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
Deserts under threat While many habitats are shrinking some deserts are spreading into surrounding areas V Precious water As this happens people who live on the edges sources are diverted of deserts are forced to move away to help grow crops WHAT DO YOU THINK If desertification is threatening the lives of Why Are Deserts the people who live in desert regions why Ke Growing should we worry about the few animals that also make their homes there The people who live on the grasslands that surround deserts graze their livestock there As the animals reduce the plant cover the soil gets drier and the top soil blows away This means that fewer plants can survive Gradually the deserts spread in a process called desertification Global warming is also causing desertification Growing deserts might seem like good news for the creatures that live there but any changes to the environment can badly affect desert
In the Australian what Else Is Threatening Animals Nuclear testing is often carried out in deserts because large areas are uninhabited This can poison the soil so animals cannot survive Mining for oil and minerals is also damaging desert habitats desert people mine for precious opals which damages the land Saving Desert Wildlife Some of the rarest animals in the world live in the desert ecosystem but they find it a hard to survive as the deserts change If a species dies out others might become threatened because all living things are connected in a web of life People now realize how important it is to help desert wildlife ENDANGERED ANIMALS The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN lists animals according to how endangered they are Extinct Died out completely Extinct in the wild Only survive in captivity Critically endangered Extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the near future Endangered High risk of becoming extinct in the wild Vulnerable High risk of becoming endangered in the wild Near threatened Likely to become endangered in the near future Least concern Lowest risk of becoming endangered
