The fauna of the U.S. state of Nevada is mostly species adapted to desert, temperature extremes and to lack of moisture. With an average annual rainfall of only about 7 inches (180 mm), Nevada is the driest – and has the largest percentage of its total area classified as desert – of all states in the United States.[2][3] Two-thirds of the state is located within the largest desert on the North American continent, the Great Basin Desert, while the lower one-third is the Mojave Desert.[2]
The smaller Smoke Creek Desert and Black Rock Desert are located in the northwest, while other deserts include the Y P Desert, Tule Desert, Forty Mile Desert, Owyhee Desert and the Amargosa Desert. Nevada is located within the Nearctic faunistic realm in a region containing an assemblage of species similar to Northern Africa.[4]
Animals in Nevada include scorpions, mountain lions, snakes, lizards, spiders, wolves, coyotes, foxes, ground squirrels, rabbits, falcons, ravens, desert tortoise, hawks, eagles, bobcats, sheep, deer, pronghorns, geckos, owls, bats and horned toads. Nevada's rivers and lakes contain bass, trout, crappie and catfish.[5]
- ^ "Nevada Pest Control Association scorpion information". Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
- ^ a b Sessions S. Wheeler: "The Nevada Desert" (page 19). The Caxton Printers, 1971. ISBN 9780870042058
- ^ "Nevada". www.infoplease.com.
- ^ "United States | History, Map, Flag, & Population". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ "Nevada | History, Capital, Cities, Population, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica.