Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Encyclopedia
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a state park
located within the Colorado Desert
of Southern California
. The park takes its name from 18th century, Spanish
explorer Juan Bautista de Anza
and borrego, the Spanish word
for bighorn sheep
. With 600000 acres (2,428.1 km²) that include one-fifth of San Diego County
, Anza-Borrego is the largest state park in California and, after New York
's Adirondack Park, the second largest in the continental United States. The park occupies eastern San Diego County and reaches into Imperial
and Riverside Counties
.
, southeast from Riverside
or Irvine
, and south from Palm Springs
. The Park is an anchor in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve
, and adjacent to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park includes 500 miles (804.7 km) of dirt roads, twelve designated wilderness area, and 110 miles (177 km) of hiking trails to provide visitors with many opportunities to experience the Park's unique version of the Colorado Desert
environs. Park information and maps, interpretive events and displays, and listening devices for the hearing impaired, are all available in the Visitor Center. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has wi-fi
access in various sections of the park, as do fifty five other California State Parks.
Many visitors approach Anza-Borrego from the east-Coachella Valley
side via California County Route
S22 and S78. Visitors can also approach from the west-Pacific Ocean
side via California County Routes S79 or S67 and add experiences of passing through the high and forested Laguna Mountains
, such as in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
. These highways climb from the coast to elevation 2400 feet (731.5 m), then descends 2000 feet (609.6 m) down into the Borrego Valley
in the center of the park. This great bowl of the Anza-Borrego desert is surrounded by mountains, with the Vallecito Mountains
southward and the highest Santa Rosa Mountains
to the north. They are in the park's wilderness area, without paved roads and with the only year-round creek
s in Anza-Borrego.
The habitat
s of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are primarily within the Colorado Desert
ecosystem
of the Sonoran Desert
ecoregion
. The higher extreme northern and eastern sections in the Peninsular Ranges
are in the California montane chaparral and woodlands
ecoregion.
The park features: bajadas
and desert washes; rock formations and colorful badlands, vast arid landscapes and dramatic mountains. The bajadas are predominantly creosote bush-bur sage with Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and the palo verde-cactus shrub ecosystems with the Palo Verde tree
(Parkinsonia microphylla), cacti
, and Ocotillo
. In the washes, Colorado/Sonoran microphylla woodlands can be found. These woodlands include such plants as Smoke Tree
(Psorothamnus spinosus), Honey Mesquite
(Prosopis velutina), and Catclaw
(Acacia greggii).
Anza Borrego has natural spring
s and oases
with the state's only native palm, the endangered California fan palm
(Washingtonia filifera). Seasonal wildflower
displays can be stunning in any plant community association in throughout the Park. The high-county to the north and east has Closed-cone pine forest
s, Manzanita
s, and Oak woodland
s.
The oases are prolific with wildlife of all types of fauna
, especially for bird-watching. Throughout the park visitors may see Kit fox
es, Mule deer
, Coyote
s, Greater roadrunner
s, Golden eagle
s, Black-tailed jackrabbit
s, Ground squirrels, Kangaroo rats, Quail
, and Prairie falcon
s. In the reptile class Desert iguana
s, Chuckwalla
s and the Red diamond rattlesnake can be seen - with care.
for the Peninsular bighorn sheep, often called Desert Bighorn Sheep
. Few park visitors see them, and the sheep are justly wary. A patient few observers each year see and count this endangered species
to study the population, and to monitor its current decline from human overpopulation
encroachment.
The expanses of Anza-Borrego's eroded badlands also provide a different view into the region's long vanished tropical past. The inland of southeastern California was not always a desert
. Paleontology
, the study of the fossilized remains of ancient life, is the key to understanding and engaging this prehistoric world. Anza-Borrego has an exceptional fossil
record; and include preserved plants, a variety of invertebrate
shells, animal tracks, and an array of bones and teeth. Most Anza-Borrego fossils date from six million to under a half million years in age, or about 60 million years after the last dinosaur age ended.
having elevations of 200 feet (61 m) below sea level, forms the northernmost end of an active rift valley
and a geological continental plate boundary. The Trough extends north from the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) to San Gorgonio Pass
, and from the eastern rim of the Peninsular Ranges
eastward to the San Andreas Fault
Zone along the far side of the Coachella Valley
. Over the past 7 million years a relatively complete geologic record of over 20000 feet (6,096 m) of fossil bearing sediment has been deposited within the Park along the rift valley's western margin. Paleontological remains are widespread and diverse, and are found scattered over hundreds of square miles of eroded badlands
terrain extending south from the Santa Rosa Mountains
Range into northern Baja California
in Mexico.
