A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of shelter against predation and exposure to the elements, so the burrowing way of life is quite popular among the animals. Animalia redirects here. ... Shelter can refer to several things: Look up shelter on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk eating a California Vole In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator species kills and eats other organisms, known as prey. ... Look up exposure in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

A wide variety of animals construct or use burrows in many different types of substrate. Mammals are perhaps most well-known for burrowing, especially Insectivora like the voracious mole, and rodents like the prolific gopher and groundhog, and of course the most famous of all, the rabbit. There are estimations that a single groundhog burrow occupies a full cubic meter, displacing 320 kilograms of dirt. Even Carnivora like the meerkat and Marsupials like the kangaroo mouse are burrowers. Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... Families Erinaceidae Soricidae Talpidae Solenodontidae The biological order Insectivora in the past was used as a scrapbasket for a variety of small to very small, relatively unspecialized, insectivorous mammals. ... Genera 17 genera, see text Moles are members of the family (Talpidae) of mammals in the order Soricomorpha that live underground, burrowing holes. ... Suborders Sciuromorpha Castorimorpha Myomorpha Anomaluromorpha Hystricomorpha Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents. ... A gopher is a small burrowing rodent. ... Binomial name Marmota monax (Linnaeus, 1758) The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as the woodchuck or whistlepig, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. ... Genera Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. ... Families 17, See classification The diverse order Carnivora (IPA: or IPA: ; from Latin carō (stem carn-) flesh, + vorāre to devour) includes over 260 placental mammals. ... Binomial name Suricata suricatta (Schreber, 1776) Meerkat range The meerkat or suricate Suricata suricatta is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family. ... Orders Superorder Ameridelphia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Superorder Australidelphia Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Marsupials are mammals in which the female typically has a pouch (called the marsupium, from which the name Marsupial derives) in which it rears its young through early infancy. ... Species Microdipodops megacephalus Microdipodops palllidus A kangaroo mouse is either one of the two species of jumping mouse (genus Microdipodops) native to the deserts of the Southwestern United States, predominately found in the state of Nevada. ...

Other examples of burrowing animals include a number of fish, amphibians, reptiles (including small dinosaurs^[1]), and birds, as well as numerous invertebrates including insects, spiders, sea urchins, clams and worms. A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... Subclasses and Orders    Order Temnospondyli - extinct Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct Subclass Lissamphibia    Order Anura    Order Caudata    Order Gymnophiona Amphibians (class Amphibia; from Greek αμφις both and βιος life) are a taxon of animals that include all living tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) that do not have amniotic eggs, are ectotherms, and generally spend part... Orders  Crocodilia - Crocodilians scary crocodiles. ... Orders & Suborders Saurischia Sauropodomorpha Theropoda Ornithischia Thyreophora Ornithopoda Marginocephalia Dinosaurs were vertebrate animals that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for over 160 million years, first appearing approximately 230 million years ago. ... For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ... Invertebrate is a term coined by Chevalier de Lamarck to describe any animal without a backbone or vertebra, like insects, squids and worms. ... Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species—more than all other animal groups combined. ... Families Suborder Mesothelae     Liphistiidae (primitive burrowing spiders) Suborder Mygalomorphae     Atypidae (atypical tarantula)     Antrodiaetidae (folding trapdoor spider)     Mecicobothriidae (dwarf tarantulas)     Hexathelidae (venomous funnel-web tarantula)     Dipluridae (funnel-web tarantula)     Cyrtaucheniidae (wafer trapdoor spider)     Ctenizidae (trapdoor spider)     Theraphosidae (tarantula) Suborder Araneomorphae     Hypochilidae (lampshade spider)     Filistatidae (crevice weaver)     Sicariidae (recluse spider)     Scytodidae (spitting... Slate pencil urchin (cidaroid) Group of black, long-spined Caribbean sea urchins, Diadema antillarum (Philippi) Sea urchin roe. ... Categories: Pages needing attention | Animal stubs ... Worms may refer to: The plural form of worm Worms (computer game), a series of turn-based computer games Worms, Germany, a city in the southwest of Germany René Worms, founder of the Institut International de Sociologie in 1893 Worms (family) The common term for an animals condition of...

Burrows can be constructed into a wide variety of substrates. Kangaroo mice construct burrows in fine sand. Termites construct burrows in wood. Some sea urchins and clams can burrow into rock. Burrows can also range in complexity to a simple tube a few centimeters long to a complex network of interconnecting tunnels and chambers hundreds or thousands of meters in total length, such as a well-developed rabbit warren. Families Mastotermitidae Kalotermitidae Termopsidae Hodotermitidae Rhinotermitidae Serritermitidae Termitidae Termites, sometimes known as white ants, are a group of eusocial insects usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order, Isoptera. ... Genera Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. ...

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