About this field guide
States Wildlife answers three questions about the animals around you: what is it, is it dangerous, and does it live here?
What the guide covers
The guide has 50 state guides and 198 species guides. Each state guide lists the snakes, lizards, frogs and toads, turtles, birds, mammals and, for coastal states, sharks and other marine animals named on the state's official checklists, plus the spiders, scorpions and insects that state and Extension sources single out. Species guides cover the animals people in the US search for most, with range maps by state.
How it is different
- Official sources for every claim. Species lists come from state wildlife agencies. "Venomous" appears only where an agency, Extension service or federal source says so, and each label links to that source.
- Honest gaps. When no official source states whether an animal is venomous, we say "not stated by official sources" and advise not to handle it. We never call an animal harmless on our own.
- "No" answers too. Questions such as whether brown recluse spiders live in a state are answered from the official record, including when the answer is no.
- Seasons from real records. Month-by-month activity comes from open-licence observation records on GBIF, shown as counts of records, not as estimates of how many animals there are.
- No ads. Pages load fast and carry no advertising or ad trackers.
What it does not do
The guide cannot identify a specific animal for you or tell you that it is safe. It gives no medical advice beyond this: if someone is bitten or stung, call 911 or Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222. Never handle a wild animal to identify it.
Who publishes it
The company that publishes States Wildlife is identified in our privacy policy. You can reach us at [email protected].
Read how we build the pages, the full list of sources and our corrections policy.