walking in a joshua tree woodland | Mojave Desert | 28 March 2009

A mid-day walk in a joshua tree woodland north of Avenue J in the eastern Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County, California, USA.

Date: 28 March 2009
Time: ~12 noon to 1 p.m.

The joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is an angiosperm endemic to the Mojave Desert, i.e. the Mojave Desert is the only location in the world where joshua trees are found. The Mojave Desert extends from the far western point of the Antelope Valley to portions of northwestern Arizona and on north of Las Vegas. Joshua trees are the weird-looking scraggly trees seen throughout the video. Joshua trees were once dubbed "the ugliest plant in the vegetable kingdom" by an early botanist who wrote about them. What do you think? I think they're a pretty interesting specie.

Lots of animals make their home in joshua trees, from birds building nests in their branches to birds carving holes in their trunks, to the insects seen in this video eating a rotting joshua tree trunk.

In the early twentieth century, when the road network across the Mojave Desert was much less developed, people lit joshua trees on fire as a signal to night time desert travellers tracing a path across the desert. Thankfully those days are gone. Joshua trees are now a protected specie. Digging them up or setting them on fire are both illegal.

Most of the world at large became acquainted with the joshua tree from the cover photo of the Irish rock band U2's 1980s album The Joshua Tree. I've read that the specific joshua tree portrayed on that album cover was discovered not long after the album's release and, over the years, was looted for souvenirs to the point where it's now a stump. The location of that particular tree is somewhere in Inyo County, California near the northern limit of the joshua tree's growing range.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• joshua
• tree
• woodland
• Avenue
• Antelope
• Valley
• Los
• Angeles
• County
• California
• USA

[mackiwawa]

Well you did what you said on the tin!

[bapyou]

@mackiwawa Hello. What is a "tin"?

[steintanz]

@bapyou Namibia and Australia - both wonderful countries.

[bapyou]

@steintanz "I was amazed when I went there to see a lot more life than I had imagined"

Went where?

[steintanz]

@bapyou Very interesting points. It was just that I was amazed when I went there to see a lot more life than I had imagined before. Thanks again, Tim

[bapyou]

@steintanz Hello Tim. I wouldn't characterize the Mojave Desert as having an "abundance" of wildlife; by their nature deserts have low biomass, a function of low rainfall. Savannas are grassland environments with significantly greater rainfall, richer soil environments, and therefore capable of supporting richer biota. I doubt the Australian outback has an abundance of wildlife either. The center of Australia is desert with large areas of sand dunes.

[steintanz]

@bapyou Thanks! I just wanted to know whether there is also such an abundance of wildlife like in the African savanna for example or in the Australian outback.

Greetings, Tim

[bapyou]

@steintanz "How about animals in the Mojave Desert?"

What about Mojave Desert animals would you like to know? I'm not an expert. I can tell you that perhaps its most emblematic animal is the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), a large long-lived tortoise that lives in an underground burrow. There are numerous other lizards, such as the chuckwalla (Suaromalus obesus) and smaller species. Also bobcats, skunk, coyote, jackrabbit, hawks, insects. Animals are harder to capture on video.

[steintanz]

Really wonderful landscape; I could handle some sunshine here .... Very interesting to see those endemic trees. How about animals in the Mojave Desert?

Greetings, Tim

[greentea1494]

Yeah it's a great state. And thanks for the good luck comment.