Shrublands, or "scrub" ecosystems can occur in environments all over the world, including desert and arid areas as well as burned out forests and open plains. Shrubland is unique in that it thrives in nutrient poor soil, which is why it has grown to cover large swaths of territory. Spring vegetation growth, affected by soil moisture, determines how much forage is available for the herbivorous rodents, birds and insects that primarily feed off of plant seed or small fruits such as berries.
Common predators take advantage of the open spaces of scrub that are now increasingly juxtaposed with human civilizations. There are few undisturbed shrubland areas save those in nature preserves, and the power lines, buildings and other human structures near the wide open spaces provide favorite nesting and hunting perches for crows, common ravens, and raptors. Rodents, like the vole, survive by taking advantage of the natural cover comprised of the vegetation.
Even-toed ungulates
Tsessebe
Nubian ibex
Goral
Walia ibex
Clarke's gazelle
Blesbok
Chousingha
Spanish ibex
Aoudad
Springbok
Suni
Common hippopotamus
Common rhebok
Roan antelope
Aders' duiker
Sable antelope
Jentink's duiker
Natal duiker
Black duiker
Harvey's duiker
Silver dik-dik
Collared peccary
Beira antelope
Mountain nyala
Salt's dik-dik
Elk
Nyala
Lesser kudu
Klipspringer
Greater kudu
Nilgai
Sahara oryx
Waterbuck
Kob
Puku
Anoa
Takin
Chunyi
Guanaco
Blue & white-bearded wildebeest
Cape grysbok
Oribi
Sharpe's grysbok
Argali
Cuvier's gazelle
Southern reedbuck
Impala
Bighorn sheep
Dorcas gazelle
Bohar reedbuck
Grant's gazelle
Chinkara
Gerenuk
Markhor
Common hartebeest
Carnivores
Common otter
Eyra cat
Speckle-throated otter
Clouded leopard
Hairy-nosed otter
African wild dog
African caracal
African clawless otter
Cameroon clawless otter
Eurasian lynx
Iberian lynx
Asiatic golden cat
Bay lynx
Racoon dog
Chilean pampa cat
Geoffroy's cat
Peruvian desert fox
Common fox
Argentine gray fox
Azara's fox
Andean fox
Bat-eared fox
Ounce
Gray fox
Maned wolf
California channel island fox
Cheetah
Jungle cat
Polar bear
Ocelot
Wild cat
Bengal fox
Little spotted cat
Corsac fox
Asiatic jackal
African sand fox
American jackal
Serval
Cape fox
Arctic wolf
Sand fox
Red wolf
Cross fox
Ethiopian wolf
Palawan stink badger
Side-striped jackal
African lion
Black-backed jackal
Leopard
Asiatic wild dog
Tiger
Bats
Geoffroy's horseshoe bat
Lesser mouse-tailed bat
Greater mouse-tailed bat
Sundevall's roundleaf bat
Heart-nosed bat
Ethiopian large-eared roundleaf bat
Desert yellow bat
Egyptian slit-faced bat
Patrizi's trident leaf-nosed bat
Trident bat
Little free-tailed bat
Kuhl's pipistrelle
Persian trident bat
Common pipistrelle
Rüppel's pipistrelle
De winton's long-eared bat
Horn-skinned bat
Canary big-eared bat
Long-tailed house bat
African sheath-tailed bat
African giant free-tailed bat
Naked-rumped tomb bat
Lesser long-fingered bat
Natal free-tailed bat
Banana bat
Scott's mouse-eared bat
Blasius's horseshoe bat
Cape hairy bat
Lesser horseshoe bat
Welwitch's bat
Cape horseshoe bat
Dasyuroid marsupials and marsupial carnivores
Chuditch
Spotted-tailed quoll
Kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and relatives
Western brush wallaby
Dusky pademelon
Quokka
Bridled nail-tailed wallaby
Boodie
Broom's pygmy-possum
Hyraxes
Rock dassie
Hares, pikas, and rabbits
Bushman hare
Tehuantepec hare
Arctic hare
Broom hare
Elephant-shrews
Golden-rumped elephant shrew
Checkered elephant shrew
Round-eared elephant shrew
Bushveld elephant shrew
