Palouse Prairie mammals 

plants | mammals | birds | amphibians | invertebrates







This list is compiled from observations of my grandfather Riley B. Hatley who came to the Palouse Prairie in 1877. He was a hunter who kept a pack of hounds for predator control. Of the Palouse prairie he stated, "The grass was stirrup high and waved in the wind like waves of the ocean."

My father was born on the family homestead south of Pullman in 1900. As a boy he hunted sharptail grouse on some remnant patches of Palouse prairie.

I was born on the family homestead in 1924, and was given a 22 rifle for Christmas in 1932 and a week later harvested a cottontail rabbit in a remnant area that had never been plowed.

This list is from family observation only. A search of the literature may find something that was missed.

The Palouse prairie was bordered by timber on the east and bisected by strips of timber in the Palouse River canyon and Union Flat Creek canyon and the north side by Kamiak Butte. Black bear and cougar crossed portions of the prairie.


George Hatley -- December 13, 2002

bison

There apparently were no resident bison on the Palouse prairie. No old bones are found. However, there exist "buffalo wallows" in some areas, so there may have been some transient bison. The Kendrick area may have had bison.
We have 14 bat species in Idaho, 13 of which have been documented in this region, but not necessarily on the Palouse. Many of the bats that would occur on the Palouse would be forest species that might forage along the edge or over the grasslands. The species below one might expect to find in proximity to Palouse prairie. [Information provided by Rita Dixon, Idaho Fish & Game]