This image was first posted on March 10, 2012, on this site. — kenne
While hiking on the Sutherland Trail in Catalina State Park, we spotted this most unusual cristate (or crested) saguaro not far from the trail. Most cristate saguaros have a mutation that forms at the top of the cactus, giving it a crown appearance. At one time, this may have been the case with this saguaro; however, as it grew and aged, its new arms grew taller than the crown. Of course, this is a guess using my limited knowledge of saguaros, especially the mutated ones. Even though I refer to the unusual growth as a mutation, biologists disagree on the cause.
The nest in the cactus is probably that of a Curve-billed Thrasher since they like to build their nest in a dense thorny shrub or a clump of cactus. Click here to see many more images of the rare form of cactus
— kenne
Images by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 
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