Prey, or fresh-kill, is a clan term for all of the animals in their territories consumed as food. The Warrior Code prohibits cats from killing prey without the intention to feed the clan with it and requires that hunters refrain from eating the prey they have killed until the rest of the clan has been fed. Cats who believe in StarClan often opt to give thanks to their ancestors for the fresh-kill’s life immediately after killing their prey. After prey is killed, warriors bury it to prevent other predators from finding their prey until they are ready to carry it back to the camp. What remains of the prey after it is eaten, such as feathers or bones, is buried in the dirt place.
This guide to Warrior Cats of the Forest prey animals and miscellaneous food sources is by no means inclusive of all species found in the clans’ territories, but rather is meant to show the variety of prey cats could potentially bring back to the camps, to provide inspiration for patrol roleplaying, and to show how the prey available in these Michigan territories varies from that in the canon books.
For more information about the species our clans interact with, check out the Environment Guide, Herbs Guide, and the Enemy Animal Guide. For more information about clan-specific hunting specialties, see The Clans Page. A map of the territories can also be found on The Clans Page. All references are listed at the bottom of this guide. As always, if you have any suggestions for corrections or additions, please message me.
Amphibians
Blue-spotted salamander
Description: A black salamander with blue or teal flecks and spots across their body. Hybrids with other small salamander species are common, resulting in duller color patterns.
Location: found in the dense leaf-litter along the the northern reaches of the river.
Bullfrog
Description: A large olive-colored frog with a yellow throat and a deep rumbling croak.
Location: They live in warm, permanent waters and therefore favor EarthClan territory.
Eastern American Toad
Description: A common toad with warty, brownish skin in a tortoiseshell pattern. Its legs are short but muscular.
Location: found across the shaded, grassy portions of MoonClan and E.
Eastern tiger salamander
Description: a large salamander with a broad, rounded snout and small eyes. Their background color is black or dark brown, decorated with scattered yellow blotches. They spend most of their time in burrows underground, eating worms and slugs.
Location: found only in EarthClan's territory.
Four-toed salamander
Description: a small, slender salamander with orange skin speckled in small, black spots. The tail narrows at its base and unlike other salamanders, it only has four toes.
Location: found in the dampest meadows of EarthClan's territory.
Fowler’s Toad
Description: a fat, brown, bumpy toad. They have bitter-tasting but mostly harmless poison glands on the back of their heads.
Location: found throughout sandy soiled woodlands, especially in the northern portions of MoonClan’s territory.
Gray treefrog
Description: a tiny brown frog with dark brown stripes across their back and a black stripe across their eyes.
Location: found throughout EarthClan and MoonClan territories.
Green frog
Description: a large brown or olive green frog with blotchy markings across their back and sides. Their underbelly is lighter. These frogs eat insects, small frogs, and minnows.
Location: they are common in EarthClan's territory.
Marbled salamander
Description: a short, fat salamander with marbled black and white patterns across their head, back, and tail. They breed in the fall, unlike other salamanders, and live primarily in leaf litter.
Location: found in the consistent shade along the MoonClan-EarthClan border.
Mink Frog
Description: a medium spotted green and brown frog with a bright green upper lip and yellow-beige stomach. Produces a foul smell when threatened.
Location: found throughout the river and the park pond.
Mud puppy
Description: a permanently aquatic salamander with feathery, rust-colored gills. Its body is grey-brown with bluish-gray blotches.
Location: found in the slowest-moving parts of the river along EarthClan's southern border.
Northern Leopard Frog
Description: a medium sized frog with dark brown spots on green skin, with a white stomach.
Location: found across the EarthClan-SunClan border.
Northern Spring Peeper
Description: A pale pink frog with a distinctive bell-like croak.
Location: Occasionally found near the northern EclipseClan-MoonClan river border.
Red-backed Salamander
Description: A thin, long salamander with a dark brown body with a thick red stripe down its back.
Location: these salamanders live in thick leaf litter under deciduous woods and can therefore be found in MoonClan’s territory.
Small-mouthed salamander
Description: A dark brown salamander with a short head and blunt snout.
Location: this salamander prefers moist forested land and is therefore most commonly spotted in EarthClan territory.
Spotted salamander
Description: a chubby black salamander with two rows of bright yellow spots on either side of their body. They live primarily in underground burrows, but are also known to live under rotting logs or leaf litter.
Location: They prefer mature, moist woodlands and are therefore common only in EarthClan's territory.
Snakes
Blue Racer
Description: A 4-6 foot long snake with a gray or blue body. Their head is darker than their body. They are alert and active, and can climb into bushes and trees to escape predators. While they do bite when threatened, this species is not venomous.
