Whats special about the Sonoran Desert?
“For me, it’s got to be the plants. I’m interested in ethnobotany, which is the knowledge of plants and how people use them. There are three main ways people use plants: As food to eat, as medicine to help them when they are hurt or sick, and as tools. This can be like using plants as rakes, or as utensils, or for things like roofs. Where I come from, many people use ocotillo to make a ‘living fence.’ Every time it rains, the leaves grow out and you have a beautiful green fence.” Barbara Terkanian CURATOR OF INVERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY AND ICHTHYOLOGY AT THE ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM Ichthyology, pronounced ick-thee-ah-low-jee, is the study of fish. Invertebrate zoology, pronounced in-vert-ah-bret zo-ah-low-jee, is the study of coldblooded animals that do not have a backbone. Invertebrates include insects like carpenter bees and grasshoppers, arachnids like spiders and scorpions, crustaceans like crabs and shrimp, and all sorts of other animals like snails, millipedes and worms. No wonder