Both marine and terrestrial environments are represented by this long and rich fossil record. Six million years ago the ancestral Gulf of California
filled the Salton Trough, extending northward past what would become the city of Palm Springs. These tropical waters supported a profusion of both large and small marine organisms. Through time, the sea gave way as an immense volume of sediment
eroded during the formation of the Grand Canyon
spilled into the Salton Trough. Little by little, the ancestral Colorado River
built a massive river delta
across the sea way. Fossil hard woods from the deltaic sands and associated coastal plain deposits suggest that the region received three times as much rainfall as present times.
The Anza-Borrego region gradually changed from a predominately marine environment in to a system of interrelated terrestrial habitats. North of the Colorado River Delta
and intermittently fed by the River, a sequence of lakes and playa lakes has persisted for over 3 million years. At the same time, sediments eroded from the growing Santa Rosa Mountains and other Peninsular Ranges to spread east into the Trough. It is these sediments that provide an almost unbroken terrestrial fossil record, ending only a half million years ago. Here, the deposits of ancient streams and rivers trapped the remains of wildlife that inhabited a vast brushland savannah
laced with riparian woodland
s.
plants and animals, ranging from preserved microscopic plant pollen
and algae
spore
s to baleen whale
bones and mammoth
skeleton
s. Many of the species are extinct and some are known only from fossil remains recovered from this Park. Combined with a long and complete sedimentary depositional sequence, these diverse fossil assemblages are an unparalleled paleontologic resource of international importance. Both the Pliocene
-Pleistocene
Epoch boundary and the Blancan
-Irvingtonian
North American Land Mammal Ages
boundary fall within the long geological record from the Anza-Borrego Desert. Environmental changes associated with these geological time divisions are probably better tracked by fossils from Anza-Borrego than in any other North American continental platform strata
. These changes herald the beginning of the Ice Ages, and the strata contain fossil clues to the origin and development of modern southwestern desert landscapes.
The first fossils, marine shells from the ancient Sea of Cortez and fresh water shells from a prehistoric era Lake Cahuilla
, precursor of present day Salton Sea
, were collected and described by William Blake in 1853. Blake was the geologist
and mineralogist for the Pacific Railroad Surveys
commissioned by Congress and President Franklin Pierce
to find a railway route to the Pacific. It was Blake who first named this region the Colorado Desert.
nanoplankton and dinoflagellates, foraminifera
, corals, polychaetes, clams
, gastropods, sea urchin
s, and sand dollars, and crabs and shrimp. The deposits also yield the remains of marine vertebrate
s such as shark
s and rays
, bony fish, baleen whale
, walrus
, and dugong
.
Marine environments such as outer and inner shelf, platform reef, and near shore beach and lagoon
are all represented within the 'Imperial Formation.' As the sea shallowed, estuarine and brackish marine conditions prevailed, typified by thick channel deposits of oyster and pecten shell coquina
that now form the "Elephant Knees" along Fish Creek. Many of the marine fossils are closely related to forms from the Caribbean Sea
. They document a time before the isthmus of Panama
formed, when the warm Gulf Stream
of the western Atlantic invaded eastern Pacific Ocean
waters.
connected about 3 million years ago, terrestrial faunal north-south migrations began on a continental scale called the Great American Biotic Interchange, and are present in Anza-Borrego's fossils. Animals like giant ground sloths and porcupines made their first appearance in North America at this time.
The oldest terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Colorado Desert
predate the late Miocene
invasion of the Sea of Cortez. These very rare fossils, which include a gomphothere
(elephant-like mammal), rodent
, felid and small camelid
, and were collected from 10-12 million year old riverine and near shore lake deposits. However, the most significant and abundant vertebrate fossils have been recovered from the latest Miocene
through late-Pleistocene
riverine and flood plane deposits of the Palm Spring Formation in the Vallecito and Fish Creek Badlands and Ocotillo Conglomerate exposed in the Borrego Badlands. These fossil assemblages occur in a 3.5 million year long uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence that has been dated using horizons of volcanic ash and paleomagnetic methods.
