Deserts

The desert is cold at night. This is because there are no clouds or trees to hold in the heat.

Each desert is different and has its own climate statistics. A "summer day" in Antarctica may actually warm up to about 10 degrees F. but can drop to nearly minus 140 degrees F. in winter. The Mojave, on the other hand, may have a daytime temperature of more than 130 degrees F and a nightime of 80 to 90 degrees.

All the above statistics depend a great deal on the specific location in the desert.

The Sahara is the second largest desert in the world (Antarctica is number one) and it is located in northen Africa,

Arizona is tremendously hotter than Alaska.

The Gobi Desert is third behind Antarctica and the Sahara.

There are a dozen or more deserts in Australia, ranging in size from hundreds of thousands of square kilometre to just thousands of square kilometres. Basically, the deserts extend right through central Australia, to parts of the western coast, and south through the Nullarbor Plain to the Great Australian Bight. There are no deserts along the eastern coast.

Xinjiang
In North Western China
central Asia
The Taklamakan Desert is located in northwest China. More specifically, it is located in Xinjiang. The desert has an area of 130,116 square miles.

The largest and coldest desert in the world is the continent of Antarctica.

I went to Google "desert tortoise" and before I even finished typing the ninth suggestion down was "desert tortoise preserve committee" and clicking on it shows you their site that's all about them 'Working to conserve the endangered desert tortoise by protecting the habitat it needs to survive.'

I didn't even have to search for it, it was just there. I'm sorry but you obviously didn't look at all. Also Googling "desert tortoise" links you to sites that tell you everything else you need to know.

The hottest air temperature ever reliably recorded in a desert was 134 degrees F in Death Valley of the Mojave Desert in California on July 10, 1913. An even warmer temperature of 136 degrees was recorded a few years later in Libya but that has been discounted as inaccurate as it was not properly measured by untrained Italian soldiers. A recent ground temperature was measured by a satellite in Iran that was even hotter but the ground temperature does not reflect the temperature of the air above it. Anyone who has walked barefoot over an asphalt parking lot in summer can attest to that.

The savannah is a semi-arid transition zone bordering a desert.

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but there is one good point about a desert. Desert animals that have adapt to desert life live there and for example if the pinguin was taken out of Antartica and put in Australia its its natural outback heat, it would adventually die. Deserts may be arid but they are full of life and people live there as well! The good thing about a desert is that at least it isn't a total wasteland but full of unique creatures that have adapt and live in the desert!

As you should know, life can be found pretty much anywhere. Even in extreme conditions. But, the actual life form can be very diverse. Water Lilies, for example, are found in ponds and lakes. What if you were to transfer this plant to a desert such as the Sahara? It almost surely die. The reason for that is that it didn't evolve for that kind of climate. It needs a sufficient amount of water in order to live. The Cactus, however, is designed to store a lot of water. It can survive the harsh desert climate. So why is cactus found in the desert? It is just another example of life evolving to its surroundings.

Thank you.

The Antarctic Desert is considerably larger than the United States.

Hot, dry deserts have mostly short woody trees and very low shrubs, some examples include Prickly Pears, Turpentine Bush, Brittle Bush, and Barrel Cactus. Cold deserts mainly have deciduous plants and scrub brush with spiny leaves. Sagebrush is frequently found in cold deserts.

All animals (as well as humans) require three basic things to survive:

Food
Water and
Shelter

With resepct to animals in the desert:

some dig burrows which enable them to keep cool during the day: some of them even plug up the tunnel entrance to help keep out the heat

some dig burrows to enable them to reach the water table under the desert

many creatures do not need to actually drink water, but obtain their moisture needs from the foods or other animals they eat

some have special adaptations, such as the Australian thorny devil, a lizard with sharp spikes which actually channel moisture to its mouth

reptiles are cold-blooded, meaning they actually require the heat to warm them enough so they can move around and feed

many creatures are active at night and in the early morning when it is cooler

some reptiles, amphibians and arthropods remain dormant beneath the ground until the rains come, stimulating their breeding cycle

many desert creatures have pale skin which does not absorb the heat as much

some animals, such as camels, have special protective thick pads, or thick eyelashes that keep out the desert sand

If a desert suddenly experiences a big rainfall, flash flooding can occur.

Animals live in hot deserts in diffrent ways..

Lets Take a camel as a Example, when camels drink water, the water goes in two rooms in a camel body, 10% of the water gets drinked, and 90% left saved in the camels body, so he can drink it when he is thirsty...

Because deserts are defined by the amount of precipitation, the best examples, also the largest, are Antarctic and Arctic. Other good desert examples are the Sahara in Africa, Gobi in Asia, and Arabian in the Middle East.

All continents have deserts, some hot some cold- the not obvious ones are:

* The parts of East Antarctica not covered with ice constitute the Maudlandia Antarctic desert * Europe's only true desert is the Tabernas desert in Almería province, Andalusia, Spain

1. Antarctica - not including the coastal regions-about 14 million sq km, Antarctica

2. Sahara - 9.4 million sq km, North Africa

3. Arabian - 2.3 million sq km, Arabian peninsula

4. Gobi - 1.3 million sq km, China and Mongolia

5. Kalahari - 900,000 sq km, Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa

6. Patagonian Desert - 673,000 sq km, Argentina and Chile

7. Great Basin - 492,000 sq km, USA

8. Great Victoria Desert - 424,400 sq km, Australia

9. Chihuahuan Desert - 453,000 sq km, Mexico and USA

10. Kara-Kum - 349,650 sq km, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

A desert is define as a region that receives less than 10 inches (250 mm) of precipitation on average per year. Most deserts have brief rainy season in the summer when the majority of the rain falls.

The Turkestan Desert is a Cold desert located in the Middle-east, Asia.

Of course, water vapor will be higher, much higher, above a rain forest than a desert.