A desert is a biome or ecosystem that is very dry. The climate can be a hot desert, a cold desert climate, or a mild desert climate. All of these deserts are arid, meaning they get less than 25 cm of rainfall each year. Not many animals or plants can survive there.
Animals that inhabit deserts must adapt and generally have much less fat than non-desert animals. Fat serves as an insulation and would retain heat. Some examples of animals that live in the desert are: snakes, scorpions, armadillo, xerocoles, mountain lions, prairie dogs, lizards, roadrunners, bobcats, wolves, and rams. Most of the desert plants are cacti. Here are some others: larrea, elephant trees, and rock plants. They survive dry spells by collecting moisture in their fleshy tissues.
The surroundings of the desert are mostly sand (or ice in Antarctica). The largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara in northern Africa, reaches temperatures of up to 122°F. Some are always cold, like the Gobi Desert in Asia and Antarctica. Other deserts are mountainous.
An example of a predator is the bobcat. Bobcats are carnivores. Bobcats eat rodents, small deer, and some birds and reptiles. They also eat jackrabbits and other rabbits. Rabbits have an adaptation. They are very fast so they get away from predators easily. The ears help them hear if predators are coming. Also, their eyes are on the side of their head so they can see from all kinds of directions. A threat to the bobcat is man. Hunters, mountain lions, and wolves are threats to a bobcat.
The desert biome is located in these parts of the world:
- Southwest area of North America
- Small eastern part of South America
- Northern and southern parts of Africa
- Most of the middle east and part of Asia
- Central Australia
- Antarctica is the largest desert
Interestingly, the only continent with no deserts is Europe. Deserts cover 1/3 of the whole world’s land surface!
*A project done in Draven’s 4th grade