Have you ever wondered what kind of animals in the Sonoran desert survive living there so far? Sonoran desert is home to so many different animals that can be rarely found in another desert. It is located in Arizona, the Mexican State of Baja California Sur, some parts of Sonora, and South Eastern California, in the US.
Sonoran desert is a popular dessert that has rainfall in most of the season that is different to the home of some animals in the Kalahari desert. That makes some of the areas in the desert can be perfect living for animals in the Sonoran Desert to live there. Even the summer came, the lighter rainfall still poured on the desert as well.
If you are wondering what kind of animals are in the Sonoran desert, here we have some of them on the list below. Let’s check them out!
- Anna’s Hummingbird
Anna’s hummingbird is one of the most popular native animals in the Sonoran desert that becomes the biggest bird species living there that is different to some animals in the Gobi desert. The amount of them increases properly, from time to time, making their existence expand as well in the Sonoran desert.
Anna’s hummingbird is a typical bird that eats more insects rather than nectars or fruits. Commonly they live around open woods, grassland, and the desert, as well. Most of them can be found in the Sonoran desert around central Arizona.
- Gila Woodpecker
The Gila woodpecker is one of the most popular native animals in the Sonoran desert that categorized as a rare bird living in the desert. This kind of bird has a zebra color on its wings and cover in grey fur on its body.
Gila woodpeckers live in permanent Sonoran desert dwellers. They are herbivores that eat cactus fruits, mistletoe berries, and other seasonal fruits in the desert. They could live longer years compare to the common bird that lives in the desert, which could survive up to 10 years.
- Gila Monster
The Gila monster is one of the most popular animals in the Sonoran desert that is categorized as a reptile family of lizards that is different from animals in Costa Rica rainforest. This kind of lizard has a beadlike skin that helps it to camouflage to survive any predators.
Gila monsters commonly live around the desert scrub area that can be found around the valley washed under rocks or abandon burrows areas, such as Southern Sonora-Mexico, Southern New Mexico, Southern Arizona, Southern Nevada, and extreme Southwestern Utah.
- Gray Fox
The gray fox is one of the native animals in the Sonoran desert that is categorized as the dog family. Most of them have a beautiful color of silver-gray and a bit of red all over their legs and chest that is different to some animals in the Congo rainforest.
The gray fox is a typical predator of omnivores that hunt their prey for food, such as small mammals, insects, eggs, fruits, nuts, and berries. Most of them are active during the day and other than that they live around the cave or the hollow of the tree.
- Big Brown Bat
The big brown bat is one of the most popular animals in the Sonoran desert that is categorized as the American bat family. Most of them can be found around the cave, mines, and walls to hibernate as one of the animals that build their own homes, such common bats.
The big brown bat is a typical insectivorous that eat smaller insects such as beetles, flies, flying ants, and other insects. They migrate in a short distance to find their prey for food or a hibernate place that meets their sense habits.
- Kangaroo Rats
The Kangaroo rat is one of the most popular animals in the Sonoran desert that is commonly found around an open desert scrub. They live mostly under burrows and find sleeping the most entire day. They are nocturnal and only come out during the night to find food.
The Kangaroo rat is a typical omnivore that eats fruits, vegetation, grass, and small insects. The most unique fact about kangaroo rats is that they are not sweating, such as other animals in the Sonoran desert. The sweat could be dangerous for them because they wouldn’t have any water supplies to keep the temperature cool to survive in the desert.
- Elf Owl
The elf owl is one of the most popular animals in the Sonoran desert that is categorized as a nocturnal animal. They are only active during the night because their vision couldn’t survive the light but is very great in darkness.
Elf owls can be found around Arizona, with a decreased amount of them from time to time. They will migrate shortly to the warmer area when the winter comes to the Sonoran desert because they couldn’t survive properly in the cold.
- Javelina
Javelina is one of the most popular animals in the Sonoran desert that look similar to pigs but is categorized as a peccary animal. Most of them live around rocky outcroppings area, which could danger to the structure’s existence of it. That makes them easily move from one area to the other as the one already destroyed by them.
Javelina is a typical herbivore that eats some fruits, plants, beans, pears, and other common vegetation in the desert. Even so, on some occasions, they also eat dead birds, lizards, and rodents.
So, there are some native animals in the Sonoran desert that could survive easily in hot temperatures. Most of them are not listed as endangered, which makes they should live in the conservatory area.
Have you ever visited the Sonoran desert? Hopefully, you can find one of those animals while visiting there.