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Brittle Bush

Prickly Pears

Desert Tortoise

Sonoran Pronghorn

Antelope

Sonoran Toad

Climate and Weather: It is generally hot and dry with temperature ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature for Hot Desert ranges from 43.5 to 49° C. These deserts usually have very little rainfall and/or concentrated rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods. This averages out to under 15 cm a year. They are warm throughout the fall and spring seasons and very hot during the summer. The winters usually have very little if any rainfall.

Flora (Plants): Vegetation is very rare and plants are almost all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. All of the leaves are replete (packed with nutrients). Some examples of these kinds of plant are Turpentine Bush, Prickly Pears, and Brittle Bush.

Brittle Bush
Common Names: Incienso, White brittle bush
Genus: Encelia
Species: farinosa

The brittle bush is a common plant of the Mojave and Sonoron deserts. It is a small deciduous shrub which grows as a low, roundish mound 2 to 5 feet high. Brittle branches sprout from a woody trunk. The leaves have serrated edges, and are broader at the base than at the tip. They are about 1 to 4 inches long. The leaves are covered with a thick mat of short hairs giving a gray-green appearance. Many desert plants have this kind of hairy leaf. The hairs form a blanket over the leaves and act an insulating layer against the heat and cold. They also trap any moisture that is in the air, and reduce the amount of water lost to dry air.

Fauna (Animals): These desert animals include small nocturnal (only active at night) carnivores. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles, and birds. Some examples of these animals are Borrowers, Mourning Wheatears, and Horned Vipers. Cold Deserts have animals like Antelope, Ground Squirrels, Jack Rabbits, and Kangaroo Rats.

Desert Tortoise
Common Names: Gopher Tortoise
Genus: Gopherus
Species: agassizii

The Desert Tortoise can be found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southern California, two of North America's four deserts. They inhabit semi-arid grasslands, gravelly desert washes and sandy canyon bottoms below 3,500 ft.

The Desert Tortoises is a land dwelling turtle belonging to the Testudinidae family. The Desert Tortoise is also known as a gopher tortoise because it belongs to one of 4 species of the Gopherus genus.

Its front legs are muscular and flattened with long claws, and are very well adapted for digging deep burrows. Desert Tortoises can make hissing, popping, and poinking sounds, usually out of fear or distress. Its domed, brown shell (carapace) can grow to be 9-15 inches in length, 4-6 inches high, and the tortoise can weigh from 8 to 15 lbs. They usually live to be about 80 years, but some have been known to be a 100 years old.

Sonoran Desert Toad
Common Names: Sonoran Toad
Genus: Bufo
Species: alvarius

A toad is a small animal without a tail that looks alot like a frog. It is a type of animal called an amphibian. That means that toads live in water and on land. Toads have dry, warty skin with a raised area behind the eyes. The desert toad is olive green in color with a white "wart" bumpy area near the jaw and on the back legs. The Sonoran Desert Toad is the largest toad found in the United States, and it measures 7 inches in size.

The Sonoran Desert Toad is found in the Southwest United States Desert. The toad lives in the areas of the desert that stay wet. Sonoran Desert Toads eat insects and mice. Toads can live in the desert where water is sometimes not easily available. The toad spends the dry winters buried under ground. The spring rains "wake" the toad. The toad survives on fat in its body. This is called hibernation.