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Deserts are the driest places on Earth—they get fewer than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain a year. Some deserts may get a lot of rain all at once. Then it might not rain again for months—or even years!

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What are desert habitats?
Deserts are places that don't get much rain, and are very dry. They can be either hot places, or cold places.
Because deserts don't have much water, animals that live in the desert are able to conserve water and keep their body temperature at the right level. Both plants and animals have adapted to be able to live in the desert.

Top 10 facts

1. Land is called 'desert' if it gets less than 250mm of rain every year.

2. One-third of the land on Earth is covered in deserts!

3. Deserts can be in hot or cold.

4. The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Africa - it is 9.4 million square kilometres.

5. One of the largest cold deserts in the world (the Arctic deserts are the largest) is the Gobi Desert in China, which is 1.3 million square kilometres.

6. Even though deserts don't get much rain, the desert is a habitat for some plants and animals. Each species has adapted to be able to live in a range of temperatures and without much water.

7. Temperatures in hot deserts can be up to 40-45°C, and it cools down a lot at nights when the sun sets. It can even get as cold as 0°C at some times during the year. In cold deserts the average lowest temperatures can be well below 0°C.

8. Desert landscapes can be found in South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the United States of America and Australia.

9. In deserts, you'll usually see a lot of open soil and rocks and not much grass or other kinds of plants.

10. Animals that live in deserts include lizards, geckos, toads, jackrabbits, camels, snakes, spiders and meerkats.

Did you know?

Deserts get less than 250mm of rain every year. We get around 1,000-2,000mm of rain in the UK, so 250mm really isn't very much at all!

If you put together all the deserts on the Earth, it makes up around 33% of the Earth's surface.

Depending on where on the Earth it is, a desert can be classed as hot or cold. Hot deserts can get very, very hot during the day and especially during the summer, while cold deserts can get extremely cold in the winter. Animals who live in each kind of desert have what they need to handle either very hot or very cold weather.

The largest hot desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Africa, and the largest (non-Arctic) cold desert is the Gobi Desert in China. Both the word 'sahara' and 'gobi' mean desert in the local languages, so they both really have the same name - Desert Desert!

The driest desert is the Atacama Desert in Chile. It only gets 1mm of rain in an entire year!

The most common thing you think of deserts having is sand, but deserts sometimes have gravel, large rocks, salt and grass.

While beaches do have sand, it doesn't make them desert - they are coastal habitats.

Plants and animals that live in the desert have had to adapt to the conditions there. This means they either don't need much water to stay alive or can conserve water very well, and that they can handle very hot and/or very cold temperatures.

Desert habitat gallery:

A map showing where you'll find deserts around the world - the darker the orange, the drier the land

A diagram showing the food chain in desert habitats - what eats what!

The Sahara Desert

The Gobi Desert

Prickly pear cactus

Barrel cactus

Palm tree

Sagebrush

Scorpion

Dromedary camel

Bactrian camel

Fennec fox

Gila monster

Iguana

Night in the desert

Pink sand dunes in Utah, USA

An African desert landscape

Gallery

About

Desert temperatures can be very extreme - hot deserts can be as hot as 40-45°C, but then cool down as far as 0°C at night. This is because there's nothing on the dry land (like tall trees) that can protect it from heating up when the sun is shining, and cooling right down when the sun sets.

Rain and snow can fall on deserts, and when it does it's usually in a very heavy storm. It can rain so much all at once in a desert that it can cause a flood.

The terrain you'll find in both hot and cold deserts includes:

Plants that grow in deserts include:

barrel cactus

camel thorn tree

elephant tree

Joshua tree

sagebrush

organ pipe cactus

palm tree

prickly pear cactus

saguaro cactus

Desert habits are difficult to live in: as well as extremes in temperature and months without rain there can be sandstorms and even flash floods! Lots of the animals living in hot deserts are nocturnal: they hide underground during the day when it is very hot and emerge at night. Most of the animals who live in the desert are insects, scorpions, reptiles and spiders. Most of the mammals who live in the desert are very small, but large mamals like camels, gazelles and donkeys have adapted to deal with the very dry conditions and can survive for long periods of time without water.

