Aridoamerica
[1] Because of the relatively hard conditions, the pre-Columbian people in this region developed distinct cultures and subsistence farming patterns.
[5] Mexican anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Batalla notes that although the distinction between Aridoamerica and Mesoamerica is "useful for understanding the general history of precolonial Mexico," that the boundary between the two should not be conceptualized as "a barrier that separated two radically different worlds, but, rather, as a variable limit between climatic regions."
They gathered magueys, yucca flowers, mesquite beans, chia seeds, and cacti, including the paddles of fruits of nopal cactus.
[8] Archaeologists disagree whether the plant was introduced by Uto-Aztecan migrants from Mesoamerica or spread either northward or southward from other groups by cultural borrowing.
[8] In Baja California, fishing and hunting provided food, as did harvesting acorns, nopal, pine nuts, and other native plants.
[9] Historically, people of Aridoamerica coppiced willows, that is, tree trunks were cut to a stump to encourage the growth of slender shoots.
[11] The most prolific plants in this region are agave, yucca, and creosote bushes,[12] in addition to the ubiquitous presence of various cacti species.
[24] Other bird species include the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and black vulture (Coragyps atratus);[25] the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and its close relative the pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuous); the blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea)[26] and black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus); the varied bunting (Passerina versicolor), house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), and lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria);[27] the broad-billed hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris), black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri), Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae),[28] Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna), Rivoli's hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens), blue-throated mountain-gem (Lampornis clemenciae), and lucifer hummingbird (Calothorax lucifer); and the Gambel's quail (Callipepla gambelii),[29] common raven (Corvus corax),[30] Gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis), gilded flicker (Colaptes chrysoides),[31] cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus), rock wren (Salpinctes obsoletus),[32] and many oriole (Icterus), thrasher (Toxostoma), gnatcatcher (Polioptila), dove (Columbidae), rail (Rallidae), and tyrant-flycatcher (Tyrannidae) species.
[24] Mammal species include the bobcat (Lynx rufus), coyote (Canis latrans), collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), black bear (Ursus americanus), black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus), desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii), desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Coues' white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi), elk (Cervus canadensis), feral horse (Equus caballus), ringtail (Bassariscus astutus), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), kit fox (Vulpes macrotis), mountain lion (Puma concolor), river otter (Lontra canadensis), long-tailed weasel (Neogale frenata), western spotted skunk (Spilogale gracilis), pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), raccoon (Procyon lotor), numerous kangaroo rat (Dipodomys), woodrat (Neotoma), and pocket mouse (Chaetodipus) species, white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), jaguar (Panthera onca), and Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyae).
Lizards are highly represented in the region, the most distinctive denizen being the Gila monster, native only to the American Southwest and the state of Sonora in Mexico.
