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Prickly pear cactus

Cactaceaehas

Photo by mary.gallo.m
Published on Project Noah
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29.5669, -94.3935

Field Notes

Description:

The plural of cactus is cacti. The Prickly Pear Cactus has large fleshy pads that look a lot like big leaves. The pads are connected at the stems. Cacti don’t need a lot of water to survive. You will find them mostly in the desert. That is why I was totally surprised to find several of them in a cow pasture. The main way that a cactus gets water is through it’s roots. Some cacti can survive for whole months without water. Animals such as deer, rabbits, and birds all enjoy eating the fruit, flesh, or flowers of the cactus. It uses it’s spines to help protect itself.

Habitat:

Several of these prickly pear cacti were spotted in a large cow pasture in High Island, Texas. This area did not seem dry at all because everything was green and there were several cows eating the grass in the pasture. Interesting find for me.

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