Animal Associates
The invertebrates of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation have not been intensively studied. Most of the species of vertebrates are characteristic of the deciduous forest of the eastern United States, or of the edge of woodland; relatively few kinds are characteristic of prairies.
Of birds, for example, some 23 species characteristic of the eastern deciduous forests have been found nesting on the Reservation, as have 14 additional species that are mainly eastern in their distribution but are most characteristic of forest-edge thickets, clearings, or marshy places. The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) and wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) are not present on the area, although they may have occurred there earlier. Other forest birds which occur in the general area, and which have been recorded from time to time on the Reservation, although they seem not to nest there, are: chuck-will's-widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis), scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), Acadian flycatcher (Empidonax virescens), veery (Hylocichla fuscescens), parula warbler (Parula americana), oven-bird (Seiurus aurocapillus), and orchard oriole (Icterus spurius). For each of these, habitat conditions on the Reservation seem to be deficient in some respect. On the other hand, the only typical prairie bird that breeds on the Reservation is the dickcissel (Spiza americana). Others, including the Swainson hawk (Buteo swainsoni), greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), upland plover (Bartramia longicauda), western kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) and loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), occur in the general area, and may even cross the Reservation at times, but they do not become established.
In the mammalian fauna, species typical of the deciduous forests include the opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda), eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus), eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), and pine vole (Microtus pinetorum), but the eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) and southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) are lacking. Also, the present fauna lacks large mammals that may have been present under original conditions: the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), recorded on the area from time to time but not permanently established there, the wapiti (Cervus americanus), black bear (Ursus americanus), and bobcat (Lynx rufus). Other species on the area, that are characteristic of the deciduous woodlands, but that occur also far west into prairie regions, include the little short-tailed shrew (Cryptotis parva), raccoon (Procyon lotor), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) and eastern cottontail. On the area, the only mammals that are sharply confined to grasslands, elsewhere as well as on the Reservation, are the plains pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) and plains harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys montanus), both of which are rare on the area, and the hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus). The following species are typical of the plains, but they range eastward into the region of deciduous forests: western harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys megalotis), deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), coyote (Canis latrans), and spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius). The following mammals, typical of grassland, are absent: black-tailed jack rabbit (Lepus californicus), black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus), 13-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus), Franklin's ground squirrel (Spermophilus franklinii), southern lemming-mouse (Synaptomys cooperi), and of course, the buffalo (Bison bison), and the prong-horned antelope (Antilocapra americana) long extinct in this part of their range.
Of amphibians and reptiles also, the majority are typical forest species, including: the American toad (Bufo terrestris), common tree frog (Hyla versicolor), brown skink (Lygosoma laterale), common five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus), worm snake (Carphophis amoenus), pilot black snake (Elaphe obsoleta), DeKay snake (Storeria dekayi), western ground snake (Haldea valeriae), copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), and timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). Other typical forest species missing from the area include the spring peeper (Hyla crucifer), Carolina box turtle (Terrapene carolina), coal skink (Eumeces anthracinus), and red-bellied snake (Storeria occipitomaculata). Of typical prairie species only the Kansas ant-eating frog (Gastrophryne olivacea) and the ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata) are common, and, curiously, each seems to prefer a forest habitat on this area, in the absence of their closely related eastern representatives, the eastern ant-eating frog (G. carolinensis) and the Carolina box turtle, respectively, which usually live in forests. The plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons), garden toad (Bufo woodhousii), Great Plains skink (Eumeces obsoletus), prairie skink (Eumeces septentrionalis), slender tantilla (Tantilla gracilis), prairie rat snake (Elaphe guttata), bull snake (Pituophis catenifer), and blotched king snake (Lampropeltis calligaster) are all scarce on the area. The plains toad (Bufo cognatus), collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris), except for an introduced colony, plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix), lined snake (Tropidoclonion lineatum), and massassauga (Sistrurus catenatus) seem not to occur on the area at all.
Annotated List of Species