Animals & Gardens

Highlights

The badger is well known for its incredible ability to DIG!

Badgers are large, from 25-30″ in length, and weigh from 15-25 lbs. Their fur is long and grayish, with a white dorsal stripe extending from nose to rump, black patches on their face, a short tail and small rounded ears. Their claws are long and sharp.

Nocturnal, elusive and seldom-seen, the badger has several sleeping dens within its territory. These burrows give shelter to other wildlife but can be hazardous to livestock, and ranchers sometimes kill them for this reason. They are also killed by poison bait put out for coyotes and by eating poisoned rodents, even though they benefit man as rodent control.

They hunt mainly burrowing rodents but also other small animals and sometimes carrion. They have few predators. Badgers are fierce fighters, able to drive off an attacker many times their own size.

Badgers are solitary all year until mating season in late summer or early fall. 1-5 babies are born blind in a large dry-grass-lined burrow in spring. The young remain in the burrow for 5-6 weeks, leaving at the end of the summer. The father takes no part in raising them.

The badger’s period of winter inactivity (not true hibernation) coincides with that of the ground squirrel, its favorite food.

Highlights

Bobcats get their name from their short, stubby tails, and their bobbing gait.

Bobcats are on the alert for prey day or night, which includes rabbits, hares, rodents, quail, reptiles and carrion. Adults are preyed on by mountain lions while coyotes and foxes prey on the young.

Their coats are light brown marked with spots and bars. Their bellies are white with dark markings and their tails are very short and stubby. Males are larger than females. Facial tufts or “sideburns” and ear tufts may aid their keen hearing while black and white ear spots may be used as communication signals.

Males and females come together only for breeding from February to June and, after a gestation period of 60 days, 1-5 kittens are born, which are reared by the mother alone. The kittens leave her at 9-10 months to establish their own territories. Their potential lifespan is 12-14 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.

Bobcat populations vary in size, color, prey type, and home-range size depending on habitat type. They are solitary and, throughout their home ranges, they mark their territories with urine, anal gland secretions, feces or piles of duff or dirt called “scrapes” to warn off other bobcats.

Highlights

Until recently, this species was known to science only through fossil remains. The first modern-day sightings of live Chacoan peccaries in Paraguay were reported in 1972.

Chacoan peccary is the largest of the peccaries. Males and females look alike. The bristly coat is speckled charcoal or brownish-gray, interspersed with long guard hairs, which may be up to 8-9” long.  There is a whitish collar across the shoulders and under the chin, which is thinner and less distinct than that in the Collared peccary. There is a black dorsal stripe, which trails onto the tail.  The head is extremely large, and the nose tapers to a snout disc made of cartilage. The long, donkey-like ears are covered with long, pale hair, as are the legs.  The legs are relatively long and adapted for running, with dewclaws only on the forelegs.

Chacoan peccary uses its snout to roll cacti on the ground, rubbing the spines off.  Its kidneys are specialized to break down acids from the cacti, and its two-chambered stomach is well suited to digest its food. The bristly brownish-gray coat provides excellent camouflage, and peccaries’ tiny feet help them to pick their way through their thorny habitat. Chacoan peccaries also possess a third hind toe, while other peccaries only have two.

Highlights

When threatened, they will dive into a crack in the rocks and gulp air until their body inflates and becomes wedged so tightly between the rocks that they cannot be pulled out.

This is a large, stocky, wide-bodied lizard. Males have reddish-pink to orange, yellow or light gray bodies and black heads, shoulders and limbs, while females and the immature have bodies with scattered spots or contrasting bands of light and dark in shades of gray or yellow plus banded tails. Males are generally larger than females, and possess well-developed femoral pores located on the inner sides of their thighs which produce secretions believed to play a role in marking territory.

They are herbivorous, eating buds, flowers, fruit and leaves and obtaining moisture from their food. Their 4-6 month activity period is closely regulated by food availability and they usually retreat into estivation by August and into hibernation during the cooler months.

They are preyed on by golden eagles, hawks, ravens, roadrunners, coyotes, kit foxes, bobcats and snakes. Their tails will detach if grabbed by a predator, allowing them to escape, but they do grow back.

Males defend their territories against other males with head bobbing, pushups and by chasing their rivals away. After courtship displays of head-bobbing, from April to July, mating occurs, and females lay 5-16 eggs, which hatch in late September.

Highlights

Their scientific name means “Barking dog”.

