Deserts by Ron Toel

An easy definition to describe a desert is an environment where the evaporation exceeds the rainfall or a place that receives less than 2 inches of rainfall a year. This means there are deserts on the 5 major continents.Man has not yet conquered the desert. He has irrigated areas along the Nile River, and in Babylon, but areas as Lower California are still as they were when the Europeans discovered it with the exception of encroachment along the shore. Places like the Dead Sea and the Great Salt Lake have water running into them but no exit and thus with the evaporation become salty. The Sahara Desert is the largest and most known.It is difficult to write about the desert without getting involved with the plant life. There are areas where miles and miles of sand extend on and on and one never sees a plant. But when one finds plants they are often unique in many ways. These drought resisting plants are weird-looking. They can be as large as trees, yet they have no functioning leaves. Photosynthesis is carried out by the swollen water storing stems and the leaves have been reduced to spines to protect the plant from being eaten by most animals. Thick spongy stems have been developed in order to store water. This adds to their weird appearance. They tend to be very slow growing and have adapted to the most adverse conditions.The desert by day has high temperatures, clear skies, which means hot sun, and the other extreme at night with temperatures dropping sharply at night. The temperature change between day and night can be as much as 70 degrees. So beside the scarcity of water, temperature extremes become the problems of whatever lives in the desert.Despite the harsh environment, a number of animals have adapted to meet these conditions. Desert animals tend to be small. One does not find the large predators. The desert coyote is about the largest predator of the desert.
The other animals……rodents, rabbits, make up the majority of the animal life. A number of birds, and snakes and lizards, and insects and arachnids are also abundant. All of these small animals are able to meet the extremes by burrowing and then choosing the times when they are active. The night time hours is when most animals are active. Because of this, most animals then rely on sound rather than sight as a means of defence. Thus when one sees the rabbit and the foxes, they all have big ears. They large ears can also serve as a means to help regulate temperature.Animals as the tortoise and the javelinas eat fleshy plants and get their water from these plants. The canids get their water from the blood of their prey. The rodents only eat dried seeds, yet they have adapted to these areas but it is stall a mystery where they get their water. Yet they have the same amount of fluid as a river rat.

Snakes and lizards and deserts seem to be meant for each other. Lizards scamper everywhere. In actuality, lizards are not any more prevalent than in the forest, however, there is less plants and the lizzard are more easily seen. There are many snakes found in the desert as well even though they are less conspicuous. That is because they are well camouflaged, and often partially buried in the sand. Snakes are predators so the get their water from the prey they consume. Lizards too, are predators and get their water from the insects they consume.

Snakes and lizards are cold blooded creatures. This means they can not regualte their body temerature internally. They come out in the sun after a cold night and allow the sun to heat up their body until they are at a comfortable temperature. Then they regulate it from there by visiting the shady spot.

Most lizards have developed small fringes on their toes to help them scamper over the hot sands. They have also discovered how to burrow into the sand and lay to wait for the prey to come to them. Most of these have short legs or have lost there legs altogether, so they can speedily accomplish this task.

The only poisonous lizards are the Gila Monster and the beaded lizard found in the Sonoran desert. Centipede and scorpions have a poisonous bite or sting. There are many poisonous snakes through out the deserts of the world. It can be said that venom is no handicap in the desert. In harsh environments it is possibly an unusual advantage for its possessor.

Photos by Wayne Nelson