While most of us are searching for ways to burn off fat and slim up our bodies, camels are actually evolved by nature to carry extra fat around to survive! These foxes are active at night so that they dont have to deal with the burning heat of the sun during the day to hunt for food. Like the gazelle, the Addax antelope is well known for its sleekness and its beauty. Although deserts are known for being extremely hot during the day, they can also get very cold at night (because there are no clouds to prevent a deserts heat from escaping into space). They feed on antelopes like the addax and the gazelles. Their bodies are slim and they have slender legs. The deathstalker isnt all bad news; its venom can be used to locate tumors in the human body. They conserve energy by periodically entering torpor a state of reduced activity that resembles a mini-hibernation. Mulgaras are rat-sized marsupials found in desert regions of central Australia. Most camel spiders are desert animals, although some are found in grasslands and forests. Some examples of desert animals include snakes, lizards, scorpions, camels, foxes, big cats, and antelopes. Ruth Maclean West Africa correspondent. Designated as vulnerable by the IUCN, only 35,000-40,000 of these animals exist today. Although the snakes head points in the direction of travel, its body appears to be moving sideways. 6. They mainly hunt at night. It is characterized by its long, twisted horns and pale coat color which also lends it the name of white antelope. It has an area of more than 9 million square km that is equal to the area of China or the USA. The sand cat has large, pointed ears, and is thought to have hearing that is far more acute than that of a domestic cat. This desert insects water collecting abilities havent gone unnoticed; inventors are working on materials and products that utilize similar methods to collect water from the air! Death Stalker Scorpion (Art/Flickr) This type of scorpion is translucent and yellow in appearance, and is among the most venomous animals of the Sahara desert, and the entire world. The Arabian oryx is the smallest of the four antelopes in the genus oryx. With fewer than 2,500 individuals of the rhim gazelle (Gazella leptoceros) left in the wild, this species has been declared to be endangered by IUCN. This keeps the fox warm at night, when temperatures in the Sahara Desert can be surprisingly low, even (occasionally) dropping below 0 C. The fennec fox is the smallest of all the world's foxes, but its large ears, measuring 6 inches, appear to be on loan from a bigger relative. The Sahara sits atop the African Shield, which is composed of heavily folded and denuded Precambrian rocks. Although roadrunners can fly, they only do so as a last resort when evading predators they spend most of the time on the ground, and are excellent runners. The Sahara desert is an incredibly diverse habitat and it is home to a variety of animals. Wadi Al-Hitan ("Whale Valley") is a paleontological site in the Al Fayyum Governorate of Egypt around 150 kilometers (93.2 mi) southwest of Cairo. What is the modern economy of the Saharan Desert like? Heat is dissipated by blood vessels in the ears. Sand dunes in Erg Chigaga with blue sky, Morocco. credit of image : Profberger at English Wikipedia . In fact, it could be said that there is no finer example of the richness of evolution than a desert ecology. The addax is a critically endangered species of antelope found in the Sahara Desert. A nocturnal, burrowing lifestyle helps them avoid the highest desert temperatures. The sand cat is usually either nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk). The largest desert in Africa is the Sahara. The Dorcas gazelles are considered as one of the smallest animals in the world. Dromedary Camels. They are known as Northwest African cheetahs or Saharan cheetahs. Some scientists estimate that the Sahara became arid about two to three million years ago, while others contend that it happened before this. Helpful for my project! Hamsters are able to carry large amounts of food in the cheek pouches useful if they come across more food than they are able to eat in one sitting. There are a number of species of sidewinder in various deserts around the world. Some of the major animals that are found in the Sahara Desert include desert foxes, addax antelopes, gazelles, Saharan cheetah, African wild dog, hyrax, deathstalker scorpion . 