Mapmakers don’t get out and about as much as you’d think. Relying on surveyors, photographers and other experts for their information, the typical cartographer spends their days at a desk, designing and drawing the magnificent guides we use to navigate the world.
It’s no wonder their thoughts sometimes turn to mischief. For decades, mapmakers at the respected Swiss office swisstopo have amused themselves by hiding secret drawings — “a spider, a man’s face, a naked woman, a hiker, a fish, and a marmot,” for example — among their maps’ contour lines and hachures.
They had to disguise these flourishes well enough to avoid their employers noticing since such an anomaly “implies that the mapmaker has openly violated his commitment to accuracy, risking professional repercussions on account of an alpine rodent,” according to Eye On Design.
Cut to modern-day America, and it doesn’t take as long to spot an interesting creature when roaming a National Park or swimming in the North Pacific. With around 3,000 native animals, the U.S. is one of just 17 megadiverse countries around the globe.
But not every animal is as easy to spot as the others. And unfortunately, around 1,300 species — including plenty of native ones — are endangered, making them harder to spot and tragically close to disappearing altogether.
To raise awareness of these creatures’ plight, the team here at HawaiianIslands.com returned to the idea of hidden map drawings. We identified five endangered Northern American animals and drew five new maps of their home regions, hiding each creature among those hachures and contours. We invite you to search for them, utilizing your Where’s Wally? and Magic Eye skills to outsmart our cartographers.
In addressing the issue of the hidden marmots and spiders, swisstopo has clearly stated: “Creativity has no place on these maps.” But there’s plenty of space for creativity in our new maps below… if only you can find it.
Florida Panther: Big Cypress’s Helpful Mountain Lion
There was once a rather gruesome reason to look out for the Florida panther: a bounty was put on the creature’s head in 1832, as they were perceived as a threat to livestock. By the 1970s, the animal had been hunted nearly to extinction. Numbers reached as low as 20 or 30, leading to the inbreeding and genetic mutations that give us the modern Florida panther’s signature crooked tail and cowlicked fur.
And yes, this creature — the only mountain lion subspecies in the eastern U.S. — does have a taste for calves, but it is also a vital part of the ecosystem, hunting feral hogs and keeping other species in check.
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Today, barely 200 Florida panthers are left in the wild, their welfare further impacted by habitat loss and fragmentation. They now occupy a range that’s less than 5% of what it once was.
If you do spot one in the wild, don’t run — most Florida panthers will avoid confrontation as long as you don’t trigger their chasing instinct. You can report it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for its own well-being. If you spot the one we’ve hidden in the map above, you can give yourself a cookie.
Red Wolf: Misunderstood Albemarle Doggo
When Wolf 1849F died of natural causes in March, she died a hero. Having “mothered and grand-mothered her kin through the most treacherous of times,” giving birth to 14 pups across three litters, she had given new hope to the survival of a species with just 23 representatives in the wild at the time of writing. Still, it’s rare to see a red wolf even in captivity — the 267 red wolves kept in SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) facilities are spared human company as far as possible to prepare them for potential release into the wild.
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Wild red wolves roam only on North Carolina’s Albemarle Peninsula, although they once ranged from southeastern Texas to central Pennsylvania. These handsome, cinnamon-colored creatures have been killed out of fear and superstition for centuries, with settlers seeing wolves as villainous and possibly distrusting the respectful relationship between wolves and some Indigenous Peoples. In fact, a red wolf is shy and “unlikely to confront humans.”
California Condor: Big Sur’s Swooping Giant
It’s hard to miss a California condor in the rare chance that it might pass you in the sky. North America’s largest flying land bird has a wingspan the length of a kayak, leading some to mistakenly believe this was the thunderbird of legend.
Native Americans first greeted Francis Drake and the European crew of the Golden Hind with a bundle of black feathers, most likely from this legendary vulture. For California’s natives, the condor was “a revered creature, a master of the spirit, who gave power to humans for a variety of world renewal and cosmic purposes” while being “associated with death and mourning.”
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As it was, the settlers’ arrival began a massive decline for the condor. At one point in the 1980s, there were just 22 California condors in the wild, the rest having been hunted or had their eggs stolen or been poisoned by traps set for other creatures. California banned lead ammunition in 2013 partly to protect the birds from poisoning while scavenging hunted animals.
Today, there are around 347 California condors in the wild, mostly in California, Utah and along the Pacific Northwest. If you spot one, you can report its wing tag number and color to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service California Condor Recovery Program. (Don’t touch it; the tag number should be visible from a distance!)
Black-Footed Ferret: Wyoming’s Camouflaged Cousin
Cousin to the weasel, the badger and the mink, the black-footed ferret is America’s only native ferret. The creature’s black facemask, feet, tail tip and ochre and white fur make it hard to see in the prairie. Likewise, the black-footed ferret hidden in our map below may escape the keenest of eyes! Sadly, the destruction of the prairie — and the ferret’s favorite meal, the prairie dog — has been the black-foot’s undoing.
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There may have been as many as a million black-footed ferrets in the late 1800s. By the 1950s, they were thought to be extinct. Today, there are around 370 in the wild. If the human population had dwindled at the same rate, there would be just 23,000 people in America today. The North American Grasslands Conservation Act is one step to restore the ferret’s natural habitat and regain the numbers required to flourish in the wild.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle: Cumberland Island’s Ancient Reptile
The World Wildlife Fund describes sea turtles as “the living representatives of a group of reptiles that has existed on Earth and traveled our seas for the last 100 million years.” The loggerhead, in particular, is a keystone species: an integral part of its habitat which, if removed, would set off “a chain of events that turns the structure and biodiversity of its habitat into something very different.” They are found in different areas worldwide, but the North Pacific Ocean population of this carnivorous reptile is endangered, and the international population is dwindling.
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They’re remarkable creatures, recognizable for their large head, powerful jaws and reddish-brown, heart-shaped shell. Female loggerheads may travel thousands of miles to lay their eggs on the same beach where they were hatched, using the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. Unfortunately, human harvesting of these eggs is one of several threats to the turtle.
Capture or damage from fishing gear and pollution, loss of habitat and boat strikes are among others. And climate change is also having an adverse effect, causing female births to outnumber males due to the way temperature affects the eggs.
Conservation Requires Concentration
Sadly, there are plenty of endangered creatures here in Hawaii, too. While the islands are home to seven of the most diverse beaches for wildlife, the state has the highest number of animals listed among the United States Geological Survey’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need.
Eco-tours to wildlife sanctuaries and natural reserves are a fabulous way to learn about endangered wildlife and to support local conservation efforts, particularly in such a biodiverse region as Hawaii. You can also help by spreading the word on social media and in schools. While wildlife conservation is a serious business with wide-ranging ramifications, study and work in this field can be an inspiring challenge. Much like trying to find a ferret on the prairie…