Animals & Plants of Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The 5 animals, plants, and fungi you can find at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, with sizes, diets, and whether you should worry. See the full park guide at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Guadalupe Mountains is desert that tilts up into forest: Chihuahuan desert flats rise to pine groves on the highest point in Texas. Bighorn sheep and elk hold the high slopes, mule deer work the middle, and pronghorn cross the desert bench to the west. Common collared lizards sprint between rocks on the canyon floors.
Common questions
Which Guadalupe Mountains animals should kids keep their distance from?
At Guadalupe Mountains National Park, give space to Elk, Bighorn sheep, Pronghorn, and Mule deer. Elk: Elk look calm but they are large and wild. Bighorn sheep: Bighorn sheep are shy and would rather climb away than come near you. Pronghorn: Not a real worry: pronghorn keep their distance from people on their own. Mule deer: Mule deer look calm and tame, but they are wild animals with sharp hooves, and bucks have antlers in fall. (per NPS species pages).
What do the high-country residents of Guadalupe Mountains eat?
At Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the most interesting eaters are Elk, Pronghorn, Bighorn sheep, and Mule deer. Elk eats grasses, forbs, shrubs, tree bark in winter. Pronghorn eats sagebrush, rabbitbrush, forbs, some grasses. Bighorn sheep eats grasses, shrubs, desert plants. Mule deer eats grasses, leaves, twigs, flowers, nuts, berries. (per NPS species pages).
Which Guadalupe Mountains species has the strangest true fact?
The strangest true thing about Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Elk: Only the bulls grow antlers, and they grow fast, up to an inch a day, then drop off each winter and start over in spring. Bighorn sheep: A ram's two curled horns can weigh up to 30 pounds together, about as much as a big bag of dog food, and he carries them on his head his whole life. (per NPS species pages).
Anything here that bites?
Keep away
- Bighorn sheep: Bighorn sheep are shy and would rather climb away than come near you.
- Elk: Elk look calm but they are large and wild.
- Mule deer: Mule deer look calm and tame, but they are wild animals with sharp hooves, and bucks have antlers in fall.
- Pronghorn: Not a real worry: pronghorn keep their distance from people on their own.
Bites if handled
- Common collared lizard: This lizard is not dangerous.
Everything else on this page is harmless. What each group means.
-
Mammal Bighorn sheep
Ovis canadensis
A wild sheep of cliffs and canyons, where rams carry heavy curled horns and both sexes cross steep rock other animals can't.
-
Reptile Common collared lizard
Crotaphytus collaris
A bright, big-headed lizard with two black neck bands that can sprint on its back legs like a tiny dinosaur across the slickrock at Arches and Canyonlands.
-
Mammal Elk
Cervus canadensis
A large deer of mountain meadows whose bulls grow branching antlers and, each fall, bugle a high whistling call across the valley.
-
Mammal Mule deer
Odocoileus hemionus
A western deer named for its big mule-like ears, common along canyon rims and desert washes in Grand Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, and Saguaro.
-
Mammal Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
North America's fastest land mammal, seen in Yellowstone's northern range and at Lava Beds, built to outrun a predator that went extinct 12,000 years ago.