Animals that live in deserts include:

Bactrian camel (has two humps, like a sideways 'B')

bat

black widow spider

bighorn sheep

bobcat

dromedary camel (has one hump, like a sideways 'D')

quail

fennec fox

gecko

gerbil

gila monster

iguana

jack rabbit

kangaroo rat

llama

rattlesnake

roadrunner

scorpion

tarantula

vulture

wolf spider

Words to know for desert habitats:

Arid - a way to describe the dry climate in places like deserts, where there isn't much access to water

Desert - an area that gets less than 250mm of rainfall every year

Dunes - large piles of sand that look like hills; this happens because of wind or water moving the sand around

Oasis - a spot in a desert where water and plants can be found (often around a natural spring)

Related Videos

Just for fun...

The Desert Museum offers lots of desert games and interactives
Paint and make an online desert scene
Become a bilby, a rabbit-sized Australian marsupial, and race through the landscape looking for food, avoiding predators and trying not to run into rocks in an online game

Desert colouring pages to download

Play Feed the Dingo and create a balanced desert ecosystem in which each animal has enough food to survive

Complete the Sonoran Desert Seek and Find to learn about about nocturnal and diurnal animals

Watch four animations about a group of friends in Australia's outback and learn how desert plants and animals access water and beat the heat

Photograph desert plants and animals in the Australian outback in an interactive digital scavenger hunt

Make your own paper desert diorama

Show off your deserts knowledge with a CBBC deserts quiz

Can you find deserts on an interactive world map?

Children's books about desert habitats

Find out more about desert habitats

The BBC Bitesize guide to desert habitats

Read the World Wildlife Fund introduction to deserts

Links to facts about desert habitats and environments around the world

See a list of the largest deserts around the world (with size and topography details for each one)

Read desert questions and expert answers

Facts about desert animals

See an annotated cross-section of the American desert

Watch videos about desert flora and fauna

Information and pictures of Aboriginal art from the Western Desert in Australia

Find out more about the creatures who make their home in the desert

See for yourself

See photographs of Death Valley National Park in the USA

Look through a BBC deserts photo gallery

Read about a trip to the Sahara Desert, with beautiful photography

Explore the desert biome in Virtual Reality
Sahara travelling tips and advice
Also see

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Deserts are places that don't get much rain, and are very dry. They can be either hot places, or cold places. Because deserts don't have much water, animals that live in the desert are able to conserve water and keep their body temperature at the right level.

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Desert Habitat

Interesting Information & Facts About Desert for Kids

Desert Food Chain, Food Web for Kids

Desert Facts for Kids (All You Need to Know!)

Desert habitats

Science for Kids: Desert Biome

Desert: Mission: Biomes

Desert Facts for Kids

[FAQ]

Learning about desert ecosystems can be fun when doing educational activities and projects about their different aspects. Keep reading to learn more about the desert for kids and adults alike!

Describe Desert Climate – An ecosystem involves all the living and non-living aspects of the area. Desert ecosystems are unusual because they are very dry and have specifically evolved plants and animals that can survive the local climate. Learning about desert ecosystems can be fun when doing educational activities and projects about their different aspects. Keep reading to learn more about the desert for kids and adults alike! Describe Desert Climate ••• If we are going to define desert, you look at the amount rainfall. Deserts are often hot during the day and cool at night, but there is some variation. A fun way to learn about the desert for kids is to do a temperature and rainfall map. Start with a map of the world with the desert areas outlined. Have kids research the temperatures of each of the deserts and categorize them by temperature. Color code the deserts according to temperature. Give them a clear sheet such as an overhead projector page and have them do patterns over the deserts based on the average yearly rainfall.

Video advice: The Desert Ecosystem – Educational Video for Kids!

This is a video made for kindergarten. It explains the desert ecosystem. It describes where they are located, what they look like, and the animals that live there.

