page_title: Geography of Oklahoma
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of Oklahoma / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Bison at the Tallgrass Prairie Nature Preserve. A tallgrass prairie in Osage County, Oklahoma. A Nature Conservancy preserve.
context_page_description: The Geography of Oklahoma encompasses terrain and ecosystems ranging from arid plains to subtropical forests and mountains. Oklahoma contains 10 distinct ecological regions, more per square mile than in any other state by a wide margin. It is situated in the Great Plains and U.S. Interior Highlands region near the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states. Usually considered part of the South Central United States, Oklahoma is bounded on the east by Arkansas and Missouri, on the north by Kansas, on the northwest by Colorado, on the far west by New Mexico, and on the south and near-west by Texas.
  The state has four primary mountain ranges: the Arbuckle Mountains, the Wichita Mountains, the Ozark Mountains and the Ouachita Mountains. Part of the U.S. Interior Highlands region, the Ozarks and Ouachitas form the only major highland region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians.
  A portion of the Flint Hills stretches into north-central Oklahoma, and in the state's southeastern corner, Cavanal Hill is officially regarded as the world's tallest hill; at 1,999 feet, it fails the definition of a mountain by one foot.
context_section_description: Forests cover 24 percent of Oklahoma, and prairie grasslands, composed of shortgrass, mixed-grass, and tallgrass prairie, harbor expansive ecosystems in the state's central and western portions. Where rainfall is sparse in the western regions of the state, shortgrass prairie and shrublands are the most prominent ecosystems, though pinyon pines, junipers, and ponderosa pines grow near rivers and creek beds in the far western reaches of the panhandle. Marshlands, cypress forests and mixtures of shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, sabal minor, and deciduous forests dominate the state's southeastern quarter, while mixtures of largely post oak,  elm, cedar and pine forests cover the Ozark Mountains in northeastern Oklahoma. Many rare, relic species such as sugar maple, bigtooth maple, southern live oak, and nolina inhabit Southwestern Oklahoma and the Wichita Mountains.
  The state holds large populations of white-tailed deer, coyotes, bobcats, elk, and birds such as quail, doves, cardinals, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and pheasants. In prairie ecosystems, american bison, greater prairie-chickens, badgers, and armadillo are common, and some of the nation's largest prairie dog towns inhabit shortgrass prairie in the state's panhandle. The Cross Timbers, a region transitioning from prairie to woodlands in Central Oklahoma, harbors 351 vertebrate species. The Ouachita Mountains are home to black bear, red fox, grey fox, and river otter populations, which coexist with a total of 328 vertebrate species in southeastern Oklahoma.
caption: Populations of American bison inhabit the state's prairie ecosystems.
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