In part, global wind patterns are caused by the way in which the sun’s rays warm theearth. The part of the earth that receives most of the sun’s heat is the tropics—the regionabout the equator that lies between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. In the tropics thesun’s rays hit the earth almost at right …
The earth’s driest continent, Australia, is also home to dozens of marsupials—mammals whose young are born at a very early stage of development, and whichcontinue their growth outside the womb in a body pouch or pocket (marsupium),usually found on the belly of the female. Several marsupial species are highlyadapted to the arid interior of the …
Large animals often die in the desert—of thirst, hunger, heat stress, or all three. There are always scavengers, however, to feed off the flesh and crunch thebones. Of the three main species of hyena, best adapted to very dry habitats is the brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea). Hyenas are much more actively predatory than their popular …
Desert dogs and foxesTwo members of the dog group that survive in varied habitats, including drygrassland and scrubby semidesert, are the coyote (Canis latrans) and the dingoAtlas of the world’s deserts 170(Canis dingo) of Southeast Asia and Australasia. The latter is tawny yellow incolor and can hardly bark, only howl. Sometimes regarded as a subspecies …
In any habitat the large carnivores or top predators are relatively few in number.This is a consequence of the natural ecological balance between species. Inorder to allow prey populations to maintain themselves, and to avoid huntingthem to extermination, the top carnivores need to range over a wide area andtake one meal here, another there some …
Oryx were once among the most successful larger mammals tocolonize desert regions of Africa and the Middle East During the 20thcentury, however, increased hunting of the Saharan scimitar oryx(Oryx dammah) and the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) of the MiddleEast left both species critically threatened.Oryx scrape holes in sand dunes with their hooves and horns toexpose …
Many arid regions are now home to livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats, aswell as those most famed of large desert-dwellers, the camels. Variousantelopes, gazelles, and ibex thrive on sparse grazing in semidesert regions ofAfrica and Asia. Probably the best adapted for true desert life are the dama anddorcas gazelles (Gazella dama and G. …
The mammalian fauna of most deserts is dominated by small rodents, includinghundreds of species of ground squirrels, mice, rats, kangaroo mice, kangaroorats, gerbils, jerboas, and jirds. Their burrowing, nocturnal habits are describedearlier. One of the best-known, from its success as a small, clean, fairly odorfreepet, is the Mongolian gerbil—technically called the Mongolian jird(Meriones unguiculatus)—of the …
With generally higher body temperatures than mammals, birds are betterequipped for survival in the searing desert heat. Most birds, too, are able to flylong distances in order to find water, or to move on if a dry spell becomes tooacute. Consequently many bird species are found on the fringes of, though rarelydeep inside, true deserts; …
Frogs, toads, and other amphibians usually need water in which to spawn—forthe first stage of their lives tadpoles are aquatic gill-breathers. Nevertheless,surprisingly, a few amphibians have managed to survive in the desertenvironment.In North America various species of spadefoot toads (genus Scaphiopus),such as the western spadefoot (S. hammondi), are well adapted to desert life.They are mostly …