Archive All Issues February 1996

Life in the Desert

Cactus critters have found homes among what seems to be unfriendly neighbors: the cacti. To them the desert is not hostile at all.

Featured in the February 1996 Issue of Arizona Highways

A Harris' antelope squirrel perches on a prickly pear cactus, being careful to avoid the aptly named plant's fierce stickers.

BY: John Cancalosi

Judging from its abundance, desert wildlife has long been attuned to its environment. The great irony of the Sonoran Desert is that what appears to be such hostile habitat is so replete with life. Desert animals have turned what seems to us adversity to their own advantage. Perhaps the most striking example of this is the association of desert animals with their ubiquitous and seemingly unfriendly neighbor, the cactus. They perch on it, eat it, and mate and nest in it-all to my photographic delight. I felt privileged to share the lives of various "cactus critters," and, as a result, I feel more attuned to the desert, myself. I hope the following photographs reflect that.

CACTUSCRITTERS

CACTUS CRITTERS PORTFOL10

(PRECEDING PANEL, PAGES 28 AND 29) A red-tailed hawk feeds its chicks in a cactus nest.

(LEFT) The fruit of a prickly pear makes a meal for a desert tortoise.

(BELOW, LEFT) The Gila monster is rarely seen in the wild as it spends most of its time underground.

(BELOW) The sharp stickers of a prickly pear cactus hold no terror for a regal horned lizard.