Desert

About the Desert

Deserts are hot. Deserts are dry. Deserts do not have many plants as the climate is too hot to handle most types of plants, and animals have to be able the ability to have a borrow underground.

There are also cold deserts, which are similar, but cold year-round. They are also dry with limited plants and animals. Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface. Most hot deserts are toward the center of the Earth and most cold deserts are found near the Arctic. Hot deserts have very little percipitation, while cold deserts typically have lots of snow.

Location: Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahua, and Great Basin (North America); Sahara (Africa); Negev (Middle East); and Gobi (Asia)

Animals in the Desert

As said above, any animal that lives in the desert have to be able to burrow underground so they can get away from the hot sun. And for cold deserts, they would need to burrow to keep warm. Some of these animals include mourning wheatears, and horned vipers for hot deserts, and antelops and ground squirrels for cold deserts.

Vegetation in the Desert

Since desert conditions are so severe, the plants that live there need to have adaptations to compensate for the lack of water. Some plants, such as cacti, store water in their stems and use it very slowly, while others like bushes conserve water by growing few leaves or by having large root systems to gather water or few leaves. Some desert plant species have a short life cycle of a few weeks that lasts only during periods of rain.