Why the Wolf Won’t Mess with the Saguaro Cactus
The saguaros up close and personal on our Phoenix, Scottsdale ATV rentals tour.
What the Wolf knows about the amazing Saguaro cacti in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
Folks may see me as the big, bad desert wolf (even though I’m a pretty laid-back, friendly guy), but I’m certainly not the biggest and baddest thing out there in the Sonoran Desert. That would be the saguaro cactus.
As the biggest cactus in the U.S., these cacti don’t take any guff, and they definitely deserve our respect. As you may see firsthand on your desert tour, saguaro can grow to heights of up to 60 feet and weigh some 4,800 pounds. That’s 2.4 tons, by the way.
While they’re big and bad, their growth is painfully slow. The saguaro can live anywhere from 150 to 300 years, and it actually takes them that long to get so big. A 10-year-old saguaro might be only 1 to 2 inches tall! But that’s not the only reason we wolves respect the saguaro.
Messing with saguaro can get you in trouble.
You know how teens can sometimes do dumb things that get them in trouble? One 16-year-old decided to spray paint graffiti on a slew of saguaros in a national park. The teen was caught and charged with felony vandalism. That’s some trouble indeed!
Messing with saguaro can get you killed.
An even dumber story involves two men who decided it would be a cool idea to start shooting at the mighty cacti. One small saguaro fell down after a battering of shots. So one of the guys decided to target a 27-foot saguaro. He fired two shots. One of the bullets ripped through the big saguaro arm, which fell off and crushed the guy to death. Got it? No shooting up or spray painting saguaro on your desert tour. But do feel free to gaze at them in awe.
Now, come out on a Desert Wolf ATV tour and see the Saguaro up close and personal!
Book your desert tour today!
Sources:
1) http://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Saguaro%20Cactus.php
2) http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20100407clay0408.html
3) http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/saguaro.asp
4) http://azstarnet.com/news/local/crime/teen-arrested-as-saguaro-park-vandal/article_eb0f1efd-ab77-5b7f-8de7-f0f406f37581.html