Deserts

By Alannah

Weather/ Climate

A desert climate is HOT, so hot that it gets the nick name of Death Valley and The place from

where there is no return.

People have to live underground to get away from the heat.

The desert is the driest place on earth. The average annual rainfall is around 2.5cm of

rain, and the wettest desert has around 10inches of rain a year.

So you can imagine the driest desert wouldn’t be much fun.

Weather/ Climate

The normal desert weather in the day time is around 100 and at night it just under 50nimals in the desert usually come out at night to avoid the deadly heat. Although desert winters are extremely cold because

there is no cloud to keep all the hot air in.

There different types of deserts and different climates for those deserts like the: Hot desert, semiarid desert,

coastal desert and a Polar desert. The Polar desert snows in winter, a semiarid desert has

a short or scrubby vegetation and the Costal desert owns the driest desert on earth that desert is called the

Atacama.

Locations Worldwide

Most deserts are found in US, Mexico and Australia, but

they also are found in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Polar regions

and Oceania.

Australian deserts The biggest desert in Australia is the Great

Victorian Desert.

The biggest in the world Is the Sahara desert in North

Africa, it is 3 500 000+ squared miles.

The biggest polar desert Is the Antarctic Desert, it reaches up to 5 339 573

squared miles.

Smallest Desert in the world

Is the Carcross Desert Located outside Carcross, Yukon, Canada. It reaches to less than 240 Hectares.

Locations Worldwide

Most common locations are in: Australia, US and Mexico.

In The Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Iraq etc.

In South Africa: Namibia and Somalia etc.

And in Central Asia: Afghanistan, Uzbekistan,

Turkmenistan and many more!

Plants are a huge part of the desert they Shelta animals from the intense heat.

Here are the names of some plants: Sagebrush Barrel Cactus Creosote Brittle Cactus Chain fruit Cholla Creosote Bush

Crimson Hedgehog CactusDesert Ironwood Jumping Cholla Joshua Tree Mojave Aster

Ocotillo Palo Verde Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus

Saguaro Cactus Soap tree Yucca Triangle – Leaf Bursage

Plants

Chain fruit Cholla

The Chain fruit Cholla is a part of the Opunita family, the

Opunita family are different to other cacti because they have:

1. Jointed segments 2. Areoles that have minute

barbed spines called glochids that are easily

detachable 3. Leaves are presented on

new joints4. The seeds in a Opunita have

a pale covering over them called a aril.

Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus

The Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus is part of the Opuntia Family as well. The Pancake Prickly

Pear Cactus can be widely used and is a versatile cactus.

The Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus can be eaten or used as a crop.

The Natural Biome to a Pancake Prickly Pear cactus is the, Sonoran and Mojave desert.

Desert Animals

Road Runner Ostrich MeerkatCaracal

Texas Horned Lizard Black Widow spider

Black Scorpion

Cactus Wren Armadillo Lizard

Banded Gila Monster Bob Cat Coyote Javelina

Pygmy Owl

Road Runner

The Road Runner is fast! It can run 32 km an Hour. It’s full height is

around 52cm.

Funny Facts Road Runners have 4 toes on each foot but two face forward and the

other two face backward, and Road Runners are actually

carnivores and have an other name that is a Snake Eater.

Looks A Road Runner has black spikey on it’s

head, a sharp beak and a long feathery tail.

Coyote

A Coyote is also known as the Prairie Wolf and an American Jackal.

Coyotes are canine’s, they are Carnivores, it is in the Canidae family and their Genus is Canis.

Their height ranges between 106-127cm in length and are about 57-65cm tall.

Coyotes also come in packs so if you mess with one you mess with the Pack.

\Food Chain

Top of the food chain

Bottom of the food

chain

Hawk Mesquite Pod

Harvester Ants

Horned Lizard

Food Web

Cactus

Kit Fox

LizardsInsects

Annual Flowers

Sage Bush

Interesting Facts

20% of land is desert and a estimated 1/3 of the earth is a semi-arid desert.

There are 6 kinds of deserts: low intranet deserts, cold, salt, artificially created, toxic

and low rainfall deserts.

Interesting Facts

There is about 2000 different varieties of cacti, and about 1468 different species of desert

animals. 29 species of desert animals live in the Sahara desert. Mammillaria, Melocactus, Opuntia are

the most common cactus genus.

Bibliography

www.kidscyder.com.au www.blueplanetbiomes.org www.desertanimals.net

www.enchantedlearing.com www.Boker.org.il www.worldbiomes.com

www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com www.saharamet.org

www.desertimages.net www.freedigitalimages.net www.freeimages.co.uk