With little rain and extreme temperatures, deserts are some of the harshest places on Earth. Some of the world’s hottest deserts have air temperatures that can reach over 122°F. The Gobi, the Taklimakan, and the Turkestan Desert in Central Asia and the complex deserts in western North America experience high temperature in the summer. On the other hand, in the winter the temperature falls below freezing. The temperature of an average day at the desert is 38°C. However at night, the average temperature goes to -3.9°.

Most people think that deserts are made of vast expanses of sand dunes, but they are actually made of rocks and stones. The desert soils are mostly composed of minerals from rocks. There is little plant or animal material such as dead leaves and dung because the weather is too dry for these to be broken down to enrich the soil. Some minerals, such as oil, are hidden deep within rocks below the desert surface.

The desert grounds are covered with plants that are adapted to dry conditions. Other deserts bloom whenever it rains. Plants that live in deserts either rebound from dormant seeds after a rain or stay alive all year by adjusting to the scarce supply of water. Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth’s surface and rainfall is less than 50cm/year. Many desert plants, such as the cacti, can soak up dew through their leaves. By reducing leaf size, shedding leaves, or even having no leaves at all helps to lessen water loss. Plants such as the Acacia longifolia, Acacia baileyana, Acacia alata, and Acacia drummodii dominate the Sahara because of their ability to survive long periods of drought. Cacti are really adapted to desert condition. They use their spines to reduce water loss. About 200 species of cactus of which the Saguaro or Giant Cactus is best known; can  grow their spines up to 65 feet long!

There are many animals that live in the deserts. However, the main two groups that dominate the deserts are the herbivores and the carnivores. Herbivores are known to mainly eat plants, even though some will eat insects and dead or decomposing flesh. Their diet depends to suit both their food and water needs. Some small herbivores are the antelope grounds, squirrels, kangaroo rats, pack rats, blacktail jack rabbits, desert cottontail, pronghorn, and some insects. The large herbivores include the mule deer, desert bighorn sheep, burros, and camels. The camel is usually called the ship of the desert because it can survive up to three weeks without water and can loose 25 percent of its body weight.

  There are a variety of carnivores that live in the desert which include of insects, reptiles, lizards, birds, and mammals. The most popular insects consist of ants, beetles, butterflies, cockroaches, flies, grasshoppers, and wasps. The most known reptiles in the deserts are the snakes. The two greatest snakes known in Southern Africa are the Sidewinder and the American Rattlesnake. The birds include of tiny elf owls, galahs, falcons, sand grouse, ostriches, and the roadrunners. However, the mammals consist of cats, dogs, foxes, and humans, such as the sand fox, lions, Fennee fox, coyote, and a lot more.

 In conclusion, you can see that there are a variety of organisms that survive the deserts harshest conditions. Also even though the desert is the driest of all biomes, animals and plants still live there despite having little rainfall.