Driving to an elevation of 5,185 ft., Keys View, a grand overlook within Joshua Tree National Park.  On a clear day you can see all the way to Mexico.  Keys View revealed to us not only the San Andreas Fault, but also these interesting little creatures forging out an existence in a hostile desert environment. Watching them, I gained a greater understanding of nature, the desert, and our relation to it.

What you’re seeing here is the White Tailed Antelope Squirrel, an omnivorous rodent, living primarily on foliage in many of the U.S.’s arid southwestern states including California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.  This mammal usually lives in burrows, but as you can see, these are living out of rock crevices.

Shooting with a 300mm, and a 18-135 mm lens, I was able to capture this video over the course of an afternoon.  Although I had a difficult time keeping up with them, these little creatures were a real delight to watch.  Being able to stand so close to them, I suspect that visitors to the park have been feeding them.  This is really unfortunate because the squirrels seem to have lost their natural fear of humans.  On top of that, feeding these animals incites overpopulation (which judging from the number and the size of a few of them could be a problem with this particular site).  If this is true, erosion of the cliff side due to the excess burrowing and digging, could be a real possibility.

Keep in mind, feeding animals in many City, State, and National Parks is illegal, so just DON’T DO IT!

For more info on Joshua Tree National Park, journey here…

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