Sahara Desert By: Souly, Zumi, Vibol

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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 animals.html animals.html