Founded in 1952, the Sonoran Desert Museum is one of a kind. The desert, which covers 120,000 square miles of southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and the Mexican states of Baja and Sonora, is filled with rivers, mountains, and canyons, which all provide a luxurious habitat for the numerous species and animals that are found in the region. A majority of these species, both plant and animal, have adapted to aridity, heat, and intense summer monsoons. There are over 2000 native plants, 100 reptiles, 60 mammals, and over 350 bird species which call the desert home. The desert, which is found in the Arizona region in the United States, is not only a historical monument but also a place that is so rich in history. The people who associate with the museum at one time or another have a lot to say about the desert. To some, it is a place where their beliefs, culture, and traditional practices, among other things, are strengthened.
Sonoran Desert hosts a zoo, an art gallery, and a botanical garden, among other things. Founded by William Carr and Arthur Pack, the desert has been instrumental in conserving wildlife and some plant species that otherwise would be on the verge of extinction. There is so much life in the Sonoran, even though the place is a desert. The place provides unmatched warmth and has been deemed a place for many to meditate as deep in the desert are unique forms of vegetation which gives life to the place. The Saguaro cactus is among the plants that thrive within the Sonoran Desert. There are other types of cactuses, the likes of hedgehog, fishhook, cholla, and prickly pear, among others, that flourish here. The cacti provide homes and food to some of the desert birds and mammals. Their red, pink, yellow, and white flowers, on the other hand, give a beautiful view of the desert.
More interesting to learn about was the Saguaro which is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genies Carnegia. The cactus grows over 12 meters long and is among the long-standing cactus species in the desert. Its lifespan extended to 150 years, and it has a sidearm that may live for over 100 years. Saguaro has been one of the sources of food for humans in the desert for a number of years as it produces sweet red-fleshed fruits, which are turned into syrup by the native people. It was also interesting to learn about the Tohono O’odham and Pima people and their beliefs about the desert and its species.
Apart from the plant species that one gets to see when they visit the desert, there is artwork that is unique and one of a kind. The designs, which were built as early as the 1930s, reflect a British colonial culture. The designs are spacious and vast as they also look amazing. There is, for example, the Cat Canyon, which is a place where the cats thrive. On the other hand, there is the desert Grassland, which many agree is a replica of the mammoth kill site. The Grassland is also an important place to reflect on the evolution of how different species would fight for their survival during different times in history. However, things have changed over the years. The Sonoran Desert is no longer what it was: a habitat for many animals and plant species. As more and more people move into the desert, the climate is changing due to human activities, with the natural beauty fading by the day. The air is becoming increasingly polluted while the riparian areas are being altered and destroyed. The water resources are getting scarcer. Although there are efforts aimed at restoring the formal glory of the Sonoran Desert, such efforts are yet to bore the desired fruits, not with the ranging interests of different stakeholders in the desert. But even with that, the beauty of the Sonoran Desert still lingers.
Though a desert and hence paradoxes abound, Sonoran is not lifeless. Not with the spouting branches every few hours after the rain when limbs sprout hundreds of green leaves and loverly flaming red tubular flowers. The branches float amidst air like ballerinas, while the trunks are deemed one of the heaviest hardwoods to carry. The saguaros look more human in their mysteries, but they are strangely cactus, and they prink at every touch as they remain protective of their spines while discouraging interlopers.
The Sonoran Desert climate is unique. It is a subtropical desert that is marked with hot summers and mild winters with an annual precipitation range from less than 100 mm to around 300 mm. Apart from plants; the Sonoran Desert is a host to a number of bird species that are rarely found in other places. Among the birds that are found in the region are Costa’s hummingbird, curve-billed thrasher, black-throated sparrow, Bert’s towhee, and roadrunner, among other species. Apart from that, Sonoran is also home to impressive reptile fauna, with approximately 60 species being found in the desert. Among such include rarely found Gila monster, threatened desert tortoise, chuckwalla, zebra-tailed lizard, desert iguana, Coachella valley fringe-toed lizard, flat-tailed horned lizard, Sonoran spiny lizard, western leaf-nosed enslaved people, Sonoran gopher snake, desert patch-nosed snake, desert glossy slake, Colorado shovel-nosed slake, sidewinder and speckled rattlesnake among other species that are found in the desert. Even with all these species, only 17 percent of the ecoregion remains protected, with about 37% of natural habitat still being outside of protected areas, thereby putting the animals under threat of, for example, off-road vehicle transversing in and out of the desert. There is, however, a proposal for making the ecoregion safe. One of the proposals is to reduce urban sprawl and the development of natural lands. The other proposal was to facilitate off-road recreational vehicles, especially on public land, while the third proposal was to control the invasive exotic places that invaded most of the region. All these proposals are still under implementation and until such is done, some of these species remain under threat from human activities. Other than that, the beauty of the Sonoran Desert is unmatched.
Source: https://localwiki.org/tucson/Sonoran_Desert_Museum
