Flora & Fauna : Iowa

Strange wild specimens such as bunchberry and bearberry can be found in the northeast, where the loess soil supports tumblegrass, western beard-tongue, and prickly pear cactus. Some of the other notable plants are pink lady's slipper and twinleaf in the eastern woodlands, arrowgrass in the northwest, and erect dryflower and royal and cinnamon ferns in sandy regions. As of August 2003, five plant species are classified as threatened by the federal government. Among these are the northern wild monkshood and the eastern and western prairie fringed orchids.

Red and gray foxes, raccoon, opossum, woodchuck, muskrat, common cottontail, gray fox, and flying squirrel are common mammals found in Iowa. Iowa also has 140 native fish species. Some of the rare animals include the pygmy shrew, ermine, black-billed cuckoo, and crystal darter. As of August 2003, nine species, including the Indiana bat, bald eagle, Higgins' eye pearlymussel, piping plover, Iowa Pleistocene snail, pallid sturgeon, gray wolf, and least tern were listed as endangered by the federal government.