"THE DESERT ARK" - - ARIZONA- SONORA DESERT MUSEUM - TUCSON, AZ
MONDAY 7/16/12 - Called an "ark" because they keep endangered animals and plants some of which can't be found in the wild anymore.
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At a stop on the way to the Desert Museum
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Panorama
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Mike
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Plants that look gray or silvery are a dead give-away for drought-tolerance. The color is actually from tiny hairs that reflect
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Panorama left
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Panorama right
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Twisted Barrel Cactus
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Tom taking a picture of the view too
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We arrive at the "Desert Ark". It's called that because they specialize in keeping endangered species (animals and pla
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Hedgehog Cactus
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They have over 2,600 different types of plants from the world's deserts.
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A lizard sits on a rock in the shade
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Harris' Hawk being shown at a Raptor presentation
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A sign showing silhouettes of some common plants of the desert - Ocotillo, Agave, Brittlebush, Cholla, Saguaro.
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A cave with stalagmites and stalactites to crawl around in
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Can you hear me now? Put these bat ears on and hear as well as a bat hears.
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Shasta Ground Sloth weighed 550 lbs. and was 9 ft. long when alive in the Miocene era.
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This grotto is modeled after an ancient Hokomam site. The next picture explains more.
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Artifacts of the Hokomam
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Case after case of minerals and rocks in candy colors and some in strange shapes.
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Gypsum (Selenite crystals)
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Wolfenite
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Malachite
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Zebra-tailed Lizard
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Mountain Lion snoozing
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Thick-billed Parrot - Dependent on pine seeds, this bird is now and endangered species due to habitat destruction.
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Black Bear catching a nap
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Mule Deer doe
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Sonoran Spiny-tailed Iguana, male - There's a small population that lives wild on the grounds.
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The Mexican Wolf, Lobo, has been hunted and trapped near extinction. Today there are less than 50 alive.
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Stinging Spurge is in the Nettle family
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Black-tailed Prarie Dog, a grassland member of the Squirrel family. The Desert Museum is the only place you'll find them. No a
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Desert Kingsnake - Yellow and black and non-venomous.
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The flower spires of an Agave. Here in the Northeast, we probably call every plant we see that looks like this a Yucca.
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One of three panorama views of the Desert Museum's Botanical Garden
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0263 20120716 12:00 Three miles of trail
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0264 20120716 12:14 There are 392 acres of Botanical Garden
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0265 20120716 12:28
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Prickly Pear, Octotillo, Agave
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Anopther panorama view of the Desert Museum's Botanical Garden
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The last panorama view in the Desert Museum's Botanical Garden
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Trelease's Agave - Now a rare species
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Bobcat staying cool on ledge in the shade
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A baby Puma (Mountain Lion) also keeping cool
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Porcupines are rare in Arizona
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It's called the Twisted Barrel Cactus because it grows in a spiral
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Jojoba - Twigs and foliage of the Jojoba are favorite foods of cattle, deer, and goats. It is an important browse plant on rock
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Palm Trees
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Three Sisters Garden - Corn, squash, and beans interplanted are traditional native American garden vegetables.
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The Butterfly Garden - There are at least a half a dozen dragonflies and butterflies in this picture.
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The Arizona River Otter - Dark-coated, 3-4' long and 20-30 lbs was replaced by farming, industry, and cities. Louisiana Otters
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The Otter from inside
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Bonytail Chub - Endangered fish of the Colorado River
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Beaver - Hunting, and loss of habitat due to human logging, industry, farming, almost destroyed Beavers. They've since been re-
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A handsome male specimen of Desert Bighorn (sheep) keeps away from the Coyotes.
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A female Desert Bighorn
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There's a big turtle hiding in that culvert. If you don't believe me, stick your nose in and find out.
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White-winged Dove
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This is a Pyrrhuloxia, also called Desert Cardinal. The male Desert Cardinal resembles our Northern Cardinal female. They're r
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Masked Bobwhite (quail) keep cool in their scrapes. Later we saw one bump another one out of the nest (inset). Efforts to re-i
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Mallard
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A Crow gets a drink of water
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Another landscape view
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Flowers point the way to the Hummingbird aviary.
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There were about half a dozen different kinds of Hummingbirds flitting around in the Hummingbird Garden. This looks like an Ann
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That finishes our visit to the Desert Ark, tomorrow we see the Salt River Canyon and drive through the Painted Desert on our way
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