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Sahara Desert. By: Souly , Zumi, Vibol . Location: . Climate and Geographic features. Extreme dryness is one of the Sahara’s chief characteristics, except in a few higher mountain areas.
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Sahara Desert By: Souly, Zumi, Vibol
Climate and Geographic features • Extreme dryness is one of the Sahara’s chief characteristics, except in a few higher mountain areas. • The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. • Stretches over 4,000 km in length, and is 1,800 km wide. The area is 9,400,000 km². • Average annual temperature: 86 °F, in the hottest months the temperature would be 122°F. • Fossils, rock art, stone artifacts, bone harpoons, shells and many other items have been found in areas which today are considered too hot and dry to inhabit.
Facts • Second largest and hottest desert in the world. • Artifacts found were located near remains of many land and aquatic animals which suggests that thousands of years ago water was quite abundant in the Sahara. • Sahara desert ha a combination climate. While it has subtropical climate in the northern parts, the region in south experiences tropical conditions. • Sahara desert has one of the harshest climates in the world. The prevailing north-easterly wind often causes the sand to form sand storms and dust devils.
Organisms and adaptations • Some desert animals would be, the ostrich, death stalker scorpion, horned vipers, dromedary camels, the monitor lizard and much more. • The adaptations that the dromedary camels has are, it can store fat in their bodies, they have a double row of eyelashes and the unique ability of closing their nostrils enables the camels to prevent the sand and dust from entering, even in a sandstorm. • They can survive without water from October to April or May. • The monitor lizards are cold blooded, they thrive in the warmth and practically shut down in the cold. • Due to this, they have a rather developed fight or flee mechanism, which makes them very aggressive in colder weather.
Plants and adaptations • African Peyote Cactus: is built with thick stems, the thickness helps the plant to hold back water for a considerable amount of time. The leaves of the cactus are reduced to spines, which helps in preventing water loss from the stomata from evaporation. • Date Palm: an important source of food. They use date palm to put in alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink.
People and adaptations • Despite such difficulties, people have lived in the desert for thousands of years. • Like desert planets and animals, desert people have learned
Bibliography • en.wikipedia.org • geography.howstuffworks.com • library.thinkquest.org • www.desertanimals.net • www.buzzle.com/articles/sahara-desert-animals.html