skunk's reproductive flexibility and dietary adaptability make large-scale decline unlikely in the near term.

## WARN work
WARN does not currently run projects for skunks — our rescue and conservation partnerships focus on wildlife in its partner-network countries. This guide is offered as free educational content because an informed public is the first line of defence for all wildlife: understanding a species' ecological value is what shifts it from pest to protected neighbour in the minds of local communities worldwide.

## Donation hook
Every wild animal — from the dramatic big cats to the quietly industrious skunk — depends on healthy, connected habitat. Supporting WARN's habitat protection work helps safeguard the ecosystems that make coexistence between wildlife and people possible.