Trivia games are real big right now. Let's play! What has more plant species than the forests of the Pacific northwest? What has more reptile species than the Sonoran Desert? What has more bird species than the Florida Everglades? What has more mammal species than the Yellowstone National Park Region? What has more than 250 species of butterflies sheltered in its massive mountain islands? What has nearly a quarter of the world's cactus species, some surviving only on a single hillside or valley? What has isolated basins and ephemeral rivers that support aquatic species found nowhere else in the world? What has wind-blown gypsum sand dunes hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean?
Congratulations, if you answered, "the Chihuahuan Desert".
You are in good company. The World Wildlife Fund has designated this land of extremes
for worldwide conservation attention because the Chihuahuan Desert is one of North
America's most ecologically diverse and one of the Earth's most important, arid
ecoregions. Come to think of it, none of this is really trivial at all!
Contributor: Florence E. Schwein, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.