The severe drought gripping California has wide-reaching implications for the state’s wildlife – though not always in the way you might think, according to experts. The Golden State’s diverse array of native animals — “many of which can be found nowhere else on the face of the earth” — are largely adapted for occasional droughts, says Rebecca Barboza, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. But the current conditions go beyond what the animals have evolved to deal with. … Drought leads to a kind of chain reaction, starting with smaller animals like rodents and other little herbivores, the biologist explained. Dry conditions lead to fewer nutrients for the critters to graze on, and their bodies start to weaken.