Deserts
About Deserts | World Deserts | American Deserts

About Deserts

Characteristics of the Desert

Saying that The Living Desert is in "the desert" is a little like saying an island is in "the ocean." The name of our local desert, Colorado, comes from the Colorado River, which is roughly its eastern boundary. Just north of us here in the Coachella Valley, is the Mojave Desert. The Mojave and Colorado regions are commonly called the "high" and "low" deserts, respectively, even though the Mojave claims Death Valley, the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level. Most of the Mojave has an average elevation of 2,000-4,000 feet above sea level, and so is the cooler of the two regions. Average elevation of the Colorado desert is about 1,000 feet.

Like oceans no two deserts are the same, but there are certain things they all have in common:

• Super-dry air
• Little rain....less than 10 inches a year
• High daytime temperatures
• Lots of wind

Whew! It's Hot!
134ºF in the Death Valley...125ºF in Palm Springs... 98ºF at midnight; desert temperatures are notorious. Many desert animals burrow to reach moderate temperatures. The average burrow stays below 85ºF in summer and above 46ºF in the winter... continue

Aaah! A Breeze!
Desert winds range from cool evening breezes to major dust and sand storms.... Desert animals can run, fly, burrow, huddle, and hide when the winds come up, but plants are stationary and must have built in defenses
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Gosh! I'm Thirsty!
Moisture of all kinds---rain, sweat, dew, pools, lakes, sap, breath---evaporates very quickly in the hot, dry desert air....Desert plants and Animals conserve water... continue

The undisputed champions are the kangaroo rat and the creosote bush, both of which seem to defy nature and ignore water altogether. Kangaroo rats do not need to drink because their bodies are so efficient at conserving and recycling moisture. In extreme drought, creosote bushes can photosynthesize on little or no water.