The bestiary
for this savannah
landscape reads like a "who's-who" for some of the most unique creatures to inhabit North America
- animals such as:
Geochelone
, a giant bathtub-sized tortoise; Aiolornis incredibilis, the largest flying bird of the northern hemisphere, with 17 feet (5.2 m) wing span; Paramylodon, Megalonyx
and Nothrotheriops
, giant ground sloths, some with bony armor within their skin; Pewelagus, a very small rabbit (paleontologists can name with a sense of humor); Borophagus
, a hyena
-like dog; Acrtodus, a giant short-faced bear
; Smilodon
, a saber-toothed cat
; Miracinonyx
, the North American cheetah
; Mammuthus imperator
, the largest known mammoth
; Tapirus, an extinct tapir
; Equus enormis and Equus scotti
, two species of extinct Pleistocene
horse; Gigantocamelus a giant camel; and Capromeryx, the dwarf pronghorn
.
of the Anza-Borrego mountains and deserts included the Cahuilla, Cupeño, Diegueño, and Kumeyaay
Indian tribes. It was the homeland of these peoples for thousands of years, and their artists created petroglyph
and pictogram
rock art
expressing their cultures.
of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It manages all sales at the State Park Visitor Center and State Park Store. The Anza-Borrego Institute, the education arm of ABF, provides in-depth educational courses to more than 1,300 visitors each year. The institute offers in-depth field programs, a fifth grade environmental camp, citizen science research, and Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students. ABF's mission is to protect and preserve the natural landscapes, wildlife habitat, and cultural heritage of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
The Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association operates the Borrego Desert Nature Center in Borrego Springs
. The nature center
offers educational, environmental, and recreational programs for all ages including desert tours, guided hikes, and lectures.
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the federated state level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational...
located within the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. The park takes its name from 18th century, Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
explorer Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto was a Novo-Spanish explorer and Governor of New Mexico for the Spanish Empire.-Early life:...
and borrego, the Spanish word
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for bighorn sheep
Bighorn Sheep
The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep in North America named for its large horns. These horns can weigh up to , while the sheep themselves weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates that there are three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: Ovis canadensis sierrae...
. With 600000 acres (2,428.1 km²) that include one-fifth of San Diego County
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
, Anza-Borrego is the largest state park in California and, after New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Adirondack Park, the second largest in the continental United States. The park occupies eastern San Diego County and reaches into Imperial
Imperial County, California
Imperial County is a county located in the Imperial Valley, in the far southeast of the U.S. state of California, bordering both Arizona and Mexico. It is part of the El Centro Metropolitan Area, which encompasses all of Imperial County. The population as of 2000 was 142,361. The county seat is the...
and Riverside Counties
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a county in the U.S. state of California. One of 58 California counties, it covers in the southern part of the state, and stretches from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the state border with Arizona. The county derives its name from the city of Riverside,...
.
Geography
Anza-Borrego is around a two-hour drive northeast from San DiegoSan Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, southeast from Riverside
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
or Irvine
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
, and south from Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
. The Park is an anchor in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve
Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve
The Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve designated by UNESCO in 1984 to promote the ecological conservation of a cluster of areas in the Mojave and Colorado deserts of California. A principal feature is Death Valley...
, and adjacent to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a National Monument in Southern California. It includes portions of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountain ranges, the northernmost ones of the Peninsular Ranges system...
.
Visiting
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
environs. Park information and maps, interpretive events and displays, and listening devices for the hearing impaired, are all available in the Visitor Center. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park has wi-fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
access in various sections of the park, as do fifty five other California State Parks.
Many visitors approach Anza-Borrego from the east-Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...
side via California County Route
California County Routes in zone S
There are 34 routes assigned to the "S" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "S" zone includes county highways lying in the counties of Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara.-S1:...
S22 and S78. Visitors can also approach from the west-Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
side via California County Routes S79 or S67 and add experiences of passing through the high and forested Laguna Mountains
Laguna Mountains
The Laguna Mountains are a section of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County, California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately ....
, such as in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is a state park located forty miles east of San Diego, California in the Laguna Mountains of the Peninsular Ranges. The park's 26,000 acres feature pine, fir, and oak forests, with meadows and streams that exist due to the relatively high elevation of the area compared...
