Colorado Life Zones: Seasons, Plants, & Animals

Step 1: Choose One of the Life Zones or Choices Below

Shortgrass Prairie or Plains Life Zone: Seasons, Plants, & Animals

Step 2: Choose a Topic from the Shortgrass Prairie or Plains Life Zone & Scroll Down

General Information

Through the Seasons

Playa Lakes & Underground Aquifer

Awesome Adaptations

Plants and Trees

Mammals

Birds

Reptiles & Amphibians

Reptiles & Amphibians of the Shortgrass Prairie or Plains

You will find many reptiles like snakes and lizards in the plains. Reptiles are cold blooded (don't produce their own body heat). For much of the year, the plains are hot enough for them to warm up and stay active. They can hide easily in the grass and underground burrows and have plenty of insects, birds'; eggs, other reptiles and amphibians, and small rodents to eat. In winter, they find a place to hide underground and go into a cold sleep like trance waiting for spring.

Amphibians like the plains spadefoot toad perform an amazing task to stay alive on the dry plains. The toads hide underground most of the year in an underground burrow in a trance like state. When they sense the large summer thunderstorm';s rain, they wake up, climb up, quickly mate, lay eggs in the newly formed pools of water, and eat the abundant insects. The eggs change quickly to tadpoles and then toads before the pools of water disappear. Just a few weeks after they come up, they dig themselves back into the ground waiting for the next big summer thunderstorm (possibly a year or two later).

You may find other toads, frogs, and turtles by the riparian life zones in the plains. Click on the Riparian Life Zones link to find out more about them.

Prairie or Western Rattlesnake

CO Herp Society

CSU NDIS

eNature

Other Snakes

CO Herp Society

CO Herp Atlas

CSU NDIS

Ornate or Western Box Turtle

CO Herp Society

CSU NDIS

GPNC

Different Kinds of Lizards:

CO Herp. Society

CO Herp Atlas

CSU NDIS

Different Kinds of Toads:

CO Herp Society

CO Herp Atlas

CSU NDIS

Great Plains Skink

eNature

Many Lined Skink

CSU NDIS

eNature

Awesome Adaptations: Western or Ornate Box Turtle

The western or ornate box turtle is built for survival. The turtle carries its own protective armor where ever it goes. The turtles hard shell protects it from all sorts of hungry coyotes, foxes, and other predators. When it feels in danger it tucks its feet and its head into its hard protective shell. It also has a hinge on the bottom part of the shell that closes more and lets the turtle be more hidden and protected. Once the danger has left, the box turtle comes out of the shells and continues on its journey.

The ornate box turtle does an amazing job living in the dry, hot, treeless, shortgrass prairie. Unlike many other turtles, the ornate box turtle mainly lives on the land and not in the water. The turtle can get most of its water from the insects and plants it eats. The box turtle's legs may seem slow and clumsy to some people, but this turtle is an amazing digger. The turtle will dig a tunnel in the ground and hide in it to escape the heat of the day, the freezing winter, and possible predators. So when you see a box turtle in the wild, please leave it in the wild because the box turtle has all the skills to survive and thrive in the wild.

Sources of information and to find more information: CO Herp Society, CSU NDIS, GPNC