Death Valley Wildlife

Although arid and unforgivingly harsh, Death Valley is home to an impressive number of mammals, reptiles and birds. The elevation ranges from below sea level (at Badwater) to sub-alpine conditions at Telescope Peak (11,000 ft.). The resulting habitat variations support 51 species of mammals (including mountain lions, mule deer and desert bighorn), three species of amphibians, and more than 300 species of birds. The bird species and their populations increase and decrease with the seasons, with some species making uncommon or “casual” visits from one year to the next.


But the record rainfall and the overabundant wildflowers that spring lured even hummingbirds to Death Valley, a bird we didn’t expect to find in the extreme desert. They were plentiful enough in the blooming vegetation around Scotty’s Castle, and were a pleasure to see.


Another surprising species in Death Valley is fish. At the end of the last ice age, when Lake Manly dried up and left the Valley barren, pockets of water were left behind. The pupfish adapted to the concentrated salinity and survived in a shallow part of Salt Creek that flows above ground. Because of the confined area of their evolution, Salt Creek pupfish exist nowhere else in the world. Similarly, there are Saratoga Springs pupfish found only in the Saratoga Springs at the south end of the Valley; the Amargosa pupfish, found in the nearby Amargosa River; and the Devil’s Hole pupfish, located just over the state border in Nevada. A subspecies of pupfish lives in the Valley’s Cottonball Marsh. There are small bridges where you can walk alongside Salt Creek and view the pupfish. Sadly, the Devil’s Hole pupfish are so rare that you can only see them through a fenced off little area of what looks like, yes, a hole just big enough for the Devil to emerge from hell.