Here's a gallery of desert animals that can inspire fear and revulsion, until their role in the web of life is understood. In fact, they are hardly more dangerous than a bee. Bats are unusual in the animal world because they use echo-location, or sonar, to navigate and locate insect prey. They are very important in the control of insect populations, and also pollinate cactus and other desert plants.
Vultures are nature's clean-up crew, with a very special function as purifiers.
Their digestive systems are able to destroy even the strongest strains of bacteria and viruses, like hog cholera and anthrax, and so they disinfect decomposing material before it is recycled into the food chain. All sorts of incorrect notions perpetuate the association of snakes with evil. Actually, snakes are simply animals with some interesting ways of moving, hunting, and otherwise interacting with the environment. A snake might strike a human if it felt threatened, but if the snake were a rattlesnake, it might at least rattle a warning before striking.