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salt_low_ t1_j5t3gmf wrote

So curious to understand what lives in these canyons - they look so smooth and barren

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Iagospeare t1_j5tdzwh wrote

Usually nothing. These canyons are periodically flash-flooded by average rainfall upstream. The only things you'll find alive are animals that fly, got stuck, or are just passing through.

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imnotsoho t1_j5w2c75 wrote

Absolutely not true. Lots of little critters. Larger ones who come through looking for a meal. I went to Lower Antelope in the early 90s, went up the side canyon and surprised a Great Horned Owl at the end of the slot. Got within 20 feet of him sitting on shelf.

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Iagospeare t1_j5wkf7f wrote

Flying animals will hang out there from time to time, but having been to dozens of slots I believe it's fair to say they don't "live there." I've seen tadpoles in a flooded one, a bat in a dry one, and birds in a few, but most of the time I just see a handful of the bugs that I see everywhere in Utah/Arizona.

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imnotsoho t1_j5wv4ko wrote

Bugs are still animals, even ones that are only visible when you are right up to them.

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