The Chihuahuan is the largest desert in North America
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The Chihuahuan Desert stretches all the way from the southwestern United States deep into the Central Mexican Highlands. Because of the region’s high altitude – 3,000 to 5,000 feet – winters and nights are cool while summer days can reach temperatures over 100 degrees. Very little rain falls in the area, but underground springs, small streams, and the Rio Grande River provide plants and animals with precious water.
The Chihuahuan Desert’s diverse habitats provide a kaleidoscope of textures and colors that shape its unique landscapes. Mule deer, pronghorn and kit fox roam the vast grasslands of the northern desert. In the desert scrub, roadrunners scurry after earless lizards while golden eagles search among the agave and creosote for black-tailed jackrabbits. But the magnificent landscape is threatened by an ever-increasing human population, water misuse and mismanagement, overgrazing by cattle and goats, and a lack of knowledge regarding the desert’s ecological importance.
Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition 