Cows in the dry Sonoran Desert often must resort to eating cactus, including the famously painful jumping cholla. Seeing cattle in Sonora with cholla balls on their face or prickly pear spines sticking out of their lips and mouth is not uncommon.
An introduction is provided for the modern and fossil vascular plant flora of the contiguous protected areas of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Tinajas Altas Region in southwestern Arizona—the heart of the Sonoran Desert. These three entities encompass 514,242 hectares (1,270,700 acres), approximately 5141 km2 (1985 mi2). Elevation and ecological diversity generally decreases from east (Organ Pipe) to west (Tinajas Altas) while aridity increases from east to west, both correlating with decreasing botanical diversity.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife hereby formally petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (also “Service”) to list one of the following entities of cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl: 1) the Arizona distinct population segment (“DPS”) of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl; 2) the Sonoran Desert DPS of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl; or 3) the western subspecies of cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (G.