Desert Habitat

Deserts are the driest places on Earth—they get fewer than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain a year. Some deserts may get a lot of rain all at once. Then it might not rain again for months—or even years!

Shivering in the Desert

Famous Deserts

Look Closely

Joshua trees provide food and shelter for many birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects. These unusually shaped trees grow only in the Mojave Desert located in California and Nevada. Joshua trees provide food and shelter for many birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects. These unusually shaped trees grow only in the Mojave Desert located in California and Nevada. Photograph by David M. Schrader, ShutterstockDeserts are the driest places on Earth—they get fewer than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain a year. Some deserts may get a lot of rain all at once. Then it might not rain again for months—or even years! Shivering in the DesertPlease be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Many deserts were formed 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. Some are superhot in the day. In fact the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134°F (56. 6°C) in California and Nevada’s Death Valley in 1913. Even though many deserts can reach temperatures of well over 100°F (37. 8°C) during the day in summer, they can get cold at night.

Interesting Information & Facts About Desert for Kids

Are you curious about the world of deserts. It’s not every day you read about them and there’s a lot to learn about deserts than what you see in movies and films. Here are some fun and interesting desert facts for kids below. There’s much to explore and they’ll love it.

You are able to place wandering wild birds in deserts. Tough desert animals like camels, turtle and snakes adjust to harsh environments. Most desert creatures reside in their dwellings during the day, and a few live subterranean. You’ll find desert tortoises within the southwestern areas of the U . s . States.

1. Antarctica Is A Huge Ice Desert!

2. People Do Live In Deserts

3. Desert Plants Store Water

4. The Arabian Desert Falls Under Deserts And Xeric Shrublands

5. Desert Biomes are Desert Ecosystems

6. Animals Come Out At Night

7. Weather Is Different For Every Desert

8. Yukon Has The Tiniest Desert In The World

9. The Driest Desert In The World Hasn’t Received Rainfall Since It Was Found

10. Deserts Can Be Diverse

Deserts are barren areas of land where the precipitation received is less than 10 inches of rainfall per year. From sand dunes to camel rides, your kids have likely seen deserts in cartoons and movies but did you know that not all deserts are hot? From coastal deserts to the largest ice desert in Antarctica, there is much to explore in this world about deserts. If your kids have always wanted to learn more about deserts, this article will be very informative for them.

The desert biome is an ecosystem that forms due to the low level of rainfall it receives each year. Deserts cover about 20% of the Earth. There are four major types of desert in this biome – hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold. They are all able to inhabit plant and animal life that are able to survive there.

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Desert Food Chain, Food Web for Kids

Desert Food Chain – A food chain always begins with the plants, called producers. It always ends with the animals, called consumers.

Energy follows constantly altering routes throughout food chains. Communities of plants and creatures may consist of thousands of species that change using the seasons and also the years. This method forms an interlocking web of food chains.

Energy and the Food Chain

Energy moves through the final link in the food chain with microscopic animals called decomposers, which feed on any remaining dead plant and animal tissue and animal waste. Over time, these tiny fungi and bacteria break down decaying organic matter, converting it into carbon dioxide and water. The freed carbon dioxide and water are then available again for plants to use in the process of photosynthesis. This makes it possible for the cycle of energy to move through the living community all over again.

Desert Facts for Kids (All You Need to Know!)

Deserts are characterized by their lack of rainfall. They often receive fewer than ten inches of rain per year. They have dry soil, little to no surface water, and rapid evaporation. They are so parched that rain evaporates before it reaches the ground. Quick NavigationDesert Facts for KidsWhat is a Desert? What does the word Desert (…) More.

Under 10 inches of rain falls inside a desert throughout a year. Many creatures living within the desert are nocturnalThe Sahara could possibly get to are gone 40 °C throughout the summerThere are four significant kinds of deserts – hot and dry desert, semiarid desert, seaside desert, and cold desert. About 20 % of Earths land surface is desert.