Location: Blue racers live in thick vegetation and are therefore most common along the MoonClan-EarthClan border.
Brown Snake
Description: A small, 9-15 inch long snake with a brown body, a pale stripe along their back, and black dogs along either side of this stripe.
Location: They prefer dry, enclosed, quiet spaces, and are thus found mostly in the northern reaches of MoonClan’s territory.
Butler’s Garter Snake
Description: A 2-3 foot long black or brown snake with three yellow stripes down its back and a yellowish belly and a small head. These snakes are harmless and feast primarily on earthworms and other bugs.
Location: this snake prefers moist marshes and the edges of lakes and slow-moving rivers and is therefore found most commonly in EarthClan's territory.
Copper-bellied Water Snake
Description: A 4-5 foot long snake with a black upper body and copper belly. This snake is extremely rare and are harmless to cats.
Location: This snake enjoys wooded flood plains and slow-moving rivers and is therefore found in the southern reaches of EarthClan's territory.
Eastern Fox Snake
Description: A 3-5 foot long snake with a distinctive yellow body and black blotches. They mimic the action of a rattle snake when threatened, but are nonvenomous.
Location: This snake prefers marshes and adjacent wet meadows and is therefore most common in EarthClan territory.
Eastern Garter Snake
Description: A 2-4 foot long snake with three yellow snakes running down their grey or brown back. Their tongue is bright red with a black tip.
Location: These snakes are very common and found in a variety of habitats throughout the clans, but are particularly common in EclipseClan's territory. When they are frightened, they release a musky smelling secretion.
Eastern Hognose Snake
Description: a thick-bodied, slow-moving snake with a flattened “nose”. Their color is variable, usually grey or brown with darker markings. These snakes are harmless, but when threatened they puff up with air, flatten their necks, and hiss loudly. If a cat persists in harassing them, they write about, excrete a musk, and then play dead.
Location: Found in any dry, sandy place, but are especially common within The Burnt Woods.
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Description: A 18-30 inch long snake with a thick, brown body covered in large dark brown blotches. Their head is wide and triangular and their tail is adorned with rattles. This is the only native venomous snake found in the clans’ territories and has been known to kill cats.
Location: commonly inhabits Snake Gorge.
Eastern Milk Snake
Description: A slender 2-4 foot long snake with reddish blotches on a gray or tan background color. Their belly is white and has a black checkerboard pattern.
Location: This is one of the most common snakes across all of the territories. They compete with the clans for prey, and are occasionally mistaken for rattle snakes as they vibrate their tails when threatened.
Kirtland’s Snake
Description: A 12-18 inch long snake with four rows of black blotches down its back and checkered scales. Its belly is pink with a row of black dots along its flank. They eat only earthworms and slugs and live in former rodent burrows. These shy snakes rarely bite and are completely harmless to cats.
Location: They prefer moist soil to burrow in, and therefore live mostly in EarthClan territory.
Northern Ribbon Snake
Description: A very slender black snake with three bright yellow or white stripes down their back. 1-3 feet in length. These snakes are unusually active and are strong swimmers.
Location: These snakes are exclusive to the southern portion of EarthClan's territory, where they live along the edges of the river.
Northern Water Snake
Description: A bluish-grey 2-4 foot long water snake with dark bands or blotches.
Location: These snakes prefer the shorelines of streams and are there found most commonly along the river, especially in EarthClan territories. They are strong swimmers and eat frogs and fish. While they are not venomous, they are known to bite if cornered.
Queen Snake
Description: A slender 1-3 foot long snake with grey or brown scales and a white stripe on either side of his body.
Location: An aquatic snake that basks in shrubs hanging over the water, they are found most commonly in EarthClan territory or along the SunClan border.
Red-Bellied Snake
Description: A very small brown or grey snake with a bright red belly.
Location: These snakes like to burrow underground in woods, and are therefore found in the thickly wooded sections of MoonClan and EarthClan.
Ring-necked Snake
Description: A small black or grey snake with a yellow ring around its neck and a plain yellow body.
Location: These snakes are slightly venomous and live along Snake Gorge, hiding under rocks to stay away from the sun and feeding on salamanders and other snakes.
Smooth Green Snake
Description: A bright green 12-20 inch long snake with smooth scales. These snakes are harmless, but rare, and lay tiny eggs under rock cover.
Location: Found most commonly in SunClan’s territory and occasionally lay eggs around Sky Rocks.
Lizards
Five-Lined Skink
Description: A five-inch long lizard with short legs, a streamlined body, and grey scales with five white or yellowish stripes. These lizards can run quickly and break off their tails when threatened.
Location: These lizards are found in wet places and often climb up trees, so they’re a common sight in EarthClan.
