Sonoran Desert Museum

Today was a great day. After breakfast we drove the 3 miles over to the Sonoran Desert Museum which is part of the Tucson Mountain Park which is under the operation of Pima County. It was about ten o’clock so the parking lot was not crowded. We were not prepared for what we encountered. I guess we expected something like a small county museum. The treasure we found was a huge multifaceted non-profit operation that encompasses, as the brochure says, “300 animal species, 1200 kinds of plants on display on 21 acres”. Most of the area is outdoors, but there buildings that house restaurants, gift shops and an auditorium plus a large underground area that represents a cave environment. At the auditorium, we attended a demonstration of poisonous retiles, namely the Diamond Back Rattlesnake and the Gila monster, both native to this area. Each of two presenters brought out their respective animals and displayed them on a table while they told us about them. The Gila monster can get to about 22 inches but this beautiful yellow and black creature was about a foot long. It eats some insects but a great deal of its diet consists of the young of birds and rodents. The bite is fatal to small creatures but not man.

The rattlesnake has much more venom than the Gila Monster, but getting bitten by one is not fatal to humans under most conditions if proper care is given within several hours. That does not mean that the treatment will not be painful and expensive. It takes about twenty vials of anti toxin to combat a snake bite with a cost of over a thousand dollars each. The presenter explained that most snake encounters occur because humans walk or reach their hands into a place without looking before-hand. If we paid attention to what we were doing we would not have to deal with meeting a rattlesnake “up close and personal”. Rattlers do not always rattle before they strike and they do not have to be coiled to strike, but they can get more distance (up to ¾ of their length) if they are coiled when they do.

If you are bitten, the best place to be is Tucson, AZ. The hospital there has the best snake bite unit in the US. They have treated thousands of bites and have accumulated data about those bitten. It may not come as a shock to you but most are men, (these are between the ages of 18 and 60) most had consumed alcohol, most had a high “tattoo to tooth” ratio.

As soon as the reptile show concluded we hurried over to where the next presentation was scheduled. It was called a “free flight raptor demonstration”. True to the name it was, in fact, just that. The presenters were trained bird handlers and they did a great show. The subjects of the demo were Harris Hawks which are unique because they hunt and live as a family. At first there was one, then two, and then four hawks were all free and flying at the same time. As the narrator was describing how the hawks hunted, the handlers were busy keeping the hawks moving. They were swooping low right over our heads as they came in to land and taking off. One time my hat was touched by a wing as one bird took off from a handler close to us. It was quite a show and everyone was amazed.

If you are ever in the Tucson area, be sure to check out Tucson Mountain Park. It is well worth your time. There’s much to see in the area. In addition to the Desert Park, there is also other attractions, including, Saguaro National Park West District, Old Tucson Studio, The Arachnid Center, Gates Pass Road, and Gilbert Ray Campground.

The campground is also operated by Pima County and is a real gem. There are about a hundred campsites, a half dozen tent sites and the rest with electricity for all types and sizes of RVs. Being a part of the county park means that it is situated in a beautiful spot on the west side of the mountains just west of Tucson.