. These highways climb from the coast to elevation 2400 feet (731.5 m), then descends 2000 feet (609.6 m) down into the Borrego Valley
Borrego Springs, California
Borrego Springs is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,429 at the 2010 census, up from 2,535 at the 2000 census. Many residents are seasonal while others remain year round...
in the center of the park. This great bowl of the Anza-Borrego desert is surrounded by mountains, with the Vallecito Mountains
Vallecito Mountains
The Vallecito Mountains are located in southern California about north of the U.S. border with Mexico. The mountains lie in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in an east-west direction southwest of the community of Ocotillo Wells, and south of Highway 78...
southward and the highest Santa Rosa Mountains
Santa Rosa Mountains (California)
The Santa Rosa Mountains are a short mountain range in the Peninsular Ranges system, located east of the Los Angeles Basin and northeast of the San Diego metropolitan area of southern California, in the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...
to the north. They are in the park's wilderness area, without paved roads and with the only year-round creek
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s in Anza-Borrego.
Flora and fauna
- See also: Category: Flora of the California desert regions
and also: Category: Fauna of the Colorado Desert
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are primarily within the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
of the Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
. The higher extreme northern and eastern sections in the Peninsular Ranges
Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges are a group of mountain ranges, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, which stretch from southern California in the United States to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges that run along the Pacific coast from Alaska...
are in the California montane chaparral and woodlands
California montane chaparral and woodlands
The California montane chaparral and woodlands ecoregion covers , including the mountains of the Transverse, Peninsular, and Santa Lucia Ranges of California. It is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers...
ecoregion.
The park features: bajadas
Alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial...
and desert washes; rock formations and colorful badlands, vast arid landscapes and dramatic mountains. The bajadas are predominantly creosote bush-bur sage with Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and the palo verde-cactus shrub ecosystems with the Palo Verde tree
Parkinsonia microphylla
Parkinsonia microphylla is a species of palo verde native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico .- Overview :It is a bristling, upright-branching tree, mostly found on slopes, and is one of the...
(Parkinsonia microphylla), cacti
Cacti
-See also:* RRDtool The underlying software upon which Cacti is built* MRTG The original Multi Router Traffic Grapher from which RRDtool was "extracted".* Munin -External links:******...
, and Ocotillo
Ocotillo
Fouquieria splendens Engelm. is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Common names include ocotillo, desert coral, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus, although it is not a true cactus...
. In the washes, Colorado/Sonoran microphylla woodlands can be found. These woodlands include such plants as Smoke Tree
Psorothamnus spinosus
Psorothamnus spinosus, known as the Smokethorn, Smoketree, Smoke tree, Indigobush, Smokethorn dalea, and Corona de Cristo, is a perennial legume tree common to the desert washes of the southern part of California, Arizona, and most of Baja California, including islands in the northern Sea of Cortez-...
(Psorothamnus spinosus), Honey Mesquite
Prosopis velutina
Prosopis velutina, commonly known as velvet mesquite, is a small to medium sized perennial tree. It is a legume adapted to a dry, desert climate. Though considered to be a noxious weed in states outside its natural range, it plays a vital role in the ecology of the Sonoran...
(Prosopis velutina), and Catclaw
Acacia greggii
Acacia greggii is a species of Acacia native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in...
(Acacia greggii).
Anza Borrego has natural spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
s and oases
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
with the state's only native palm, the endangered California fan palm
Washingtonia filifera
Washingtonia filifera , with the common names California Fan Palm , Desert Fan Palm, Cotton palm, and Arizona Fan Palm. It is a palm native to southwestern North America between an elevation range of , at seeps, desert bajadas, and springs where underground water is continuously available...
(Washingtonia filifera). Seasonal wildflower
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
displays can be stunning in any plant community association in throughout the Park. The high-county to the north and east has Closed-cone pine forest
Closed-cone pine forest
Closed-cone pine forest is a plant community of coastal California and several offshore islands. It consists of stands of Bishop Pines, Monterey Pines, and others which rely on fire or strong heat to open their cones and release the seeds.-Closed-cone Pines:...
s, Manzanita
Manzanita
Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia, Washington to California, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and...
s, and Oak woodland
California oak woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...
s.
The oases are prolific with wildlife of all types of fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
, especially for bird-watching. Throughout the park visitors may see Kit fox
Kit Fox
The kit fox is a fox species of North America. Its range is primarily in the southwestern United States and northern and central Mexico. Some mammalogists classify it as conspecific with the swift fox, V. velox, but molecular systematics imply that the two species are distinct.-Range:The...
es, Mule deer
Mule Deer
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...
, Coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, Greater roadrunner
Greater Roadrunner
The Greater Roadrunner, taxonomically classified as Geococcyx californianus, meaning "Californian Earth-cuckoo," is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. Along with the Lesser Roadrunner, it is one of two species in the roadrunner genus Geococcyx...
s, Golden eagle
Golden Eagle
The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
s, Black-tailed jackrabbit
Black-tailed Jackrabbit
The black-tailed jackrabbit , also known as the american desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level to up to...
s, Ground squirrels, Kangaroo rats, Quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
, and Prairie falcon
Prairie Falcon
The Prairie Falcon is a medium-sized falcon of western North America.It is about the size of a Peregrine Falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm , wingspan of 1 metre , and weight of 720 g...
s. In the reptile class Desert iguana
Desert iguana
The desert iguana is one of the most common lizards of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico...
s, Chuckwalla
Chuckwalla
Chuckwallas are large lizards found primarily in arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Some are found on coastal islands...
s and the Red diamond rattlesnake can be seen - with care.
Desert Bighorn Sheep
Some areas of Anza-Borrego Park are habitatHabitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
for the Peninsular bighorn sheep, often called Desert Bighorn Sheep
Desert Bighorn Sheep
The Desert Bighorn Sheep is a subspecies of Bighorn Sheep that occurs in the desert Southwest regions of the United States and in the northern regions of Mexico. The trinomial of this species commemorates the American naturalist Edward William Nelson...
. Few park visitors see them, and the sheep are justly wary. A patient few observers each year see and count this endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
to study the population, and to monitor its current decline from human overpopulation
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
encroachment.
Geology and paleontology
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
. Paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
, the study of the fossilized remains of ancient life, is the key to understanding and engaging this prehistoric world. Anza-Borrego has an exceptional fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
record; and include preserved plants, a variety of invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
shells, animal tracks, and an array of bones and teeth. Most Anza-Borrego fossils date from six million to under a half million years in age, or about 60 million years after the last dinosaur age ended.
Geology
Anza-Borrego Desert lies in a unique geologic setting along the western margin of the Salton Trough. This major topographic depression with the Salton SinkSalton Sink
The Salton Sink is a geographic sink in the Coachella and Imperial valleys of southeastern California. It is in the Colorado Desert subregion of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion...
having elevations of 200 feet (61 m) below sea level, forms the northernmost end of an active rift valley
Rift valley
A rift valley is a linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault. This action is manifest as crustal extension, a spreading apart of the surface which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion...
and a geological continental plate boundary. The Trough extends north from the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) to San Gorgonio Pass
San Gorgonio Pass
The San Gorgonio Pass el. cuts between the San Bernardino Mountains on the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. Like the Cajon Pass to the northwest, it was also created by the San Andreas Fault...
, and from the eastern rim of the Peninsular Ranges
Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges are a group of mountain ranges, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, which stretch from southern California in the United States to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges that run along the Pacific coast from Alaska...
eastward to the San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...
Zone along the far side of the Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...
. Over the past 7 million years a relatively complete geologic record of over 20000 feet (6,096 m) of fossil bearing sediment has been deposited within the Park along the rift valley's western margin. Paleontological remains are widespread and diverse, and are found scattered over hundreds of square miles of eroded badlands
Badlands
A badlands is a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. They are often...
terrain extending south from the Santa Rosa Mountains
Santa Rosa Mountains (California)
The Santa Rosa Mountains are a short mountain range in the Peninsular Ranges system, located east of the Los Angeles Basin and northeast of the San Diego metropolitan area of southern California, in the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...
Range into northern Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
in Mexico.
Both marine and terrestrial environments are represented by this long and rich fossil record. Six million years ago the ancestral Gulf of California
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
filled the Salton Trough, extending northward past what would become the city of Palm Springs. These tropical waters supported a profusion of both large and small marine organisms. Through time, the sea gave way as an immense volume of sediment
Sediment
Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....
eroded during the formation of the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
spilled into the Salton Trough. Little by little, the ancestral Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
built a massive river delta
River delta
A delta is a landform that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river...
across the sea way. Fossil hard woods from the deltaic sands and associated coastal plain deposits suggest that the region received three times as much rainfall as present times.