Six-Lined Racerunner
Description: A dark green, brown, or black lizard with six yellow stripes that extend from its head to its tail. They are fast runners and can quickly dart into cover when threatened, making them a difficult catch.
Location: they live mostly on rocky outcroppings and are therefore found along Snake Gorge and Sky Rocks.
Birds
American Goldfinch
Description: A small songbird with a bright yellow body contrasting black wings and a black head. They do not migrate southward during the winter.
Location: These birds are found throughout the forest territories, but are especially common in the meadows of EarthClan and throughout SunClan.
American robin
Description: A relatively large songbird with a large, round body and a relatively long tail. They are grey-brown birds with a warm orange underparts and dark heads.
Location: These birds are a common sight throughout the clans.
Baltimore Oriole
Description: A small, slender, bird related to the robin with thick necks and legs. The males are bright orange and black, while the females are yellow-orange and greyish. They have distinctive calls, but are difficult to catch because of their small size, deft flying ability, and preference for high perches.
Location: Found throughout the less thick areas of Moon- and EarthClan territory.
Black-backed Woodpecker
Description: A small woodpecker with glossy, black bakes and a white strike running from behind their bill down under their eyes. The males have a yellow patch of feathers on the crowns of their heads. They make a lot of noise when boring for insects, and are therefore easy to track down, but remain difficult to actually catch.
Location: These birds live in the thick conifer forest of MoonClan’s territory.
Black Tern
Description: This bird is similar in appearance to a seagull, but slimmer and with more pointed beaks and wings. Their numbers have fallen dramatically, making them a rare sight.
Location: Found along the SunClan-EarthClan border.
Brown-Headed Cowbird
Description: a stocky blackbird with a brown head. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds at the expense of the host’s own chicks. These birds also feed on the ground and are very noisy, making them an easy catch for even mediocre hunters.
Location: These birds are found throughout the territories, but are especially common in MoonClan territory.
Canada goose
Description: A big, black-necked goose with a white chinstrap, a tan breast, and a brow back. These birds can be very aggressive when threatened and while it’s rare that they will kill a cat, they can seriously injure cats with their sharp, strong beaks.
Location: These birds land in SunClan territory in giant flocks while migrating, making them a common seasonal pest.
Cedar Waxwing
Description: A sleek, medium-sized bird with a large head and short neck. Their crest lies flat and droops over the back of the head. They are a pale brown across their head and chest, which fades into a blueish gray hew across their wings and tail. There is a narrow, black mask outlined in white across their face. Their tail is tipped in yellow, and there are red spots on their wings.
Location: These birds are rare, but can be seen throughout the territories year round.
Chimney Swift
Description: A bird with sooty olive and greyish brown feathers, and a pale throat. They build large nests on vertical surfaces, often on two-leg structures.
Location: While two-legs consider these birds pests and remove their nests, these swifts sometimes still are found in EclipseClan’s territory.
Common Crow
Description: A blue-black bird with a straight and narrow tail. These birds are very opportunistic and can tolerate a range of food and environments, making them a common sight. However, their adept flying skills make them a challenging catch. Crows are known to challenge hawks or owls who venture into their nesting area, so when prey is plentiful clan cats may opt to avoid hunting them.
Location: While these birds are found throughout the territories, they are especially common in EclipseClan's territory.
Common loon
Description: A large, diving water bird with a rounded head and sharp bills. They have a black head and bill, and a black-and-white spotted back and a white breast. They are mostly aquatic birds, diving into the water without a splash to catch fish. These birds are only seen in the clans’ territories while migrating, making them only seasonally available. However, due to their loud calls throughout the night, they are easy catches for those used to hunting at night.
Location: These birds are found all around the river, which makes them especially common in EarthClan's territory.
Common Raven
Description: A large, glossy black bird with a heavy bill. Their wedge-shaped tail distinguishes them from the common crow. These birds are extremely territorial and will attack other birds and cats who encroach on their habitat. As well, their excellent flying skills make them a difficult catch.
Location: These birds are common at the center of the clans’ territories, around Hawk’s Tree.
Common Tern
Description: A small water bird with a black cap, pale grey back and wings, and a white stomach. Their bill and feet and bright red. These birds are nimble fliers specializing in hunting minnows, which makes them prey for only advanced hunters. When protecting their nests, the adults dive at intruders and can injure cats by striking them with their bills.
Location: these birds arrive in EarthClan territory in May in colonies of 10-30 individuals and fly northward in late June or early July.
Eastern Bluebird
Description: A small thrush with a large, rounded head, and plump body. The males are a vivid, deep blue above and rusty across their chest and throat. The females are greyish above with blueish wings and tail, and a duller orange-brown breast.
