First Children Encyclopedia

Animals survivors

Few plants can survive in the desert

and so many animals are meat eaters.

Many deserts are also so hot that

a large number of animals retreat

underground during the day,

hunting at night.

Deserts of the world

A quarter of our world is made

up of hot deserts, the biggest

one being the Sahara Desert

in northern Africa.

Kalahari

Desert

Sonoran

Desert

Sahara Gobi Desert

Desert

Great Sandy

Desert

Atacama

Desert

Deserts are Earth’s driest places,

with hardly any rainfall. Many

of them are boiling hot – but

deserts can also be very cold

places, such as Antarctica.

Desert regions

How tall is the tallest cactus on record?

Ecosystems and habitats

Grey-banded king snake

Weird weather

During the day, many

deserts are scorchingly hot. At

night, they can get incredibly

cold. They often have huge

sandstorms – or snow storms.

Antarctica