North african elephant shrew
Rufous elephant-shrew
Somali elephant shrew
Western rock elephant shrew
Bandicoots and bilbies
Barred bandicoot
Eastern barred bandicoot
Bilby
Golden bandicoot
Pig-footed bandicoot
Horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs
Burchell's zebra
Black rhinoceros
Square-lipped rhinoceros
Primates
Gelada baboon
Common langur
Mandrill
Garnett's greater galago
Ring-tailed lemur
Dry-bush weasel lemur
Elephants
African elephant
Rodents
White-tailed mouse
Swan island hutia
Petter's gerbil
Smith's bush squirrel
Senegal gerbil
Black and red bush squirrel
Red bush squirrel
Middle east blind mole rat
Naked mole rat
Cape mole rat
Brants's whistling rat
Hairy-footed gerbil
Loring's rat
Littledale's whistling rat
Greater short-tailed gerbil
Black-tailed tree rat
Speke's pectinator
Short-tailed bandicoot rat
Barfur gerbil
Acacia rat
Pouched mouse
Mountain beaver
Spring hare
Fernandina galapagos mouse
Delany's mouse
Shortridge's rat
Mearns's pouched mouse
Long-tailed field mouse
Santiago galapagos mouse
Somalia gerbil
Gray glimbing mouse
Forrest's rock squirrel
African grass rat
Pygmy gerbil
Brant's climbing mouse
Lesser cane rat
Allen's wood rat
Julian's gerbil
Harrington's rat
White-eared pocket mouse
Crested porcupine
Lataste's gerbil
Dassie rat
Cape porcupine
Nigerian gerbil
Northwestern fat mouse
Barbary ground squirrel
Barbour's rock mouse
Principal gerbil
Dainty fat mouse
Namaqua dune mole rat
Pygmy rock mouse
Edward's swamp rat
Lesser egyptian jerboa
Cushioned gerbil
Kreb's fat mouse
Brukkaros pygmy rock mouse
Gerbil mouse
Greater egyptian jerboa
Least gerbil
Tiny fat mouse
Shortridge's rock mouse
Greater egyptian gerbil
Bushy-talied woodrat
Ethiopian narrow-headed rat
Betsileo short-tailed rat
Galapagos rice rat
Southern multimammate mouse
Little red gerbil
Gray-tailed narrow-headed rat
Gregarious short-tailed rat
Guinea multimammate mouse
Lesser short-tailed gerbil
Asian garden dormouse
Bangs's mountain squirrel
Natal multimammate mouse
Somalian gerbil
Khartoum gerbil
Rudd's bristle-furred rat
Dent's vlei rat
Tarabul's gerbil
East african mole rat
Bolivian chincilla rat
Saunder's vlei rat
Nikolaus's mouse
Barbary lemniscomys
Waters's gerbil
Fat sand rat
Typical vlei rat
Libyan jird
Arid thicket rat
Thin sand rat
Mullah spiny mouse
Bush vlei rat
Somali pygmy gerbil
Bunting's thicket rat
Elvira rat
Cape gerbil
Percival's spiny mouse
Gray-headed thicket rat
Felou gundi
Ghana mole rat
Highveld gerbil
Cape spiny mouse
Neill's long-tailed giant rat
Woodland thicket rat
Congo rope squirrel
African mole rat
Kemp's gerbil
Wilson's spiny mouse
Mahomet mouse
Giant thicket rat
Mechow's mole rat
Bushveld gerbil
Pygmy mouse
Ruwenzori thicket rat
Black-tailed gerbil
Grant's rock mouse
Ethiopian thicket rat
Ochre mole rat
Phillip's gerbil
Four-striped grass mouse
Namaqua rock rat
Fat-tailed gerbil
Shining thicket rat
South african ground squirrel
Gundi
Robbins's tateril
Tinfields rock rat
Namtap
Brown's hutia
Damara ground squirrel
Val's gundi
Harrington's gerbil
Thomas's rock rat
Crested rat
Silvery mole rat
Bahamian hutia
Unstriped ground squirrel
Lake chad gerbil
Aardvark
Aardvark
Edentates
Pichi
Southern long-nosed armadillo
Common long-nosed armadillo
Llanos long-nosed armadillo
Screaming hairy armadillo
Large hairy armadillo
Burmeister's armadillo
Lesser fairy armadillo
Six-banded armadillo
Northern naked-tailed armadillo
Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo
Read more at the list of biomes of the world...