Yesterday Mr G and I visited the Living Desert State Park and Zoo in Carlsbad, New Mexico to see its collection of desert life (plant and animal) in the Southwest.
Since West Texas Town sits right in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert I was already familiar with much of the plant life I saw. However, I will admit there were lots of plants that I recognized but didn’t know the names of until I looked at the little ID plates. There were also a lot of names that I knew but didn’t know what the plant looked like so it was nice to finally be able to put the plants together with their names.
After we looked at all the plants we went through the zoo and saw the desert wildlife. In addition to a large variety of birds, we saw a javelina, a black bear named Maggie, a porcupine, some elk, mule deer, pronghorns, and bison, a pack of Mexican gray wolves, a pair of cougars (aka mountain lion), a bobcat, and a huge variety of snakes, lizards, and other desert reptiles.
Although it was a little chilly, Mr G and I had a very nice time at the Living Desert State Park and Zoo. In and around Carlsbad, New Mexico there are quite a few fun things to do and since it is only about a 3 hour drive from here it makes a nice day trip. I will definitely be going back.
(P.S. More pictures– along with a couple of short videos- from my trip to The Living Desert State Park and Zoo can be found at Flickr.)