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What Animals Are Known for Living in Illinois?

European settlers arriving in Illinois in the 1830s found a state dominated by tallgrass prairies, hence the nickname the "Prairie State." Today, less than 1 percent of the state's native prairies remain, most converted to agriculture in the mid-19th century. Woodlands and wetlands were similarly lost, sacrificed to rapidly expanding agriculture and urban centers. As the landscape changed, so did the associated wildlife. Large mammal populations were decimated; other species were unable to adjust to the rapidly changing environment. Those animals remaining, more than 600 species, have adapted to living in smaller ecosystems and farmlands.

Invertebrates
- Designated the state insect of Illinois in 1975, monarch butterflies migrate south to Mexico in the fall.
  
  Illinois invertebrates include 43 endangered and 12 threatened species at the state level. The majority of these species are mollusks, specifically freshwater mussels, a keystone species of a healthy freshwater ecosystem. At one time, more than 70 species of freshwater mussel lived in the state's waterways. Today less than half of these species remain, 25 of them endangered or threatened. Notable arthropods include species of butterfly and moth such as the Karner blue butterfly, the hoary elfin, Ottoe skipper and the monarch butterfly, the state insect. The Hine's emerald dragonfly, federally endangered due to habitat loss, lives only in Illinois and three other states. The Illinois cave amphipod, a small cave-dwelling crustacean, has been greatly affected by groundwater pollution and pesticides, and now occupies only three cave streams in the state.
Fish
- The most common member of the sunfish family, the bluegill is the Illinois state fish.
  
  According to the Illinois Natural History Survey, a program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, more than 200 fish species representing 30 families inhabit the state's waters. The federally protected Pallid sturgeon has an unusual, dinosaur-like appearance with a long, flat snout and armor-like rows of bony plates. They have no teeth, rather they use their mouths to suck invertebrates and small fish from river bottoms. Their river habitat has been greatly altered by human development, leaving much of it unsuitable for the species. The largest of the fish family, the Cyprinidae or minnows, includes a number of state listed species, among them the pugnose shiner, bigeye shiner, blacknose shiner, weed shiner and river chub. The redspotted sunfish, a relative of the more common bluegill sunfish -- the Illinois state fish -- is endangered in the state.
Amphibians and Reptiles
- The painted turtle, the Illinois state reptile, is less susceptible to habitat modification than many other turtle species.
  
  Illinois' amphibians include 22 species of frogs and toads, and 20 species of salamander. Notable salamander species include the silvery salamander, Eastern hellbender and spotted dusty salamander, all endangered in the state. Far more common, the Eastern tiger salamander -- the Illinois state amphibian -- lives in varied habitats, including forests, pastures and cultivated fields. Toads and frog species include the threatened Illinois chorus frog, eastern narrowmouth toad and the bird-voiced tree frog, a small species named for the rapid succession, birdlike whistles issued by the males in trees during breeding season. Reptiles include 17 turtle species and 38 species of snakes, four of them venomous: the copperhead, cottonmouth, timber rattlesnake, and the state endangered massasauga. Similar to a fox snake, the massasauga was once common over the northern two thirds of the state, but populations have suffered due to drainage of prairies and marshes and agricultural conversion.
Birds
- The northern cardinal, Illinois' easily recognized state bird, has expanded its range north to Chicago.
  
  More than 430 birds have been documented in the state of Illinois. According to the National Audubon Society, seven of the 11 fastest declining grassland and shrubland birds in the country spend some portion of their lives in Illinois. Many of the species, prolific at the time of European settlement, are now threatened or endangered in the state, among them, the greater prairie chicken, upland sandpiper and Swainson's hawk. With a loss of 90 percent of the state's wetlands, associated species are similarly threatened, including the least bittern, yellow-crowned and black-crowned night herons, black rail and piping plover. Six species of woodpeckers nest in Illinois. The downy, hairy, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers have fared well, while populations of the red-headed woodpecker and flicker have declined due to loss of open woodlands.
Mammals
- Due to concerns of chronic wasting disease, it is illegal to feed white-tailed deer in Illinois.
  
  At one time, Illinois' native tallgrass prairies were dominated by American bison and elk. Forested belts were home to large carnivores like timber wolves, bobcats and foxes. In the 1800s, state laws encouraged killing wolves and by the 1860s, the species was fully extirpated from the state. Bison and elk populations met similar fates. Today, the largest mammal on the landscape is also the state mammal: the white-tailed deer. Carnivores include coyote, red and gray fox, cougar and a number of mustelids, such as the American mink, American badger, fisher, American marten, river otter, and both the least and long-tailed weasels. Rodents are by far the largest family, with members including the eastern wood rat, golden mouse, rice rat and Franklin's ground squirrel. Of the 12 species of bats, four are endangered at the state level and two at the federal level: the gray bat and the Indiana bat.

Animals & Science