Critter Science
The Science of Animals
The Sonoran pronghorn is native to the Sonoran desert. Hence the name. They prefer arroyos, creosote scrub bajadas, desert washes, and grassland steppe. These endangered animals were extirpated from their range in California in 1950 due to hunting, drought, and loss of habitat
The California condor is the largest wild bird in all of North America. Their population plummeted during the 20th century due to habitat destruction, poaching, and lead poisoning from bullets in the dead animals they eat. People would shoot animals, leave them for dead, the condors would eat
The black-tailed jackrabbit is found in the western U.S. from Washington down south to California, Arizona, and eastward to Nebraska and Texas. It is an introduced species in New Jersey & Kentucky. There are 5 known species of jackrabbit and they live in open grasslands,
The golden eagle is the largest predatory bird in North America. They prefer to hang out in cliffs along rivers, canyons, mountainous regions, and bluffs; anywhere they can get a good updraft. They are the most widely distributed of all eagles. They range from
The round-tailed ground squirrel lives in northern Mexico, Baja California, and the southwest U.S.; including Arizona, Nevada, and California. They live in various parts of the Yuma, Mojave, and Colorado deserts where their habitat includes extreme temps and very low humidity
Found in silt heavy streams, the Gila trout calls Arizona and New Mexico home. These troubled trout have faced adversity for ages. More recently at the hands of agriculture and rerouting rivers and streams. Gilas are among the rarest trout species in the
There are 7 known subspecies of coachwhip snakes whos demographic extends from the left coast to the right coast throughout the southern U.S. The Arizona coachwhip is found across all of western and southern Arizona at elevations from just above sea level to around 6,000
The cactus wren is found in deserts and arid foothills containing yucca, cacti, mesquite, and other types of desert scrub brush. They inhabit Sonoran, Chihuahuan, and Mojave Deserts. They can also be found in coastal sage scrub in California and thorn-scrub areas
The Arizona bark scorpion can be found from southern California, throughout southern Arizona, into the western parts of New Mexico, the southern parts of Utah, and in Mexico (notably in Baja California, Chihuahua, Mexico, and Sonora Mexico). In the wild, they prefer to hide in
Easily recognized, not only by their telltale black and white coloring, but their aroma, the skunk is the animal kingdom’s smelliest critter… by far! These animals have been made famous not only due to their stink but also, in part, by the cartoon character Pepé Le Pew. In fact, the
The Apache trout is Arizona’s state fish and was almost totally wiped out due to human interaction. The original distribution of Apache trout made up an estimated 800+ stream miles in the mountain watersheds of the White, Black, and Little Colorado Rivers at around 5,900 feet
The Sonoran desert toad is Arizona’s largest toad and one of the largest toads in North America. These toads are notorious for their poisonous paratoid glands behind their eyes, on either side of their head. More on this below. These toads are found in central Arizona to
The Gambel’s quail is a pear shaped stout little bird found in the southwestern U.S., mainly in Arizona. Their range extends from Mexico, west to California, east to parts of Texas, and also a small portion of southern Colorado, Utah, & Nevada. They primarily
The bobcat is often confused with a lynx due to the similarity of size and the telltale ear tufts. Bobcats and lynx live in different locales though and the lynx is larger, shaggier, had larger feet, faded spots, and are more gray in color; as opposed to the reddish color
Occupying forests, deserts, urban, and rural areas, you’ve got a good chance at seeing a raccoon. The English word raccoon comes from the Powhatan word “aroughcun”, which translates to “animal that scratches with its hands.” The Aztecs also named the coon “mapachitli” which