The Anza-Borrego region gradually changed from a predominately marine environment in to a system of interrelated terrestrial habitats. North of the Colorado River Delta
Colorado River Delta
The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California . The delta is part of a larger geologic region called the Salton Trough. Historically, the interaction of the river’s flow and the ocean’s tide created a dynamic environment, supporting freshwater,...
and intermittently fed by the River, a sequence of lakes and playa lakes has persisted for over 3 million years. At the same time, sediments eroded from the growing Santa Rosa Mountains and other Peninsular Ranges to spread east into the Trough. It is these sediments that provide an almost unbroken terrestrial fossil record, ending only a half million years ago. Here, the deposits of ancient streams and rivers trapped the remains of wildlife that inhabited a vast brushland savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...
laced with riparian woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s.
Fossils
This record of changing environments and habitats includes over 550 types of fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
plants and animals, ranging from preserved microscopic plant pollen
Pollen
Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes . Pollen grains have a hard coat that protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the...
and algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
spore
Spore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s to baleen whale
Baleen whale
The Baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders of the Cetacea . Baleen whales are characterized by having baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth. This distinguishes them from the other suborder of cetaceans,...
bones and mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
s. Many of the species are extinct and some are known only from fossil remains recovered from this Park. Combined with a long and complete sedimentary depositional sequence, these diverse fossil assemblages are an unparalleled paleontologic resource of international importance. Both the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
-Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
Epoch boundary and the Blancan
Blancan
The Blancan North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology , typically set from 4,750,000 to 1,808,000 years BP, a period of .. It is usually considered to start in the early-mid Pliocene epoch and end...
-Irvingtonian
Irvingtonian
The Irvingtonian North American Stage on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology , typically set from 1,800,000 to 300,000 years BP, a period of . It is usually considered to overlap the Lower Pleistocene and Middle...
North American Land Mammal Ages
North American Land Mammal Ages
The North American Mammal Ages establishes a geologic timescale for prehistoric North American fauna beginning 66.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene...
boundary fall within the long geological record from the Anza-Borrego Desert. Environmental changes associated with these geological time divisions are probably better tracked by fossils from Anza-Borrego than in any other North American continental platform strata
Platform (geology)
In geology, a platform is a continental area covered by relatively flat or gently tilted, mainly sedimentary strata, which overlie a basement of consolidated igneous or metamorphic rocks of an earlier deformation...
. These changes herald the beginning of the Ice Ages, and the strata contain fossil clues to the origin and development of modern southwestern desert landscapes.
The first fossils, marine shells from the ancient Sea of Cortez and fresh water shells from a prehistoric era Lake Cahuilla
Lake Cahuilla
Prehistoric Lake Cahuilla was an extensive freshwater lake that filled the Coachella, Imperial, and Mexicali valleys of southeastern California and northeastern Baja California during the centuries prior to Spanish entry into the region...
, precursor of present day Salton Sea
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
, were collected and described by William Blake in 1853. Blake was the geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and mineralogist for the Pacific Railroad Surveys
Pacific Railroad Surveys
The Pacific Railroad Surveys -A series of explorations of the American West to explore possible routes for a transcontinental railroad across North America. The expeditions included surveyors, scientists, and artists and resulted in an immense body of data covering at least on the American West....
commissioned by Congress and President Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army...
to find a railway route to the Pacific. It was Blake who first named this region the Colorado Desert.
Marine period
Since the late 19th century, numerous scientific studies and published papers have centered on the marine organisms that inhabited the ancient Sea of Cortez. Fossil assemblages from the classic 'Imperial Formation' include calcareousCalcareous
Calcareous is an adjective meaning mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.-In zoology:...
nanoplankton and dinoflagellates, foraminifera
Foraminifera
The Foraminifera , or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists which are among the commonest plankton species. They have reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net...
, corals, polychaetes, clams
CLaMS
CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....
, gastropods, sea urchin
Sea urchin
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
s, and sand dollars, and crabs and shrimp. The deposits also yield the remains of marine vertebrate
Marine vertebrate
Marine vertebrates are vertebrates which live in a marine environment. These primarily include fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine mammals. These animals have an internal skeleton and make up about 4% of the sea's animal population.- See also :*Fish...
s such as shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s and rays
Stingray
The stingrays are a group of rays, which are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes, and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae , Plesiobatidae , Urolophidae , Urotrygonidae , Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae The...
, bony fish, baleen whale
Baleen whale
The Baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders of the Cetacea . Baleen whales are characterized by having baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth. This distinguishes them from the other suborder of cetaceans,...
, walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
, and dugong
Dugong
The dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...
.
