Animals
The Tahoe National Forest is characterized by a wide variety of wildlife habitats as it spans the Central Sierra Nevada range between the Sacramento Valley and the Great Basin Region. Broad vegetation types include: mountain chaparral, mixed conifer, red fir, and eastside sage-pine/brush. The common game species that inhabit the Tahoe National Forest include: deer, bear, turkey, quail, and gray squirrel. Other fur-bearing mammals that live in the forest includes: raccoon, bobcat, beaver, coyote, and gray fox. Providing for good habitat for wildlife is an important objective of the National Forests. The natural habitat is carefully considered in the management of many uses in the National Forests.
Our national forests provide habitat for wildlife, including animals like bears and venomous snakes. Always keep your distance. Your safety is your responsibility.
Common Wildlife
Black bear are the only type of bear in California. They range in color but are primarily brown to cinnamon. These omnivores typically live in mountainous forests foraging on berries, nuts, insects, small animals, and garbage. They are usually nocturnal but may appear at midday and they spend most of their time alone except the females with cubs. They can live to be over 30 years of age.
Black bear, Ursus americanus
Photo Credit: Roy BridgemanMountain lions are large wild felines that typically live where mule deer are found as that is their main diet. They are tawny gold in color with black fur tips on their tail and ears. Mountain lions are mostly nocturnal using the heat of the day to sleep in cool rock cavities or shady brush. They are very secretive and solitary, and extremely rare to see. Mountain lions need large areas for their habitat, 25 – 30 square miles, but instead of being territorial, they generally avoid contact with others. They can live up to 18 years of age.
Mountain lion, Puma concolor
Photo Credit: Roy BridgmanMule deer or black-tailed deer are common and are seen in the forest often eating in meadows or grassy areas. Mule deer are more active during dawn, dusk, and moonlit nights and can be alone or in groups. They are reddish in the summer and grayer in winter with their tail being black-tipped or black on top. Mule deer are the most important big game mammals of the West.
Mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus
Photo Credit: USFWSRaccoons are medium sized animals known for their ringed tails and black mask across their faces. They are nocturnal and omnivorous, eating almost anything available. Raccoons live near water, usually riparian areas and nest in snags, logs, or rocky dens.
Raccoon, Procyon lotor
Photo Credit: USFWSWestern gray squirrels are found in oak and pine-oak forests. They are very active in the morning foraging on acorns and pine nuts. Western gray squirrels are large squirrels with gray fur and a very bushy tail. They are larger than the Chickaree which is brown and has a long, chippering call instead of the gray squirrel’s short bark. They nest in cavities of trees and in branches, making their homes of sticks and shredded bark.
Recognized by its distinctive stripe and odor the striped skunk is a common mammal of the forest. They are roughly the size of a house cat with black fur and two white stripes down the back. Skunks are generally found in mixed woodlands, brush land and near water. They are nocturnal and omnivorous and des in burrows, under boulders, wood piles, or abandoned structures.
A coyote looks like a medium sized dog with gray, yellowish-gray, or reddish gray fur. They live in dens in open woodlands, meadows, and plateaus where it is easy to hunt for small rodents at night. Coyotes are social and can often be heard answering each others call with short yips and long howls.
Coyote, Canis latrans
Photo Credit: USFWS