Well. Just A Few More. For The Record.

Nope, not a coyote.  It's a Mexican Wolf - El LOBO!  Now, listen up.  This is important.  While I don't support killing the entire California economy and starving the rest of America of fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables to save the smelts (teeny-tiny fish that are preventing water conservation), I DO support keeping animals from becoming extinct.  I just don't want humans to become extinct in the process.  (Never mess with me when I'm protecting human life!)

At any rate, the Mexican wolf is a subspecies of our gray wolf and looks pretty much like them except for a brown stripe down it's back.  El lobo was top dog (literally) of America's southern borders, feeding off weakest, oldest and sickest of deer, elk, and javelina and thereby keeping themselves and (believe it or not) their prey healthy and smart.  (God is good that way, creating the balance in nature that sustains the planet.)

But, wolves unfortunately eat cattle, too, so the settlers who brought cows and horses in chose to kill at will.  By the 1970's the thousands of Mexican wolves were eradicated.  FINALLY, in 1998 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wised up and brought eleven Mexican gray wolves back into Arizona. Slowly, wolf pup by wolf pup, the population has grown, but they actually remain on the most endangered subspecies of wolf  IN. THE. WORLD.

And THAT is why the Desert Museum proudly houses this fella here.

And speaking of houses.  In Arizona we have discovered that it doesn't take much for humans to be physically comfortable.  A little water, a little shade and you just about have it because doors and windows aren't needed to keep flying bugs out - there ARE no flying bugs!  So, what did the Indians do for shade in a place with essentially no trees?  They used dead saguaro, of course.




The thicker portion they would use for the uprights and lay the "sticks" across the top.  See?


(Kinda nifty the way I snuck that "house" story in, huh? LOL!)

Now, back to the animals.

This guy keeps popping up.  He doesn't look real, does he?  The way his skin fits his "wrist" it looks like he's got a sweater on.  I just really do like this fella, so I shared him with you (which means I like you, too!!)

Und ve have bobcats...  While El lobo keeps the big mammals in check, the bobcat keeps the little ones in good biological balance.

And grey fox that are about the same size and do the same thing as ye ol' bobcat does.















And throughout this entire location we are regaled with beauty of all kinds.

Even the moon in broad daylight!

Now, these tall tooters need master pollinators to keep on track. YOUR problem is that we could not get one of those European honey bees to sit still long enough for a portrait.  We kept tempting them with bowls of pollen - but couldn't compete with au naturale.  Did you know that the number of honeybees in America has declined by more that 25% recently?  And that means that there are even fewer human-managed bees than at any other period in our lifetime.  Calling all beekeepers!  I mean, doing without honey (especially whipped honey!) would be a major bummer, but the food supply would disappear if we didn't have pollinators to carry on the cross-pollination of life! So, get yourself a bee box and start saving the food supply and slurping up honey!

This would be the belly of the beast.  It is the inside of a Saguaro cactus.  We see ugly holes in the sides of those cactus.  Being a Texan, my first thought was that teenagers were used to using the Saguaro for target practice.  Turns out, the birds and other desert dwellers use these bellies as a house.  Cool, huh?


Now, this is hidden because it is inside a prickly ol' Saguaro. A hummingbird's nest is hidden because it is so very, very small.  Just like them!







Have you ever seen a baby Big Horn sheep?  Awwwwww.

This darlin' is only eight days old!

When this daddy Big Horn not-so-politely butted the baby Big Horn away from some food, I opinied out loud, "Daddies are the same no matter what species."  There was an about 12-year-old boy standing next to me.  He looked at me like I had opened his eyes to the wisdom of the world.  I just hope that the next time his daddy is acting like "a man" that he remembers this and doesn't take daddy's rebuke personally...

Suffice it to say that one doesn't get this kind of a view in a "museum."  I think they should rename this place the "Living Desert Museum."