Desert Cottontail-
It
is a brownish-grayish color and looks just like a pet rabbit, but with longer
ears. It is often seen in the early morning and late evenings, when the sun is
not so fierce.
Coyote-:
Is is a brownish-grey
and is about the size of a medium dog, but really skinny. It has a bushy tail.
It is omnivorous, which means is eats meat and vegetation, although it will
really eat anything it can get. It is very used to humans, and can often be
found in cities. It uses the washes to get around. The coyote is quite smart,
and is not like the cartoon character.
Packrat-
It is grayish-brown
and about 12 inches long. It is a herbivore, and lives on its own. People who
collect lots of stuff and never throw it away are called packrats; that is
because packrats build their “home” doing the same thing. Scientists can use
pack rat nests to learn a lot from examining old packrat nests.
Javalina-
It is grey with a very rough
coat and is about two feet tall. It looks like a pig, although it doesn’t belong
to the pig family. It is a herbivore, and usually travels in a group.
Bobcat-
It is gray and about the
size of a small to medium dog. It has a black tip on its short tail and has a
white spot on the back of its black ears. Bobcat babies use this spot to follow
their mother.
Long Nose Bat- It is very small (about
3”) and is a brownish color. This animal is is nocturnal and takes the nectar
and pollen from saguaros in May.
Desert Spade-Foot Toad-
It is very small (about 3”) and has a really strange life. It spends most of the
year buried in sandy soil and comes out only when the first big monsoon rain has
arrived. The toads mate and, in less than one day, there are already tadpoles.
In less than two weeks, the tadpoles eat and grow and eat and grow until, as new
spadefoot toads, they bury themselves to wait for the next year’s monsoon rains.
In Tucson, it is impossible to not notice that the spadefoots have emerged, as
their calls sound like a flock of sheep outside your bedroom window!
Tarantula-
It is about 3” long, but can look about 12” long if you are sacred of spiders.
It is brown in color and is very hairy, even on its legs. It is venomous, but
bites to humans are rare, as it is nocturnal and minds its own business. Mating
is hazardous for the male and he dies at the end of the season anyway, but a
female can live up to 20 years.
Scorpion-
There are three kinds in the Sonoran desert around Tucson. The most venomous is
the bark scorpion which is about two inches long and a translucent, light brown
color. The biggest is the Giant Desert Hairy scorpion, which is 6” long, is a
darker brown and hairy! It is also venomous, but not as harmful to humans as the
bark scorpion.
Desert Tortoise-
It is about 12”, and is a grayish-brown. It is a herbivore and really likes the
fruit of the prickly pear cactus as a summer treat. It can store up to 40% of
its body weight as water and, like the cottontail rabbit, is most active early
in the morning and early evening, when the temperature is cooler. In the wild,
it can live up to 40 years. It is a protected species and the Arizona Sonora
Desert Museum has a tortoise adoption program for captive tortoises. Even if you
are approved to adopt one however, it still does not belong to you. It belongs
to the state of Arizona, and you are called the “custodian”.
Chuckwalla-
It is about 15” long, and is a herbivore. It is also a kind of ugly looking
lizard, with a potbelly and lots of loose skin, which makes it look as though
its skin is too big. It is grayish in color and has a thick tail.
Collared Lizard-
It is about 12” long, and can be a variety of colors. It has two dark bands
around its neck. It is carnivorous. Pregnant females have red spots down their
sides.
Zebra Tailed Lizard-
It is about 6” long, and has a greenish-brownish body, with a black and white
striped tail. It can move very quickly and often runs with its tail in the air.
The tail can distract predators, and actually comes off without any harm to the
lizard!
Gila Monster-
It is more than a foot long,
and is a mix of pink, orange, and black. It looks like it is covered in beads.
It is also carnivorous. It is also poisonous! It is the only venomous lizard in the
USA.
Gopher Snake-
It can be quite large, up to
4 feet, and is a light brown color with darker patches. It is often mistaken for
a rattlesnake because, not only does it look like one, but it acts like one too,
if it is threatened. How confusing! It does not have a rattle in its tail
though, and it is not venomous.
Western Diamond Back Rattlesnake-
It is very similar in looks
to the gopher snake, but it is venomous! Did you know that a rattlesnake adds a
rattle segment each time it sheds its skin? You cannot tell how old it is though
by counting the rattles though. Did you also know that the Sonoran desert has more
species of rattlesnake than anywhere else in the world?
Coral Snake-
The coral snake is very slender, about 20” long when fully grown, and is
carnivorous. It is also very venomous! It is brightly colored and has wide red
bands, followed by a narrower yellow band, then a wide black band followed by a
narrower yellow band all down its body. There are several other snakes that look
like the coral snake; they think it is a good idea as it warns off predators,
but it makes it confusing if you ever run into one. That’s where this rhyme
comes from; “red and yellow kill a fellow, red and black venom lack!”, reminding
you which one is poisonous.
Gambles Quail-
It can often be seen running across a road and usually stays on the ground, but
it can fly. The male is the more attractive with a grayish body, brown wings and
a brown “hat” with a feather sticking up out of it. It mainly eats seeds.
Roadrunner-
It is quite a large bird,
about 2 feet long. It is speckled black, has a long tail, and a streak of blue
by its eye. It spends most of its time on the ground, but can fly if it feels
threatened. It can also run about 15 miles an hour. It eats mostly small
reptiles and rodents.
Cactus Wren-
It is brownish and speckled with quite a long bill. It is called the cactus wren
because it makes it nests in cacti, especially cholla and saguaros. Its nest is
easy to spot because it is quite large, and looks as though you have taken a lot
of grass and rolled it into an untidy ball.
Turkey Vulture-
It is a large bird, and not
very attractive. It is mostly black, with a red neck and head. The neck and head
are featherless to stop it getting infected from the dead meat it feeds on.
Red-Tailed Hawk-It is a beautiful hawk and
one of the most common around Tucson. It has a brownish body and a red tail, and
is easy to recognize when it is flying or sat on a telegraph pole, which is
quite a common sight, as it is a good place to hunt from.
Cardinal-
It is a beautiful hawk and
one of the most common around Tucson. It has a brownish body and a red tail, and
is easy to recognize when it is flying or sat on a telegraph pole, which is
quite a common sight, as it is a good place to hunt from.