Animals & Plants of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve
The 4 animals, plants, and fungi you can find at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, with sizes, diets, and whether you should worry. See the full park guide at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Anything here that bites?
Keep away
- White-tailed deer: White-tailed deer normally run from people.
Bites if handled
- Eastern chipmunk: There is no real danger, just one rule: don't hand-feed wildlife.
- Eastern gray squirrel: Nearly none.
Everything else on this page is harmless. What each group means.
-
Mammal Eastern chipmunk
Tamias striatus
A busy striped ground squirrel that stuffs seeds into stretchy cheek pouches and hides them in an underground pantry.
-
Mammal Eastern gray squirrel
Sciurus carolinensis
A gray acrobat of the oak woods that buries nuts one by one and sometimes forgets where, sprouting new forests by accident.
-
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.
-
Mammal White-tailed deer
Odocoileus virginianus
The most common large mammal in eastern parks, running through the woods and waving a white tail like a flag when it bolts.