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Factus

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1.There are over 2,000 species of cacti, with various shapes and forms. Caldera cacti in southwestern US can overcome 20 m (66 ft) on height, while Rebutia cacti from Bolivia and Argentina are just several centimeters tall. Some cacti look like chandeliers or columns, others are flattened or oval, looking like ears (Opuntia). There are cacti looking like curled snakes. Some look like a barrel or a small boar, perfectly rounded. Other cacti look like starfish or wrinkled human faces covered by a white spiny raveled wool pile.

The cactus stems are thickened, storing water, and the leaves are transformed into spines.

2.Even the smallest cactus species have large roots, which can be very profound or superficial, absorbing water from the soil. Cereus cacti have white flowers, while Opuntia species use to have red, pink, yellow or violet flowers. Some cactus flowers stand for several days, others die in just one day. Some cactus flowers open only at the sunset, others only in the daylight.

3.Depending on the species, cactus's spines can be extremely fragile or terrible venomous spikes, several centimeters long.

4.Cacti are pollinated by insects and hummingbirds. Some red cactus flowers spread a stenchy rotten meat scent, attracting insects.

5.The roots of a Mexican cactus, peyotl (Lophophora williamsii), were chewed by Aztecs for its hallucinogenic properties. The also made a type of infusion from these roots. Peyotl allowed the shamen to enter in trance. The psychoactive chemicals in peyotl are some alkaloids, especially mescaline. These properties of the cacti were also used by some Native Americans during the pre-Columbian era for anesthesia of the patients in case of operations.

6.Cacti are real water reservoirs; their inner liquid is not pure, clear water but a thick viscous stuff, but perfectly drinkable, that saved many lives in the desert. It can be obtained easily by scratching an Opuntia or by making a hole into columnar cacti.

7.The trunk of some cacti is used to make a type of Argentinian drum called bombo leguero. The wood of some cactus species is used for making walls, roofs and as reinforcement wood. The fruit of some cactus species, like Opuntia phaeacantha, can be eaten, being called prickly pear. The fruits of Cereus repandus from Peru are called cactus apple or tuna and are prickless. Syrup can be made from cactus fruits.

8.Cactus spines can be used for sutures, after they have been first sterilized on hot coal.

9.Cacti have periods of growth and blossom and periods of resting. During the growth, they prefer direct sun light, high temperatures and humidity (the plant will be watered often, but with a good drainage). Direct sun light will induce rapid growth and the development of longer and brighter spines. During the resting periods, the plants will be kept at cool temperatures (6-8o C), with reduced humidity (just one weekly watering) and in diffuse light.

Cactus transplanting is made in March, using small pots containing a mix of garden soil, leaf litter, sand, vegetal coal, broken bricks and mortar. For transplanting them in larger pots together with other cacti, they are put together with their soil and the empty space is filled with soil or sand.

10. Cacti can be bred via seeds (impossible in apartments) or stem cuttings. Cuttings' rooting is made in warm sand (20-21o C), with moderate humidity, after the cuttings have been left to rest for a week. This removes the danger of rotting during their rooting.

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1.There are over 2,000 species of cacti, with various shapes and forms. Caldera cacti in southwestern US can overcome 20 m (66 ft) on height, while Rebutia cacti from Bolivia and Argentina are just several centimeters tall. Some cacti look like chandeliers or columns, others are flattened or oval, looking like ears (Opuntia).

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As the summer temperatures continue to climb, you may find yourself spending more and more time indoors enjoying the comforts of central air conditioning. But without the benefit of modern technology, animals that make their home in the heat have had to come up with their own ways of staying cool and hydrated. We caught up with San Diego Zoo Ambassador and Zookeeper Rick Schwartz between television appearances in New York City to talk about the incredible ways that some creatures have adapted to survive in the desert.

In the Australian Outback, pooled water can be extremely hard to come by. To deal with this issue, the thorny devil has developed skin that can absorb water like blotter paper (called "capillary action"). According to Schwartz, "the way the scales on the body are structured, it collects dew and channels it down to the corners of the mouth," where the lizard drinks it. You can actually watch the lizard's skin darken as it soaks up whatever liquid remains from even the muckiest of puddles.

