Due to the very little precipitation and little soil in the Canyonlands, there is not an abundance of plant species.

Pinyon Pines– grow to be 10 feet tall and 4-6 inches in diameter. Their trunks are crooked and the bark is a reddish color.

Utah Juniper– twisting tree with scale-covered leaves and bluish, waxy-coated seeds

Saltbush-vary in size from small herbs to large shrubs with greyish-green leaves.

Indian rice grass-large type of bunch grass that grows in scattered clumps and is rich in protein.

Yuccas-common in the canyonlands, this plant has narrow leaves that are stiff and very sharp. Produces thick cream colored blossoms in April,May, and June that come from its 5

yucca

Animals of the Canyonlands

Lizards–reptiles that spend majority of their day inactive in burrows.

Northern Whiptail-long and thin lizards with pointed snouts and tails longer than their body. Average snout-vent lengths are from 2 ¾ inches to 5 ¼ inches, with their tail being over a foot in length. These lizards are tan, olive, or brown with lighter stripes and/or yellow or white spots.

Sceloporus magister-also known as the desert spiny lizard is a large stocky and scaley lizard which can grow to be up to 5.6 inches in length from snout to vent. These lizards are gray, tan or brown.

Snakes- during late spring and early fall is when you’ll find snakes active during the day. During the winter they become inactive and then in the summer they become crepuscular (active at twilight).

Gopher Snake-large snake between 36-96 inches long and can be cream-yellow to green-gray to tan in color. Many range in color but all have large black, brown or reddish blotches on their back and small blotches on their side.

Western Rattlesnake– medium/large snake between 70-100 cm in length. This snake is brown and sometimes a little greenish, with large blotches on its back and white crossbars on the tail.

Cooper’s Hawk- medium-sized bird with broud rounded wings and a very long tail.

Rock Squirrels-large brownish gray squirrels about 1.5 inches in length with a brushy tail approximately 8 inches long. They live in open burrows and are active during the day.

Fennec Fox– this long eared small fox stays does a majority of its activity at night as it goes out to hunt birds and other small animals, and then spends its time in a burrow during the hot day.

Canyonlands Climatogram

In the Canyonlands, the winter season is when the desert biome receives the majority of its precipitation and then undergoes a dry summer with low humidity.

Can you find this type of biome in Canada?

The desert biome is found in Canada, however not in Saskatchewan. There is only a very small portion in Canada that actually consists of the desert biome and this is in the rain shadows of the Rocky Mountains in Southern B.C. Canada contains a very small area of the desert biome but consists mostly of five main biomes; the Tundra, Boreal Forest, Mountain Forest,Grassland, and the Deciduous Forest.