Life in the City

With its tall buildings, crowded roads, and noisy cars, the city may not seem like a place where you can find biodiversity.  But you can! Thousands of species thrive in cities, from tiny mites to mighty trees.

Take a look at a city park to see a different slice of city life. Get a close-up look at 10 hidden critters!

Illustration of life in a city park
close up of a mosquito and a feather mite near the eyeball of the great blue heron

On birds like the great blue heron, mosquitoes and feather mites are parasites.

a pseudoscorpion hitching a ride

Pseudoscorpions often hitch rides on larger animals like the harvestman.

channels chewed into wood by a bark beetle

Bark beetle larvae chew "galleries" into wood.

dragonfly nymph capturing a small fish

A dragonfly nymph's "mouth" shoots out to catch prey.

closeup of mites, nematode worm and a springtail

On a dead leaf, some mites eat nematode worms; springtails leap to avoid predators.

group of mosquito eggs

Mosquito eggs float like a raft.

an ichneumonid wasp laying eggs on a beetle grub

Some ichneumonid wasps lay eggs on beetle grubs.

an ant protecting an aphid

Ants protect aphids in exchange for sweet secretions.

inset illustration closeup of protist inside termite queen

A one-celled protist digests wood inside the gut of a termite; wood-eating termites tend to their queen.

A one-celled protist digests wood inside the gut of a termite while wood-eating termites tend to their queen.

long-jawed orb weaver sitting in its web

The long-jawed orb weaver is a sit-and-wait predator.

Credits

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Credits:

illustrations by Barrett Klein/© AMNH