Deserts are places on earth that are characterized by little vegetation and rain. They are made up of sand or rocks and gravel. Deserts cover about one-fifth of all the land in the world. Most deserts lie along the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, imaginary lines that lie north and south of the equator.

Deserts

Oases are parts of the desert where plants grow and water is almost always available.

An oasis is formed by a pool of water trapped between layers of rock beneath the desert floor. The regular water in an oasis allows people to settle in the desert and

even grow crops.

Types of Deserts

Believe it or not, deserts come in several varieties. The two major classifications

are hot and cold.

Cold Desert Hot deserts

Hot Deserts of the World

The main form of precipitation in a hot desert is rain. But that's only ten inches or less of

rain per year. Arabian Arabian Peninsula

Australian (Great Sandy, Victoria, Simpson, Gibson, and

Sturt) Australia

Chihuahuan North Central Mexico

and Southwestern United States (Arizona,

New Mexico, Texas

Kalahari Southwestern Africa

Monte Argentina

Sahara Northern Africa

Mojave Southwestern United

States (Arizona, California, Nevada

Sonoran Southwestern United States (Arizona, California) and parts of Mexico (Baja

Peninsula, Sonora)

Thar India and Pakistan

Cold Deserts of the World

The main form of precipitation in a cold desert is snow or fog.

Atacama Coasts of Peru and

Chile

Gobi Northern China and Southern Mongolia

Great Basin Western United States

(Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah)

Iranian Iran, Afghanistan,

and Pakistan

Namib Coasts of

Southwestern Africa

Takla Makan Western China

Turkestan Parts of the Middle East and

Southwestern Russia

Climate

The desert is the hottest biome on earth. However, the desert is also a land of extremes. It can be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day but below 32 degrees at night. This change is because deserts are bare. There is little protection to keep them from heating up in the sun and cooling off when the sun disappears at night.

The amount of rainfall also varies. Though there is little rain in a desert, and when it does rain, it pours. Violent rainstorms can cause flash floods in the desert. After a storm, the desert may not see any rain for weeks or months.

Plants Some plants have very long roots which grow in to the ground to reach underground water sources. Plants that are able to survive in the desert, may have to go without fresh water for over a year! They also have to adjust to very hot days and very cold nights. Some suck up as much water as they can during the rain and save it in their stems and leaves. Some store the food and water underground in thick root. Rain brings life to the desert. Shortly after a big storm, billions of seeds come to life in the form of flowering plants. These plants are called ephemerals, because eight weeks after a rain, the flowers are gone.

The plants that have learned to adapt to a dry environment are called xerophytes. They alert their

physical structure to save up water for the dry weather. Xerophytes are a lot like cacti, they can store

water.

Cacti or cactusThere is also a plant called a Yucca plant. Yacca plants have very bright and beautiful flowers.

Although it is very pretty, Yucca plants have very strong leaves. The Indians use them to make baskets.

There is a tree called a Joshua tree that is very closely related to the Yucca plant. They are tall with thick

trunks. They have rough bark covering the trunks. They have greenish/white flowers that grow in bunches and

smell good.

AnimalsThere are hundreds of different animals that live in deserts. However, most of them can only be found at dawn or dusk because that is when they move around. For the rest of the day, animals bury themselves in the sand or hide beneath rocks to keep cool. Animals that come out at night are called nocturnal. Animals in the desert eat plants and each other to survive. Many feed on the roots, stems, leaves, and seeds of plants. These animals are then eaten by bigger animals. Some animals get enough water from their food, but others must travel to water holes

Rattlesnakes

Rattlers usually eat small rodents like mice, small

rabbits, squirrels, and lizards. Rattlesnakes give live birth while most others lay eggs.

Rattler’s skins are also used to make jewelry, purses, boots,

and clothes.Turkey Vulture

A vulture is a very common desert bird which usually eats off of dead carcasses.

These birds soar for hours waiting to see or smell something to eat with their great

eyesight and great sense of smell.

POPULATIONSome of the people who live in

deserts are:Desierto ArábigoHumans have inhabited the Arabian Desert since

early Pleistocene times (i.e., about 2.6 million years ago

The Bedouin adapted to nomadic desert life by breeding camels, Arabian horses, and sheep; but they have also grown date palms and other crops, usually hiring others to perform agricultural labour

Desierto de KalahariThe Bushmen have lived in the Kalahari for

20,000 years as hunter-gatherers. They hunt wild game with bows and arrows and

gather edible plants, such as berries, melons and nuts, as well as insects.

Bushmen rarely drink water; they get most of their water requirements from plant roots

and desert melons found on or under the desert floor.

Australian DesertThe main populations consist of

Indigenous Australian communities and mining centers. The aboriginal people of the desert fall into two main groups: the Martu in the west and the Pintupi in the

east.

Saharan desertThe Sahara Desert covers over 3.5

million square miles and has only 2.5 million inhabitants - roughly 1 person per square mile. The majority of the

people living in the Sahara Desert are nomads, which means that these people continuously move from region to region

in search of better living conditions.

AFTER WORK DESERT REGION

1. Which one on the seen deserts here, is your favourite desert?

2. What is the most difficult situation for people living in the desert?

3. What can you do to value the water you have?

4. According to the desert resoruces.. What can people eat?