Live
Audio Only
Along with the human migrants targeted by the U.S. president, the jaguars, bighorn sheep and deer-like Sonoran pronghorns of northern Mexico have a lot to lose from his planned border wall.
Such species currently roam at will back and forth across the border of Mexico and the United States in reserves specially protected by both countries' governments.
Conservationists fear Trump's vow to build a wall the length of the border to keep criminals out of the United States will doom the beasts to extinction.
It would stop them getting where they need to go to feed and mate.
"Caution, fauna crossing," reads a sign among the cactus and wild bushes in the northeastern desert, where deer, wild cats, coyotes and wolves crisscross the frontier.
The habitat spans the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona and the Pinacate and Gran Altar Desert over in the Mexican state of Sonora, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The reserve is divided only by a simple fence with gaps big enough for the animals to pass through.
In the parched desert, the animals have to trot long distances to look for water, food and shelter.
Newsletter