7 Legged Whales. Not only do the ears help them to hear better in the desert, but they also help them to release body heat, keeping them cool. The North African ostrich (Struthio camelus camelus) is the largest living bird in the world. Can plants and animals survive in the Sahara Desert? The horned viper is particularly well known in the Sahara. The Sahara exhibits great climatic variability within its borders, with two major climatic regimes differentiating along a north-south axis: the deserts northern latitudes are arid subtropical and have two rainy seasons, while the southern ones, although also arid, are more tropical and have only one rainy season. The Mojave Desert tortoise is present to the north and west of the Colorado River in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The Sahara Desert hosts an incredible array of species that are well-adapted to survive in the extreme desert climate. Some dung beetles just burrow into the dung they find and make it into a home, chewing their way out when they get hungry. The species is also known as both the "white antelope" and the "screwhorn antelope" due to its pale coat and long, spiral horns. It has ears that are not just used for hearing, they are also used for releasing heat and keeping them cool. Apart from the dromedary camel and goats, the desert hosts the highly feared deathstalker scorpion, the extremely venomous sand viper, the elegant and fierce cheetah, the graceful gazelles, the swift-footed red-necked ostrich and other unique and magnificent species. -The Sahara contains over 300 species of migratory bird populations with water and shore birds and many other types of birds. The tail of the Scorpio is full of venom. All camel spiders have four pairs of legs and a pair of additional, leg-like structures called predipalps, which are used for sensing and feeding. Summary: As little as 6,000 years ago, the vast Sahara Desert was covered in grassland that received plenty of rainfall, but shifts in the world's weather patterns abruptly . They have a single hump unlike the two humps of the Bactrian species. Blood vessels close to the skin in the ears dissipate body heat into the air. You can find out about the animals that live in cold deserts on these pages: Arctic Animals and Antarctic Animals. Even after these lakes ceased to exist, humans survived for centuries in the desert using alternative methods: nomadic pastoralists herded goats, sheep, or camels to whatever pasturage could be found; sedentary agriculturalists, confined to oases, harnessed their limited water resources to grow crops such as date palms and barley; and specialists (for example, blacksmiths) traded wares with their agriculturalist and pastoralist neighbors. Also known as the Asiatic wild ass, the onager is a hoofed mammal in the horse family Equidae. The Sahara Desert used to be home to dinosaurs such as the Afrovenator, Jobaria, and the Ouranosauras, which have been extinct for nearly 65 million years. The Major Parts Of The Sahara Desert In Africa, Meet 12 Incredible Conservation Heroes Saving Our Wildlife From Extinction, India's Leopard God, Waghoba, Aids Wildlife Conservation In The Country, India's Bishnoi Community Has Fearlessly Protected Nature For Over 500 Years, Wildfires And Habitat Loss Are Killing Jaguars In The Amazon Rainforest, In India's Sundarbans: Where People Live Face-To-Face With Wild Tigers, Africa's "Thunderbird" Is At Risk Of Extinction. The desert monitor feeds primarily on rodents, fish, and eggs but it might also feed on birds, small mammals, and other creatures if the opportunity arises. Actually, it is a highly adaptive member of Canidae, the family of dogs. You can also find beetles there. Until 2011 it had been considered to be the same species as the Sonoran desert tortoise, Gopherus morafkai. The Sahara Desert is usually imagined as a vast, parched, lifeless stretch of sandy landscape with scattered nomadic tribes and their domesticated camels. It produces a lethal cocktail of neurotoxins that might trigger excruciating pain in an adult human when bitten by this scorpion. There are approximately 500 species of plants and animals . Unlike most desert animals, Saharan silver ants forage in the middle of the day, when the Sahara can reach temperatures of up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). They live in underground holes. These adaptations are vitally important because the Saharan silver ant only emerges from its nest for around 10 minutes per day. Their color ranges from ocher, reddish-brown or pale. These include a sandy colored coat that provides camouflage, and a burrowing lifestyle. The potent hemotoxin produced by this viper kills its prey almost immediately. The species is native to Mauritania, Chad, and Niger. The sidewinder is a species of rattlesnake that inhabits desert regions in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The best time to travel to the Sahara Desert is between October and . Desert . Camels store a large amount of fat in the humps on top of their backs (no, not waterthat is a myth). Join the thousands of Active Wild subscribers who receive free wildlife and science news & info direct to their inboxes! The species is also slightly smaller in overall size than its domestic relative. This encouraged both, animals and humans to move into the areas. 2. These camels are highly adapted to survive in arid conditions and are mainly nocturnal in nature. Hunting for food, capture for farming, loss of habitat, etc., has led to the rapid decline of the population of this ostrich. The danger posed by these desert animals is often exaggerated. The Saharan silver ant has other adaptations for living in the desert: its long legs keep its body away from the hot sand, and it often walks using just four of its six legs, thereby minimizing the area in contact with the sand. . 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