Animals In The Desert That Eat Cactus

They are the most preyed upon creatures the food of lizards rodents and desert mice.

Animals in the desert that eat cactus. The carnivorous American Dippers which may appear at streams issuing from the mountains into the desert during the winter months feed on aquatic animal life at the bottom of the rushing waters. These insectivores then fall prey to the most dangerous carnivores in the desert the snakes. This is another exciting animal that youll come across in the desert and survive on cacti plants.

Many animals will eat Prickly Pear cactus fruit. Similarly what animal eats cholla cactus. Jackrabbits eat Prickly Pear cactus and do so near the base where there are no large spines.

A number ofinsects are parasites on these cacti. Many small animals such as bats and mice eat cactus in the dessert. During drought animals will often go for the most common type of cactus prickly pear.

The plants are adapted to live in extremely dry desert climates and store large quantities of water in their stems. North Scottsdale resident Jim Bamberg recently came across the critter outside his home. The collared peccary a type of hog eats the prickly pear cactus.

Some rodents rabbits andhares. He said he found a coatimundi chomping on his prickly pear cactus. The Cactus Wren is found in arid deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico.

Jackrabbits the ones with the large ears eat prickly pear particularly at the base of the plant where there are few or no spines. Many small animals such as bats and mice eat cactus in the dessert. The jackrabbit normally eats grasses but it will eat cacti during droughts.