A look at distribution maps of several animal classes – reptiles, birds, and mammals, for example – shows Coronado sitting at the center of a unique biological vortex. Here, four major biological provinces intersect: the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, and the Sierra Madre and Rocky Mountains. The result is an ecological melting pot where species richness is much greater than it would be within one province alone. Some of that richness includes a dozen species of hummingbirds, the coatimundi and javelina, and many reptiles – among them