An Animal Institute project
Understand the wildlife around you.
Animal behavior is often misunderstood. What appears to be aggression is usually fear. Conflicts with humans can often be remedied without trapping, killing, or relocation - and many will resolve themselves without intervention. What looks like an emergency may be ordinary behavior seen from an unfamiliar angle. Start with what you observed and follow our guidance.
Plain words work here. Try fox screaming at night, squirrel acting drunk, or rabbit nest in my lawn.
Photo California Department of Water Resources (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (opens in a new tab)
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Popular Articles
All learning- ExplainerA Raccoon in the Attic is Usually a Nursing Mom with BabiesA raccoon in the attic is usually a mother with dependent young that are hidden out of sight. That possibility should shape every removal decision.
- ExplainerBaby Squirrels: Reunite With Mom Before Assuming OrphanedWhen a squirrel nest falls or a baby is found at the base of a tree, rescue may be necessary—but rescue does not always mean taking the baby away. If the mother is alive and nearby, reunion is usually the best outcome.
- ExplainerCoyotes: Neighbors, Not MonstersA coyote moving through a neighborhood is not evidence that a neighborhood has “been invaded.” Coyotes have become part of the ecological fabric of much of North America, including urban and suburban areas. They are intelligent, adaptable canids that usually prefer avoiding close contact with people. Seeing one is often simply a glimpse of an animal doing what wildlife does: traveling between resting areas, hunting small prey, or returning to family.
- How toReunite a Raccoon Kit with its MotherA step-by-step guide on how to reunite one or more raccoon kits with their mother.
- How toTreat Mange in Coyotes, Foxes, and Raccoons in the WildManage is epidemic in coyote and fox populations, but this deadly condition is easy to treat in the wild, without ever trapping or capturing the affected animal.
Happening in the wild right now
Mid-August
- Fawns are losing their spotsSpotted coats fade as fawns wean. A fawn alone in tall grass in August is a normal fawn, not an orphan — the doe is feeding nearby and returns at dusk.White-tailed Deer
- Second and third broods are leaving the nestCardinals and Carolina Wrens nest into late summer. Ground-hopping young birds with short tails are fledglings under parental care.Songbirds
- Box turtle hatchlings are emergingQuarter-sized turtles cross lawns and driveways after warm rain. Move them the way they were already heading, never to water.Eastern Box Turtle
- Hummingbirds are packing on weight for the GulfRuby-throateds nearly double their mass before crossing. Feeder traffic peaks now and drops abruptly in late September.Migration
- Young opossums are travelling aloneAt roughly the length of your hand, an opossum is independent. Size, not solitude, is the test.Virginia Opossum
- ParentingHow wild animals raise young — and why absence is almost never abandonment.
- MigrationMovement on a schedule set by daylight, fat, and weather.
- TerritorialityWhy an animal defends a place, and what it thinks it is defending against.
- Torpor and hibernationSurviving the season when staying awake costs more than it returns.
- CommunicationSound, posture, scent, and light used to say something specific.
- PredationThe relationship that shapes nearly every other behaviour.
- Urban wildlifeThe species that found our infrastructure habitable.
- NestingWhere young are placed, and what that choice costs the parent.
- AdaptationTraits that only make sense against a specific pressure.
- IntelligenceProblem-solving, memory, and play in minds unlike ours.
- MisconceptionsBeliefs about wild animals that are widely held, confidently repeated, and wrong.