Location: These birds prefer meadows surrounded by thick trees and backyards. They’re a fairly common sight along the EclipseClan-MoonClan border as well as throughout EarthClan.
Gray Catbird
Description: a medium-sized songbird with a long, rounded black tail and a straight bill. They are slate gray, with a small black cap and a birch-red patch under their tails. Their name comes from their eerie meow-like call. They fly across open areas only reluctantly, rather they prefer hopping from branch to branch and stay in dense tangles of vegetation.
Location: These birds are most common in MoonClan territory, but also stray into EarthClan from time to time.
Great Blue Heron
Description: A large grey-blue heron that wades in shallow marshes and stream edges.
Location: These birds are occasionally spotted in the southeast portion of EarthClan's territory.
Green heron
Description: A dark, stocky bird with short legs and thick necks. They have short crown feathers they can raise into a crest. They appear dark from a distance, but they can look deep green and chestnut closer up. They are large birds but can make easy prey for a larger cat due to their habit of standing motionless at the water’s edge and their awkward flight. However, these birds are rare prey because they are only occasionally seen in the territories and only ever in their green-leaf breeding season.
Location: These birds occasionally live in the southern reaches of EarthClan's territory.
House Sparrow
Description: A small, chunky bird with a full chest and round head. The males are brightly colored with gray heads, white cheeks, and rusty feathers. The females are plainer, with dusty-brown feathers overall and grey-brown underparts.
Location: These birds are common throughout the clans, especially in EclipseClan's territory where they are excellently adapted to city life.
King Rail
Description: A bird with rust-colored feathers, a long tail, and a distinctive grunt-like call.
Location: Spotted only in the cattail-lined meadows of EarthClan's territory.
Kirtland’s Warbler
Description: An exceptionally rare bird with a small body, with bluish-brown upper feathers and pale yellow underparts.
Location: Only ever seen in the southern reaches of EarthClan's territory.
Loggerhead Shrike
Description: A robin-sized bird with a black stripe running from its bill down to its wings. The rest of its body is grey, with dark wings and tail. They actively hunt mice and other small rodents by grabbing their prey, then impaling their meal on a thorny bush.
Location: This bird prefers open areas with thorny bushes, which means that it most commonly makes its home along SunClan’s northern border and in The Burnt Woods.
Mourning Dove
Description: round, soft-looking bird with grayish-brown backs, buff-colored undersides, black spots on their wings, and white feathers along their tail.
Location: These birds are among the most abundant species in all of the clans’ territories.
Northern Cardinal
Description: A large, long-tailed songbird with a short, thick bill and a prominent crest. The males are a brilliant red, while the females are a pale brown. They perch on low shrubs and forage near the ground, commonly in pairs or small groups.
Location: These birds are common throughout the forest territories and along the edge of the city, but are less common in SunClan.
Pileated Woodpecker
Description: A crow-sized woodpecker with a large crest of red crown feathers and a long, black bill. The males have a patch of red feathers from across their checks to a point under their eye. Females have a black patch of feathers instead.
Location: These birds live throughout the mature forests of EarthClan and MoonClan, living primarily in the decaying trees that provide most of their prey.
Red Crossbill
Description: A bird in the finch family with a distinct crossed-tipped beak idea for prying open pine nuts. Their feathers are red, deepening into a dusty-black color over their wings.
Location: They prefer conifer forests and are therefore found in EarthClan and MoonClan territories.
Rock Pigeon
Description: A tubby bird with small heads and short legs. They are rather variable in color, but most pigeons are bluish gray with two black bands on either wing and a black tip to the tail. They often gather in small flocks, walking along the ground and pecking for food.
Location: These birds are found throughout the territories, but are especially common in EclipseClan's territory.
Sandhill Crane
Description: A tall, long necked grey bird with red, featherless foreheads. They are an aquatic bird that preys on frogs and fish.
Location: due to the nearness to the city, this bird is a rare sight only ever spotted in EarthClan territory and along the EarthClan-SunClan border.
Scarlet Tanager
Description: The males are a brilliantly red bird with black wings, while the females are more olive-green in color. These birds fall easily to cowbird parasitism and habitat fragmentation, meaning that they are a rare sight throughout the clans.
Location: These birds live in mature forests and prefer to stay to the highest reaches of trees. As well as making this bird a difficult catch, these habits mean that they are found only in MoonClan.
Spruce Grouse
Description: These birds are highly sexually dimorphic, with white-spotted males and comparatively drab, deep brown females. They nest in needles and leaf litter along thick branches and are slow-moving, making them relatively easy prey.
