Reflections in the Desert

I once heard someone describe Arizona as "the Australia of the United States."  What they meant by this, of course, is that Arizona has an above-average number of wild animals that are dangerous, intimidating, or just make your skin crawl. To be honest, this is yet another thing about Arizona that I love.  That's not to say that I wholly agree with the statement- after all, I go hiking all the time and don't feel particularly unsafe in the wilderness (but as always, I take precautions like any smart hiker should).  I'm personally on higher alert when I visit parts of the country that have grizzly bears, for instance.  But I can understand what that person meant anyway.  What people seem to find worse than animals that are dangerous is animals that are  creepy .  I think it is a human instinct to have some type of fear reaction to animals that slither, crawl, have more than 4 legs, and/or have prominent jaws and stingers. But that doesn't mean we should...