Читать книгу Afoot & Afield: Orange County. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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The most numerous large creature in Orange County is the mule deer, with a population of perhaps several hundred. These deer prefer areas of forest and chaparral, especially at higher elevations in the Santa Anas.

The mountain lion, once hunted to near-extinction in California, has made a comeback as a protected species. Perhaps two dozen lions now roam the remote canyons of the Santa Ana Mountains and foothill areas. Counting them is difficult, since mountain lions have a large territorial range (up to 100 square miles) and are normally very secretive. Because of their wide-ranging travels, however, tracks and other signs of them are quite frequently seen.

The county’s mammals also include the coyote, which has adapted to a broad range of habitats, including the margins of suburbia; the bobcat, a creature sometimes mistaken for a mountain lion, but smaller and more common and with a short bobtail rather than the lion’s 3-foot tail; the gray fox; skunk; opossum; raccoon; ringtail cat; badger; and various rabbits, squirrels, bats, woodrats, and mice.