The Mojave Desert is considered as the national treasure as its beauty shelters a huge range of unique plants and animals. Furthermore, its 20 million acres provide a lot of things for people including clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe and energy to power our lives.
The Mojave Desert is so precious that even the Nature Conservancy is working to protect it. Most of the animals there are considered harmless to humans, though some of them are dangerous or even deadly. Are you curious of what kind of animals living there? Let’s explore these 7 animals you can find in the Mojave Desert.
The first animal living there is rattlesnake. The Mojave Desert is known to be the home to several different species of snakes, including the most venomous one among the other venomous snakes in Indonesia, the Mojave rattlesnake. It is also known as the Mojave diamond rattlesnake. It has potent venom that is deadly to humans.
The Mojave rattlesnakes prefer to live in high desert and lower mountain slopes. However, they can live in anything from dry desert to grasslands and bushes. Most of the time, rattlesnakes bite when people intentionally bother them.
As we know not all snakes are venomous. You can read these non venomous snakes.
Bighorn sheep are animals that are well adapted to Nevada’s dry environment. These animals can be found in the southwestern US and northern Mexico. As they live in the desert area, they are able to go several weeks without water while living mostly off grasses and sometimes cacti.
They have concave hooves that allow them to climb steep and rocky desert mountains. As a result, they can escape their predators, such as mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats. Unfortunately, the total population of desert bighorns is estimated to be around 13,000. Their biggest threats are disease from livestock and habitat loss.
Mountain lions are the larger animals living in the Mojave Desert. They mostly inhabit mountainous regions, however, they have been known to roam in desert areas located on high mountains.
They are known to be solitary animals which are normally wary of humans. Beware of mountain lions as many people said that they like to chase children or kids. Mountain lions don’t have any voice box that enables them to shout.
When mountain lions hunt, they attack from behind and bite at their prey’s neck or the base of their skull.
Despite the dry area of the Mojave Desert, there are some aquatic animals too, such as desert pupfish. Desert pupfish can be found in desert pools, streams and springs. Their size can reach 3 inches long and they can live 6 to 9 months. Their diet consists of aquatic insects and algae.
Desert pupfish is known to be tolerant of warm and salty water. When the temperature of the water cools down during winter, they are able to burrow into their underwater home’s muddy bottom to survive. Furthermore, they feed mostly on green and brown algae.
Burrowing owls can be found in the western US, Mexico and South America. They can grow up to 10 inches tall. Their life span can reach up to 8 years. Burrowing owls are one of the smallest owls in North America and different from most owls in several ways. They nest mostly under ground instead of in trees.
Most owls are known to be nocturnal, however, burrowing owls are not really nocturnal as they hunt around the clock. They often eat insects by day and catch small mammals at night. Besides owl, there are also some other nocturnal birds that are really active at night.
Do you know that the Africanized honey bees are known as killer bees? They only invade the parts of North America, including the Mojave Desert. These bees are known to attack anything that unwittingly strays into their territory.
They are mostly dangerous when you attempt to bother them. The venom of these bees is no more potent than the venom of a regular honey bee. They get their name because they like to attack in a large number and chase their prey for further distance.
Besides the Mojave Desert, there are some other deserts you can explore. Each of the deserts has their own specialized animals. Find the animals living in other deserts, such as mentioned and explained in animals in Arizona Desert and animals in Sahara Desert. Each of the animals have different characteristics and it is amazing to know a lot of their amazing characteristics.