The Desert
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Have YOU ever been to the Desert?
The largest desert in the world in the Sahara Desert, which has an area of over 3.5 million square miles. The Sahara Desert is located in North Africa, north of the equator. The largest cold desert is Antarctica, with an area of over 5 million square miles.
The location of a desert on Earth affects whether it is a cold desert or a hot desert. Hot deserts are usually found between 15°-35° north or south of the equator. These deserts have extremely high temperatures. Cold deserts are found near the poles.
Deserts can be caused by mountains. When are moves up a mountain range higher into the air, the air becomes very cold. This means it cannot hold a lot of moisture, and there is a lot of precipitation. But when the air moves down the other side, it becomes warm and humid because it holds a lot of moisture. This leads to little precipitation, and a desert is formed. This phenomenon is known as the "Rainshadow Effect."
Major Deserts of the World
Sand Dunes
Dust Storm
Activities
The DUNES!
Birds Eye View
The amazing weather!
Even though its hard to believe, there are PLANTS!
Saguaro Cactus
Old Man Cactus
Prickly Pear Cactus
Animals of the desert
In the desert there are many reptiles like snakes and lizards. Most of the mammals in the desert burrow underground and are nocturnal to protect themselves from the heat. All animals in the desert have to able to store water for long periods of time, and not require large amounts of water to survive. All animals also have to be able to adapt to the dramatic heat.
Meerkat- Located in Kalahari in Southern Africa. They eat insects, lizards, small rodents, and Scorpians(they are immune to their venom) They live in underground tunnels to protect them from the heat and predators. They travel in mobs, which is a large group of meerkats, for protection.
Sonoran desert toad- Located in North America.They feed on spiders, insects, and mice. They burrow underground, and in abandoned rodent burrows if they can find one. These toads are nocturnal. They are poisonous, and they're poison is especially fatal to animals.
Cactus Wren- Very beautiful, and only about 8 inches long. They feed on small insects, fruits, and seeds. They need very little water, and get most to all of their water from the food that they eat. They build their nests in cactus' to use the spikes to protect their nests from harm. They have long and curved so they can turn over objects. One rare thing about these animals is that both the male and the female make the nests and care for children.
Camels- There are two species of camel, and they do not live together. Two humped camels live in Asia, and one humped camels live in the Middle East and Africa. They're feet are made to grip the sand so they can walk long distances and up sand hills without slipping. They're humps can store water, and so they can go long periods without water, they can actually go up to two weeks without water. Despite having fur they can stand high temperatures without a problem
Come to the desert to enjoy and see all these beautiful and different animals you can't see anywhere else!
Discover the desert culture
http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/camelspider.html
What should you bring?
Additional Need to Knows
You can travel to the desert any time of the year, and it won't matter much. The climate stays very similar in the more tropical deserts, but when you be a little farther away, it can get a bit colder during the winter.
Most deserts are found inland and away from major bodies of water. Deserts are. It's common in the far north eastern hemisphere, and in the south eastern hemisphere. However, deserts exist at some point in almost every part of the world.
There can be light snowfall n the ver northern and southern deserts, and only really at night. It isn't really dangerous though.
The altitude of a desert has very little affect on the desert itself, except that deserts with very low altitude have a higher chance of containing bodies of water that aren't clouds, and higher altitudes have more sand dunes.