A desert receives less than 10 inches of rain a yearA lot of the animals that live in the desert are nocturnalThe Sahara is the largest hot desert on EarthAntarctica is the largest cold desert on Earth20 percent of the world’s land surface is desertAnimals have learned to adapt to desert conditionsDeserts land surfaces can be very different – some examples are stones, snow, and sandThe Sahara Desert is in northern Africa and spreads its sand across 12 countries. The second-largest hot desert on Earth is the Arabian Desert in the Middle East.

Desert habitats

Learn all about desert habitats, discover amazing facts, view images and videos and play games, all to support primary school geography topic work.

Did you know? – What exactly are desert habitats? Deserts are locations that don’t get much rain, and therefore are very dry. They may be either hot places, or cold places. Because deserts don’t cash water, creatures living within the desert can conserve water and themselves temperature in the right level. Both plants and creatures have adapted so that you can reside in the desert. Top Ten factsLand is known as ‘desert’ whether it will get under 250mm of rain each year. One-third from the find Earth is included in deserts! Deserts could be in cold or hot. The biggest hot desert on the planet may be the Sahara Desert in Africa – it’s 9. 4 million square kilometres. Among the largest cold deserts on the planet (the Arctic deserts would be the largest) may be the Gobi Desert in China, that is 1. 3 million square kilometres. Despite the fact that deserts don’t get much rain, the desert is really a habitat for many plants and creatures. Each species has adapted so that you can reside in a selection of temperatures and with little water. Temperatures in hot deserts can depend on 40-45°C, also it cools lower a great deal at nights when sunset.

Science for Kids: Desert Biome

Kids learn about the desert biome. The dryest areas on Earth still have plant and animal life.

The biggest hot and dry desert on the planet may be the Sahara Desert in Northern Africa. The Sahara is really a sandy desert with giant sand dunes. It covers over 3 million square miles of Africa. Other major deserts range from the Arabian Desert in the centre East, the Gobi Desert in Northern China and Mongolia, and also the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Visit here to understand more about the earth’s deserts.

Only certain types of plants can survive the harsh environment of the desert. These include cactus, grasses, shrubs, and some short trees. You won’t see a lot of tall trees in the desert. Most of these plants have a way to store water in their stems, leaves, or trunks so they can survive a long time without water. They also tend to be spread out from each other and have a large root system so they can gather up all the water possible when it does rain. Many desert plants are armed with sharp spines and needles to help protect them from animals.

Fun Desert Facts for Kids – There are a number of different definitions to describe a desert but they are typically areas that receive extremely low amounts of rain.

The Gobi Desert is located in the north of China and the south of Mongolia. It is growing at a fast rate due to desertification, a process that turns fertile lands into desert areas. It is caused by humans cutting down forests, droughts, climate change and other environmental factors.

Desert: Mission: Biomes

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.

Temperature

Precipitation

Vegetation

Location

Other

Example: Cairo, Egypt

Description

Desert biomes are the driest of all the biomes. In fact, the most important characteristic of a desert is that it receives very little rainfall. Most deserts receive less than 300 mm a year compared to rainforests, which receive over 2,000 mm. That means that the desert only gets 10 percent of the rain that a rainforest gets! The temperature in the desert can change drastically from day to night because the air is so dry that heat escapes rapidly at night. The daytime temperature averages 38°C while in some deserts it can get down to -4°C at night. The temperature also varies greatly depending on the location of the desert.

Desert Facts for Kids

Our Desert Facts for Kids will tell you 10 easy-to-remember desert facts and tell you about 12 fascinating deserts of our planet.

The Aralkum Desert is called the youngest desert in our planet. This desert in Asia was created through the former eastern basin from the Aral Ocean in Uzbekistan. It created within the 1960s when irrigation projects for that huge cotton plantations in the region drained the waters in the Aral lake.

World Desert Facts: Popular Pages

Big differences in daily temperatures are experienced in the deserts. The temperature during the sunshine hours are usually very high while night temperatures are cold as the heat can quickly escape. The average temperatures range from 38°C (during the day) to -3. 9°C (during the night). Animals and plants living in the deserts have adapted to the environment. Animals usually are night active and live in burrows underground six as the cajole or the fennel fox. Some animals receive their water intake from the fog in coastal deserts or store water in humps such as the camel. Desert plants often have deep roots and waxy leaves where they can store water and often they also have thorns such as cacti to deter herbivores, animals that eat plants.