Location: These birds are found only in the thick pine forests of MoonClan.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Description: These birds have long tails and are brown above, with pale brown or white underbellies. They call on hot days, often signaling that rain is forthcoming.
Location: They live primarily in the deciduous portions of EarthClan and MoonClan territories, but sometimes venture into the Burnt Woods or EclipseClan's Park.
Mammals
Brown rat
Description: A brown or grey rodent with a body up to a foot in length, with a tail of a similar size. They have acute hearing and sense of smell and can be fierce fighters when threatened. They are capable of swimming, digging, and can squeeze through any hole smaller than their skull. This makes them difficult to catch, but their sheer number, especially in the city, makes them a common prey.
Location: Brown rats are found throughout the territories, but are especially common in EclipseClan.
Cinereus shrew
Description: a small grey-brown mammal with a light grey underside and a pointed snout. It has a long, furry tail, with a dark tip. They eat a variety of creatures, from seeds to snails to salamanders, and are active year-round and during both the day and the night.
Location: these shrews are found throughout the territories, but are less common in EclipseClan, where they are found mostly in the park and in two-leg gardens.
Deer mouse
Description: A brown mouse with a striking white stomach and large eyes. They are skilled jumpers and runners. They are nocturnal and spend their days in burrows.
Location: these mice are common throughout the territories, especially in SunClan.
Eastern chipmunk
Description: A small reddish-brown chipmunk with five dark brown stripes contrasting light brown or white stripes along its back, ending in a thick, furry tail.
Location: these animals live in deciduous wooded areas and urban parks, and are therefore found everywhere but SunClan.
Eastern cottontail
Description: the most common rabbit species in the clans, these rabbits are chunky, red-brow or gray-brown, with large hind feet, long ears, and a short, fluffy white tail. It differs from that of a hare because of the brownish-grey coloring around its head and neck. Cottontails are territorial and their strong, clawed feet and long teeth can be a threat to even full grown cats to fail to kill them quickly. However, even catching these rabbits is difficult, as they run much more quickly than rabbits and prefer areas where they can easily hide. As they are much faster than a cat, they’re often hunted in groups who surround the rabbit and chase it toward each other until it comes close enough to a cat that they can spring atop it.
Location: These rabbits are found throughout EarthClan and MoonClan, as unlike the rabbits in SunClan, they do not burrow and prefer areas with plentiful shelter.
Eastern Mole
Description: A rarely seen, sleek-furred mammals capable of burrowing through nearly any soil type and flourishing in total darkness. They build complex tunnels and can flee to the surface or deeper tunnels when threatened. As they rarely emerge from these tunnels, they are exceptionally difficult to catch.
Location: these moles are found throughout the territories, but flourish best in the well-drained parts of SunClan and EarthClan where they don’t risk having their tunnels flooded.
Ermine
Description: a weasel-like animal with variable fur, depending on the season. During the winter, ermines have dense, silky white fur, while in the summer their fur is rougher, shorter, and sandy-brown. These animals inhabit the burrows of rodents they kill and have several dens within their ranges. They are fierce animals and are capable of taking down prey much larger then themselves, including, when desperate, cats. Therefore, only experienced hunters are advised to attempt to hunt ermines, and those guarding the camp must be careful that ermines stay away from the nursery.
Location: ermines are found throughout MoonClan and EarthClan territories and occasionally also live in SunClan or in The Burnt Woods.
Flying squirrels
Description: a rare, nocturnal mammal with large eyes, a thin frame, and webbing between their legs to allow them to glide from tree to tree. These rodents are difficult to find and even harder to catch.
Location: these squirrels are found mostly in the thickest forested parts of MoonClan’s territory, but occasionally extend into EarthClan territory.
Groundhog
Description: a large rodent with short, powerful limbs, and curved, thick claws. Their tail is short, and their fur a dusty brown color. They are accomplished swimmers and can climb trees, if necessary. They are fierce when their burrow is threatened, but will leave cats alone if not antagonized. When cats are desperate, they may turn to hunting groundhog pups.
Location: groundhogs are found throughout SunClan territory and in the meadows of MoonClan and EarthClan.
Hoary bat
Description: a palm-sized bat with a dense, dark brown pelt with white tips to each hair. They roost alone in trees, hidden by foliage, and hunt moths at night, making them a difficult and rare catch.
Location: these bats are found throughout MoonClan and EarthClan during green-leaf, before they migrate south.
House mouse
Description: a small rodent with a pointed snout, small rounded ears, and an almost hairless tail. They vary in color from light to dark brown, sometimes with lighter bellies. They are mostly nocturnal and omnivorous, though they prefer plant matter.
Location: They thrive in many conditions, but are especially common throughout EclipseClan and SunClan.
