spines. They are typically about long, often producing flowers the following year which add new fruits to those of previous seasons. It is these hanging chains of fruit which give it the name "hanging chain cholla". Name The "jumping cholla" name comes from the ease with which the stems detach when brushed. Often the merest touch will leave a person with bits of cactus hanging on their clothes to be discovered later when either sitting or leaning on them. The ground around a mature plant will often be covered with dead stems, and young plants are started from stems that have fallen from the adult. They attach themselves to desert animals and are dispersed for short distances. Extinct, hairy megafauna may have played a role in their historic, more widespread dispersal in this manner. Other names for this cactus include chain fruit cholla, cholla brincadora, and velas de coyote. Wildlife During droughts, animals like the bighorn sheep and some deer species like the desert mule deer, rely on the juicy fruit for food and water. Because they grow in inaccessible and hostile places of the desert, populations of this cactus are stable. Cactus wren are also known to nest in jumping cholla. References External links Blueplanetbiomes.org: Chain fruit cholla Delange.org: Jumping cholla Cylindropuntia fulgida photo gallery at Opuntia Web Flora of North America @ efloras.org: Cylindropuntia fulgida (Chain-fruit cholla) fulgida Cacti of Mexico Cacti of the United States Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of Arizona Flora of Baja California Flora of New Mexico Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora without expected TNC conservation status