The Arizona Diamondback might be a good logo for a baseball team, but it didn’t make the cut as the state reptile. That honor went to the Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake.
According to “A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona,” published by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the ridge-nosed rattlesnake is found in the mountain ranges of southern Arizona. It’s a protected species.
It was one of four state animals recognized by state law in 1986. The others included state mammal (the ringtail), the state fish (Arizona trout) and the state amphibian (Arizona treefrog).
The state bird, the cactus wren, was already on the books.
While the Legislature made the entries official, Arizona schoolchildren actually made the selection, said Randy Babb, a biologist with state Game and Fish.
“Kids nominated animals for the state mammal, amphibian and reptile,” Mr. Babb said. They did so for the state fish as well.
According the Web site netstate.com, school kids studied 800 species before narrowing it down to the four finalists by popular vote. The Game and Fish Department sponsored the selection.
As for the state amphibian, the Arizona treefrog leaped past its nearest competitor — the Colorado River toad — by more than 3,000 votes, according to netstate.com.
Small and bright-green to copper colored, the treefrog is found in the conifer forests of the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains. According to the field guide: It “occasionally climbs into trees.”