Transcript San Pedro Riparian Area

San Pedro Riparian Area
 Supports a cottonwood-willow
forest
Excellent protection
Roosting sites
Microhabitats for terrestrial animals
‘Snags’; protection for water
dwelling species
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 Produces protective corridors
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Used by foraging animals
Used by migrating species
 Home to more species of mammals
(78), than any other place in the
United States
Beavers (Castor canadensis)
 Largest rodents in the United States
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25-36 inches long
Average weight is in the 30’s, some
weigh up to 60lbs.
Have a large, flat, scaly tail
 Live in small colonies
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Parents, yearlings, recent offspring
Build dams and lodges together
Some live under the banks or rivers
 “The Beaver River”
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Malaria Scare in the early 1900’s
Reintroduction in 1940’s and 1999
Healthier willow-cottonwood forest
Coatimundi (Nasua nasua)
 San Pedro river marks its Northern
Border
 Belong to the family Procyonidae
(same as raccoons)
 Coati are constantly foraging for
food!
 Body features suit its lifestyle
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Elongated snoot with “rooting pad”
Dexterous hands
Longer rear legs
Long claws and impressive canines
Mountain Lion
(Felis concolor)
 Very efficient predators
Main source of food is deer
One to two deer per week
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 Involved in some controversy
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Cattle ranchers
Humans ex: Sabino Canyon
 Very susceptible to habitat loss
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Elusive creatures
Highly territorial
Mule Deer
(Odocoileus hemionus crooki)
 Their name comes from the
elongated ears
 Large species of desert deer
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Average buck weighs 150lbs.
Have very large antlers
 Browsers not grazers
 Prefer to eat leaves of trees and
shrubs
 Browse only on small amounts from
each plant
 Southwest pop. decline since 1960’s
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Loss of habitat
Degradation of habitat from cattle