Marine environments such as outer and inner shelf, platform reef, and near shore beach and lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
are all represented within the 'Imperial Formation.' As the sea shallowed, estuarine and brackish marine conditions prevailed, typified by thick channel deposits of oyster and pecten shell coquina
Coquina
Coquina is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of either molluscs, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. For a sediment to be considered to be a coquina, the average size of the...
that now form the "Elephant Knees" along Fish Creek. Many of the marine fossils are closely related to forms from the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
. They document a time before the isthmus of Panama
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...
formed, when the warm Gulf Stream
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...
of the western Atlantic invaded eastern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
waters.
Terrestrial period
As North and South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
connected about 3 million years ago, terrestrial faunal north-south migrations began on a continental scale called the Great American Biotic Interchange, and are present in Anza-Borrego's fossils. Animals like giant ground sloths and porcupines made their first appearance in North America at this time.
The oldest terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
predate the late Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
invasion of the Sea of Cortez. These very rare fossils, which include a gomphothere
Gomphothere
Gomphotheriidae is a diverse taxonomic family of extinct elephant-like animals , called gomphotheres. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12-1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia and, following the Great American Interchange,...
(elephant-like mammal), rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
, felid and small camelid
Camelid
Camelids are members of the biological family Camelidae, the only living family in the suborder Tylopoda. Dromedaries, Bactrian Camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos are in this group....
, and were collected from 10-12 million year old riverine and near shore lake deposits. However, the most significant and abundant vertebrate fossils have been recovered from the latest Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
through late-Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
riverine and flood plane deposits of the Palm Spring Formation in the Vallecito and Fish Creek Badlands and Ocotillo Conglomerate exposed in the Borrego Badlands. These fossil assemblages occur in a 3.5 million year long uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence that has been dated using horizons of volcanic ash and paleomagnetic methods.
The bestiary
Bestiary
A bestiary, or Bestiarum vocabulum is a compendium of beasts. Bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson...
for this savannah
Savannah
Savannah or savanna is a type of grassland.It can also mean:-People:* Savannah King, a Canadian freestyle swimmer* Savannah Outen, a singer who gained popularity on You Tube...
landscape reads like a "who's-who" for some of the most unique creatures to inhabit North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
- animals such as:
Geochelone
Geochelone
Geochelone is a genus of tortoises.Geochelone tortoises, which are also known as typical tortoises or terrestrial turtles, can be found in Africa and Asia. They primarily eat plants.The genus consists of three extant species:...
, a giant bathtub-sized tortoise; Aiolornis incredibilis, the largest flying bird of the northern hemisphere, with 17 feet (5.2 m) wing span; Paramylodon, Megalonyx
Megalonyx
Megalonyx is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America from the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene through to the Rancholabrean of the Pleistocene, living from ~10.3 Mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately .-Taxonomy:The generic name...
and Nothrotheriops
Nothrotheriops
Nothrotheriops is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North and South America. This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous Megatherium, although it has recently been placed in a different family, Nothrotheriidae.-Discovery and species:Fossils of...
, giant ground sloths, some with bony armor within their skin; Pewelagus, a very small rabbit (paleontologists can name with a sense of humor); Borophagus
Borophagus
Borophagus is an extinct genus of the subfamily Borophaginae, a group of canids endemic to North America from the early Miocene epoch through the Zanclean stage of the Pliocene epoch 23.3—3.6 Mya. Borophagus existed for approximately .-Overview:Borophagus, like other borophagines, are loosely...
, a hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
-like dog; Acrtodus, a giant short-faced bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
; Smilodon
Smilodon
Smilodon , often called a saber-toothed cat or saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodonts. This saber-toothed cat was endemic to North America and South America, living from near the beginning through the very end of the Pleistocene epoch .-Etymology:The nickname "saber-tooth" refers...
, a saber-toothed cat
Saber-toothed cat
Saber-toothed cat or Sabre-toothed cat refers to the extinct subfamilies of Machairodontinae , Barbourofelidae , and Nimravidae as well as two families related to marsupials that were found worldwide from the Eocene Epoch to the end of the Pleistocene Epoch ,...
; Miracinonyx
Miracinonyx
Miracinonyx is an extinct genus of the family Felidae, endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch , existing for approximately ....
, the North American cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
; Mammuthus imperator
Mammuthus imperator
The Imperial Mammoth is an extinct species of mammoth endemic to North America from the Pliocene through Pleistocene, living from 4.9 mya—11,000 years ago....