Jumping mouse
Description: a mouse-like rodent with elongated hind limbs, a long tail, and pouched cheeks. When disturbed, they can take enormous leaps of up to ten feet in length.
Location: these animals live throughout grassy and wooded areas, making them common throughout the clan territories with the exception of EclipseClan.
Least weasel
Description: the smallest member of the weasel genus, with a slender body and short legs and tail. They have a chestnut back and a white underbelly. They are fierce and carnivorous, capable of taking down rabbits ten times their own weight, and have been known to go after cats.
Location: these weasels prefer wet areas and are therefore most common throughout EarthClan .
Little brown bat
Description: a uniformly dark brown bat with dark brown wing membranes. They move between different roosting areas depending on season and time of day. They are a primarily nocturnal insectivore.
Location: they are found throughout the territories, especially in the quieter parts of the city and the thickest parts of MoonClan territory.
Meadow Vole
Description: Also known as a field mouse, or meadow mouse. A small rodent with grey fur, small years, and a long, naked tail. These voles are active-year round, usually at night. They dig underground burrows where it stores food for the winter and gives birth to young.
Location: Found throughout the territories, but are especially common throughout SunClan’s territory.
Mink
Description: a dark, thickly furred, semiaquatic mammal related to weasels, otters, and ferrets. They are very territorial and spend most of their time in one or two core areas of their territory, where food is plentiful. Mink are often two feet in length, making them a formidable opponent for any cat who attempts to hunt them and a danger to kits or untrained apprentices.
Location: mink prefer to live near water, making them a common sight throughout EarthClan and near the EarthClan-SunClan border.
Opossum
Description: an opportunistic marsupial that grows to the size of a cat. They have white-grey fur, prehensile tails, and small ears and eyes. They are omnivorous and have been known to attack cats and can be dangerous when attacked. However, often when they are threatened they mimic the appearance of a rotting animal by fainting and secreting a foul-smelling fluid.
Location: found throughout the territories, especially in EclipseClan.
Pine marten
Description: a two foot long weasel-like animal with bushy tails comprising about a third of their total length. Their fur is variable in color, ranging from a pale beige to dark brown. They are agile climbers and spend much of their time in trees, where they prey on squirrels and chipmunks. Pine martens rarely attack cats unless threatened, but can be an indirect threat by competing with the clans for prey.
Location: they prefer mixed coniferous and deciduous forests, which mean that pine martens live in the central area of MoonClan’s territory.
Prairie vole
Description: a vole with long, coarse, greyish-brown fur on the upper portion of their body and yellowish fur on the lower part of their body. They have a short tail and short ears. They are active year-round, though are active during the day in colder weather and at night in warmer weather.
Location: Prairie voles stay to dry fields with ample grass cover, meaning that they stay primarily to SunClan’s territory.
Short-tailed shrew
Description: a large shrew species, with a short tail, velvety grey fur, and a sharp sense of smell. They are opportunistic, but prefer insects, and other shrews, though are known to also eat salamanders and mice. Their saliva contains a protein that can paralyze their prey, but is not dangerous to a full-sized cat. They avoid predators by remaining hidden under vegetation and leaf litter, meaning that only cats with sharp senses of smell and hearing can catch them.
Location: found throughout EarthClan and MoonClan, often near sources of water.
Show-shoe hare
Description: a hare with large feet that prevent it from sinking into snow when it hops. Their fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer, with black tips on their ears year-round. As they are much faster than a cat, they’re often hunted in groups who surround the hare and chase it toward each other until it comes close enough to a cat that they can spring atop the hare.
Location: Snow-shoe hares prefer open spaces and young forests, making them consistently located in The Burnt Woods and SunClan’s territory.
Southern bog lemming
Description: a type of small vole covered in thick brownish fur. They have large heads and small eyes and ears. They eat mostly fresh vegetation and are active year-round, primarly at night. Their populations go through 4-year long boom and bust cycles, helped along by cats discovering and preying on their colonies.
Location: Lemmings are found throughout the forest and plains clans, but are especially common in SunClan and along The Burnt Woods.
Squirrels
Description: a handful of squirrel species are found throughout the clan territories, varying in size and color. They are medium-sized diurnal animals with long, fluffy tails and rodent-like teeth.
Location: They live and nest atop trees and make up a primary food source for EarthClan, EclipseClan, and MoonClan.
Star-nosed mole
Description: a small mole covered in thick, blackish-brown, water repellent fur with large scaled feet and a thick, naked tail. They have fleshy appendages ringing its snow, used as touch organs. They have poorly developed eyes, but are capable of smelling underwater and can sense electromagnetic fields as they search for prey in their underground burrows.