Video advice: What is a desert?

Desert Biome is found on every continent. A desert is an area that receives rainfall of 10 inches or less a year.

[FAQ]

What ecosystems are in the desert?

Deserts are extremely dry environments that are home to well-adapted plants and animals. The main types of deserts include hot and dry deserts, semi-arid deserts, coastal deserts, and cold deserts.

What is desert ecosystem in simple words?

A desert ecosystem is defined by interactions between organisms, the climate in which they live, and any other non-living influences on the habitat. Deserts are arid regions that are generally associated with warm temperatures; however, cold deserts also exist.

What are the characteristics of desert ecosystem?

The following are the key characteristics of the desert biome:

1. little rainfall (less than 50 centimeters per year)

2. temperatures vary greatly between day and night.

3. high evaporation rates.

4. coarse-textured soils.

5. drought-resistant vegetation.

Jan 2, 2018.

How do you make a desert ecosystem?

To build a desert biome you will need:

1. Sand.

2. Dirt.

3. Jar or bottle with sealed lid.

4. Sticks.

5. Rocks.

6. Desert plants (we used a succulent)

7. Water.

8. Desert animal or bug toys (optional)

How are desert ecosystem used?

The dry condition of deserts helps promote the formation and concentration of important minerals. Gypsum, borates, nitrates, potassium and other salts build up in deserts when water carrying these minerals evaporates. Minimal vegetation has also made it easier to extract important minerals from desert regions.

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Our Desert Facts will provide plenty of information about our planet's deserts. We will tell you here what you really should know about the deserts. First let's start with some basics!

10 Desert Facts for Kids

Deserts are found on all seven continents. All deserts (or arid areas) and semi-deserts (or semi-arid areas) together make up one third of our planet's land area.

Most of our deserts are located in subtropical regions around the Tropics of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn as well as in the polar regions (not shown on the map below).

Deserts are also called arid areas. Arid comes from the Latin word aridus and means dry, actually so dry that only few plants can grow on it.

About one billion people live in the desert regions of our Earth. The largest desert cities are Cairo in Egypt and Lima in Peru.

There are hot deserts such as the Sahara Desert and cold deserts such as the Gobi Desert or the deserts of our polar regions.

Desert Facts: What is a desert? A desert is a region that receives less than 25 cm/10 inches of rain per year. In any desert or arid area, there is very little rainfall and moisture. However, if rainfall occurs in the desert, the rainfall occurs usually in strong downpours which can lead to flash flooding.

Big differences in daily temperatures are experienced in the deserts. The temperature during the sunshine hours are usually very high while night temperatures are cold as the heat can quickly escape. The average temperatures range from 38°C (during the day) to -3.9°C (during the night).

Animals and plants living in the deserts have adapted to the environment. Animals usually are night active and live in burrows underground six as the cajole or the fennel fox. Some animals receive their water intake from the fog in coastal deserts or store water in humps such as the camel. Desert plants often have deep roots and waxy leaves where they can store water and often they also have thorns such as cacti to deter herbivores, animals that eat plants.

Deserts have dry soil due to the little rainfall and moisture the area receives. Sand, gravel, mineral and other soil particles can easily be moved by wind. Deserts are threatened mainly by overuse of water and climate change as with increasing temperatures, wildfires, droughts, dust- and sandstorms occur more frequently and lead to desertification. Desertification means fertile soil become dry and barren land.

Due to the loss of habitat many desert plants and desert animals face extinction. One of the most famous plant examples is the unique Joshua tree which is found in North America. Many species of antelopes or cheetahs that are home to the Sahara desert are now highly endangered.

12 Deserts You Should Know About

Antarctic Desert

The world's coldest dry desert is located in Antarctica.