, the largest known mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
; Tapirus, an extinct tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
; Equus enormis and Equus scotti
Equus scotti
Equus scotti is an extinct species of Equus, the genus that includes the horse. E. scotti was native to North America and likely evolved from earlier, more zebra-like North American equids early in the Pleistocene Epoch...
, two species of extinct Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
horse; Gigantocamelus a giant camel; and Capromeryx, the dwarf pronghorn
Pronghorn
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...
.
Native Americans
The Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of the Anza-Borrego mountains and deserts included the Cahuilla, Cupeño, Diegueño, and Kumeyaay
Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai, Kamia, or formerly Diegueño, are Native American people of the extreme southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. They live in the states of California in the US and Baja California in Mexico. In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled...
Indian tribes. It was the homeland of these peoples for thousands of years, and their artists created petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
and pictogram
Pictogram
A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...
rock art
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
expressing their cultures.
Park interpretive associations
The Anza-Borrego Foundation (ABF), founded in 1967, is a non-profit educational organization and is the sole cooperating associationCooperating Associations
Cooperating Associations, also known as interpretive associations or natural history associations, support the interpretive, educational and scientific programs and services of governmental land management agencies such as the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife...
of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. It manages all sales at the State Park Visitor Center and State Park Store. The Anza-Borrego Institute, the education arm of ABF, provides in-depth educational courses to more than 1,300 visitors each year. The institute offers in-depth field programs, a fifth grade environmental camp, citizen science research, and Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students. ABF's mission is to protect and preserve the natural landscapes, wildlife habitat, and cultural heritage of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.
The Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association operates the Borrego Desert Nature Center in Borrego Springs
Borrego Springs, California
Borrego Springs is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,429 at the 2010 census, up from 2,535 at the 2000 census. Many residents are seasonal while others remain year round...
. The nature center
Nature center
A nature center is an organization with a visitor center or interpretive center designed to educate people about nature and the environment. Usually located within a protected open space, nature centers often have trails through their property. Some are located within a state or city park, and...
offers educational, environmental, and recreational programs for all ages including desert tours, guided hikes, and lectures.
Articles
- Ocotillo Wells, CaliforniaOcotillo Wells, CaliforniaOcotillo Wells is an unincorporated community in San Diego County, California. It is west of the Imperial County line on State Route 78 at an elevation of . The name became official in 1962 when it was adopted for federal use by the Board of Geographic Names. A federally-recognized variant name,...
- Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National MonumentSanta Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National MonumentThe Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a National Monument in Southern California. It includes portions of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountain ranges, the northernmost ones of the Peninsular Ranges system...
- Shelter Valley, California
- Mud CavesMud CavesThe Mud Caves are a popular feature in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County, California. The caves, located in Arroyo Tapiado, were created by water flowing through a thick deposit of silt. There are at least 22 caves, some up to in length and in height. Many of the caves are easily...
- Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere ReserveMojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere ReserveThe Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve designated by UNESCO in 1984 to promote the ecological conservation of a cluster of areas in the Mojave and Colorado deserts of California. A principal feature is Death Valley...
- Man and the Biosphere Programme
- World Network of Biosphere ReservesWorld Network of Biosphere ReservesThe UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves covers internationally-designated protected areas, known as biosphere reserves, that are meant to demonstrate a balanced relationship between man and nature The UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves covers internationally-designated protected...
—World Network of Biosphere Reserves in Europe and North AmericaWorld Network of Biosphere Reserves in Europe and North AmericaUnder UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme, there are currently 258 biosphere reserves recognized as part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in Europe and North America...
Reference Books
- C. Michael Hogan. 2009. California Fan Palm: Washingtonia filifera, GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg
- George T. Jefferson and Lowell Lindsay. 2006. Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert (Sunbelt Publications, San Diego). ISBN 0932653502
Further reading
- Robin Halford. 2005. Hiking in Anza-Borrego Desert: Over 100 Half-Day Hikes (Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association, Borrego Springs). ISBN 091080513X
- Diana Lindsay, 2001. Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things (Sunbelt Publications, San Diego). ISBN 0932653421
- Lowell Lindsay and Lindsay, Diana. 2006. The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to the State Park and Adjacent Areas of the Western Colorado Desert. Fifth Edition (Wilderness Press, Berkeley). ISBN 0899974007
- George T. Jefferson and Lowell Lindsay. 2006. Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert (Sunbelt Publications, San Diego). ISBN 0932653502
- Serenity (film)Serenity (film)Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...
- location shooting in the park for the 2005 feature film shows the environs.