Animals

Many kinds of animals live in the desert: spiders, reptiles, birds and some mammals. 

Most animals stay in the shade during the daytime and look for food at night when it gets cooler. They get water from the food they eat or from the water holes in the desert. Some animals sleep during the summer . 

Camels are animals that are fit to live in the desert. They can go on for days without drinking water and need only little to eat. They carry their food in their humps. They also give nomads wool and tents are made out of their skin. 


Plant Life

Desert plants must change their way of life and get used to the heat  and the dryness. 

Some flowers only live for a few days . The seeds may be in the desert ground for years and when it rains they start to blossom. 

Plants of the desert usually have small leaves  that look like needles. Such plants can live with very little water, which they store in the needles or stems. Some plants have long roots that reach up to 80 metres below the surface. 



group of dromedars

Group of dromedary camels in southern Tunisia
Image: Skander zarrad, CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons 


Flowers blossom in the Atacama desert

Flowers blossom in the Atacama desert
Image: Javier Rubilar, CC BY-SA 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons



Words

  • blossom = when a plant produces flowers
  • dryness = the situation of being dry, without any water 
  • fit = here: good enough; the right ones
  • get used to = here: to be in a new place so long that you can live there without any problems 
  • hump = the high part of a camel 
  • mammal = an animal that drinks milk from its mother’s body when it is young 
  • needle = special kind of leaf that is very sharp
  • nomad = a person who travels from place to place to find grass and water for animals
  • reptile = an animal that changes its body temperature, like a snake 
  • root = the part of a plant or a tree that grows under the ground and gets water there
  • seed = a small hard object of a plant;  a new plant can grow from this
  • shade = out of the sunlight
  • stem = the long, thin part of a plant  
  • store = to put something away until you need it
  • surface = the top layer of the earth
  • tent = a shelter you put up when you go camping; it is covered with cloth and you hang it to the ground with ropes and poles  
  • water hole = small area in the desert where animals can drink
  • wool = the soft thick hair of some animals