Find Nature In Tennessee

Additional Wildlife of Tennessee

To flesh out your understanding of the region’s natural history, here is a breakdown of the specific taxa you can expect to encounter in the Volunteer State.

Birds (Avifauna) The Sandhill Crane migration at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge is a major biological event; thousands of these birds congregate here in the winter, joined occasionally by the endangered Whooping Crane. Reelfoot Lake is known for its massive winter population of Bald Eagles, which roost in the ancient cypress trees. In the high-elevation rhododendron thickets of the Smokies, the Canada Warbler and Black-throated Blue Warbler are common breeding residents, bringing flashes of color to the dark understory.

Mammals The Black Bear is the icon of East Tennessee, particularly in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the population density is approximately two bears per square mile. The Elk has been successfully reintroduced to the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area after being absent for over a century, restoring a large grazer to the mountain ecosystem. Tennessee is also a critical state for bat conservation; the Gray Bat, which roosts exclusively in caves, relies on the protected karst systems of the region for its survival.

Insects The most famous insect phenomenon in the state is the display of the Synchronous Fireflies (Photinus carolinus) in the Smokies. For a few weeks in late spring, the males of this species synchronize their flashing patterns, plunging the forest into total darkness before lighting it up in unison, a behavior thought to aid females in recognizing potential mates in the visual clutter of the forest. The Diana Fritillary is the state butterfly, a species of the moist mountain forests where males and females look drastically different (sexual dimorphism).

Plants The Tennessee Purple Coneflower was one of the first plants listed as federally endangered and is a success story of the Endangered Species Act, having been delisted after recovery. It is endemic to the limestone cedar glades. The Tulip Poplar is the state tree, growing to massive heights in the cove forests of the Appalachians. Wild Ginseng is a culturally important plant in the eastern mountains, harvested for generations, though strict regulations are now in place to prevent over-harvesting of wild populations.

Fungi The Great Smoky Mountains are often called a “fungal jungle” due to the high rainfall. Jack-o’-lantern Mushrooms are common here, often found in large clusters at the base of trees, glowing faintly green in the dark. Chanterelles are abundant in the hardwood forests of Middle Tennessee in the summer. A unique find in the higher elevations is the Viscid Violet Cort (Cortinarius iodes), a striking purple mushroom covered in a slimy coating that protects it from desiccation.

Tennessee Biodiversity Profile

Tennessee is geographically and biologically defined by its “Three Grand Divisions,” which essentially function as three distinct nations of ecology. In the west, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain dominates. This is a landscape of low-lying cypress swamps and bottomland hardwood forests, anchored by Reelfoot Lake. This massive, shallow waterbody is a geological anomaly formed by the violent New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–1812, which caused the land to subside and the Mississippi River to flow backward to fill it. Today, it serves as a premier biological hotbed for aquatic birds and ancient fish lineages like the bowfin and gar.

Moving into Middle Tennessee, the geology shifts to limestone, creating the Nashville Basin and Highland Rim. This region is defined by its Karst Topography, a vast network of sinkholes and subterranean rivers that supports one of the most diverse aquatic ecosystems in North America. The Duck River, which winds through this region, is often cited as the most biologically diverse river of its size on the continent, hosting dozens of freshwater mussel and fish species that are endemic to the Tennessee River drainage.

Unique to this central region are the Cedar Glades. These are globally rare habitats where limestone bedrock sits at or near the surface, creating a hot, dry, desert-like environment in the summer and a wet, marshy one in the winter. This extreme fluctuation prevents trees from growing, allowing a specialized flora of endemic plants to thrive that are found nowhere else on Earth.

To the east, the state rises into the Unaka Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains. This is the roof of the state, home to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. These high-elevation forests are temperate rainforests, shrouded in the “smoke” of volatile organic compounds released by the vegetation. This moisture, combined with the age of the mountains, has created the “Salamander Capital of the World,” where the diversity of lungless salamanders exceeds that of any other region globally.