What Are Deserts?

What Are Deserts? — page 1 — the Driest Biome A biome is a large region of Earth that has a certain climate and certain types of living things A desert is one kind of biome Some other biomes include tundra forests and grasslands This map shows Earth’s major biomes 4

What Are Deserts? — page 2 — Think About It What kind of traits would be helpful for animals and plants in a desert to have Deserts cover about 20 percent of Earth’s land surface and every continent has at least one desert When people think of a desert they usually think of a sandy hot and dry place But there are other types of deserts as well A desert is any large region that gets very little rain each year This lack of water means that very few plants or animals live in desert areas The plants and animals that live in deserts around the world have traits that help them to survive in their particular areas This desert fox photographed in a desert region of Egypt is a common animal for this environment 5

What Are Deserts? — page 3 — hot Deserts Vocabulary There are hot cold and temperate deserts The world’s hottest deserts are in areas closest to the equator in the region known as the tropics This is a band of Earth on either side of the equator The sunlight is very strong in the tropics which makes the area warmer than other parts of Earth A camel caravan travels through the Sahara in Morocco 6 The equator is an imaginary circle around Earth It runs east and west halfway between the North and South poles

What Are Deserts? — page 4 — The world’s largest hot desert is the Sahara in northern Africa Other hot deserts include the Mojave in the southwestern United States and the Kalahari in southern Africa In hot deserts daytime temperatures are often above 100 Fahrenheit 38 Celsius in summer Al Aziziyah Libya experienced the hottest temperature ever recorded at 136 F 57 8 C Death Valley California has come close at 134 F 56 7 C Death Valley National Park is located in southeastern California 7

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