Schwartz says it was previously believed that these animals died off during every dry season, but what was actually happening was far more interesting. When the rainy season ends on the African savannah, the second largest frog in the world burrows 6 to 8 inches underground and seals itself in a mucus membrane that "essentially hardens into a cocoon." The frog can "hibernate" in this sac for up to seven years waiting for rain, which, when it comes, causes the mucus sac to soften, signaling to the frog that it's time to wake up. The South African lungfish benefits from a similar method of hibernation.

This unusual method of locomotion is used by two species of venomous snake-the Mojave Desert sidewinder in the southwestern United States and the Namib Desert viper in Africa. Not only does it help the serpents keep traction on shifting sands, but it ensures that only two points of the animals' bodies are touching the hot ground at any given time.

When facing a predator, this large lizard will scurry under a rock crevice and inflate the loose folds of skin along its body, making it difficult to pull from its hiding place-a perfect escape plan in the rocky deserts of the U.S. and northern Mexico that the chuckwalla calls home.

The fennec fox of North Africa has large ears which Schwartz points out "serve a dual purpose": they are great for listening for bugs to eat that may be moving around underground, but they are also loaded with blood vessels, allowing the animals to dissipate excess body heat. Schwartz points out that while big ears are wonderful radiators during hot days, the fox's thick fur coat also acts as insulation during cold desert nights.

Native to the driest areas of southern Africa, this borrowing rodent can actually use its bushy tail as a sort of parasol-a function I think we all envy from time to time.

No discussion of desert survival is complete without a mention of the camel. You know that the hump stores fat, which can be used as both a food and water source for the animal when the going gets tough. But Schwartz points out that camels also have thick hairs in their ears for keeping out sand, and the same can be said of their eyelashes-"there's not a model out there that wouldn't want eyelashes like that," Schwartz says. Camels also sport closable nostrils, a nictitating eye membrane, and wide feet that act like snowshoes in the sand.

The Gila Monster-one of only two venomous lizards in the world-spends most of its life underground and can go months between meals by living off of fat stored in its tail. This is a handy little survival trick during the dry season in their Sonoran Desert habitat.

The peccary, or javelina, has a tough mouth and specialized digestive system which enables it to chomp down on prickly pear cactus pads (one of their favorite foods) without feeling the effects of the plant's thousands of tiny spines. "I can't imagine biting into the paddle of a cactus, but these animals definitely have found ways to do that," Schwartz says. As an added bonus, using cactus as a food source is a great way to supplement water intake as the spiny succulents are absolutely loaded with the stuff.

This bird, found mainly in the deserts of Asia and North Africa, has specialized feathers on its belly that are able to soak up small quantities of water. Males of the species will use these feathers like a sponge to carry water back to their nests, which they then share with their female counterparts and offspring.

Though they will drink water when it is available, this small species of North African antelope can get all of the water it needs from the food in its diet. When water is unavailable, the Dorcas gazelle can concentrate its urine into uric acid, which Schwartz describes as "a white pellet" instead of the hydraulically expensive liquid waste. "That's water conservation," he says, "and they need to hold on to whatever they get."

The Namib Desert in Africa has very little fresh water to speak of, but due to its proximity to the sea, it receives a daily dose of fog in the cool hours of the early morning. Fogstand beetles have learned to stand still in order to let the fog condense on their bodies in the form of water droplets, which they then drink.

As Schwartz points out, the metabolic processes of the body all have outputs which often occur in the form of mineral build up. "Animals that live in an environment where water is readily available will just [get rid of those minerals] through their urine," he says. "When you have animals that live in these extreme environments where they don't want to excrete any fluids, the body will find other ways to get rid of those minerals." The greater roadrunner of North America, which like the Dorcas gazelle can survive its whole life without drinking water, has developed a unique way of dealing with this problem: it secretes excess salt from a gland near its eye.

