Explore Utah

Utah wildlife and plants

The animals and plants of Utah's mountain forests, red-rock desert, sagebrush valleys and Great Salt Lake wetlands.

Get to know Utah through the animals and plants that live here. Browse the 63 profiles by habitat or region, compare a species' seasonal habits, and follow the linked agency and university sources when you want to learn more. Start with the landscape you expect to visit, then narrow the list to wildlife or plants.

This is an introduction, not a complete inventory or a field-identification key. A region label describes the range or location a profile's sources support; it does not promise a sighting. Seasonal notes describe general patterns, and we don't publish exact sites for nests, roosts, colonies or rare plants. Check the land manager's current access information separately before a trip.

Choose a way in

I saw something and want to learn about it.Search a common or scientific name below. If you don't know the name, start with a broad group and habitat, then compare the profile's details rather than relying on color alone.
I'm planning a nature walk.Choose a region and habitat, and read a few profiles before you leave. Keep expectations flexible: a quiet walk is still a chance to notice plants, tracks and the way habitats connect.
I'm looking for wildflowers.Start with the wildflower planning guide, then use the plant profiles. Flowering windows are broad patterns, not a bloom forecast.
I'm visiting with children or a new observer.Pick one plant and one animal to learn about. Make the goal careful observation, not finding every species on a checklist.

Learn the landscape

A seasonal comparison makes a familiar landscape easier to read. At Arches, rainfall strongly shapes the wildflower display; at Cedar Breaks, high meadows bloom through a short summer. Those are local examples of why one statewide "best week" would mislead. Try the mountain and desert habitats, then the spring and summer pages.

Each profile answers three separate questions: what the organism is, what habitat or range its sources support, and what a visitor can responsibly observe. Conservation labels are shown with their category, scope and date, because a federal listing, a state priority list and a native-or-introduced label answer different questions.

New: guides to 7 habitats, four seasons and watching well, with the profiles that belong together.

18 profiles.

Learn this habitat: Sagebrush and grasslands: several living layers

Wildlife

File photo: A bison on Antelope Island with snowy Wasatch Mountains behind it (Taken on 18 March 2023, 19:26:38). Photo: Eric Kilby · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mammals

American bison

North America's largest land animal, with wild herds on Antelope Island, in the Henry Mountains and in the Book Cliffs.

Bison bison

Mammals

Pronghorn

An open-country specialist with a white rump, unusual shedding horn sheaths and a need for connected habitat.

Antilocapra americana

Mammals

Bobcat

A seldom-seen wild cat named for its short, bobbed tail.

Mammals

Coyote

Common across Utah, including in cities, and an opportunist that will eat almost anything.

Mammals

Utah prairie dog

A Utah endemic whose short-grass colonies support a much larger community of grassland wildlife.

Cynomys parvidens

Close-up of a gopher snake on rocky ground — File photo: Gopher snake, Arches National Park archive, May 2017. One of Utah’s nonvenomous snake species. Photo: Marty Tow / National Park Service · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Reptiles

Snakes

A diverse group of native predators best appreciated without handling or close-range identification attempts.

Invertebrates

Monarch butterfly

An orange-and-black migrant whose caterpillars need milkweed and whose adults need flowers through the season.

Danaus plexippus

Plants

Shrubs

Big sagebrush

A foundational shrub of Utah's open country, with small gray-green leaves and an outsized role in wildlife habitat.

Artemisia tridentata

Shrubs

Rubber rabbitbrush

A flexible-stemmed native shrub whose late-season yellow flowers extend feeding opportunities for pollinators.

Ericameria nauseosa

Wildflowers

Sego lily

Utah's state flower briefly lifts a three-petaled cup above open, dry-country vegetation before its aboveground growth fades.

Calochortus nuttallii

Grasses

Indian ricegrass

Utah's state grass is a cool-season perennial whose airy seedheads rise from distinct clumps on dry ground.

Achnatherum hymenoides

Grasses

Blue grama

A low native grass with sideways, eyelash-like seedheads and a growing season tied to warmth and summer moisture.

Bouteloua gracilis

Grasses

Cheatgrass

An introduced annual grass that gets a head start on native plants by sprouting in fall.

Bromus tectorum

Wildflowers

Showy milkweed

A broad-leaved native perennial whose clustered flowers support pollinators and whose leaves can host monarch caterpillars.

Asclepias speciosa

Wildflowers

Scarlet gilia

A slender wildflower whose long trumpets rise from finely divided leaves and offer nectar to hummingbirds and other visitors.

Ipomopsis aggregata

Wildflowers

Arrowleaf balsamroot

A long-lived foothill perennial that pairs large arrow-shaped leaves with yellow flower heads and important native-bee relationships.

Balsamorhiza sagittata

Shrubs

Antelope bitterbrush

A drought-tolerant shrub with small three-lobed leaves, pale yellow flowers, and a major role in winter browse.

Purshia tridentata

Grasses

Bluebunch wheatgrass

A widespread native bunchgrass with slender upright spikes and a root system adapted to dry western landscapes.

Pseudoroegneria spicata