Deserts are usually the open spaces of barren lands and sand.Deserts can be seen in every continent covering around one-fifth of the earth’s total land area. In terms of the total area of earth, deserts cover around one-third of that area.Apart from all the facts, three important desert facts are as follows. Firstly the term desert means ‘an abandoned place. This statement refers to the region where not much trace of living beings can be found. Secondly, animals can be found in deserts. Considering the fact that these deserts have extreme climatic conditions, animals like foxes, coyotes can be spotted here. Apart from these animals, reptiles can also be seen. These animals are found in the dry deserts. Regarding the polar deserts, animals like bison, jackrabbit, and prairie dogs can be spotted. Thirdly, plants with flowers can also survive in a desert, be it a dry desert or a cold desert. Cold desert can grow flowers like sego lily, rabbitbrush, and bitterbrush. Whereas regarding the hot desert, desert lily is a very common flower.If you like reading this, you might want to read about what is a desert and different types of deserts.What is a desert?A desert is any land on the planet that receives an inadequate amount of rainfall. If we calculate, a desert receives around less than ten inches of rainfall on a yearly basis. Deserts can be hot as well as cold. In some cases, they can have pleasant weather with semi-arid and coastal climatic conditions.Deserts can be of various types. The first one is a hot desert. They are hot throughout the year. During the summer, the chances of rainfall are extremely limited and might occur in short rounds. Due to the extreme heat, the rain might not reach the ground as well. The semi-arid deserts on the other hand have a comparatively cooler temperature. The winters in this area receive some rainfall. In the coastal deserts, heavy fog can be noticed. Although these deserts are mostly dried up. There is a unique desert called the Atacama desert, a very famous coastal desert. According to scientists, for around the past 40 million years, there has been no traces of rainfall on the grounds of the Atacama desert. In this extreme climatic condition species have to survive by developing several adaptations. Regarding the plants, they develop fleshy stems in order to hold on to the moisture. The cold deserts are restricted towards the pole. They have very low temperatures with mostly spine-like plants. Antarctic desert is an example of the biggest cold desert. The deserts are somewhat sufficient and suited for plants like cacti and shrubs to grow. Apart from plants, they are home to creatures like lizards and coyotes. Few deserts are known to form lakes that could be shallow and salty. The deserts create these lakes themselves which can be dangerous for humans. Surprisingly, deserts have a large number of mineral deposits and are considered to be ideal to generate a large amount of solar energy.Different Types Of DesertsAs we know, there are four different kinds of deserts based on their geographical location. The four different types of deserts are hot, semi-arid, coastal, and icy deserts. All the deserts on the world’s deserts list are distinguished into these categories only.The largest deserts in the world are usually hot deserts. For example, the Sahara desert is a hot desert and is the biggest desert in the world. Apart from the Sahara desert, the Arabian desert, the great victoria desert are all hot. These regions are hot throughout the year with very few chances of developing civilization. The plants need to have adaptations like the thick stem to survive here. Then comes the semiarid desert. Here, the Kalahari desert can be included. Kalahari desert is situated in Africa covering the savanna region. Here the desert landscape is prominent with very limited crops that can be grown on the soil. Regarding the coastal deserts, the Atacama desert, the Namib desert is a cool coastal area. The Namib desert is situated in the southern parts of Africa having an average temperature of 10-16 °C (50-60.8 F) during the day. Regarding the cold deserts, the polar deserts fall in this category as well. The Antarctic desert is the largest icy desert in the world. The desert is known to have an average temperature of around -202.5 to -199.2 F (-94.7 C to -92.9 C). Examples of other cold deserts can be the Sonoran desert and the Gobi desert. There is an estimated population of around one billion in the desert areas. Despite the fact that these regions receive less rainfall with very limited crop production, life can be seen to thrive here.Hot Desert FactsHot deserts are basically desert that experiences a hot and humid temperature throughout the year. The environment can be challenging for any species to survive in harsh climatic conditions.These deserts are found within or around the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. There are deserts like the Sahara desert, Arabian deserts are hot deserts with extreme climatic conditions. In these deserts, very few species and plants are known to grow and survive. Most of the components in these regions are codependent. Changes in any of the biotic or abiotic components might cause a change in both components. The species are adapted to special features to live here. for example, the plants are known to have a thick stem to store water for future purposes. The soil in these regions has a greyish hue and is mostly rocky in nature. They are usually dry and use up the water from the rainfall very easily. The upper portion of the soil might look harsh due to its rocky nature. The water beneath is generally hot that moves upwards by the process of evaporation. During this process, the soil moves up and the salt in it gets deposited beneath. Along with the soil, the temperature can be so high that at times it may cause a few plants to burn out as well. During the day in the summer months, the temperature may rise up to around 104 F (40 C). Although at night it might drop to 32 F (0 C) as well. The region is mostly dry and gets very little rainfall. Considering these harsh conditions, few plants do grow in these deserts which are mostly grasses, spiny plants, and algae. Few animals that can be seen in these regions are camels, coyotes, foxes, and reptiles like snakes and lizards.Desert Climate And PlantsConsidering the fact that there are at least four different kinds of deserts in the world, the climatic conditions and the plantations differ accordingly. The different kinds of deserts exist due to the difference in geographical locations. These various geographical locations of the desert regions lead to differences in climatic conditions and the kinds of plantations.One of the major desert facts is the creation of its biome. A desert biome occurs in a region that receives the lowest amount of rainfall in a year. According to the desert facts, most deserts are distinguished on the basis of the difference in their biome. Majorly, there are four different kinds of deserts, which are the coastal desert, semi-dried desert, cold or icy desert, and dry and hot desert. When we talk about the climatic conditions of these deserts we should remember that the conditions are not alike for the four groups. The dry and hot deserts are found to be in humid conditions throughout the year. There are parching heat waves during the months of summer. The hot desert soil is capable of growing few crops to some extent. The crops include wheat, small grains, cucumber, onions, squash, onions, pepper as well as cherries, and tomatoes. The coastal deserts on the other hand are known to have summers that can last long along with cool winters. The plantations include palm trees mostly. Regarding the icy desert, the summers can be very hot while the winters can be extremely cold or equivalent to freezing. In the cases of the icy or the polar deserts which are situated at a higher altitude, might experience snowfall or a bit of rainfall as well. The plants in this region have adapted to features to survive in extremely cold temperatures. The plants go through extreme cold conditions during the winter while facing the heat waves during the summer. Plants like grasses, algae, or spiny leaves are known to thrive and survive in these regions. These plants are mostly seen to grow during the summers. Most of these plants store the water or moisture in their leaves which help them to survive during drought. they usually save the water during the time of the rainfall.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 53 interesting and fun desert facts for kids, all you need to know, then why not take a look at cactus facts or Arabian desert facts?
Deserts are usually the open spaces of barren lands and sand.
