Animals and Wildlife

Electronic Resources Accessible from DOI Locations Only

Department of the Interior employees are offered access to this database at their desktops; employees who are teleworking may access it through the Department's VPN. Others must contact a Reference Librarian for assistance.​

  • Gale Virtual Reference Library includes Animal Science, Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America, and Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
  • JSTOR includes the Life Sciences Collection
     

Interesting Sources

  • AGRICOLA
    This is an important bibliographic database of citations to the agricultural literature, and is produced by the National Agricultural Library, USDA.
  • All About Birds
    Produced by the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology
  • AmphibiaWeb
    This site focuses on amphibians, and includes maps, species information, photographs, sound files, and links to other web sites. AmphibiaWeb was created in conjunction with the Digital Library Project at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Animal Diversity Web
    Encyclopedic information on a variety of animals
  • Audubon Guide to North American Birds
    Entries for each species provide information on conservation status, scientific classification (family, genus, and species), habitat, additional photos, detailed range maps, migration information, and feeding, breeding, habitat, eggs, young, etc. The audio content often includes calls, songs and sub-songs/regional dialects, and colony calls. Those needing more comprehensive information should look at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Guide, All about Birds.
  • Avibase: The World's Bird Database
    Avibase is an extensive database containing over five million records about ten thousand species and twenty-two thousand subspecies of birds, including distribution information, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages and more.
  • BBC Earth: Nature
    Watch video clips from the BBC's large collections
  • Biodiversity Heritage Library
    Ten major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions have joined to form the Biodiversity Heritage Library Project. The group is developing a strategy and operational plan to digitize the published literature of biodiversity held in their respective collections.
  • Ecology and Society
    Formerly Conservation Biology, a peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental policy research
  • Encyclopedia of Life
    An attempt to create an evolving encyclopedia on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike.
  • Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University
    Includes the sections Biology in the News, Natural History at Harvard and Beyond (links to other web sites), and new book lists arranged by scientific discipline.
  • Fish and Wildlife Agencies of the States and Territories
    State agencies work in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  • Fish of the Week
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently launched its second season of its weekly podcast series, Fish of the Week, an audio almanac guide to all the fish. Fish of the Week was first launched in 2021 by the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to celebrate 150 years of fisheries conservation and mainly focused on fishes of Alaska. In season two, avid anglers Katrina Liebich and Guy Eroh take you on a week-by-week tour of fish across the entire country with a rich array of guests from all walks of life, including other fish nerds and enthusiasts, Indigenous community leaders and members, scientists, and artists, who are helping to elevate our understanding and love of all the fish. Through easy conversations, listeners will learn fascinating facts about fish, how to catch and even eat some of them. You can subscribe to Fish of the Week on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
  • FishBase
    A global information system on fishes
  • Freshwater and Marine Image Bank
    The Freshwater and Marine Image Bank is an ongoing digital collection of images, including early illustrations, related to freshwater and marine topics, in all their diversity. It includes images of fish, shellfish, and marine mammals, pictures of fish hatcheries and dams and vessels, materials related to polar exploration, regional and traditional fisheries, and limnological (freshwater) subjects. Its scope is global. The images were researched and scanned by the staff of the Fisheries-Oceanography Library of the University of Washington.
  • International Field Guides
    Compiled by Diane Schmidt, biology librarian at the University of Illinois, this is a searchable database of field guides for animals, plants, and more from around the world.
  • Iowa State Entomology Index of Internet Resources
    A directory and search engine of insect-related resources on the Internet.
  • Mammal Species of the World
    A complete phylogeny of mammalian species
  • NOAA Fisheries
  • NPWRC Online Biological Resources
    Search for publications on the biota of the Great Plains, sponsored by the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey. Includes a pollinator library, and specimens in the Herbarium have been digitized and made available in a searchable database (see under "Data and Tools").
  • OBIS: Ocean Biodiversity Information System
    OBIS is a global open-access data and information clearing-house on marine biodiversity for science, conservation and sustainable development
  • OdonataCentral
    This site is designed to make available what is known about the distribution, biogeography, biodiversity, and identification of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) worldwide. Produced by the Dragonfly Society of the Americas.
  • Phylogeny of Life
    This is a University of California, Berkeley online exhibit that explores the ancestor/descendant relationships which connect all organisms, past and present.
  • The Reptile Database
    An online information resource on reptile taxonomy with a focus on the species level
  • Salmon Collection: Salmon in the Northwest
    The Salmon Collection contains documents, photographs and other original material describing the roots of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • SORA: Searchable Ornithological Research Archive
    An open access electronic journal archive and is the product of a collaboration between the American Ornithologists Union, the Cooper Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, the Wilson Ornithological Society and the University of New Mexico.
  • VertNet
    VertNet is a NSF-funded collaborative project that makes biodiversity data free and available on the web. VertNet is a tool designed to help people discover, capture, and publish biodiversity data. It is also the core of a collaboration between hundreds of biocollections that contribute biodiversity data and work together to improve it.
  • Western Soundscape Archive
    This site features audio recordings of animals and environments throughout eleven contiguous western states and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Started in 2007, the archive is housed at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library and features recordings contributed by volunteers, state and federal agencies, and conservation groups. The website offers representative sounds of more than 570 different Western bird species, all of the region's vocalizing frogs and toads, dozens of reptiles and more than one hundred different types of mammals. Longer ambient recordings are also available from a wide variety of remote and wild places throughout the West.
  • WhatBird.com
    Use the site to identify birds of North America.

 

Wildlife Profiles at Zoos and Aquariums

 

Endangered Species

  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
  • Endangered Species Laws and Regulations
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the NOAA Fisheries share responsibility for administration of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service receives its authority through a number of laws, treaties, and regulations focused on conservation. These various forms of legislation provide a framework and specific guidelines for much of the work the Service does domestically and internationally.
  • Environmental Conservation Online System
    A product of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Includes links to lists of all threatened and endangered animals and plants, reclassified species, and delisted species; critical habitats, success stories, information on fish passage, and interactive maps.
  • NatureServe Explorer
    NatureServe is a U.S. - based nonprofit organization made up of passionate biodiversity scientists who want to apply the best information to decision-making. NatureServe works with over 60 network organizations and over 1,000 conservation scientists to collect, aggregate, and standardize biodiversity statistics, providing comprehensive data to the public for strategic conservation efforts. For over 50 years, NatureServe and the NatureServe Network have worked together to develop and manage the most comprehensive data for over 100,000 species and ecosystems.
  • Protected Planet
    Website developed by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Protected Planet is the online public interface for the World Database on Protected Areas, the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas. Protected Planet allows users to discover the world's protected areas through maps, photos and descriptions.
  • United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre

 

Organizations

 

Related Laws

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