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HIDE to stay safe

I’m

24 X 18 INCHES | 40% OF ACTUAL SIZE | FEbrUAry 2018 | WHITE SANDS NM | Wayside Exhibit 614

Desert Cottontail Rabbit

Conejo del desierto

What is your favorite hiding spot? Cottontail rabbits have to hide throughout their lives to stay safe. As babies, they stay hidden in fur-and-grass-lined nests, almost like a bird’s nest. Their moms stay away most of the time, except to nurse them. No mom “at home” means predators have less chance to find them. Adults hide under bushes in the heat of the day. When danger appears, they freeze, then zigzag away.

ESCONDERSE para salvarse ¿Cuál es tu lugar preferido para esconderte? Los conejos tienen que esconderse a lo largo de sus vidas para mantenerse salvos. Como bebés, ellos se esconden en nidos hechos de hierbas y pelaje.

Sus mamás casi nunca vienen, solamente para amamantarlos. Ellas mantienen distancia para que los predadores no encuentren a sus bebés.

Los conejos adultos se esconden bajo arbustos durante el día. Se quedan quietos cuando hay peligro y después corren de lado a lado.

Carnivore s carnívoros Herbivores herbívoros

WHO EATS what ¿QUE SE come?

Welcome to my home! My name is Katie the Kit Fox.

I will be your guide today.

Do you like to eat meat and vegetables? Humans that don’t eat animals are called vegetarians. In my world, they are called herbivores. Meat eaters like me are called carnivores. No matter what we eat, we depend on each other to live in this desert. Plants provide seeds and nectar to the herbivores, herbivores are meat for the carnivores, and carnivores die and become nutrients for the plants.

¡Bienvenidos a mi hogar! Me llamo Katie la zorrita.

Hoy seré tu guía en este sendero.

¿Te gusta comer carne y verduras? Los vegetarianos son los humanos que no comen carne. En mi mundo se llaman herbívoros. Los que comemos carne nos llamamos carnívoros. No importa lo que comámonos, dependemos el uno del otro para sobrevivir en este desierto. Las plantas proveen semillas y néctar para los herbívoros, los herbívoros son carne para los carnívoros y al morir los carnívoros se convierten en alimento para las plantas.

I’m

Lesser Nighthawk

Chotacabras menor

Apache Pocket Mouse

Ratón de abazones

American Badger

Tejón

Kit Fox

Zorrita del desierto

Bobcat

Gato montés

Burrowing Owl

Lechuza de las madrig uera s

Grasshopper Mouse

Ratón saltamontes arenero

Pallid Bat

M urciélago desértico norte ño

Coyote

Tarantula Hawk

Avispa caza-tarántulas

Yucca Moth

Tegeticula yuccasella

Greater Roadrunner

Correcaminos norteño

Desert C ottontail Rabbit

Conejo del desierto

Two animals are in the wrong group.

Make your best guess and then get the answer from the signs along the trail.

Dos animales están en el grupo equivocado.

Adivina cuales y obtiene la respuesta de los letreros a lo largo del sendero.

Restricted area P E R M I T R E Q U I R E D

Zona de accesso restringido

S E R E Q U I E R E P E R M I S O

Alamogordo

C o o p er at iv e

U se

A re a B o u n d ar y

Lí m it e d e zo n a re st ri n g id a

W H I T E S A N D S

N AT I O N A L M O N U M E N T

Lake Lucero

Visitor Center

SAN ANDRES

MOUNTAINS

Journey to WhiteHeart of the Dunes

Chihuahuan Desert

Innerdunal

Do you vaguely feel like you have seen this scenery before, and yet this might be your first visit? If you watch TV, it’s likely you have! Hollywood has filmed more than 20 major movies here since 1950.

Hundreds of commercials, music videos, TV shows, and documentaries have also been shot here. Researchers from all over the world come here to investigate the unusual animals and geology here. Both scientists and storytellers love to work here at White Sands. What story will you write here today?

Aunque esta sea la primera vez que lo visita, ¿Tiene idea de haber visto este paisaje antes? Si le gusta ver televisión, es probable que allí lo haya visto. A partir de 1950, Hollywood ha filmado más de 20 películas famosas en este lugar. También se han hecho cientos de comerciales, videos musicales, programas de televisión y documentales. Los investigadores de todo el mundo visitan este lugar para estudiar la singularidad de los animales y la geología. Tanto científicos como cuentacuentos disfrutan trabajar en White Sands. ¿Qué cuento escribirá usted hoy en este sitio?