There is hardly any precipitation (rainfall, mist, fog, snow) in Antarctica, even rare snowfall turns into hard icy surface. There is almost no flora except for algae or mosses.

The Antarctic Desert is also the world's largest desert by area.

Arabian Desert

The Arabian Desert is located in Asia on the Arabian peninsula and covers large parts of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Iran and Iraq.

The centre of the desert is the Rub' al Khali, the so-called 'The Empty Quarter'.

The sand here has a red-orange colour and the terrain is covered mainly by sand dunes, some gravel plains and rocky plains.

Aralkum Desert

The Aralkum Desert is known as the youngest desert of our planet.

This desert in Asia was formed by the former eastern basin of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. It formed in the 1960s when irrigation projects for the huge cotton plantations in the area drained the waters from the Aral lake.

By 2014, the eastern basin of the Aral Sea was completely dried up. This desert was created purely by poor environmental management and is seen as one of the worst environmental disasters.

Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert in South America is situated on a plateau west of the Andes Mountains along the Pacific Ocean coastline.

This desert is known as the driest (non polar) desert in the world. Some parts of the region receive less than 2 mm/ 0.08 inches of precipitation every year.

The Atacama desert stretches over 1,600 km/ 1000 miles along the coastline along a narrow strip from Chile to Peru.

Gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert is located in eastern Asia and is the world's largest (non polar) cold desert. This desert spreads from Mongolia to China. The Gobi desert is Asia's second largest desert after the Arabian desert.

Deforestation, overgrazing and water depletion are among the main reasons this desert is growing every year at an alarming rate.

Dust storms blow away topsoil and the desert turns many previously fertile areas into barren land. The Great Green Wall project aims to combat the desertification by planting 88 billion of fast growing trees in this desert. The world's largest artificial forest will stretch over 4,800 km/ 2,982 miles across northern China. Read more here.

Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert is located in the USA, to the south of the Great Basin Desert and to the north of the Sonoran desert. The Mojave Desert is the driest desert on the North American continent.

Death Valley, one of the hottest spot in the world, is located in the Mojave Desert. Mojave comes from the Spanish word for 'place besides the water'. The largest city in the Mojave desert is Las Vegas with roughly 3 million people.

Namib Desert

The Namib Desert is located in Southern Africa along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. The Namib has some of the highest dunes in the world with heights of over 300 m/ 980 ft. Read more here.

The Namib stretches from Angola through Namibia towards South Africa over 2,000 km/ 1,200 miles.

The coastal desert is also known as the oldest desert in the world. The salt and clay pans of Soussousvlei, a dried up lake, are a popular tourist attractions in Namibia's Namib-Naukluft national park as is climbing the tall dunes along the coastal town of Walvis Bay. Read more about Namibia here.

Pinnacles Desert

The Pinnacles Desert is located in Western Australia. The pinnacles in Nambung National Park are limestone pillars and some reach up to 3.5 m/ 11.5 ft in height. Wild emus can be found in this desert.

This desert is only a small Australian desert but is known for its scenic landscape. The largest desert in Australia, however, is the Great Victoria Desert, which is located further inland in Western Australia and South Australia.

Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert is the world's largest hot desert. It is also the hottest of all the deserts on our planet.

The Sahara Desert has grown more than 10% in the last century due to climate change and other natural climatic variations. A Great Green Wall project, similar to that in the Gobi Desert, has been started in the Sahara in 2007 to combat desertification.

The Sahara Desert covers most parts of North Africa and is similar in size to the land area of the USA or China. The word sahra in Arabic means 'desert'.

Huge rolling sand dunes as these in the Sahara desert are only found in about 10% of the world's desert areas. Most deserts consist of sandy or rocky soil or salt flats.

Salar de Uyuni

The Salar de Uyuni is a desert in South America that has been formed by salt crystallisation through water evaporation of a huge salt flat or playa. The word salar comes from the Spanish and means 'salt flat'. The salar is located in the Andes mountains at an elevation of over 3,656 m/ 11,995 ft.

