Animals & Plants of Great Smoky Mountains
The 4 animals, plants, and fungi you can find at Great Smoky Mountains, with sizes, diets, and whether you should worry. See the full park guide at Great Smoky Mountains.
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Mammal American black bear
Ursus americanus
The bear you're most likely to meet east of the Rockies, a strong tree-climber that eats mostly plants and comes in black, brown, or cinnamon.
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Fish Brook trout
Salvelinus fontinalis
A small, wormy-patterned native fish with red spots ringed in blue, the only trout that truly belongs in the cold high streams of the Smokies and Shenandoah.
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Amphibian Eastern hellbender
Cryptobranchus alleganiensis
A giant, wrinkly salamander that breathes through its skin and hides under rocks in cold, clean streams at Great Smoky Mountains and New River Gorge.
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Invertebrate Synchronous firefly
Photinus carolinus
A woodland beetle of the southern Appalachians whose males flash together in waves on June nights, one of the few in North America that blink in unison.