White Sands Guadalupe Mountains

Cuatrociénegas

U N I T E D S TAT E S

M E X I C O

A WHITE Oasis

Largest in the World

Shia LaBeouf, Michael Bay Transformers 2006

Year One 2008 Researching groundwater

Investigando agua subterránea

White Sands National Monument

You Are Here Usted está aquí

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

176,000 acres 71,200 hectáreas

2,000 acres 800 hectáreas

250 acres 100 hectáreas

Showcased Around the World

The stark, pure white dunefield you will explore just ahead is one of the rarest landscapes on planet Earth. Only a tiny handful of gypsum dune systems exist—and here you stand in the largest. Astronauts can see these dunes clearly from space.

Un albo OASIS

Las agrestes y níveas dunas que usted explorará más adelante son uno de los entornos más excepcionales del planeta Tierra.

Existe solamente un puñado de sistemas de dunas de yeso y usted está parado precisamente en el más grande de ellos. Los astronautas pueden ver claramente estas dunas desde el espacio.

Caminata hacia la blancura

El de mayor extensión en el mundo

Conocido a nivel mundial

Arizona Centaury Centaurium calycosum

Also known as rosita, or “little rose,” centaury is a low branching plant that blossoms from April to October. Look for five pink petals arranged around a white center.

Although this plant is usually found near springs or streams, the variation that grows here is gypsum-loving and thrives in the interdunal area—the low areas between the dunes.

Cyanobacteria In the interdunal areas (low areas between dunes), you will see a bumpy, raised surface covering the sand. What you are looking at is cyanobacteria—a woven mat of organisms living on the soil surface.

The cyanobacteria adds nutrients to the sand, allowing plants to grow.

It also holds rainwater like a sponge and slows erosion. The crust is very fragile and can be damaged if you walk on it. So be careful not to bust the crust—plants need it to survive!

Little Striped Whiptail Aspidoscelis inornata

Often called little blue-tails, the little striped whiptail has bluish accents and can grow up to eight inches in length. They are found in a wide range of habitats, from grasslands to rocky slopes. This lizard is diurnal, active in early morning and evening hours, to hunt for insects.

It is wary and fast moving, darting for cover if approached. It can also detach and drop its tail if grabbed by a predator. The tail will regrow.

Soaptree Yucca Yucca elata

How tall is that yucca?

The plants and animals of White Sands are unique because they must survive in a constantly changing landscape compared to other arid environments. A good example is the soaptree yucca. It adapts to the shifting dunes by rapid growth. Yuccas first take root in the interdunal soil.

As a dune edges up and over the yucca, it elongates its stem to keep its leaves above the sand for photosynthesis. What looks like a 4- to 6-foot-tall yucca growing on top of a dune is really much taller with a long stem connecting to roots in the interdunal soil. The photo at left shows a cutaway of this.

Formation of the Tularosa Basin

Long ago, an ancient tropical sea covered most of the southwestern United States. It was during this time that layers of gypsum were deposited on the seafloor.

The Tularosa Basin began forming 30 million years ago as the earth’s crust was pulled apart and broken by faults to form multiple low-lying areas surrounded by mountains. As the basin floor slowly sank along these lines, the gypsum layers from the ancient seabed were uplifted into the mountains you see around you.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake Crotalus atrox

The western diamondback rattlesnake can grow up to six feet long and is active day or night, depending on the temperature and season.

As a pit viper, it has loreal pits on each side of its snout that help it detect infrared radiation (heat) and locate prey.

The snake is identified by diamond-shaped patterns on its back, a triangular head, “cat-like” eyes, and a black-and-white banded tail.

Wright’s Verbena Glandularia wrightii

This ground-hugging species is widespread throughout the Chihuahuan Desert and thrives in the interdunal areas at White Sands. It has a long flowering period and is among the first to bloom in February, keeping its flowers into October.

When in bloom, the lovely purple flowers emit a sweet, lingering aroma, enough to fill the entire area with its fantastic fragrance.

Sonoran Gopher Snake Pituophis catenifer affinis

The Sonoran gopher snake is one of the most widely distributed snakes in North America. They can grow up to eight feet long and have a life span of 16 years. The snake is beige, tan, or cream colored with large reddish-brown blotches. The body is rather stout with a snout that is moderately rounded.

At White Sands, it tends to be cream colored to blend in with the sands.

The snakes prefer sandy soil and hang out in rodent burrows to escape the heat of the day. As a non-venomous snake, it kills its prey by constriction and suffocation.

Darkling Beetle F. Tenebrionidae

Chances are you’ve seen one of these beetles meandering across the white dunes. They are often seen wandering about doing their jobs as one of nature’s recyclers. This beetle’s life cycle (from grub to adult) is connected to feeding on detritus—eating small bits of plant and animal matter.

