SAVING WILDLIFE Desert Animals So by Sonya Newland Smart Apple Media
What Is a Desert A desert is any large area that receives less than 10 inches 25 cm of rain a year Deserts cover around a quarter of our planet and they are growing bigger all the time Desert Landscapes Deserts can be sandy or rocky Often deserts are located between mountains and the water that flows from the mountaintops feeds a little moisture into these dry regions In some deserts the wind blows the sand into dunes hundreds of yards meters high In others the wind wears away the rock leaving huge pillars and arches Hot desert Bighorn sheep page 10 North America Cold desert Red kneed tarantula page 22 South America Life in the Desert Compared to other habitats deserts have very few animals and plants but some creatures have adapted amazingly well to the harsh environment Some people even live in deserts often in places called oases where there is a source of water Desert peoples include Australian Aboriginals the San Bushmen of the Kalahari in Southern Africa and the Bedouin of the Middle
EXTREME ANIMALS Desert tortoises spend 95 of their lives underground Hot and Cold Deserts Most deserts are found in Africa Asia and Australia During the day glaring sunshine heats up the ground making deserts extremely hot At night the temperature drops because there are no clouds to prevent the warm air from escaping Not all deserts are hot and dry though The Gobi Desert in Mongolia is a cold desert where temperatures during the day can drop far below freezing The areas around the North and South poles also have very little rainfall They are sometimes called frozen deserts 14 in 35 cm an addax D Bactrian camel page 8 Asia Europe Tropic of Cancer Africa Equator stralia Tropic of Capricorn Bandicoot page 12 Desert elephant page
