page_title: Thousand Oaks, California
section_title: Wildlife
hierarchical_section_title: Thousand Oaks, California / Wildlife
caption_attribution_description: Odocoileus hemionus subsp. columbianus English: Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Coast Deer male Français&#160;: Cerf hémione dans le Parc national Olympique.
context_page_description: Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately 40 miles from Downtown Los Angeles, and is less than 15 miles from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills. It is named after the many oak trees present in the area.
  The city forms the central populated core of the Conejo Valley. Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964, but has since expanded to the west and east. Two-thirds of neighboring Westlake Village and most of Newbury Park were annexed by the city during the late 1960s and 1970s. The Los Angeles County–Ventura County line crosses at the city's eastern border with Westlake Village. The population was estimated to be 126,813 in 2019, up from 126,683 at the 2010 census.
context_section_description: Thousand Oaks' fauna includes mammals such as mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, grey fox and mule deer, as well as smaller mammals as the striped and spotted skunk, California raccoon, Virginia opossum, Audubon's cottontail, long-tailed weasel, Botta's pocket gopher, ring-tailed cat, California vole, western brush rabbit, western gray squirrel, and several species of rats and mice, where the most common are deer mouse and Merriam's kangaroo rat. The mountain lion can creates a hazard in suburban areas, but is usually found in the adjacent Simi Hills, Santa Monica Mountains, and the Santa Susana Mountains.
  Some of the amphibians and reptiles found in Thousand Oaks include lizards such as side-blotched lizards, southern alligator lizards and western fence lizards, as well as the southwestern pond turtle and crawdads, and numerous species of snake, including southern Pacific rattlesnakes, San Diego gopher snakes, striped racers, California kingsnakes, common kingsnakes, ringneck snakes, and western aquatic garter snakes. Some amphibians found in Thousand Oaks include ensatina, slender salamander, western toad, American bullfrog, California toad, Pacific tree frog, and the California red-legged frog.
  Wildwood Regional Park is a natural habitat for an abundance of native animals, such as coyotes, hawks, crawdads, ducks, turtles, mule deer, numerous songbirds, mountain lions, several species of snakes, and numerous species of raptors.
  Thousand Oaks is home to mountain lions which can be encountered or observed in most larger open-spaces in the city. The city recommends hikers not to hike alone, and always to keep children near. Mountain lions have been encountered numerous times in recent years, such as in Lynn Ranch in 2017 and Newbury Park in 2016.
caption: Mule deer are among the most common mammals in Thousand Oaks.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:04 16:49:14", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "7608", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[47, 58, 60819/1250]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[123, 31, 42303/2500]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "517483/333", "Image GPSInfo": "7992", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "200", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "133", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "238", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7244", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:07:04 16:49:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:07:04 16:49:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "2/3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "210", "EXIF SubSecTime": "84", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "84", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "84", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7962", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2136000/439", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "356000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}