Not only are these animals able to close any wounds through a special process of contraction, but the exceptionally weak skin of these mice means it is also much easier to regenerate, allowing wounded spiny mice to heal from superficial wounds much faster than other species-a process which minimizes blood loss.

With subspecies in Africa, Asia, and Australia, this freaky legless lizard has developed an ingenious method of dealing with high desert surface temperatures-simply staying out of them. Blind skinks have lost their legs and eyes through evolution and, like the sandworms from Beetlejuice, prefer to stay hidden underground where they can tunnel in search of creepy crawlies to munch on.

Scorpions are able to go up to a year without eating thanks to their specialized metabolisms. Unlike other animals that experience a seasonal hibernation, though, a scorpion is still able to react to the presence of prey with lightning quickness even while in this state of nearly suspended animation.

To survive the harsh Australian summers, kangaroos will cool off by licking their forelegs. A special network of blood vessels in the legs allows the animals to reduce their body temperatures quickly through the evaporation of saliva since kangaroos lack regular sweat glands.

The black circles around the eyes of these social African mammals is often compared to a natural pair of sunglasses, though Schwartz says that the pattern actually functions by "absorbing the sun and preventing it from reflecting back into the eyes." This means that the pattern works more like the eye black used by professional athletes than actual lenses. Still, says Schwartz, it allows them "to see more clearly" while awake during the day, compared to nocturnal predators such as lions, whose eyes have no special markings whatsoever.

Another creature native to the Sahara Desert, the Addax antelope rarely if ever needs to drink water to survive. To cope with the unforgiving desert sun, the Addax sports a white coat in the summer which reflects sunlight, but in the winter the coat turns brownish-gray so as to better absorb heat.

What better way is there to silence your competition than by eating them? The common kingsnake is so specialized to that end that not only do they hunt by clamping down on a snake's jaws before constricting it to death, they have also developed an immunity to rattlesnake venom, making the vipers one of their favorite food sources.

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20 Amazing Animal Adaptations for Living in the Desert

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As the summer temperatures continue to climb, you may find yourself spending more and more time indoors enjoying the comforts of central air conditioning. But without the benefit of modern technology, animals that make their home in the heat have had to come up with their own ways of staying cool and hydrated.

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Can you name the deserts of the world? Test your knowledge on this geography quiz to see how you do and compare your score to others.

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What Resources Do We Get From Deserts? | eHow

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What Resources Do We Get From Deserts?. The desert may seem like a wasteland that is devoid of life, but this dry earth has many buried treasures hidden within the sand that are useful natural resources. The most abundant natural resources are minerals such as copper, granite, mica and various types of clay.

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NASA Discusses Desert Climate

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climate change, global climate change, global warming, natural hazards, Earth, environment, remote sensing, atmosphere, land processes, oceans, volcanoes, land cover, Earth science data, NASA, environmental processes, Blue Marble, global maps

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The words "polar" and "desert" may seem contradictory, but that's only because most of us associate the latter with sun-drenched, sand-covered landscapes. Yet desert actually describes any desolate stretch of land that is waterless and without vegetation-and by that definition, Africa's Sahara doesn't hold a dowsing rod to the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

In sheer land mass alone, Antarctica's polar deserts scorch the competition-covering more than 5.5 million square miles, they comprise an area larger than the Sahara, Arabian, Gobi, and Kalahari combined. (The Arctic comes in a close second at 5.4 million.) While a desert landscape is defined as an arid region that receives less than 10 inches of precipitation a year, Antarctica gets only about two inches annually. Its aptly named Dry Valleys haven't seen rain for at least 2 million years!

Made up primarily of bedrock, large boulders, and gravel plains, Antarctica's Dry Valleys are dotted by a number of frozen, hyper-saline lakes including Don Juan Pond, the world's largest. (With a saline level over 40 percent, it is also the saltiest body of water on Earth, beating the Dead Sea by nearly 10 percent.) That's not exactly the picture you think of when you hear "White Continent," yet the effect is caused by the snow-covered Transantarctic Mountains. This mile-high range, which divides the continent, serves as a natural barrier for the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Given the valleys' arid environment, any ice that does break off the surrounding glaciers immediately turns into vapor, totally bypassing the liquid stage.

