Foxes are small and medium-sized canids native to much of the Northern Hemisphere. They have large pointy ears, long legs, and bushy tails. Most foxes are nocturnal animals that hunt alone.

These sly animals are incredibly resourceful and intelligent animals. They are known to be able to solve complex problems and adapt to new environments quickly. Foxes are also very playful animals, often engaging in play fighting with each other.

Foxes have a varied diet that includes rodents, rabbits, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. In some areas, foxes may also eat fruit and vegetables.

Ground squirrels eat nuts, leaves, roots, seeds, and other plants. They also catch and eat small animals, such as insects and caterpillars. Tree sap is a delicacy to some species.

Tree squirrels are commonly seen everywhere from woodlands to city parks. They nest in trees and build little homes called "drays." Though they are terrific climbers, these squirrels do come to the ground in search of food.

These small mammals must always be wary of predators because they are tasty morsels with few natural defenses, save flight. Sometimes groups of ground squirrels work together to warn each other of approaching danger with a whistling call.

Rabbits are some of the most adored and benevolent creatures to grace our back yards and meadows. Their long, pink ears, powerful hind legs, black button noses, and cotton tails give them their distinctive, cuddly appearance and have made them the subject of childhood fables over the course of several centuries.

During warmer seasons, rabbits will eat weeds, grasses, clover, wildflowers, and flower and vegetable plants. When the weather turns cold, rabbits will munch on twigs, buds, bark, conifer needles, and any remaining green plants.

Mother rabbits leave newborns in their nests, visiting them only at dusk and at dawn to avoid drawing the attention of predators. Rabbit communities can reside underground in extensive, complex, engineered burrows. When being chased, rabbits will run in zigzag formations to confuse, rather than outrun, their predators.

Raccoons are active-at-night, or nocturnal, mammals that live throughout much of the world, from North and South America to Asia, in wooded areas or sometimes big cities.

During winter in cold northern climates, raccoons sleep for extended periods, although they don't actually hibernate. To prepare for cold winters, raccoons pack on extra body fat in fall. This extra fat helps provide the raccoon with energy when it's too cold to search for food.

On land, raccoons lumber around on all four paws like a bear. Among the raccoon’s favorite foods on land are: fruits, seeds, nuts, birds' eggs and plants. In cities, raccoons scavenge around garbage bins and will eat scraps of food and other trash found there. Raccoons are also excellent swimmers, hunting fish, frogs, and crayfish.

Lively and speedy critters, chipmunks are small members of the squirrel family. Their pudgy cheeks, large, glossy eyes, stripes, and bushy tails have made them a favorite.

Some dig burrows to live in, complete with tunnels and chambers, while others make their homes in nests, bushes, or logs. Chipmunks generally gather food on the ground in areas with underbrush, rocks, and logs, where they can hide from predators like hawks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, and snakes.

They feed on insects, nuts, berries, seeds, fruit, and grain which they stuff into their generous cheek pouches and carry to their burrow or nest to store. Chipmunks hibernate, but instead of storing fat, they periodically dip into their cache of nuts and seeds throughout the winter.

Although badgers are very social, they live mostly secret lives in underground homes and are nocturnal, emerging at night to forage for food and play with their brothers and sisters. These furry mammals are beloved around the world

Just like humans, badgers live in homes with their families and love spending time with relatives. They have a strong sense of community with their immediate family. Some badger homes are over 100 years old and are passed down to future generations. These underground burrows, known as “setts,” have up to 40 entrances and many meters of tunnels.

Perhaps because of their powerful noses, badgers keep their homes in tip-top shape by creating a latrine pit as a bathroom. They won’t defecate in their homes, instead making a pit out of dried grass and leaves just outside their burrow. Badgers use grass for another reason, too: as bedding. They love to get cozy in their homes. They change their bedding daily, disposing of old leaves outside and bringing in a fresh new bundle to sleep on.

Deer are the most popular and well-known forest animals.

Though often thought of as timid creatures, deer can be very aggressive, especially during the rutting season. Male deer (bucks) will fight each other for the chance to mate with a female deer (doe). Bucks will also spar with their antlers to show dominance over other bucks. They are often hunted by the predators of the forest.

Deer are browsers, which means they eat leaves, twigs, and other plants. They eat grasses, sedges, and shoots of trees, woody plants, fruits. They also eat acorns and nuts. In the winter, when food is scarce, deer will eat bark from trees.

Bears are large, hairy mammals that live in forests all over the world. Bears are excellent climbers and swimmers, and they use these skills to find food and escape from predators.

These large animals are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals.

Their diet varies depending on the season and what is available. In the spring and summer, bears eat a lot of berries, nuts, and insects. In the fall, they eat acorns and other fruits to fatten up for winter. During winter, when food is scarce, bears mostly eat plants.

Elk are also called wapiti, a Native American word that means “light-colored deer.” Elk are related to deer but are much larger than most of their relatives. A bull (male) elk's antlers may reach 4 feet above its head, so that the animal towers 9 feet tall.

Bull elk lose their antlers each March, but they begin to grow them back in May in preparation for the late-summer breeding season.

In early summer, elk migrate to high mountain grazing grounds where the cows (females) will give birth. Each cow typically has a single calf, which can stand by the time it is 20 minutes old.

In the winter, elk reconvene into larger herds, though males and females typically remain separate. The herds return to lower valley pastures where elk spend the season pawing through snow to browse on grass or settling for shrubs that stand clear of the snow cover.

The large coniferous forest found in Canada is called the Taiga. There are many swamps, mountains and forests in the Taiga that are home to the Bobcat. Throughout much of the United States the bobcat lives in forests.

