The Anza-Borrego Desert Region in southeastern California supports one the largest and ecologically most diverse communities of amphibians and reptiles of any place in the American Southwest. This field guide covers species that range from the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to the Pacific coast of southern California. The Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (Park) in southeastern California supports one the largest and ecologically most diverse communities of amphibians and reptiles of any place in the American Southwest. The Park's massive 600,000 acres encompasses a vast array of low-lying desert habitats where mid-summer temperatures can soar as high as 122 degrees F. At the other end of the extreme, cool mountain upland habitats on its western border, reach over 6,000 feet in elevation and support woodland and conifer forests that receive winter and spring snowfalls. It is precisely this wide variety of environments that accounts for the Park's notably high number of plant and animal species, and amphibians and reptiles are no exception.
Many of the amphibians and reptiles have become so specialized for living in the vast array of environments the region has to offer that some can live nowhere else, and for others the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the only place in the world where they are found. As a result, the region has become a mecca for herpetologists and naturalists from around the world.
This is the first and only book to focus exclusively on all the species of amphibians and reptiles in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and surrounding region. All 63 species and the park's varied habitats are beautifully illustrated with 113 high resolution color photographs.
The text is brief and easily readable for scientists and naturalists alike. It provides basic descriptions of each species, such as their yearly and daily activity period, what and how they eat, when they reproduce, and how many eggs or or live born are produced each year. Also provided are the behavioral and ecological characteristics of each species.
