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State Animals and Mammals
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Find profile, botanical name, adoption date and details, description,
and a photo of the official or representative State Animal or State Mammal of each of the
states that have adopted one.
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US State Animals and Mammals
Official Mammal and Animal State Designations
The evolution of the class Mammalia has produced tremendous diversity in form and habit. Living kinds
range in size from a bat weighing less than a gram and tiny shrews weighing but a few grams to the
largest animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which reaches a length of more than 100 feet and a
weight of 200 tons. Every major habitat has been exploited by mammals that swim, fly, run, burrow,
glide, or climb.
There are approximately 5,000 species of living mammals, arranged in about 125 families and 29 orders
(familial and ordinal groupings sometimes vary among authorities).
The greatest present-day diversity is seen in continental tropical regions, although members of the
class Mammalia live on (or in seas adjacent to) all major landmasses. South America (the Neotropics),
for example, was separated from North America (the Nearctic) from about 65 million to 2.5 million years
ago. Mammalian groups that had reached South America before the break between the continents, or some
that “island-hopped” after the break, evolved independently from relatives that remained in North
America. Some of the latter became extinct as the result of competition with more advanced groups,
whereas those in South America flourished, some radiating to the extent that they have successfully
competed with invaders since the rejoining of the two continents.
In contrast, North America and Eurasia (the Palearctic) are separate landmasses but have closely related
faunas as the result of having been connected several times during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to
10,000 years ago) and earlier across the Bering Strait. Their faunas frequently are thought of as
representing not two distinct units but one, related to such a degree that a single name, Holarctic, is
applied to it.
US State Animals and Mammals
Taxonomic Hierarchy
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| Kingdom |
Animalia -- animals |
| Phylum |
Chordata -- chordates |
| Subphylum |
Vertebrata -- vertebrates |
| Class |
Mammalia -- mammals |
| |
State Animals and Mammals
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Racking Horse
(Horse) |
1975 |
Equus caballus |
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Moose
(Land Mammal) |
1998 |
Alces alces |
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Bowhead Whale
(Marine Mammal) |
1983 |
Balaena mysticetus |
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Ringtail
(Mammal) |
1986 |
Bassariscus astutus |
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White-tailed Deer
(Mammal) |
1993 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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California Grizzly Bear
(Animal) |
1953 |
Ursus californicus |
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California Gray Whale
(Marine Mammal) |
1975 |
Eschrichtius robustus |
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Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
(Animal) |
1961 |
Ovis canadensis |
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Sperm Whale
(Animal) |
1975 |
Physeter Macrosephalus |
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Horseshoe Crab
(Marine Animal) |
Jun 25,
2002 |
Limulus polyphemus |
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Florida Panther
(Animal) |
1982 |
Felis concolor coryi |
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Manatee
(Marine Mammal) |
1975 |
Trichechus manatus |
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Porpoise
(Saltwater Mammal) |
1975 |
Tursiops truncates |
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Right Whale
(Marine Mammal) |
1985 |
Eubabalena glacialis |
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Humpback Whale
(Marine Mammal) |
1979 |
Megaptera novaeangliae |
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Appaloosa
(Horse) |
Mar 25,
1975 |
Equus caballus |
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White-tailed Deer
(Animal) |
1982 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
| Indiana |
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| Iowa |
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American Buffalo
(Animal) |
Mar 28,
1955 |
Bison bison |
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Gray Squirrel
(Wild Game Animal) |
1968 |
Sciurus carolinensis |
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Thoroughbred
(Horse) |
1996 |
Equus caballus |
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Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog
(Dog) |
Jul 9,
1979 |
Canis familiaris |
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Black Bear
(Mammal) |
1992 |
Ursus americanus |
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Moose
(Animal) |
1979 |
Alces alces |
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Maine Coon Cat
(Cat) |
1985 |
Felis catus |
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Calico Cat
(Cat) |
Oct 1,
2001 |
Felis catus |
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Chesapeake Bay Retriever
(Dog) |
1964 |
Canis familiaris |
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Thoroughbred Horse
(Horse) |
Oct 1,
2003 |
Equus caballus |
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Right Whale
(Marine Mammal) |
1980 |
Eubabalena glacialis |
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Tabby Cat
(Cat) |
1988 |
Felis catus |
