Flora and Fauna
More than twenty species of raptors including bald eagles and golden eagles, peregrine falcons, and several hawk species have been observed. The endangered species of bird, the California condor, has been re-introduced into this region recently due to its remote location and lack of human habitation. Desert bighorn sheep, pronghorns, and mountain lions make up most of the large mammals found here, with about 30 more species of smaller mammals. Several examples of rare fish species, such as the flannelmouth sucker and the speckled dace live in the streams of this National Monument. The Welsh's milkweed, a threatened plant species that grows on sand dunes, and helps stabilize them, is known to exist only in this National Monument and one other area in neighboring Utah.
Read more about this topic: Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
Famous quotes containing the words flora and/or fauna:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)