You might be surprised to learn about New Mexico’s mountain ranges, given its reputation as an arid desert. The Sangre de Cristo mountain range is actually the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains, and runs through both New Mexico and Colorado. The New Mexico part of the range contains the 13,161 ft Wheeler Peak, previously named Taos Peak for the nearby town.Snowy peaks aren’t the only mountains to be found in the state, either. New Mexico also has several volcanoes, including the shield volcanoes Mount Taylor and Sierra Grande, and the cinder cone Capulin Mountain. The Guadalupe mountain range, which runs through both New Mexico and Texas, has one of the most interesting backstoriesit’s the remains of a limestone reef from a dried-up sea.Given the variety of New Mexico’s ranges, it is little surprise that they should be home to their own distinctive wildlife. The Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep is found in the Sangre de Cristo mountains especially, and is known for its speed (20 miles an hour in some cases) and horns, which can reach weights of 30 pounds. The whistling rodent, the marmot, is also found throughout some of the ranges. You may have seen one particularly plump one’s star turn in this video where he eats a graham cracker.It’s also not uncommon to catch sight of the coatimundi, or Brazilian aardvark. They have been known to survive in a variety of climates, from rainforests to grasslands and colder mountain slopes like the Andes in the South America. If you’re even luckier, you may see two distinctive large cats: the arctic lynx or the semitropical jaguar. As you can see, New Mexico boasts both a varied landscape, and a wide variety of animal species that are definitely worth a look.