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The Chihuahuan Desert Ecoregion spans roughly 647,500 square kilometres (250,000 square miles), with Mexico accounting for over 90% of its total size. It stretches almost 1,500 kilometres from south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to 250 kilometres north of Mexico City, making it North America’s biggest desert.
Chihuahuan Desert animals
A Desert of Varieties
The Chihuahuan Desert Ecoregion, which is shared by two countries, is separated from neighbouring dry regions by two mountain ranges: the Sierra Madre Occidental to the west & the Sierra Madre Oriental to the east. This area was wetter around 9,000 years ago, and the mountainside’s sides were covered with trees. As the area got ariderarid, species were isolated, differentiated, and occasionally extirpated, resulting in today’s distinctive Chihuahuan flora and fauna.
Flora and Fauna (Flora and Fauna)
The Chihuahuan Desert’s eastern edge is one of the continent’s oldest and most diverse hubs of plant evolution. The ecoregion has a diverse range of plant types, from arid shrublands at lower elevations to conifer woods at higher elevations.
The Chihuahuan Desert is home to about 3,500 plant species, including approximately a fifth of all cactus species on the planet. Approximately 1,000 plant species are found exclusively in this ecoregion.
Yucca woods, playas, gypsum dunes, and a broad array of freshwater habitats are some of the unique habitat types found in the Chihuahuan Desert. This desert is also distinguished by vast desert grasslands and a diverse range of yuccas and agaves, including several indigenous species.
RABBIT WITH A COTTONTAIL (SCARED BOIS)
The cottontail rabbit, which appears to be perpetually frenzied, is the most prevalent desert animal in Las Cruces. When I first arrived here, I mistook the giant black-tailed jackrabbits for adults and the tiny white-tailed cottontails for infants of the same species — don’t make the same mistake! Cottontails and jackrabbits are not the same species, even though they belong to the same family.
QUAIL OF GAMBEL (FANCY BOIS)
Gambel’s quails always appear to be on their way to a posh event to which you were not invited. If they could communicate, it would very certainly be with a British accent. They can fly, but they don’t do it very often, and you’re more likely to see them racing around on the ground than in the air.
Chihuahuan desert weather
The Chihuahuan Desert is a “cold” desert, with year-round temperatures of roughly 70 degrees. However, due to the dry, low-humidity environment, temperatures vary dramatically between day and night and at different elevations.
The high altitude, with a minimum height of 1,000 feet and an average elevation of 3,500 to 5,000 feet, is partly to blame. As a result, the warmest temperatures are located at the desert’s lowest elevations, while the coldest locations are at its highest. Summer temperatures in a typical locale might reach over 100 degrees, while winter temperatures could plunge below freezing.
Chihuahuan Desert Facts
The Chihuahuan Desert is North America’s biggest desert.
The Chihuahuan Desert stretches beyond our borders. The desert stretches from Mexico’s northern states of Chihuahua and Coahuila to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, covering an area larger than the state of California.
The Chihuahuan Desert is located under a rain shadow.
A rain shadow is a dry area of land on the side of a mountain range that is shielded from the wind and rain. The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range on the west and the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range on the east border of the Chihuahuan Desert.
The Chihuahuan Desert is a shrub-dominated landscape.
The Chihuahuan Desert, according to conservation organisations like the World Wide Fund for Nature (aka World Wildlife Fund), is the world’s most ecologically varied desert. The grass in the northern Chihuahuan Desert grew as high as a horse’s belly in the mid-nineteenth century. Overgrazing, on the other hand, resulted in the reduction of native grasses, allowing plants such as yuccas and agaves, ocotillo, creosote bushes, Mormon tea, and others to invade.
There are various mountain ranges in the Chihuahuan Desert.
The Franklin Mountains, Chisos Mountains, Davis Mountains, and Guadalupe Mountains are all found in Texas’ Chihuahuan Desert. The Guadalupe Mountains and the Davis Mountains include Texas’ seven tallest peaks, all of which reach beyond 8,000 feet. Beautiful coniferous forests and breathtaking perspectives of the Lone Star landscape may be seen at higher elevations.
The Chihuahuan Desert contains water.
While the Chihuahuan Desert receives minimal rainfall, it is not completely devoid of water sources. The Rio Grande River cuts across the Chihuahuan Desert and serves as Texas’ and Mexico’s natural border. Streams, arroyos, ponds produced by summer rains, and certain aquifers are also present. This aids in the survival of both plant and animal life in this harsh desert setting.
Conclusion:
The Chihuahuan Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Chihuahua, Desierto Chihuahuense) is a desert & ecoregion in northern Mexico and southwestern America. It encompasses much of West Texas, the Rio Grande Valley’s middle and lower reaches, New Mexico’s lower Pecos Valley, and a small part of southern Arizona, as well as the Mexican Plateau’s centre and northern reaches. The Sonoran Desert and the large Sierra Madre Occidental range border it on the west, while the Sierra Madre Oriental range’s northern lowlands border it on the east.