This highly adaptable opportunistic omnivore seems to prefer rodents and jackrabbits, but will eat reptiles, birds, arthropods (scorpions, crickets) and plant material such as juniper seeds, screw beans, fan palm fruit and dates. A crepuscular and nocturnal hunter, they are valuable as rodent control. Their only predator is Man.

Coyotes are dog-like, sandy-colored, with erect ears. They roam extensively throughout their territory, hunting, resting and sleeping wherever they are comfortable, living in a den only when raising pups.

Coyotes usually mate for life and breeding takes place between January and March. The gestation period is 63 days and one litter per year of 1-12 pups (average 4 to 5), is born and raised in a den or rock crevice. Pups are born blind, but furred, will nurse for 5 to7 weeks and begin to leave den at 3 weeks, but it is 6 weeks before they really begin to run with their parents when they all abandon the den. If you see a group of 3-6 coyotes, it is most likely a mated pair and their young of the year, or perhaps a group of litter mates. Coyotes do not have large packs as some wolves do. Their potential lifespan in the wild is about 13 years and in captivity is 15-20 years. They do not make good pets.

Coyotes communicate using scent and body language as well as vocalization.

Highlights

Bighorn sheep are specially designed for the unforgiving rocky mountain terrain they call home, from cloven hooves and use of vegetation for hydration to large domineering horns.

A bighorn sheep’s hooves are strong and split, which provide balance and grip as they forage for water-rich food, evade predators, or battle for dominance.

Males, called rams, have large, curled horns that are made of keratin. Their horns are used in battle with other rams, but also serve as a status symbol within the herd.

Bighorn sheep are threatened by disease, habitat degradation, care collisions, and habitat fragmentation due to urban and commercial development. The Living Desert actively supports the national conservation of this species through the leadership of the Species Survival Plan and local conservation efforts through collaborative efforts with local programs.

Highlights

These clever reptiles build up most of their fat and water reserves in the spring when the desert is painted with wildflowers, grasses and succulent green plants.

The desert tortoise has roamed the desert’s landscape for tens of thousands of years, escaping scorching temperatures in burrows deep underground.

Tortoises can completely withdraw their head and limbs into their shell, leaving only the horny scales visible to potential predators.

Desert tortoise populations are threatened by raven predation, urbanization, illegal collection for the pet trade, off-highway vehicles, and upper-respiratory tract infections. The Living Desert’s Healthy Desert Education Project, features the Time to Talk Trash campaign, which educates people about how the dramatic rise in raven populations has led to a decrease in tortoise hatchling survival rates.

The smallest North American canid found only on California’s Channel Islands is a descendant of the mainland gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), the island fox evolved into a unique species over 7,000 years ago, retaining similar markings to its ancestor but evolving to be just two-thirds of the size. The coat of the island fox is a grizzled mix of greyish-white and black, while the underside is a dull white. The ears, neck and the sides of the legs are usually cinnamon- colored and the chin, borders of the lips and the area between the eyes and nose are black. The tail has a well-defined, black, narrow stripe along the top.

Island foxes are thought to have evolved in the three largest northern Channel Islands and were moved to the three largest southern Channel Islands by the Chumash native people who traded with the Gabrielino people of the southern islands. The Chumash considered the fox to be a sacred animal–a pet of the sun, and possibly a dream helper. The Island Chumash performed a fox dance and probably used the pelts of foxes to make articles like arrow quivers, capes, and headdresses.

In the 12 years (2004 -2016) since it was listed as an endangered species quick and effective actions have taken place to facilitate their recovery. The key efforts which contributed to this recovery included: captive breeding and reintroduction of island foxes, capture and relocation of golden eagles, vaccination of foxes against distemper, and larger ecosystem recovery actions of bald eagle restoration and nonnative ungulate removal (pigs, deer and elk).

Highlights

Jaguars are the largest cats in the Americas and the only representative of the genus Panthera

Jaguars come in many sizes and colors with spots on the head, neck and legs, and rosettes on the rest of the body. The overall coat of a jaguar is typically pale yellow, tan, or reddish yellow above, and generally whitish on the throat, belly, insides of the limbs, and underside of the tail, with prominent dark spots or blotches throughout. Each jaguar’s marking are different, just like our fingerprints. Adults weigh on average 80-250 lbs. They measure about 30 inches at the shoulder and are about six feet long plus a 30-inch tail. Jaguars have a relatively robust head, compact but muscular body, short limbs and tail, and powerfully-built chest and forelegs. Its skin color and patterned coat aid in camouflage. Its long tail helps it balance when running and turning sharply. Jaguars have a large head specially equipped for piercing the skull of their prey with their canines.