Besides being known for its Joshua Trees, Joshua Tree National Park is known for its many different species of cacti and rare plants. But the animals are just as interesting, so here is a list of the mammals in Joshua Tree National Park.
Rabbits/Hares
The Balck-Tailed Jackrabbit and the desert cotton tail are the two species of rabbit/hare at Joshua Tree, and they are easily distinguished from each other. Black-tailed jackrabbits have distinct long ears and front legs, whereas cotton tails are a little more stuby. It is common to see both of these rabbits/hares along Joshua Tree’s desert, although black-tailed jackrabbits are out more in the day. I’ve been saying rabbits/hares because technically jackrabbits are a type of hare which is related to a rabbit, but is slightly different. When full grown black-tailed jackrabbits can be up to 2 feet, and weigh from 3-6 pounds. Desert cotton tails are quite a lot smaller, being 14-17 inches and weighing up to 2.6 pounds. Both animals eat similar food consisting of mostly forbs and grasses.
Squirrels
Squirrels are super common throughout Joshua Tree, and pretty much all around North America. There are four different types of squirrels in Joshua Tree. The California Ground Squirrel is a grey-brownish type of colour, and they like to hang out in the more rocky areas of the park. White-Tailed Antelope Squirrels look similar to chipmunks, with white stripes going across their tails. A Mojave Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel have quite small tails like to hang out in low desert areas. The Dusky Chipmunk is a type of rodent in the squirrel family, and they only weigh around 2.6 oz when they are full grown! All of these squirrels can survive in hot and cold desert temperatures making it easy for them to live across the Mojave and Colorado desert.
Bats
There are 16 known species of bats at Joshua Tree National Park. The most common ones are the Big Brown Bat, Canyon Bat, Pallid Bat, California Myotis and Townsend’s Big-eared Bat. The bats living at Joshua Tree use abandoned mines, caves or rock crevices for roosting. Not many people know how important bats are, they pollinate about 200 types of food we eat daily! Unfortunately in some areas including Joshua Tree, there is a fungus called white-nose syndrome, which is a fatal disease for bats. It affects cave dwelling bats when they’re hibernating, when the fungus grows on their face and wings, it causes them to come out of hibernation too early and they normally starve before spring.
Cats
Two big cats call Joshua Tree National Park their home. Being the unofficial mascot of Joshua Tree, Bobcats like to spend a lot of their time in rocky areas of the park. Like most other wildlife living there, they are protected inside the park, but along the borders they were being trapped. Which then in 2014 it became illegal in surrounding areas of Joshua Tree. Surprising enough bobcats are a common animal in the park, unlike the other cat living in the same area. California Mountain Lions are very solitary animals, besides during mating season and when they have cubs they try to avoid interaction. That makes them very rare to see. Mountain lions have lots of amazing abilities, they can jump 45 feet (far), and can run up to 80 km per hour, which helps them catch prey.
Dogs
The Mearns Coyote is a common dog species throughout the park. They like to wander around during the twilight hour, and in the ancient times, it was said that they used to follow the milky way at night. The mearns coyote was named ‘the trickster’ because of their intelligence. It’s very common to hear coyotes howling in the night, but when you hear them there’s normally only 2 or 3 coyotes in a group, but they’re trying to sound like a big pack. Desert Kit Fox, one of the 2 fox species in Joshua Tree, has a typical foxy physique, but with very long ears. When they are full grown they are normally around 2.2 kg, making them the smallest type of fox in North America. The kit fox dig their own dens in the ground. Unlike the Desert Kit Fox, the Gray Fox likes to hang around the rocky areas. Gray foxes are the only member of the dog family that can climb trees, making birds a target for food. Other than that, both species of foxes eat small mammals. The gray fox will sometimes make a hollow tree their dens, but if they can’t find one they’ll dig a den in the soil. Their dens can be up to 70 feet long with many different exits! All of these dogs are nocturnal, but occasionally come out in the day to look for food.
Deer/Sheep
Southern Mule Deer are one of the few large native herbivores left in North America. Their diet consists of various grasses, herbs, and leaves from lots of different types of shrubs. An interesting fact about this type of deer is that males grow a new set of antlers every spring, each one being bigger than the last. Mule deer were named because of their big mule-like ears. Desert Bighorn Sheep, also being a herbivore, like to graze and browse through a wide variety of plants. Bighorn sheep were obviously named after their Gigantic horns, which can weight up to 30 pounds! Between 200 and 300 bighorn sheep live in Joshua Tree as of 2015, but they are endangered species. Bighorn species can climb down mountains very easily. That being said, both animals spend most of their time in the mountain and are around the same size averaging around 200 pounds.
Weasels/Badgers
Long tailed weasels is the only type of weasel in Joshua Tree. The long tailed weasel has been around for 2 million years. They are very strange looking animals in my opinion, having a super long body, neck and tail with very short legs and arms. Long tailed weasels den in ground burrows, under stumps or in rock piles. These little mammals are carnivores but are quite small and range from 3-9 ounces. Being fearless and aggressive hunters they attack animals much larger than them like rabbits, including smaller ones like mice. The American Badger has a similar diet, but they are much bigger animals weighing around 19 pound. But in the fall, when the food is rich, adult male badgers can reach up to 33 pounds. Badgers have a very distinct appearance, their body look flattened and they have a white stripe on their face from their pointy nose to just past their ears. American badgers prefer to live in dry open areas.
Skunk
The Western Spotted Skunk is a black skunk, but instead of having the traditional white stripes, it has patches of white spots. They are generally smaller than the striped skunk having a total length of 14-18 inches. These skunks are omnivores, eating mainly insects, small vertebrates and berries. They prefer to be in the rocky canyons of Joshua Tree, and stay hidden, which makes sense why humans don’t see them very often. Western Spotted skunks are normally solitary animal. In the winter they don’t completely hibernate, but they do sleep for a several weeks.
There are a couple other species of mammals in Joshua Tree National Park including mice, rats, gophers, shrews, ringtails and occasionally California black bears.