Boulder City, Nevada
While exploring around Lake Havasu the other day, we were lucky enough to come upon a couple of dozen burros.
Oh my goodness… They are so gosh darned cute!
The Wild Burro was first introduced into the Desert Southwest by Spaniards in the 1500s. Wild Burros have long ears, a short mane and reach a height of up to 5 feet at the shoulders. They vary in color from black to brown to gray.
After researching them for this post, I learned that burros are especially suited for life and work in the desert. They can tolerate a water loss as much as 30% of their body weight. And they can replace that loss with only five minutes of drinking. (Humans require medical attention if 10% of body weight is lost to dehydration and require a full day of intermittent drinking to replenish this loss.)
According to a Bureau of Land Management site, there are just over 8,000 wild burros in the western United States. Over 4,000 of those live in Arizona, and almost 2,000 live in California. Just over 300 live in Utah, and just over 1,500 live in Nevada.
We saw five burrows in Arizona a few weeks ago and about thirty in California the other day. So by my calculations, we saw less than 0.25% of the Arizona burros and a whopping 1.5% of the California population. Amazing…
They were so plentiful that the groundskeepers for this golf course don’t even have to mow! 🙂 
This burro and Sophie were having a stare down. The burro won. 
This one was the cutest one we saw. I think she’s old because her fur is very long. Just look at her eyebrows.
I swear if I see any more burros they are going to replace my favorite animal to see in the wild–buffalo!Â
Maybe I can have two favorites, right?
So cute! Does the golf course hire pooper scoopers? Or have a separate ball retrieving machine to pick up biscuits?
Giggles. Good one, Carol. 🙂
Burros are so adorable. They look so fuzzy and sweet. You can definitely have more than one favorite!
I didn’t realize that they were so tiny, Joanne. I think that adds to their adorableness!