The average winter temperature in Antarctica's polar deserts is around -20 degrees Fahrenheit, and can drop as low as -90; during summer months, it can warm up to a balmy 30 degrees, producing short-lived streams that link the lakes. Also during warmer months, there is nearly 24 hours of daylight, while the reverse is true during the cold season.

While explorers long believed that these Dry Valleys could not sustain life (Robert Scott, who discovered the region in 1903, called it "a valley of death"), scientists in the 1970s unearthed a number of microorganisms in the area. Since then, nearly 350 vascular species have been found, and it is estimated that nearly 5 percent of Antarctica's polar deserts are covered in some flora, although the tallest shrubs reach no more than three feet in height.

To learn more about our upcoming expedition to the region, check out our Antarctica, South Georgia & the Falkland Islands cruise.

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Cool Facts About Antarctica's Polar Deserts

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The words "polar" and "desert" may seem contradictory, but that's only because most of us associate the latter with sun-drenched, sand-covered landscapes. Yet desert actually describes any desolate stretch of land that is waterless and without vegetation-and by that definition, Africa's Sahara doesn't hold a dowsing rod to the polar deserts of Antarctica and the Arctic.

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An Intro the Sahara!

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The shifts in climate in the Sahara Desert are due to a 41000 year cycle. During this cycle, the earth changes its tilt between 22 and 24.5 degrees.

The Sahara Desert is the third largest in the world. The first two are Antarctica and the Arctic.

The Sahara Desert covers 3.6 million square miles. It is almost the same size as the United States or China.

It is the largest desert in Africa.

Sahara means 'the greatest desert' in Arabic.

There are sand dunes in the Sahara as tall as 590 feet.

There have been dinosaur fossils found in the Sahara Desert.

More than 30,000 petroglyphs of animals native to rivers have been found in southeast Algeria in the Sahara.

The Sahara Desert is made up of sand dunes, sand seas, gravel plains, stone plateaus, dry valleys, salt flats, mountains, rivers, streams, and oases.

There is sparse grassland in some parts of the desert including the highlands and northern and southern parts of the desert.

Wind and occasional rain are responsible for forming the landforms in the Sahara, which include sand dunes, dune fields, salt flats, and dry valleys. Land formations change regularly.

The highest point in the Sahara Desert is Emi Koussi. This is a shield volcano in northern Chad.

Most of the streams and rivers in the Sahara are only seasonal. The main exception is the Nile River. It crosses the Sahara and empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

There are several underground water sources called aquifers. They sometimes reach the surface and form oases. Some of these are the Siwa, Kufra, Timimoun and the Bahariva.

The climate of the Sahara is one of the harshest ones in the world.

One half of the Sahara Desert receives less than .79 inches of rain each year. The rest of the desert only receives 3.9 inches per year.

There are several mountain ranges in the Sahara that get snow regularly. It's not common anywhere else. In 1979 a snowstorm actually stopped traffic in Algeria. It was the first time that snow was recorded in the area. It melted in a few hours. It snowed in Algeria again in 2012.

Goats and camels are the most common domesticated animals in the Sahara.

There are several species of fox in the Sahara, as well as antelope, gazelle, cheetah, monitor lizards, sand vipers, wild dogs and ostrich, among others.

The desert shrinks and grows depending on the climate.

The people who live in the Sahara are mostly nomads. Nomads move from place to place.

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The Sahara Desert covers the majority of Northern Africa. It is the third largest desert in the world and also the hottest. The borders of the Sahara Desert include the Red Sea on the east, the valley of the Niger River and the Sudan on the south, the Mediterranean and the Atlas Mountains on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

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Amazing Facts about the Camel | OneKindPlanet Animal Education

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We all know camels for their distinctive humps and fascinating ability to survive weeks to months without drinking, but did you know they can run at up to 40 mph (65kph)? They are desert-dwelling animals that are now mostly domesticated, with very few still free to roam wild.