page_title: Fauna of California
section_title: Northern California
hierarchical_section_title: Fauna of California / Northern California
caption_attribution_description: English: Black bear in the Canadian Rockies
context_page_description: The fauna of the State of California may be the most diverse in the United States of America. Of the Lower 48 conterminous states, California has the greatest diversity in climate, terrain and geology in general. The state's six life zones are the lower Sonoran; upper Sonoran; transition; and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic zones, comprising California's highest elevations. California’s diverse geography gives rise to dozens of different ecosystems, each of which has its own unique native plants and animals. California is a huge state, the 3rd largest in the U.S., and can range broadly in habitat type.
  Earth scientists typically divide California into eleven distinct geomorphic provinces with clearly defined boundaries. They are, from north to south, the Klamath Mountains, the Cascade Range, the Modoc Plateau, the Basin and Range, the Coast Ranges, the Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, the Transverse Ranges, the Mojave Desert, the Peninsular Ranges, and the Colorado Desert. Here, the Los Angeles Basin, the Channel Islands, and the Pacific Ocean are treated as distinct regions.
context_section_description: The forests in northern parts of California have an abundant fauna, which includes for instance the black-tailed deer, black bear, gray fox, North American cougar, bobcat, and Roosevelt elk. Garter snakes and rattlesnakes are common, as are such amphibians as the mudpuppy and redwood salamander. The kingfisher, chickadee, towhee, and hummingbird represent the bird life of this region. There are an estimated 1,750 wild horses in Northern California in 2013, according to the Bureau of Land Management. There are also a small population of grey wolves In California that inhabit Lassen, Siskiyou and Plumas Counties.
caption: The forests of Northern California are home to many animals, for instance the American black bear. There are between 25 000 and 35 000 black bears in the state.[5]
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