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Animal Life in Deserts

Deserts are on every continent, covering more than a fifth of the earth's surface. They are arid places with less than 10 inches of rain a year. Most deserts are hot, with the Sahara Desert in Africa reaching up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. A few, particularly those on Antarctica, are always cold. Desert animals have been able to adapt to the extreme conditions of the desert by using mechanisms or having physiological structures that assist them in retaining water, acquiring water, avoiding heat or dissipating heat.

Birds
- Several types of birds live in the desert, including hawks, owls, hummingbirds and pelicans. Their ability to fly makes it easier for them to cover more territory and find water and food sources easier than land mammals. In addition, birds are generally well-adapted to heat partially because of their inherently high body temperature. Feathers also help to insulate their bodies from heat. Most live on insects and tend to be smaller than other birds. Roadrunners can only fly short distances, but they are able to live in the desert because their quickness gives them the ability to prey on rattlesnakes and even hummingbirds, which they have been known to capture in mid-air.
Mammals
- Hot and dry deserts usually include small nocturnal mammals such as burrowers and kangaroo rats. They tend to be nocturnal, hunting for food at night when the desert is cooler. The kangaroo rats, found in North America, are unique. They eat seeds and have the ability to convert these seeds into water. They are also capable of living without water.
  
  Camels are among the few large mammals that live in the desert, abiding in northern Africa and parts of Asia. They can drink up to 25 percent of their body weight at one time that they can store for several days. Thick coats of fur insulate their bodies against the heat, which results in their outer coat being considerably warmer than the camel's body temperature.
Reptiles
- Lizards, snakes and tortoises live predominantly in the semi-arid type of desert. The desert horned viper is in many deserts of the world. It has a sideways motion, similar to the sidewinder rattler, allowing it to travel rapidly. It hibernates during the day, sleeping in abandoned burrows, and preys on lizards or small mammals or birds.
Amphibians
- Amphibians such as frogs and salamanders developed survival methods to avoid or mitigate the effects of little moisture and high heat. Many of these creatures dig borrows often as much as 3 feet underground, spending as much as 10 months a year in hibernation. They wait for the seasonal rains to return to the surface and breed and store energy for the next period deep below the surface.
Insects
- The desert environment seems best suited for the insect family of arthropods, those insects with exoskeletons. Desert beetles grow hard, shell-like carapaces that insulate them from the heat. Centipedes, millipedes, scorpions and spiders spend the daylight hours underground or in caves and under rocks, anywhere that affords some shade.

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