This dried out salt pan once was part of a large prehistoric lake in the Altiplano of Bolivia. The salt flat covers more than 10,000 square kilometres/ 3,861 square miles and the Salar de Uyuni is known as the world's largest salt flat. The thick salt crust which contains more than 10 billion tonnes of salt.

When it rains the Salar looks like a huge mirror measuring 129 km/ 80 miles across. The salt flats are a breeding ground for pink flamingos.

Tabernas Desert

The Deserto de Tabiernas, as they call it in Spanish , is Europe's only desert area and located in Spain. The Tavernas are an semi-arid mountain region near Almería.

The high altitude of the region and the scenic landscape of this desert in Andalusia has been beneficial for film making. Many Western-style movies as well as one scene in the Game of Thrones series have been filmed in the Tabernas.

Thar Desert

This desert stretches from eastern Pakistan to northwestern India. About 85% of the desert is located in India and most of it in India's largest state of Rajasthan.

The Thar Desert is also the world's most densely populated desert area. About 40% of Rajasthan's population live in the Thar Desert. Desert safaris around Jaisalmer are a popular tourist attraction.

The subtropical Thar Desert is home to many species of migratory and endemic birds.

More Desert Facts
Desert Facts: Desert Sizes
The largest desert is of our planet is the Anarctic Desert. It consists of polar ice caps and tundra.

The five largest deserts by area are:

1. Antarctic Desert

2. Arctic Desert

3. Sahara Desert

4. Australian Desert

5. Arabic Desert

Desert Facts: Cold Desert and Hot Desert
The largest cold desert is the Gobi Desert in Asia. The largest hot desert is the Sahara Desert in Africa.
Desert Facts: Deserts and Rainfall Did you know that desert areas receive less than 50 cm/20 inches rain per year while rainforests receive at least 200 cm/80 inches rain per year! Desert Facts: Most populated desert areas
The largest desert city in the world is Cairo in Egypt with about 20 million inhabitants. However, the most populated desert areas are found in the Thar Desert in India. About 25 million people live in the arid areas of Rajasthan. The annual desert festival in Jaisalmer attracts desert settlers in colourful traditional dress from near and far.
Desert Facts: Desert Vegetation

Most plants in the deserts are heat, drought and salt tolerant. Some plants store the water in their leaves, stems or roots. Some plants have very long roots to reach the ground water.

The Welwitschia plant in the Namib desert is one of these unique desert plants. They are considered among the oldest desert plants, as they are on average 500 - 600 years old, some are even 2000 years. Their normal lifespan is 400 - 1500 years! They never shed their leaves, they just grow and grow!
Desert Facts: Desert Resources Natural gas, oil and mineral fields are found in the deserts however, all these are not renewable energy sources. Minerals such as gold, silver, uranium, zinc, iron, mineral salts or gemstones such as turquoise are found in the deserts.
World Desert Facts: Popular Pages

World Desert Facts Resources

Image Credits on Desert Facts: shutterstock.com, sxc photos and own images Return from Desert Facts to Kids World Travel Guide Homepage

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing & Kara West. "Desert." National Geographic. Last updated 19 October 2011. Last accessed 17 June 2020.

Alice Notten. "Welwitschia Mirabilis." . Uploaded March 2003. Last accessed 17 June 2020

USGS. "Mineral Resources in Deserts." Last updated 29 October 1997. Last accessed 18 June 2020.

Yale Environment 360. "The Sahara Desert has grown 10% bigger in the last century." World Economic Forum. 4 April 2018. Last accessed 18 June 2020.

World Atlas of Desertification (WAD). "Convergence of Evidence." EU Commission. Last accessed 18 June 2020

NaDEET - Learning and Living for a Sustainable Future. "The It's Time To... Series - Learning Materials." Last accessed 18 June 2020

Earth Observatory. "Desert: Mission: Biomes." . Last accessed 18 June 2020

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Desert Facts for Kids | Deserts for Kids | Geography | World Deserts

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Our Desert Facts for Kids will tell you 10 easy-to-remember desert facts and tell you about 12 fascinating deserts of our planet