Desert is any area that receives less than 250mm of rainfall a year. Not just the endless, baking sand dunes of popular conception, it includes arid areas in temperate regions. Plants in this habitat are well adapted to conserving water and often have to survive extremely hot days and cold nights when the temperature plummets. Deserts may appear to have very little life in them, but a closer inspection can reveal high biodiversity.
In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on.
Utah Canyonlands
An aerial journey through the sandstone pinnacles of the USA's wild west.
Death Valley bloom
Death Valley bursts with life as the desert blooms in unprecedented abundance.
Egypt's White Desert
Time-lapse illustrates the erosive power of wind as it creates weird rock formations.
Sahara sand storm
Dramatic footage from the centre of the storm demonstrates the abrasive force of sand.
African fish eagle
American black vulture
Andean condor
Eleonora's falcon
Golden eagle
Honey buzzard
Kestrel
Lammergeier
Peregrine falcon
Red kite
Malleefowl
Demoiselle crane
Pied kingfisher
Ostrich
Burrowing parrot
Little corella
Ringnecked parakeet
Socotra cormorant
Red-billed quelea
Rook
Sand martin
Starling
Swallow
Lesser flamingo
Knot
Humboldt penguin
Burrowing owl
Short-eared owl
Galápagos petrel
Brown-throated sloth
Giant anteater
Straw-coloured fruit bat
African wild dog
Black bear
Cheetah
Grey wolf
Leopard
Lion
Maned wolf
Meerkat
Otter
Puma
Raccoon
Red fox
Serval
South American grey fox
Stoat
Tibetan fox
Crest-tailed mulgara
Long-eared hedgehog
Argali sheep
Bactrian camel
Giraffe
Mongolian gazelle
Nubian ibex
Saiga
Springbok
Walia ibex
Plateau pika
Black-footed rock-wallaby
Eastern grey kangaroo
Red kangaroo
Rufous elephant shrew
Black Rhinoceros
Olive baboon
African bush elephant
Brants's whistling rat
Capybara
Damaraland mole rat
Red squirrel
Aardvark
Deserts and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the user-contributed encyclopedia. If you find the content in the 'About' section factually incorrect, defamatory or highly offensive you can edit this article at Wikipedia. For more information on our use of Wikipedia please read our FAQ.
© MMIX
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.