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Boston Terrier
(Dog) |
1979 |
Canis familiaris bostenensis |
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Morgan Horse
(Horse) |
1970 |
Equus cabullus morganensis |
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White-tailed Deer
(Mammal) |
1997 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
| Minnesota |
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White-tailed Deer
(Mammal) |
Apr 12,
1974 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Red Fox
(Mammal) |
1997 |
Vulpes vulpes |
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Bottlenose Dolphin
(Water Mammal) |
April 12,
1974 |
Tursiops truncatus |
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Missouri Mule
(Animal) |
May 31,
1995 |
Equus spp. |
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Missouri Fox Trotting Horse
(Horse) |
June 4,
2002 |
Equus caballus |
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Paddlefish or Spoonbill
(Aquatic Animal) |
May 23,
1997 |
Polyodon spathula |
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Grizzly Bear
(Animal) |
1862 |
Ursus arctos horribilis |
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White-tailed Deer
(Mammal) |
Feb 26,
1981 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Desert Bighorn Sheep
(Animal) |
1973 |
Ovis canadensis nelsoni |
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White-tailed Deer
(Animal) |
1983 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Horse
(Animal) |
Aug 14,
1977 |
Equus caballus |
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Black Bear
(Animal) |
Feb 8,
1963 |
Ursus americanus |
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Beaver
(Animal) |
1969 |
Castor canadensis |
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Plott Hound
(Dog) |
Aug 12,
1989 |
Canis familiaris |
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Grey Squirrel
(Mammal) |
1969 |
Sciurus carolinensis |
| North Dakota |
The Nokota Horse
(Honorary Equine) |
1993 |
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White-tailed Deer
(Animal) |
1988 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Bison
(Animal) |
1972 |
Bison bison |
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White-tailed Deer
(Game Animal) |
Jan 30,
1990 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Racoon
(Furbearing Animal) |
Jan 30,
1990 |
Procyon Lotor |
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Beaver
(Animal) |
1969 |
Castor canadensis |
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White-tailed Deer
(Animal) |
Oct 2,
1959 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Great Dane
(Dog) |
Aug 15,
1965 |
Canis familiaris |
| Rhode Island |
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White-tailed Deer
(Animal) |
1972 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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Boykin Spaniel
(Dog) |
Mar 26,
1985 |
Canis familiaris |
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Coyote
(Animal) |
Mar5,
1949 |
Canis latrans |
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Racoon
(Wild Animal) |
1972 |
Procynn lotor |
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Tennessee Walking Horse
(Horse) |
Jul 1,
2000 |
Equus caballus |
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Armadillo
(Small Mammal) |
Jun 16,
1995 |
Dasypus novemcinctus |
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Longhorn
(Large Mammal) |
May 17,
1969 |
Bos bos |
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Mexican Free-tailed Bat
(Flying Mammal) |
May 25,
1995 |
Tadarida brasiliensis |
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Blue Lacey
(Dog) |
2005 |
Canis familiaris |
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Rocky Mountain elk
(Animal) |
Feb 1,
1971 |
Cervus canadensis |
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Morgan Horse
(Animal) |
Mar 23,
1961 |
Equs caballus |
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Virginia Big-eared Bat
(Bat) |
Mar 22,
2005 |
Plecotus townsendii virginianus |
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American Foxhound
(Dog) |
1966 |
Canis familiaris |
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Orca
(Marine Mammal) |
Jun 24,
2005 |
Orcinus orca |
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Black Bear
(Animal) |
1973 |
Ursus americanus |
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Badger
(Animal) |
Jun 20,
1957 |
Taxidea taxus |
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Dairy Cow
(Domestic Animal) |
1971 |
Bos taurus |
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White-tailed Deer
(Wildlife Animal) |
1957 |
Odocoileus virginianus |
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American Water Spaniel
(Dog) |
1985 |
Canis familiaris |
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Bison
(Mammal) |
Feb 23,
1985 |
Bison bison |
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State Animals and Mammals
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Mammals are one group of animals. Bears, monkeys and dolphins are mammals. So are humans.
But what makes a mammal a mammal?
an·i·mal (ān'ə-məl)
n.
1. A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia, differing from plants in certain
typical characteristics such as capacity for locomotion, nonphotosynthetic metabolism,
pronounced response to stimuli, restricted growth, and fixed bodily structure.
2. An animal organism other than a human, especially a mammal.
mam·mal (mām'əl)
n.
Any of various warm-blooded vertebrate animals of the class Mammalia, including humans,
characterized by a covering of hair on the skin and, in the female, milk-producing mammary
glands for nourishing the young.
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