The bobcat's head is small and its ears are large. The face of the bobcat looks a lot like a house cat, but the body is taller and slimmer.

The teeth of this cat are sharp. The canine teeth are long and are used to stab the prey. The back teeth are scissor-like so they can cut through the meat and hide. The bobcat's claws are designed to help it climb and catch its prey. These claws are very sharp and can be pulled inside their toes.

The bobcat can run very fast, up to 30 miles per hour, but it prefers to walk. The bobcat has a special technique for running fast to catch its prey. It puts its back feet into the front feet's spot. If the bobcat is walking on leaves and twigs that would make noise this technique also prevents it from making any sound, and makes it a very quiet hunter.

Bobcats are loners, and they keep separate territories.

Boars, also called wild pigs, are found in woods throughout the world. In North America, they range from Alaska and Canada to Mexico and Central America.

These are bulky animals with short legs, small eyes, and large heads with tusks. Tusks are long canine teeth that grow up and out from the boar’s mouth.

Male boars are called boars, while female boars are called sows. Young boars are called piglets.

Boars are omnivores, which means that they eat both plants and animals. Their diet includes acorns, roots, fruits, insects, small mammals, and carrion (dead animals).

They use their powerful noses to dig for food in the ground.

Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults.

They have smooth, moist skin which they are capable of ‘drinking’ and respiring through. They have toes but no claws.

Habitat: Two-lined salamanders are found all throughout Rhode Island, excluding Block Island. They inhabit a variety of moist habitats but typically are found under logs and stones or leaf litter adjacent to running water with sandy or gravelly substrates.

Most salamanders are small, and few species are more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. A salamander’s hind legs grow more slowly than its front legs. (Frogs and toads are just the opposite: their hind legs grow more quickly than their front legs.) All four legs on a salamander are so short that its belly drags on the ground.

Other names salamanders go by include olm, axolotl, spring lizard, water dog, mud puppy, hellbender, triton, and Congo eel. Whew!

Snakes live in a wide variety of habitats including forests, swamps, grasslands, deserts and in both fresh and salt water. Some are active at night, others during the day.

Snakes are predators and eat a wide variety of animals, including rodents, insects, birds' eggs and young birds. Snakes are cold-blooded and must move to a suitable surrounding environment to regulate their body temperature. They can't survive extreme summer heat for more than 10-20 minutes and are rarely found in the open.

They hibernate in the winter and may also be inactive periodically during hot summer weather. Most snakes that you may encounter are not poisonous. Venomous snakes that are found in the United States include rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths/water moccasins, and coral snakes.

Despite their commanding olfactory presence, skunks are passive, fairly shy animals.

Skunks are not too particular when it comes to finding a place to live, but they generally live within two miles of water. They can be found in forested areas, grasslands, brush, open prairies and developed areas. Spotted and Striped Skunks use similar types of habitat, but Spotted Skunks are more likely to be seen in and around forests and woodlands and are not as tolerant of human activity as the Striped Skunk.

Skunks use underground dens year round for resting, hiding, birthing and rearing young. They are located under wood and rock piles, buildings, porches and concrete slabs, as well as in rock crevices, culverts, drain pipes and fallen hollow trees. Skunks can dig their own dens but often use burrows abandoned by other animals.

Skunks are omnivores, but they have a strong affinity for insects such as bees, grasshoppers, beetles and a variety of insect larvae. They spend much time rooting around and digging with their large, strong claws as they search for invertebrates. In addition, they eat small mammals, such as mice and voles, nestling birds, eggs, fruits and berries, reptiles and some green vegetation.

Bats are a very important part of our ecosystem. They are the primary predator of a vast number of pests. Bats also pollinate flowers and disperse seeds that make the rain forest grows and the deserts bloom. Wherever they are, they are critical elements to the health of our natural resources.

In the outdoors, bats use trees, cliffs, caves, buildings, water, bridges and mineshafts in a variety of habitats.

Bats frequently of move between roosts, and apparently lack of cohesiveness in "colonies." Roost-switching represents behavior opposite to the high degree of site fidelity exhibited by bats roosting in buildings or caves. Without any human disturbance, individuals move between tree roosts on a regular basis, sometimes to a site only yards away, but in other cases to trees nearly a mile away. Females will move even while nursing their dependent young, presumably carrying the pup from one tree to the next during the night. Why they do this is a fascinating question that current research is attempting to answer. Perhaps bats move to confuse potential predators such as weasels and squirrels. Perhaps moving reduces the load of parasites such as ticks, fleas, and mites that can build up in roosts. Or perhaps different trees offer appropriate microclimates, depending on whether it is sunny and hot or cool and wet. Whatever the reason, the bats’ willingness to move in spite of the cost indicates that it is an important behavior for the well-being of the bats.

Over 400 bird species are known to occur in Rhode Island forests, with around 170 nesting species and 150 regular migrants, according to Rhode Island’s 2005 Wildlife Action Plan. Woodlands and shrublands are especially important components of land bird habitat, as they provide opportunities for food, shelter, and nesting.

Shrubland and early successional woodland birds are among the most threatened throughout the state and throughout New England, as these habitat types continue to decrease.

The northern bobwhite, American woodcock, willow flycatcher, eastern kingbird, brown thrasher, blue-winged warbler, prairie warbler, eastern towhee, field sparrow, and cerulean warbler are just a few at-risk species that require this kind of habitat in Rhode Island.

Woodpeckers, warblers, and owls can also be seen in our forest canopies while wild turkeys pass through the undergrowth.