Desert USA's Desert Animals and Wildlife

If you haven't set foot in a desert, I recommend the experience. Every year I go to Vegas for a trade show and slip out to the desert to roam around.

While hot (and cold at night), dry, and seemingly inhospitable, it's a home for thousands of species who find its conditions just right, thank you.

Today's FamilyFirst site is Desert USA's Desert Animals and Wildlife page. It is loaded with eyewitness accounts of the various fauna inhabiting deserts, including bats, deer, wild pigs, snakes, lizards, insects, and whales.

WHALES?

That's right, an article is devoted to a group of finback whales that enjoy living in the Gulf of California, surrounded by desert.

I visited a spring near Laughlin, Nevada and was entranced by the sight of black-chinned hummingbirds, who had to traverses miles of dryness to get to the flower-laden vegetation. There is an excellent article on the bird at the site. Did you know a black-chinned weighs the same as a dollar and a dime?

I was also fortunate to spot a western diamondback rattlesnake. The viper's unmistakable striped tail makes it an easy one to identify. The article enlightened me on how dangerous life is for the snake. They are preyed upon by eagles, hawks, roadrunners, turkeys (!), coyotes, foxes, badgers, and wild hogs. Even deer and bighorn sheep will trample them. And of course, ignorant humans kill them too.

Enjoy the in-depth articles on desert wildlife, and the next time you're driving 80 MPH across the Mojave, find a turnoff and have a closer look at the beautiful desert environment.

http://www.desertusa.com/animal.html

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