Cholla Cactus –
Nicknamed the chain-link cactus, these cacti grow in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Utah. They grow in deserts, but also on plains and in cow pastures. When it dies it turns into a hollow wooden cane with big holes in the wood.
In a drought the Cholla can survive very well. Actually, they thrive, because some cows will eat these cacti when they run out of grass. Then the cows spread the seeds in their manure. You can always tell an over-grazed pasture by too many cactus plants that are now crowding out the grass.
This Cholla is in the Comanche National Grassland in Colorado. Behind it are the Spanish Peaks – over fifty miles away and covered in snow!
