Nature

Coyotes have a special place in Southwestern kitsch. They're often depicted on screen-printed souvenir-shop apparel, howling at a Swiss-cheese moon. Neither nightlights…

Chiricahua fox squirrels live up to their name — their tails are characteristically bushy, like fox tails. Located as far north as Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains and as…

Of the five species of prairie dogs, Gunnison’s prairie dogs are the smallest. Unlike other prairie dogs, Gunnison’s are not known to kill their young, but they’re dying…

Every week, a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) can eat hundreds of tons of insects, particularly moths — some of which prey on cotton…

Mexican gartersnakes (Thamnophis eques) spend their time in marshy areas and streams, foraging next to the water. In places with dense vegetation, such as…

Emerald jumping spiders (Paraphidippus aurantius) are flashy, and they flaunt it — the iridescent scales on their bodies make them especially shiny, which shows…

If you’re afraid of scorpions, you can thank Western banded geckos for making sure the population doesn’t get out of hand. In addition to foraging at night for small…

Most Arizonans will recognize the buzz that rises from trees in late spring and early summer — the call of the cicadas. Apache cicadas, scientific name Diceroprocta…

If Jurassic Park taught us anything, it’s that predators prefer live prey. Blue death-feigning beetles (Asbolus verrucosus) use that fact to their…