Location: these moles live in low, wet places, making them common only in EarthClan's territory.
Striped gopher
Description: A chipmunk-like squirrel with 13 alternating brown and white-spotted lines across its back and sides. They are strictly diurnal and are especially active on warm days, but hibernate through the winter. They live in long burrows with long side passages, a foot or two below the surface. It is known for surveying its domain in an upright position and its ability to run in reverse.
Location: found throughout the forest territories and occasionally in SunClan.
Water shrew
Description: a tiny, black, mouse-like animal with a long tail and hind feet. They are insectivores who dive to the bottom of slow-moving streams and wetlands, then bob to the surface with the help of air trapped in their fur.
Location: These shrews are found primarily in the southern reaches of EarthClan's territory.
White-footed mouse
Description: a small rodent with grey fur and white bellies. They are omnivorous and timid, but commonly reside along two-legs.
Location: these mice are common throughout the territories.
Woodland vole
Description: a small vole species with brown fur and a whitish or silvery underside. They have small ears, eyes, and tail, which aids their underground lifestyle. These voles live in family burrows and feet on the root systems of trees.
Location: they prefer wooded areas and dry fields, making them a fairly common sight in SunClan territory and in the northern reaches of MoonClan.
Fish
Alewife
Description: a flat, silver species of herring invasive to this region. They are about a foot and a half in length, and the front of their body is deep and larger than native fish.
Location: found in the deeper portions of the river.
American eel
Description: a slender, snake-like fish growing up to four feet in length. Their body is black and smooth as a result of their small, embedded scales. While an unmanageable catch full-grown, cats can hunt the juveniles.
Location: lives at the bottom of the river in burrows and masses of plant matter. They prefer muddy areas.
Banded killifish
Description: a small fish with distinct black and white vertical bandings.
Location: these fish live in small shoals throughout the water column in slower moving portions of the river.
Blacknose shiner
Description: a soft-rayed fish with gill arches that contain two rows of teeth. Their heads are scale-less, in contrast to the rest of their body. Their scales are bronze, but they have pale undersides and two long, lateral stripes along either side of its body.
Location: these fish prefer shaded, cool portions of the river, especially the weed-choked areas.
Blackside darter
Description: a dark olive fish with a row of black spots along their sides. They have black spots under their eyes and on their caudal fin. A small fish, backside darters rarely exceed three inches in length.
Location: these fish are fairly rare, found only in slow areas of the river with plenty of places to hide.
Bluegill
Description: These fish grow up to 12 inches long and four and a half pounds. Their scales are deep blue and purple across their face and gill cover, dark olive bands down their sides, and a bright orange or yellow stomach. They are voracious fish that will eat anything they can fit into their mouth. Thankfully, that does not include a cat.
Location: these fish prefer to hide around or inside underwater structures, such as rotting trees or rocks.
Bluntnose minnow
Description: a small fish with a rounded head. They have a “cross-hatched” look due to the dark coloration of the edge of their scales. They have a black dot at the end of their tails.
Location: these fish are very abundant and can be found throughout the river and park pond.
Bowfin
Description: a 20-inch long fish with an elongated, olive-colored body covered in a dark netted pattern. The underside is white or beige. They can also get oxygen from both their gills underwater, and by gasping at the surface.
Location: found in the slow moving warm water in the smaller creeks of EarthClan's territory.
Central mudminnow
Description: a small fish that is unusually tolerant of low oxygen waters. Their scales are bronze to muddy brown in coloration.
Location: they thrive in the slow-moving, warm parts of the river.
Central stoneroller
Description: a small, minnow-like fish whose spine forms a black stripe across their side. They feed primarily on algae scraped from the sides of rocks and nose smaller rocks around to create bowl-shaped depressions in calm water.
Location: found in the calmest portions of the river.
Common carp
Description: a common fish with a wide, silver body, and a yellow patch of scales along their tails.
Location: found in the faster-moving parts of the river.
Common shiner
Description: a four to six inch long fish with bronze scales and rust-colored scales.
Location: found in the rocky stretch of river under snake gorge.
Creek chub
Description: a 2-6 inch long minnow with a dark brown body and a white line spanning across their body. These fish are extremely adaptable and can live in many different foods and water parameters.
Location: found in schools throughout the river.
Golden redhorse
Description: a 12-18 inch long fish, weighing around 4 or 5 pounds. They have olive backs, white bellies, and golden scales along its sides. They are very sleekly built, allowing them to fight up currents.
Location: these fish prefer calm, sandy portions of the river.
Goldfish/Koi
Description: brightly colored orange, white, or yellow fish. They have a variety of color patterns and body shapes, but because they are often on display in shallow water by two-legs, they are an easy snack for any EclipseClanners who aren’t nervous about getting their paws wet or being yelled at by a two-leg.
