The Sonoran Desert Museum
The first time we visited the Desert Museum I expected to be touring
a building with exhibits, dioramas and stuffed animals.
Imagine my surprise and delight when I found out that it is a zoo,
natural history museum and a botanical garden all wrapped into one.
(To watch the Rattler shake, rattle and roll- just pass your cursor over the picture!)
On the day we visited several of the volunteers were displaying snakes,
spiders etc. and explaining their habits and telling us facts about them.
We were even able to touch them. Did you know that snakes are not slimy at all?
I had always heard that but did not believe it until I actually got to touch a snake.
The snake on the left is harmless- the one on the right is a Rattlesnake.
As everyone knows
you don't want to tangle with a rattler.
The Saguaro Cactus
(that's Oma standing by the one on the left)
mostly grows around the Sonoran Desert area of the United States.
There is a Saguaro Forest around the Tucson area.
The Saguaro is a slow grower with a shallow root system.
It is the state flower of Arizona.The Saguaro grows very slowly -
only about an inch a year, but it gets 15 to 50 feet tall.
The largest plants, with many arms, are estimated to be 200 years old.
An average old Saguaro would have 5 or more arms and be about 30 feet tall.
The Saguaro has smooth skin with long spines. During the monsoon season
the Saguaro absorbs water into a spongy layer in its pulp.
That makes the Saguaro increase in weight- sometimes up to a ton.
These are two more kinds of cacti. On the left is an Old Man Cactus
and on the right an Organ Pipe Cactus.
I'm sure you know how the Old Man Cactus got its name.
I bet the old miners looked just like that when they rolled outof bed.
Well, and the Organ Pipe cactus looks just like
--- the pipes on an organ!
There is an area with lots of Organ Pipe Cacti that we want to visit
next time we go to Arizona.
It's close to the Mexican Border.
Others have told me that it's beautiful.
Both of these pictures were taken from the paths that snake
through the grounds of the Desert Museum.
The picture on the right is a view of Tucson.
If you, like me, love to take nature pictures and close-ups
of just about anything, you can shoot 2 or 3 rolls of film without even trying.
These are two more pictures taken on one of the paths.
The one on the left points in the direction of Tucson.
We were fortunate this last time to visit in April
and see a lot of the cacti blooming.
We also saw some harmless small snakes close to a rock.
I'm just glad that we have never encountered
a rattlesnake that was not behind a glass barrier.
These are close-ups of some of the cactus flowers-
or is it cacti flowers?
Can you see the bee just emerging
from the flower
in the picture on the right?
Everywhere you look the scenery is beautiful.
We saw some small lizards-
but unfortunately they were too quick for me.
As soon as they felt movement they scurried off.
If you look real close you can see the bees in the flower of the bottom picture.
For more information on the
Sonoran Desert Museum
please check their WebSite.
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