Saguaro cacti can grow up to 50 feet tall and live more than 150 years. The saguaro seed is no bigger than the head of a pin and, after the first 15 years, a saguaro may be only one foot tall. After a single rainfall, a saguaro can soak up 200 gallons of water. The holes made in saguaro by gila woodpeckers and gilded flickers can be used by elf owls, the lightest owls in the world. The fruit and wooden frame of the saguaro have been used by the Tohono O'odham people who continue to live in the area. Their history dates back to the pre-Columbian Hohokam culture.

Your Guide to the National Parks by Michael J. Oswald
Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest by Stephen Plog

Young cooked pads, called nopalitos, are a traditional food of the Tohono O'odham and other southwestern tribes. Prickly pear fruits also have been an important staple. Fruits traditionally were harvested with tongs and brushed with grass or rolled on the ground to remove glochids. They could then be peeled and eaten raw or sun-fried and stored.

Cacti of the Desert Southwest by Meg Quinn