Preview

Desert Plants and Animals

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
583 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Desert Plants and Animals
Although it may seem strange, the desert is the home to many plant and animal wildlife. Of course, to survive the hot and dry conditions, these wildlife have to be specially adapted to capture as much food and water as possible to sustain themselves. In the desert, it can get as hot as over 30 degrees in the day and below 16 degrees at night! This project will further explore a few of the plants and animals, as well some of their adaptations.

PLANTS : KAI COLE
ANIMALS : DENNEIL CHAMBERS

Plants: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/kalahari-desert-plants.html http://www.eoearth.org/article/Adaptations_of_desert_plants

Animals: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/meerkat TSAMMA MELON (also ‘citron melon)
The Tsamma Melon is endemic to the Kalahari Desert. It is commonly used by the native tribes as a source of food and water, because of its high water content. The Tsamma melon can easily be confused with a watermelon, as it resembles a smaller version of one, but upon cutting it open, one will find that it has a hard white flesh, that requires cooking prior to consumption. The patch grows big yellow flowers, and the leaves are lobed and abrasive to the touch.

The Citron Melon is adapted to the desert climate in the following ways: 1. They store lots of water in their lobed leaves and in their fruits. 2. They also store water in their roots. The Hoodia Gordonii, commonly found in the Kalahari Desert, is often mixed up with the traditional cactus. Although it resembles a cactus, the Hoodia Gordonii is, in fact, not a part of the cactus family. Pollination in this plant is carried out by flies, which are attracted to the flowers due to the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    According to Geiser (2004), Dasyurids are one of the most effective small arid zone mammals due to their effective use of torpor, which is used to adapt to strong variations in food and water availability. As mentioned by Geiser (2004), Dasyurids utilise torpor during the night or early morning and utilise the sun’s warmth to rewarm from torpor, minimising energy expenditure.…

    • 1721 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plan of Attack

    • 2545 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Observations: The shape and appearance of the Saguaro Cactus is easily recognizable in countless movies set in the desert. The cactus is a producer, using photosynthesis to create its energy needs. Since it doesn't have leaves, its photosynthesis takes place in the top layer of its green stem. The cactus uses a number of adaptations to survive in the dry desert conditions. They include a large root system that collects water after rain, and an expandable stem that stores the collected water.…

    • 2545 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Science Notes

    • 721 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Which is not an adaptation of desert animals that help them retain and acquire water in such a hot and dry environment?…

    • 721 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Chihuahuan desert is large area of the northern Mexico and runs into the southern part of the United Stated which include west Texas. The region of the desert has a high altitude of 1000 to 1500 meters which fall to about 350 meters along the Rio Grande River. Summers are very hot and the winter are somewhat cool, which some night frosts. Rainfall in this area is about 20-30 cm which mostly happens during the summer time. In most of the Chihuahuan Desert most of it has calcareous soil that are derived from the limestone beds. The Chihuahuan Desert has many types of vegetation such as Yucca, such as Torrey yucca or the banana yucca, they are very difficult in telling them apart because of hybridization, because they are group with a common name of Spanish daggers because they have sharp pointed leaves. In the event of a drought or freezing temperatures these plants are able to tolerate it. Other types of species in the Chihuahuan Desert is the greater roadrunner and reptiles such as the western diamondback rattlesnakes. A common bird species in the Chihuahuan Desert is the greater roadrunner which is a large, ground-dwelling cuckoo with brown, white and buff streaked look. They have a long tail, there face is blue and have an orange bare patch of skin behind their eyes. They eat insects, lizards, snakes, small birds as well as fruits and seeds. They are able to run as fast as 15 mph. There habitat is in the desert region of southern the United State and Central America, they are most common in the Chihuahaun Desert of the West Texas and the South Texas brush lands. There habitat consist of shrubs and thickets, the desert scrub and open lands. The western diamondback rattlesnake is one of the largest rattlesnakes in the Chihuahuan Desert, they are most common species of rattlesnakes in the lower desert. There length consist of more than seven feet in length and is considered the king of its species of the South western desert rattlers, not…

    • 913 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you recently moved to a warmer climate and don't know how to prepare your yard for winter? Are…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Biology

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The dry wallum is a harsh environment that is battered by the sun and wind every day and with a base of porous sand; water availability is very scarce and must be conserved. The abiotic factors in the dry wallum are that the area is exposed to high amounts of sunlight which causes a loss of water in the leaves through transpiration. Since the wallum is so dry and hot; bush fires play a major cycle in the dry wallum which the trees have adapted to cope with. The roots of the plant and tree species have to cope with the leeching of nutrients because of the high porosity sand in the dry wallum.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Quiz 10 Biology

    • 1062 Words
    • 6 Pages

    You are reading the journal of an amateur naturalist who visited the Sonoran Desert in the last century. Which of his descriptions of desert plants would you question?…

    • 1062 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Deserts Lab Worksheet

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Why are nights in arid lands surprisingly cold? Hint: Think of a feature of the atmosphere that holds daytime heat during the night.…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Adaptations

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages

    2. An animal that lives in a desert biome will most likely have adaptations that help the animal to…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    APES Formation Of Deserts

    • 2298 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Baker, Craig S. "20 Amazing Animal Adaptations for Living in the Desert." Mental Floss. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://mentalfloss.com/article/57204/20-amazing-animal-adaptations-living-desert>.…

    • 2298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    lab repot

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why are nights in arid lands surprisingly cold? Hint: Think of a feature of the atmosphere that holds daytime heat during the night.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Appendix M-Deserts

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why are nights in arid lands surprisingly cold? Hint: Think of a feature of the atmosphere that holds daytime heat during the night.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biome in a Box

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The biome should be realistically represented with geographical features such as mountains, streams, rivers, etc.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Desertsand Research Paper

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Indio Middle School Teacher Directory (By Subject): Language Arts ­ 6th Grade Language Arts ­ 7th Grade Language Arts ­ 8th Grade Language Arts Intervention Read 180 Gateways 2 Gateways 4 Math/Science ­ 6th Grade Math/Science ­ 7th Grade…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Native Americans

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Deserts are also found in areas where rainfall is less than 50 cm a year. However, with a little rainfall, most of the deserts have a considerable amount of specialized vegetation and vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well. And there are only a few large mammals in the deserts because they are not capable of storing sufficient water or withstanding the blistering heat. In the variety of the deserts, plants have had to develop different ways of capturing water in the roots, stems, leaves or fruit in order to survive in their habitat. There are short grasses, sagebrush, creosote bushes and cacti can be found in nearly all deserts. About animals, in order to survive, they try to stay in…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays