Rio Grande Silvery Minnow
Once spread through much of the Rio Grande, this modest minnow now persists naturally in a New Mexico reach where river flow and floodplain connection decide its future.
New Mexico, United States: places and wildlife — page 4
Browse the published Explore collection for New Mexico, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
Pecos Pupfish
This small native fish tolerates heat and salinity that exclude many competitors, yet introduced relatives can erase it genetically through hybridization.
Zuni Bluehead Sucker
A specialized bottom-feeding fish survives in fragments of the Zuni watershed, where dependable pools and connected clean stream habitat have become scarce.
Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot
This intensely local butterfly depends on a narrow partnership among summer rain, open mountain meadow, larval host plants, and nectar across a few square miles.
Sandia Hairstreak
New Mexico’s state butterfly spends most of its life hidden on beargrass, emerging for a short spring flight as a remarkably camouflaged green hairstreak.
Soaptree Yucca
Tall flower stalks and elevated leaf crowns mark a desert yucca whose reproduction depends on specialized moths that deliberately pollinate its flowers.
Sacramento Prickly Poppy
This spectacular but threatened prickly poppy survives in a few Sacramento Mountain canyons where disturbance can both open habitat and destroy plants.
New Mexico Locust
This small native tree can turn burned mountain slopes pink with pea-like flowers, then stabilize soil through vigorous root sprouting and nitrogen-fixing partnerships.
Cactus Wren
Arizona’s brash desert wren advertises itself from cholla with bold white brows, spotted plumage, and a mechanical chugging song.
Abert’s Towhee
A secretive lower-desert towhee scratches beneath mesquite, revealing a black face, warm undertail, and brief accelerating song.
Arizona Gray Squirrel
A broad pale-edged tail and warm reddish back distinguish this large squirrel of Arizona’s oak-lined mountain canyons.
Arizona Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake
Arizona’s small mountain rattlesnake favors cool, rocky pine-oak canyons and shows pale facial stripes across an upturned snout.
Two-tailed Swallowtail
Arizona’s enormous yellow state butterfly patrols canyon streams and gardens, flashing black tiger stripes and two tails on each hindwing.
Arizona Giant Skipper
A brief monsoon-season flight reveals this robust agave specialist, whose hidden larvae spend most of their lives inside host plants.
Arizona Sycamore
Mottled white trunks illuminate rocky canyon streams where this broad-crowned southwestern tree provides shade, cavities, and riparian structure.
Arizona Cypress
Blue-gray scale foliage, fibrous bark, and persistent round cones identify this fire-adapted conifer of Arizona’s rocky mountain canyons.
Desert Bighorn Sheep
Nevada’s state mammal turns steep desert rock into refuge, using gripping hooves while tracking sparse forage, shade, and water across isolated ranges.
Mountain Bluebird
Idaho’s state bird flashes an almost unbroken blue across open mountain and sage country, often hovering briefly before dropping onto ground prey.
Wyoming Indian Paintbrush
The brilliant color belongs mostly to bracts, while the true flowers are smaller and tucked among them.
Black-eyed Susan
Rough-haired stems and golden rays around a raised brown center make Maryland’s state flower a familiar open-ground wildflower.
Brook Trout
Follow this jewel-colored char from shaded headwaters to Adirondack ponds, where water quality shapes its future.
Common Snapping Turtle
A rugged freshwater turtle is easiest to notice when it leaves the water to nest, not while it lies hidden below.