Since it cannot fly, this beetle defends itself with a foul, oily liquid, earning the nickname “stink bug.” When threatened, the darkling beetle will stand on its head, a warning that it is preparing to spray.

Bleached Earless Lizard Holbrookia maculata ruthveni

This pale lizard is identifiable by two black spots on each side of its abdomen and grows to about four inches in length. It is not really earless or bleached.

Although it can hear, it has no external ear openings. The lizard’s overall grayish-white coloring is an adaptation to this white landscape. It can also darken slightly in cool weather and lighten slightly in warmer temperatures.

Found throughout the dunefield, these insect-eating lizards are tolerant of high soil temperatures (up to 100°F) and are often seen scurrying across the sand in the mornings, early afternoons, and late evenings.

Hoary Rosemary Mint Poliomintha incana

A member of the mint family, rosemary mint is one of the most successful plants in the dunefield. Its rapid upward growth allows it to stay above the sand as a dune passes. This aromatic shrub has small needle-like leaves covered with soft white hairs and beautiful pale purple or blue flowers. Hopi Indians ate the leaves raw or boiled. Its flowers are also used for a seasoning, and a pleasant tea can be made from its leaves.

In the spring, the green leaves smell of mint, while the dry leaves of fall smell of rosemary.

Torrey’s Jointfir Ephedra torreyana

This strange-looking shrub is a primitive plant related to pine trees. Like coniferous trees, it produces cones rather than flowers. Nearly leafless, jointfir photosynthesizes through its pale green, jointed stems.

American Indians used jointfir medicinally to treat various illnesses. The Mescalero Apache used it to treat eye infections. Pseudoephedrine, a common allergy medication, is a synthesized version of ephedrine, which is a chemical derived from jointfir.

Blazing Star Mentzelia pumila

The two-foot-tall stems of this weedy-looking plant produce brilliant yellow, star-like flowers that close during the heat of the day. It is common in sand dunes and along dry streambeds throughout the western United States. Blazing star is also called “stickleaf” because the leaves are covered with tiny barbs that grab onto the fur and pants of passers-by.

Rubber Rabbitbrush Ericameria nauseosus

This tall, grayish-green shrub produces hundreds of tiny golden flowers in late summer. The feathery flowers are followed by conspicuous white, downy seeds in the fall.

Navajo weavers use rabbitbrush flowers to create a yellow dye for their rugs. It also was used for basketry, arrow shafts, and construction. Its English name refers to the small amount of natural rubber found in the sap.

W al te r S ie gm un d

White Evening Primrose Oenothera pallida latifolia

This lovely perennial is a “gypsophile,” meaning that it seems to enjoy growing in gypsum soils.

The flowers open quickly in the evening and close again each morning. A blossom can open completely in less than 30 minutes, often with sudden visible jerks.

Its large white petals gradually fade to pink before dropping.

Little Bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium

This prairie grass is named for the bluish-green color of its new growth. Dried stems turn a reddish-brown.

Little bluestem grows throughout the Great Plains and intermountain west, wherever soil moisture is adequate. So how can it grow in this desert landscape? At White Sands the water table is typically 2 to 3 feet below the surface, and the interdunal soils are usually quite moist.

Alkali Sacaton Sporobolus airoides

This widespread grass can be found in alkaline soils from Canada to Mexico, flourishing in poorly drained depressions where few other grasses can grow. Highly adaptive, it can withstand flooding and partial burial by the shifting sand.

It has an important place in the ecosystem of the dunefield, where its seeds provide food for birds, rodents, and insects.

Indian Ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides

One of the earliest edible plants to mature in the spring, this hardy bunchgrass is an important part of the dunefield food web. The relatively large, protein-rich seeds are a major food source for birds, rodents, and other wildlife.

For thousands of years, humans gathered the seeds along the edges of the dunes, drying and grinding the rice-like seeds into flour.

Rio Grande Cottonwood Populus deltoids subspecies wizlizenii

The cottonwood is usually found growing in wet areas and along the banks of rivers. Due to the high water table present within the dunefield, it is able to thrive, forming thick groves throughout the park.

You may only see what looks like a leafy bush on top of a dune, but the cottonwood’s trunk and roots are far beneath the sand. To get the sunlight it needs to survive, it grows rapidly enough to keep a few branches and leaves above the passing sand dunes.

Apache Pocket Mouse Perognathus apache melanotis

Named for the fur-lined pockets in its cheeks, the Apache pocket mouse prefers sandy, loose soils with little vegetation. Nocturnal by nature, they scour the interdunal areas looking for seeds to eat but will eat insects if seeds are scarce. They are efficient gatherers and will store food to feed on during the winter when they periodically awaken from hibernation. Also, due to its highly efficient kidneys, it can go for months without water.