Location: found in the park’s pond in EclipseClan territory.
Grass pickerel
Description: a fish in the pike family with greenish-brown scales. Their fins have dark leading edges and a more amber coloration than their bodies. They grow to a foot and a half long and approximately 2 pounds.
Location: these fish live primarily in sluggish, vegetated portions of the river.
Hornyhead Chub
Description: A four to six inch long fish, rarely reaching 9 inches. It has a silver and gold tinted body, with a small red spot behind its eyes.
Location: Found in pools, creeks, and the slower moving parts of rivers.
Largemouth bass
Description: an olive-green fish with dark blotches forming a horizontal stripe across each side. They are much too large for a cat to reasonably kill at their full size of 30 inches and 25 pounds, but are manageable when younger.
Location: they live in the widest-fastest moving portions of the river.
Longnose gar
Description: a large fish with a slender body, olive scales, and one dorsal fin near the end of the back. The gar has a long, narrow snout and a mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth, which can be dangerous to cats who attempt to catch them or accidentally stray near them while swimming. They can survive out of water for hours, granted that their body remains moist.
Location: found in weedy or rocky areas of the river, especially under Snake Gorge.
Northern brook lamprey
Description: a long, silver, jawless fish with one dorsal fin that runs along their entire length. They spend most of their lives buried in fine sediment or gravel.
Location: the warm, clean streams to the southern reaches of SunClan.
Redside dace
Description: a ray-finned fish that leaps from the water to feed on flying insects. They have a bright red stripe extending from their head to their dorsal fin, but are otherwise grey.
Location: found in schools throughout the upper layers of the river.
Silverjaw minnow
Description: A small fish, 2-3 inches long. It possesses a silvery-white color with tan fins.
Location: Large schools exist at the bottom of shallow creeks and streams with sandy floors.
Stonecat
Description: a small, flat-headed catfish with thick, yellowish-brown skin and a whitish belly. They have very few, weak teeth. Fully grown, they can reach up to twelve inches, but average four to eight inches.
Location: these fish prefer fast-moving, rocky areas of the river.
Sunny kivver
Description: a four inch long fish ranging from orange, green, to blue in color with bright speckles and stripes across their sides. They are among the most vibrant fish in the clans’ territories. Their body is compared in shape to a pumpkin seed.
Location: these fish live in the clear, sunny, slow-moving portions of the river along the EarthClan-SunClan border.
Weed Darter
Description: a tiny, slim fish with two dorsal fins and sandy coloration. The bottom halves of their dorsal fins have blue, rectangular spots.
Location: these fish prefer cool, clear water over sand. Therefore, they’re a common sight along Sunning Rocks.
Western blacknose dace
Description: a tiny yellow fish with a red stripe running down both of their sides and forked tails. Sometimes, dark blotches are scattered across their sides.
Location: they are found in the quietest, shallowest parts of the river.
White sucker
Description: a long, round-bodied fish with a dark back and a lighter underbelly. When full grown, these fish can grow over a foot long and weigh up to 6 pounds, making them a prey source. Unfortunately, these fish are rare and stay to the bottom of the murkiest parts of the river, which make them very difficult catch.
Location: these fish are occasionally found at the bottom of the darkest, murkiest portions of the river.
Yellow bullhead
Description: a medium-sized catfish with mottled, olive-yellow skin. They have white “whiskers” and grow to be as large as 7 pounds. These fish are tough scavengers that feet on the bottom of the river, making them difficult for cats sitting on the shore to catch.
Location: anywhere in the river with a sluggish current.
Yellow perch
Description: a 4-10 inch fish with a maximum weight of four pounds. They have a yellow body with olive-green vertical triangular bars. These fish are also a favorite of two-legs, who hunt them throughout green-leaf in EarthClan's territory.
Location: these fish travel in large schools in the deeper portions of the river.
Scavenged food
Crowfood
Description: any prey or other food that has become rotten or otherwise unfit to eat. Cataas will eat this only when desperate, as it is known to cause bellyaches or other illnesses.
Location: Rotten food can always be found in The Scavenging Place.
Pellets
Description: Dry pellets provided by two-legs. Pellets are occasionally compared to rabbit droppings due to its visual similarities and general unpalatability.
Location: occasionally left out for feral cats or kittypets by two-legs in the city.
Two-leg food
Description: food prepared by and consumed by two-legs
Location: scavenged from trash throughout the city, especially in The Scavenging Place.
Sources
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12201---,00.html
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fauna_of_Michigan#Mammals
http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/spatialdatalibrary/pdf_maps/fish_atlas/maps/