13 Wild Animals in Idaho [Wildlife in Idaho]

Learn All About Idahoan Animals

Ready to learn all about Idahoan animals?

I’ve always been fascinated by animals, and by how they can be so different from one country to another. In this guide, we’ll focus on the many animals Idaho has on the land, in the sky, and underwater.

I’ve split the guide into 4 categories:

• Native animals from Idaho
• Endangered animals of Idaho
• What is the state animal of Idaho?
• How many animals native to Idaho?

Let’s dive in right away with our first category!

Native Animals from Idaho

Idaho is a state of the United States located in the northwestern part of the country. It has been home to many native peoples for thousands of years, is mostly mountainous but has multiple geographic and climatic regions, has an economy dominated by agriculture, manufacturing, and mining, and joined the United States in 1890.

It is bordered by Canada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and its capital and largest city is Boise, which counts more than 235,000 inhabitants (but more than 749,000 if you include the metropolitan area).

An interesting part of the state that I wanted to tackle is its wildlife. In light of that, I have listed the best of it, and I hope you will love learning what animals live in Idaho.

Here’s the Idaho animals list.

1. North American beaver

• Name: North American beaver
• Scientific name: Castor canadensis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The North American beaver, also known as the American beaver or the Canadian beaver, is a large species of rodent spread throughout much of North America. It is the largest rodent in the continent, and one of the largest rodents in the world after the Eurasian beaver and the capybara.

This mammal is known for the building of its dams. In order to do so, it has particularly powerful teeth; but why do they do it? Simply so they can have their own pond and lodge!

2. Mountain bluebird

• Name: Mountain bluebird
• Scientific name: Sialia currucoides
• Conservation status: Least concern

The mountain bluebird is a small species of migratory bird native to western North America, and the state bird of Idaho. It gets its name from the striking blue plumage of males, but females have a much more dull appearance and are largely gray.

This thrush can live 6 to 10 years in the wild, and is omnivorous: it feeds on insects, berries, fruit seeds, and peanuts.

3. Canada goose

• Name: Canada goose
• Scientific name: Branta canadensis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The Canada goose, also known as the Canadian goose, is a large species of wild goose native to much of North America and introduced to Europe, New Zealand, South America, and Japan. It is largely migratory but can be resident in parts of its range.

This goose is particularly adapted to human-altered areas, where it is thriving. It has firmly established breeding colonies in cultivated and urban habitats, where there is food and little to no natural predators!

4. Grizzly bear

• Name: Grizzly bear
• Scientific name: Ursus arctos horribilis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The grizzly bear is one of the most famous North American animals. Also known as the grizzly or the North American brown bear, it is a subspecies of the brown bear found throughout most of the northwestern quadrant of North America, although its range used to be much wider (as far south as Mexico, and as far east as Pennsylvania.

There are more than 1,000 grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem shared by Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, as well as somewhere between 70 and 100 individuals in northern and eastern Idaho.

5. Snake River Valley raccoon

• Name: Snake River Valley raccoon
• Scientific name: Procyon lotor excelsus
• Conservation status: Least concern

The Snake River Valley raccoon is a very large and pale subspecies of the raccoon, a well-known mammal in North America. Due to its bold behavior, it is often seen around human areas, especially near garbage bins, seeking food.

This omnivore feeds on invertebrates, plants, and vertebrates, and is active at night. Originally, it lives in mixed and deciduous forests, but its range greatly expanded to urban areas and coastal marshes in recent decades.

6. Pronghorn

• Name: Pronghorn
• Scientific name: Antilocapra americana
• Conservation status: Least concern

The pronghorn, also known as the American antelope, the speed goat, or the prairie antelope, is a species of antelope native to central and western North America. It is mostly known for its incredible speed of up to 89 km/h / 55 mph, making it the fastest land mammal in the entire Western Hemisphere.

Idaho is home to one of the main pronghorn migrations, which is becoming rarer and rarer in the United States, but also throughout the world.

7. Rocky Mountain elk

• Name: Rocky Mountain elk
• Scientific name: Cervus canadensis nelsoni
• Conservation status: Least concern

The Rocky Mountain elk is a subspecies of the elk endemic to the Rocky Mountains and some adjacent mountain ranges in western North America. It mostly inhabits the open forests and floodplain marshes of its range, usually at low elevations. There are about 1 million individuals in the wild.

This deer is particularly affected by climate change, which keeps it in its higher elevations for longer than normal; however, it also benefits from it, since the lack of snow protects it from wolves.

