Because most desert animals are nocturnal, it’s difficult to see many of them. Nonetheless, their variety and exotic presences should be noted. Horned lizards, kangaroo rats, red-and-black ground snakes, kit foxes, and four-inch-long greenish-yellow hairy scorpions are some of the more interesting denizens of the desert east of the Cascade Mountains. Marine fossils dating back 225 million years have been found in eastern Oregon creek beds in an area that is now home to pronghorn and wild mustangs.