island night lizard, Channel Islands slender salamander, Santa Cruz sheep, San Clemente loggerhead shrike and San Clemente sage sparrow. Other animals in the islands include the California sea lion, California moray, bald eagle, Channel Islands spotted skunk and the non-native Catalina Island bison herd. Southern United States The South has a large variety of habitats that range from the Mississippi River basin in Arkansas and Mississippi to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. As far north as the hills of Tennessee and Virginia, all the way down to the Everglades in the southern end of Florida. From the eastern-most point on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, as far west as the deserts and prairies of West Texas and Oklahoma. The warmer climate allows for rich biodiversity ranging from cypress swamps in Louisiana to the thick bays and the longleaf pine biome of the South Carolina Lowcountry. It is riddled along the way with countless salt marshes in every coastal state from the Carolinas, through Georgia to Texas, including the Mobile Delta that lies in the borders of Alabama. The Southern United States is home to a multitude of reptiles and amphibians. The American alligator lives in much of the South - including every coastal state from North Carolina to Texas, along with the inland states of Arkansas and Tennessee- while the less widespread American crocodile is only found in southern Florida. The Alligator snapping turtle and more than forty other species of turtle are found in the southern U.S. including the eastern box turtle, red-eared slider, and the softshell turtle. Snakes in the region include the eastern copperhead, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, timber rattlesnake, pigmy rattlesnake, cottonmouth, and eastern coral snake, all of which are venomous. Some of the other reptiles and amphibians thriving in the South include the Carolina anole, razor-backed musk turtle, broad-headed skink, American bullfrog, southern toad, spring peeper and the coal skink. Mammals of the region include the elk, the largest of which that was wiped out in the 1800s, but has been reintroduced and is making promising recoveries in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. There still remain resident populations in parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The American black bear is native to much of the South, but are prevalent in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The Florida panther is the largest feline in the South and is exclusive to the wetlands of