Desert Speaks

Jumping Cactus & Other Myths

Did you know the javelina is not a pig? If you're lost in the desert, you can always get water by cutting open a cactus, right? Wrong! This program examines - and dispels - many of the myths and stereotypes surrounding the Sonoran Desert region. The show focuses on such myths as "the jumping cholla," a type of cactus that seems to leap onto unsu specting bystanders; whether owls can rotate their heads 360 degrees; whether hummingbirds ever rest, and do they really hitchhike on the ba cks of wild geese to migrate? There are some who believe snakes don't have bones and that bats are blind and rabid.