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.