North American Reptiles in the Chihuahuan Desert
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest in North America. The Chihuahuan is usually called a rain shadow desert. Two massive mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental, border the Mexican portion of the Chihuahuan. It has also river valleys, that include the Rio Grande and the Pecos Rivers. There are many lizards which could not survive the cool winters of the desert mountains. There is only one intense rainfall in summer.
http://ddl.nmsu.edu/images/chihuahua_map.gif Photo by G. Morris Southward
Average annual precipitation in inches per month
Endangered Organisms
The Chihuahuan Desert's diverse habitats provide a kaleidoscope of textures and colors that shape its unique landscapes. Mule deer, pronghorn and kit fox roam the vast grasslands of the northern desert. In the desert scrub, roadrunners scurry after earless lizards while golden eagles search among the agave and creosote for blacktailed jackrabbits.But the magnificent landscape is threatened by an ever-increasing human population, water misuse and mismanagement, overgrazing by cattle and goats, and a lack of knowledge regarding the desert's ecological importance.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/wherewework/chihuahuandesert/
