Close up of a rotting saguaro. This summer was just too hot for them. They are full of water and the constant heat literally boiled them like a covered pot on a stove.
@byrdlip Indeed, that is usually the case, but that is not what is happening to them now. This is an example of rot. It is happening to most all saguaros right now. I took pictures recently of a couple of dying saguaros this summer and all of them are gone now.
@blueberry1222 The article from 21news.com also give, what I see, is miss information. ""Even saguaros, like the one that stood sentry over the Diniz home since the invention of the microprocessor (1971), needs deep water at least twice a month. Two feet deep, according to Whitfill.""
National Park Service states: ""In the desert, rainstorms often come with high powered winds that can threaten a saguaro’s ability to remain standing if in the soil becomes saturated."" https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/saguaro_roots.htm
It also mentions that ""[the root system] stretch out four feet from the main stem in all directions, and three to five inches deep."" So the area seems to be going thru, perhaps, another dry spell. ""Pueblo Grande was occupied from approximately A.D. 450 to 1450, at which time it was abandoned like many other villages throughout the Phoenix basin. The reasons why these ancestral Native Americans left their villages and irrigation systems are widely debated among archaeologists. There are many competing hypotheses that include floods, droughts, warfare, and disease.[5] "" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Grande_Ruin_and_Irrigation_Sites [for what its worth]
Cactus wrens got a hold of that one. Made a nice apartment building out of it. Show have some fine boots once it falls over.
Although, some of those holes are too small for nests and looks like that one was used for target practice. And some machete wounds on the left side.
National Park Service states: ""In the desert, rainstorms often come with high powered winds that can threaten a saguaro’s ability to remain standing if in the soil becomes saturated."" https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/saguaro_roots.htm
It also mentions that ""[the root system] stretch out four feet from the main stem in all directions, and three to five inches deep."" So the area seems to be going thru, perhaps, another dry spell. ""Pueblo Grande was occupied from approximately A.D. 450 to 1450, at which time it was abandoned like many other villages throughout the Phoenix basin. The reasons why these ancestral Native Americans left their villages and irrigation systems are widely debated among archaeologists. There are many competing hypotheses that include floods, droughts, warfare, and disease.[5] "" -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Grande_Ruin_and_Irrigation_Sites [for what its worth]