More
information on the The Sonoran Desert
is a big desert in the southwestern part of North America
and people might just think deserts have not a living thing
in sight, just hills of sand, well that is not true
The Sonoran Desert
is located in North America and covers the southwestern
parts of the state of Arizona, southeastern parts of the
state of California in the United States and the state of
Sonora in Mexico. The Sonoran Desert's location is at
latitude 25° to 33° North and longitude 105°
to 118° West. The key to the
Sonoran Desert's climate is the amount of rainfall which
falls. More rain falls on the Sonoran Desert than any other
desert. When it does get rain, the desert is damp, and the
air is cool. When it has no rain the desert is really dry
and really hot. When the desert is windy, the sand gets
picked up and tossed around which creates a sand storm or if
the wind is blowing in a certain kind of way, it creates a
whirlwind or dust devil. These mini-tornados move across the
desert floor and they most often occur in hot weather. The
desert valley is hot while up in the mountains it is cool
and some mountains are even snow covered. The seasons are like
any other. Spring is a time when flowers bloom if the winter
and fall had enough rain that year. There is summer and in
the summer it rains the most and that helps summer flowers
grow. Then fall comes with a cooler breeze, which lets the
deserts summer heat wear away. Winter brings snow to the
mountains and cold air to the desert valley. Precipitation in the
desert is probably less then any other North American state,
but it is still a lot for a desert. The Sonoran Desert
receives 10 or less inches a year; the eastern part of the
Sonora desert, in Baja California, receives 10-12 inches
because Baja is by the ocean. The ocean storms brew up more
often producing more rain, while the western part of the
desert only gets about 2 inches and in the mountains they
receive 25 inches. The geography in the
Sonoran desert is quite interesting. The Sonoran Desert is
located in two states, Arizona and California, and two
countries, Mexico and United States. The rivers that flow
through the desert are the Colorado River and the Gila
River. The Salton Sea, the Gulf of California and the
Pacific Ocean are bodies of water next to the Sonoran
desert. The mountains in the Sonoran Desert are Mount Kofa
and Mount Catalina; Mount Catalina receives most of the
snow. The Sonoran Desert
is a hot place to be. It is sandy with a lot of cactuses,
but there are forests on the mountains and it is a lot
cooler in the forests. The Indians that lived at the edge of
the desert carved designs into the walls or rocks. The
plants in the Sonoran desert are very interesting, such as
fairy
duster,
jimson weed (poisonous), tumble
weed, night
blooming cereus, devils claw, ghost flower, hedgehog cactus
and showy four o clock. There are some other plants with out
really interesting names: The desert Christmas cactus,
prickly pear cactus, desert willow, western wildflower, cave
primrose and desert lupine. These desert plants adapt to
their climate by seeking coolness. Their roots collect water
when it rains. The saguaro
cactus has
shallow root systems allowing the cactus to store up to 160
liters of rainwater allowing it to live for weeks at a time
without water. The other adaptations of the desert plants
are that they live in the mountains where shade and coolness
is found. The Sonoran Desert
animals fit in to the environment perfectly. Some of the
animals in the desert are the Mexican gray wolf (el lobo),
the mountain
lion (cougar
or puma), the great horned owl (Bubo virinus), the golden
eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the rattlesnake. The Sonoran
desert is also the home to the Mexican jumping beans.
Mexican jumping beans are fruits of a shrub. The movement of
the moth larva in the bean makes them jump. The adaptations
of the desert animals to the desert home are quit simple.
The animals or reptiles can find little hideouts were the
sun cannot get to them. Other animals live in the mountains
were coolness and shade is found with green forests but the
animals have another talent. They sleep in the daytime and
the heat does not bother them. Most of the animals are
nocturnal, which means they hunt at night when no heat of
the day is found. The Sonoran Desert
is changed. We humans have been turning the land from the
desert into tourist attractions. These parks have spread for
miles taking up the land that belongs to the wild life. Then
these creatures are pushed out of their natural habitat.
Ranches have also been taking up the desert land and with
our livestock. People plant crops and some of the seeds have
been picked up by the wind or have been picked up by a bird
and the seeds start to grow were they land. This cycle
begins again and after awhile the desert starts to have
plants that do not belong in the desert. The Sonoran Desert
is a wonderful place but you would never want to be stranded
there. The desert has wonderful plants and animals and
really beautiful sunsets that fade away on the deserts
horizon. By Elora P.
2003
bibliography: Cheek L. W.
Arizona 1995, Odors Trove Publications,
Inc. Olin, G. House in
the sun, a Natural History of the Sonoran Desert .1994
Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Tucson Arizona
"Wildlife of Baja
California ", Card 38, Wildlife Explorer, International
Masters Publishers. USA. "Wildlife of the
Sonoran Desert", Card 54, Wildlife Explorer 1999,
International Masters Publishers. USA.
Sonoran
Desert