Hooded Skunk

Mammals > Carnivorans

The Hooded Skunk (Mephitis macroura) is a uniquely elegant, silken-coated mesopredator native to the desert canyons and scrublands of the American Southwest and Central America. Distinguished from its familiar cousin, the Striped Skunk, by an extraordinary ruff of...

Northern Map Turtle

Reptiles > Turtles and Tortoises

The Northern Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica), celebrated across eastern North America as the Common Map Turtle, is the beautifully contoured, river-loving sovereign of the continent’s great waterways. Named for the intricate, delicate network of fine yellow...

Ruffed Grouse

Birds > Galliformes

The Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), revered across North America as the ‘King of the Gamebirds’ or ‘Forest Phantom’, is one of the most celebrated and beloved woodland birds on the continent. Renowned for its explosive, heart-stopping flush...

Yellow-bellied Slider

Reptiles > Turtles and Tortoises

The Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta) is the sun-worshipping, yellow-splashed sovereign of the American Southeast’s cypress swamps and coastal wetlands. Belonging to the pond turtle family Emydidae, this handsome freshwater turtle is famous for...

Red-headed Woodpecker

Birds > Piciformes

The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), celebrated across eastern North America as the ‘Flying Checkerboard’, is one of the most vividly patterned, charismatic, and acrobatic birds in the forest canopy. Unlike many woodpeckers whose red...