Meet Animals

Eastern American Toad Anaxyrus americanus is a very common animal found in Harriman State Park

• Tadpoles typically leave vernal pools on or about the first week in July

• Very small toads do not have as many parotoid glands and fewer animals have issues eating them. The numbers are many they can easily be eaten by preditors.

• Toads have more than one set of eyelids! One is solid and the other opaque to help protect the eye in water or when in danger of getting scratched in grasses.

• Toads hang out where insects are. They can be found in forests, near streams, in meadows or grasses.

• Toads typically return to the same location for breeding. 

• You can tell the difference between a male and female by the size of the tympanic membrane. The membrane dictates vibrations and allows for the animal to hear. If the membrane is bigger than the animal's eye it is male, smaller or similar in size female. In other words the males have big ears!

Rose or Rosey is a sunset version of a corn snake, she became an animal ambassador around 2010 when found under a dumpster in the Kanawauke Picnic area near the Kanawauke Regional Nature Museum. Rose is most closely related to the black rat snake in our area. It is believed that either Rose was a pet dump or brought along to a picnic and somehow got away from owners. Rose was very thin and had a burn that covered a good portion of the tail area. Rose lives with the Museums Coordinator in the off season and has been regular museum exhibit every summer since.

Samantha, or Sam for short is a Bald Eagle that lives at Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center. Some of her keepers are Alumni of the Regional Museums program. Bald eagles suffered greatly from the chemical DDT, short for dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane. DDT biomagnified up the food chain. Biomagnification is when a substance travels and accumulates as one animal is consumed by another. Since eagles are at the top of the food chain the concentration was exponential. This high content affected the ability of female eagles to produce eggs strong enough to sustain incubation. Most of them broke. This really affected the population and this bird was part of the reintroduction process.

Rosey is a resident a the Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center. Porcupines are arboreal animals that spend most of their time in trees, however this one was found on the ground and not acting in a manor that is typical of a porcupine.  Porcupine quills are barbed and will go into flesh easily, getting them out is a different story.  Porcupine quills cannot shoot out of the animal as often depicted in animation, however, they can be raised and poised to point at a predator.

Garter snakes are very common. Many people believe that their name is actually garden since so many are found in gardens. The name garter is referenced from the article that was used to hold up socks or stockings. Garter snakes come in a few color fazes as well as more accentuated checkered patterns that make animals more individualized. Garter snakes eat a variety of animals from earthworms to amphibians and insects too!  

Everyone loves a baby animal. The garter snake baby is so cute and is on it's own from birth. Learn more by watching the video.

Opossums are the only marsupial in North America. They are able to produce litters of up to 13 offspring three times annually! This is a great adaptation as they only live for 2 to 3 years on average. Opossum cannot hang from their tails as sometime depicted in animation, however, as young they do use it in a prehensile manor. Opossums are omnivorous and can control insect pests like ticks very well. When frightened, opossums will play 'possum or play dead in order to deter predators.

Short tailed weasels are fierce! This one came to Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center because a cat brought it to it's owner when it was still so young her eyes weren't even open yet. Weasels are curious critters so keeping her from becoming habituated toward humans was near impossible. Keeping her on display at Trailside allows for visitors to see an otherwise elusive animal in a captive environment. Although small, she eats two mice daily and burns a great deal of energy on her running wheel. 

Here you will learn about some aquatic (water) invertebrates (animals without back bones). In fact all the the animals featured have exoskeletons or hard surfaces on the outside and no (bones) on the inside. They have some pretty cool adaptations to help them survive. 

Pickerel frogs live in wetland areas and in fields nearby wetland areas. They start off as tadpoles but typically will grow legs and become froglets before summer's heat dries things up. They eat insects and earthworms from early on and don't get bigger than a child's fist. They are distinct in the iridescent ridge down either side of their flanks. They are territorial and will secrete a mucus that will cause illness to other amphibians that encroach in their immediate space. Here at the Regional Nature Museums we give them plenty of space on their own.   

Mollusks are invertebrate aquatic animals or animals that live in water and have no backbone. Here we feature mussels and snails. These are important organisms in an ecosystem because they are the sanitation workers or decomposers, they clean up the dead plants and animals and in turn make nutrient rich soils for plants or producers to use in order to start the cycle again. 

Turkey and Black vultures are very important members of the decomposers. They are the sanitation workers of the natural world. They eat dead and decomposing animals, turning large things into soil and nutrients for the life cycle to begin again with plants. 

Wild turkeys are very colorful. Males have great coloration in their heads especially when they want to impress the ladies. They eat acorns and other seeds that are found on the forest floor, but don't be too surprised to see them fly! They can get 40 feet or more into a tree. To accommodate their large size their wings are very strong but they can only fly for very short distances. 

Great Horned owls are named for the tufted feathers that sit on top of their head that look like ears. In actual fact birds don't have external ears like mammals. They are known as silent hunters for their ability to fly in and swoop up prey without being heard. They have excellent eyesight, especially in the dark which is very helpful as they are nocturnal or primarily active at night. 

Harriman State Park is home to over 50 individually identified bobcats. We know this because trail cameras are used to investigate areas where they are present. They are great hunters that feed off small mammals and birds. The Silvia, Bobcat at Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center has been trained with food rewards to do tasks that help the keepers and keep her safe. One task that she can do is stop on a target designated by the keeper. Another allows keepers to get close to examine for any injuries. 

Barred owls have a very distinct call "Who Cooks For You? Who Cooks For You All!" They also have a very distinct an majestic appearance, also very silent nocturnal top predators.

Red efts are the juvenile of the Spotted Newt. Efts are typically found in moist mossy locations near water. Adults are almost exclusively aquatic.  

Box turtles are terrestrial turtles that have dropped in population, primarily because of habitat destruction or because people have taken them from the wild as pets. It is a very common occurrence that people find a cute animal in the wild and decide to keep it as a pet.  

From the banjo string songs that are heard along the water's edge to the bright green along the ridge of the mouth green frogs are not just common, they are cool!

From the bright yellow spots to the cute face and tiny legs and feet, the spotted salamander is a cool amphibian that does some stealthy night traveling in the very early spring to get together with other spotted salamanders to proctrate in the chilly waters of Harriman State Park.