Forest Animals Word Search

About this puzzle

Forests across North America and Europe are home to these animals, though most are shy and many come out mainly at dusk or at night. The list mixes large animals (moose, black bear, deer, lynx) with small ones (chipmunk, squirrel, hedgehog), and includes several with remarkable defenses: the porcupine's quills, the skunk's spray and the hedgehog's spines.

The default layout is Easy on a 10×10 grid. Easy, Medium and Hard each use their own checked layout of the same words, and every one can be printed in standard or large print on US Letter or A4.

Word notes

Badger

A powerful digger that lives in underground tunnel systems, called setts in Britain.

Raccoon

Known for its masked face and nimble front paws, which it uses to feel for food.

Owl

Owls cannot move their eyes in their sockets, so they turn their heads instead — up to about 270 degrees.

Chipmunk

Carries food in stretchy cheek pouches and stores it in underground burrows for the winter.

Moose

The largest member of the deer family; only males grow antlers, which they shed every winter.

Porcupine

Its quills come loose easily when touched, but despite the myth they cannot be thrown.

Beaver

Builds dams that create ponds used by many other species.

Lynx

A wild cat with tufted ears and large, snowshoe-like paws.

Try this after the puzzle

Ask which animals are mostly active at night and which by day; owls, raccoons, badgers and hedgehogs make good starting points. Then pick one animal and draw the tracks it might leave in mud or snow.

All 14 words

Deer · Fox · Badger · Raccoon · Owl · Squirrel · Chipmunk · Black Bear · Moose · Porcupine · Hedgehog · Beaver · Lynx · Skunk