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Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum”, the arboretum is located in the Sonoran Desert on along Queen Creek and beneath the towering volcanic remnant, Picketpost Mountain. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and west of Superior, Arizona. The arboretum has a visitor center, gift shop, research offices, greenhouses, a demonstration garden, picnic area, and a looping 1.5-mile (2.4 km) primary trail that leads visitors through various exhibits and natural areas. The exhibits include a cactus garden, palm and eucalyptus groves, an Australian exhibit, South American exhibit, aloe garden and an herb garden. There are also side trails such as the Chihuahuan Trail, Curandero Trail, and High Trail. Over 2600 species of arid l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinal County, Arizona
Pinal County is in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's third-most populous county. The county seat is Florence. The county was founded in 1875. Pinal County contains parts of the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, the Gila River Indian Community and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, as well as all of the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Pinal County is included in the Phoenix–Mesa– Scottsdale, Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area. Suburban growth southward from greater Phoenix has begun to spread into the county's northern parts; similarly, growth northward from Tucson is spreading into the county's southern portions. Pinal County has five cities: Maricopa, Casa Grande, Apache Junction, Eloy, and Coolidge. There are also many unincorporated areas, which have shown accelerated growth patterns in recent years; such suburban development is likely to continue for the foreseeable fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boojum Tree
''Fouquieria columnaris'', the Boojum tree or ''cirio'' () is a tree in the ocotillo family,(Fouquieriaceae) whose other members include the ocotillos. Some taxonomists place it in the separate genus ''Idria''. It is nearly endemic to the Baja California Peninsula (both the northern and southern states), with only a small population in the Sierra Bacha of Sonora, Mexico. The plant's English name, Boojum, was given by Godfrey Sykes of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona and is taken from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark". Description This plant is a columniform, upwardly tapering tree. The central axis of the plant is homologous to the single stem of other species. It has a cortical water-storage network, a feature unique to the family. The ''Fouquieria columnaris'' trunk is up to 24 inches (61 centimeters) thick, off-white in color, with few or no major branches and with numerous thin, twiggy branches sticking out at right angles, all covered with small le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and South America and consist of seven identified species, all belonging to the Cathartidae family. A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald, unfeathered head. This bare skin is thought to keep the head clean when feeding, and also plays an important role in thermoregulation. Vultures have been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, and open their wings and stretch their necks in the heat. They also urinate on themselves as a means of cooling their bodies. A group of vultures in flight is called a 'kettle', while the term 'committee' refers to a group of vultures resting on the ground or in trees. A group of vultures that are feeding is termed a 'wake'. Taxonomy Although New World vultures and O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics around the equator. They are small birds, with most species measuring in length. The smallest extant hummingbird species is the bee hummingbird, which weighs less than . The largest hummingbird species is the giant hummingbird, weighing . They are specialized for feeding on flower nectar, but all species also consume flying insects or spiders. Hummingbirds split from their sister group, the swifts and treeswifts, around 42 million years ago. The common ancestor of extant hummingbirds is estimated to have lived 22 million years ago in South America. They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings, which flap at high frequencies audible to humans. They hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily are mainly woodland birds with long tails and high visual acuity. They hunt by dashing suddenly from a concealed perch. * In America, members of the ''Buteo'' group are also called hawks; this group is called buzzards in other parts of the world. Generally, buteos have broad wings and sturdy builds. They are relatively larger-winged, shorter-tailed and fly further distances in open areas than accipiters. Buteos descend or pounce on their prey rather than hunting in a fast horizontal pursuit. The terms ''accipitrine hawk'' and ''buteonine hawk'' are used to distinguish between the types in regions where ''hawk'' applies to both. The term ''"true hawk"'' is sometimes used for the accipitrine hawks in regions where ''buzzard'' i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gila Monster
The Gila monster (''Heloderma suspectum'', ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, typically slow-moving reptile, up to long, and it is the only venomous lizard native to the United States. Its venomous close relatives, the four beaded lizards (all former subspecies of ''Heloderma horridum'') inhabit Mexico and Guatemala. The Gila monster is sluggish in nature, so it is not generally dangerous and very rarely poses a real threat to humans. However, it has a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed in spite of the species being protected by state law in Arizona. History The name "Gila" refers to the Gila River Basin in the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico, where the Gila monster was once plentiful. ''Heloderma'' means "studded skin", from the Ancient Greek words (), "the head of a nail or stud", and (), "skin". ''Suspectum'' comes from the describer, paleontologist Edwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small animals such as birds and rodents. Rattlesnakes receive their name from the rattle located at the end of their tails, which makes a loud rattling noise when vibrated that deters predators or serves as a warning to passers-by. Rattlesnakes are the leading contributor to snakebite injuries in North America, but rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; if treated promptly, the bites are seldom fatal. The 36 known species of rattlesnakes have between 65 and 70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from British Columbia through Ontario in southern Canada, to central Argentina. The largest rattlesnake, the eastern diamondback, can measure up to in length. Rattlesnakes are preyed upon by hawks, weasels, king snakes, and a variety ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coati
Coatis, also known as coatimundis (), are members of the family Procyonidae in the genera ''Nasua'' and ''Nasuella''. They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States. The name "coatimundi" comes from the Tupian languages of Brazil, where it means "lone coati". Locally in Belize, the coati is known as "quash". Physical characteristics Adult coatis measure from head to the base of the tail, which can be as long as their bodies. Coatis are about tall at the shoulder and weigh between , about the size of a large house cat. Males can become almost twice as large as females and have large, sharp canine teeth. The measurements above relate to the white-nosed and South America coatis. The two mountain coatis are smaller. All coatis share a slender head with an elongated, flexible, slightly upward-turned nose, small ears, dark feet, and a long, non-prehensile tail used for balance and signaling. Ring-tailed coatis have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javelina
A peccary (also javelina or skunk pig) is a medium-sized, pig-like hoofed mammal of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. They usually measure between in length, and a full-grown adult usually weighs about . They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the Suina within the Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates). Peccaries are social creatures that live in herds. They eat roots, grubs, and a variety of foods. They can identify each other by their strong odors. A group of peccaries that travel and live together is called a "squadron". A squadron of peccaries averages between six and nine members. Peccaries first appeared in North America during the Miocene, and migrated into South America during the Pliocene-Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Although it has been hunted extensively both for sport and fur, populations have proven stable, though declining in some areas. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or "bobbed") tail, from which it derives its name. It reaches a total length (including the tail) of up to . It is an adaptable predator inhabiting wooded areas, semidesert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to extirpation by coyotes and domestic animals. Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riparian Zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants. Riparian zones are important in ecology, environmental resource management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on fauna and aquatic ecosystems, including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, or even non-vegetative areas. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone. The word ''riparian'' is derived from Latin '' ripa'', meaning " river bank". Characteristics Riparian zones may be natural or engineered for soil stabilization or restoration. These zones are important natural b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eucalyptus Trees
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ''Corymbia'', they are commonly known as eucalypts. Plants in the genus ''Eucalyptus'' have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard or stringy, leaves with oil glands, and sepals and petals that are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens. The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut". Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are native to Australia, and every state and territory has representative species. About three-quarters of Australian forests are eucalypt forests. Wildfire is a feature of the Australian landscape and many eucalypt species are adapted to fire, and resprout after fire or have seeds which survive fire. A few species are native to islands north of Australia and a smaller number are only found outside the continent. Eucalypts have been grown ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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