8. Northwestern wolf

• Name: Northwestern wolf
• Scientific name: Canis lupus occidentalis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The northwestern wolf, also known as the Alaskan timber wolf, the Canadian timber wolf, or the Mackenzie Valley wolf, is a subspecies of the gray wolf native to western North America. Although not natively found in Idaho, it has been introduced to the state, and can now be found in its mountains.

Wolves are known for being pack hunters, and the northwestern wolf is no exception to that. It will often feed on elks and uses teamwork to separate calves from adults.

9. Yellowstone moose

• Name: Yellowstone moose
• Scientific name: Alces alces shirasi
• Conservation status: Least concern

The moose, also known as the elk in Eurasia, is the largest and heaviest deer in the world. It can be found around Canada and the northern United States, as well as all throughout northern Russia and Scandinavia.

Its local subspecies in Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington, is known as the Yellowstone moose, or Shiras’ moose. It is the smallest subspecies in North America but still weighs up to 344 kg / 758 lb at maturity.

10. Olympic black bear

• Name: Olympic black bear
• Scientific name: Ursus americanus altifrontalis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The grizzly bear is not the only bear in North America, and it is in fact largely outnumbered by the American black bear.

Also simply known as the black bear, this large mammal is the most widely distributed bear species in the Americas. Its Idahoan subpopulation is called the Olympic black bear, and it can be found in the northernmost tip of the state, where it inhabits thick vegetated areas and woodlands.

11. Wolverine

• Name: Wolverine
• Scientific name: Gulo gulo
• Conservation status: Least concern

The wolverine, also known as the glutton, the quickhatch, or the carcajou, is a species of mustelid native to the northernmost parts of the globe. Don’t be fooled by its small size, it is in fact renowned for being extremely strong and ferocious, and being able to attack and kill animals much larger than itself… including lynxes and mooses!

There are only somewhere between 30 and 50 individuals in Idaho, and they are located in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

12. Bighorn sheep

• Name: Bighorn sheep
• Scientific name: Ovis canadensis
• Conservation status: Least concern

The bighorn sheep is a species of wild sheep native to North America. It is named after its very large horns, which can weigh up to 14 kg / 30 lb.

This mammal is found throughout much of the western half of North America. It used to be much more numerous than now, and it suffered a lot from the arrival of Europeans and the introduction of livestock, as well as overhunting.

13. Golden eagle

• Name: Golden eagle
• Scientific name: Aquila chrysaetos
• Conservation status: Least concern

The golden eagle is one of the best-known species of eagle in the world. It is extremely widespread and found throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, and has been used in falconry for centuries due to its hunting prowess and graceful flight.

While it is usually solitary, the largest congregation of golden eagles ever recorded took place in Idaho, where 124 individuals were seen perched closely along a line of 85 power poles, on a very cold winter’s night.

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So there you have them, these were my 13 native animals of Idaho. I hope you enjoyed this list and that you learned something new today.

In case you want to learn more about Idaho wildlife and the rest of the United States, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:

Endangered Animals of Idaho

This is definitely the saddest part of the list, but it is very important to raise awareness. Because of this, let’s go through the list of endangered animals in Idaho.

Here are the animals in danger of extinction in Idaho (including the rest of the United States as well).

Extinct in the wild

• Thicktail chub
• Steller’s sea cow
• Black mamo
• Phantom shiner
• Labrador duck
• and 51 more…

Critically endangered

• Marbled darter
• Red wolf
• Spoon-billed sandpiper
• Ivory-billed woodpecker
• Bog turtle
• and 61 more…

Endangered

• Red-crowned amazon
• Whooping crane
• Phoenix petrel
• Spotted turtle
• Salt-marsh harvest mouse
• and 169 more…

To see the full list of endangered species in Idaho, head over to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

What is the State Animal of Idaho?

Idaho state animal is the Appaloosa.

The Appaloosa is an American horse breed well known for its unique color pattern: the coat of each horse is the result of the complex breeding of all of its ancestors, with their very own pattern.

This horse breed is very famous in Idaho. It is used in a wide range of Western riding disciplines, as well as in many movies, and is a pride in the state.

How Many Animals Native to Idaho?

What is the diversity of native animals in Idaho?

Let’s look at the total number of species of Chordata (mammals, birds, fishes, and reptiles).

Total number of animal species in Idaho: 5,838 (5,879 in total in North America)

More About Animals in the World!

Loved these Idaho animal facts? Want to see what animals live in other countries?

Then check out these posts:

• Wild Animals of the United States
• Wild Animals in Iowa
• Wild Animals in Illinois
• Wild Animals in Indiana

Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.

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