GEOGRAPHY - Lesson 19

Topic: DESERTS
Grade: 6

Presented By:
Pitlochry Primary School Educator : Mrs K Pillay

2
 What are Deserts?
Deserts are very dry places. It hardly ever rains in a desert!

They are hot in the day but cold at night.

Do you think any animals live in the desert?

 Desert Animals
Deserts are hot and dry but many animals do live there!

What do animals eat and drink? Where do they shelter?

 Desert Animals
All living things need to eat, drink and have shelter.

Tarantulas live
Camels can drink
underground in
only once a week in
burrows and come out
summer and be fine!
at night to find food.

Scorpions burrow into Iguanas, like all

the sand when it is reptiles, are cold-
really hot. They get blooded. They need the
water from eating hot sun to keep warm.
their prey.
 Desert Plants
Desert plants do not need much water.

They have thick leaves or spiky spines.

They have long roots to find water.

 Hot and Cold Deserts
Deserts are very dry places. Some deserts are hot but some are very cold!
The Antarctic and the Arctic are two cold deserts!

Did You Know…?

The hottest desert in the world is the Sahara Desert in Africa.
Location on Earth
Climate: Temperature and
rainfall
Different Desert Animal Habitats

Hot desert habitat Cold desert habitat

Hot Desert Animal Habitats

Main
 Lizard
The desert horned lizard is
adapted to very hot temperatures
because it has horns behind its
head and thick scales which keep
the heat out.

They eat insects, which helps to

control the insect population.

They have long tails, 4 legs and

5 toes on each foot.

They live for about 8 years.

Back
Tarantula
Tarantulas can be found in parts of
America and African deserts.

They live underground to cope with

the heat.

They do not spin webs but instead

live in burrows. They use their silk to
make ‘doors’ to their burrows.

They hunt at night when it is cooler.

They eat insects, beetles

and grasshoppers.

Back
 Scorpion
Scorpions have 2 eyes on the
top of their heads and some
have up to 5 pairs of eyes on
each side of their heads.

They catch their prey with

their pincers and crush it.

All scorpions are poisonous.

25 species of scorpion are
deadly to humans.

They have an exoskeleton (a skeleton on the outside of their body)

which helps them keep water in their bodies in order to survive in
the harsh temperatures.

Back
Camel
Camels eat grass, seeds, grains
and some plants with thorns.

They can grow up to 7ft tall.

Their hair reflects the sun, which

helps to keep them cool.

They are used to transport people

and goods across the desert.

They do not store water in

their humps.

Back
 Vulture
There are 23 different
species of vulture.

They save energy in the

hot desert by soaring with
their huge wings, rather
than flapping.

Their wingspan is between

2m and 2.5m.

They are scavengers which means they do not kill their own food
but eat the leftovers of other dead animals.

They have very good eyesight and a strong sense of smell.

Back
 Tortoise
The desert tortoise can be found in California, Mexico, Nevada
and Utah. They are protected from the sun by their scaly head
and a hard, domed shell.

They have heavily scaled

legs with sharp claws to dig
underground and find shade.

They can survive

temperatures up to 60°C.

They can survive without

water for a year!

Back
Cold Desert Animal Habitats

Main
 Arctic Hare
Arctic hares live in the snows of
the Arctic. They have thick white
fur in the winter which keeps
them warm in the cold
temperatures. Their fur goes
brown in the warmer months to
help them stay camouflaged.

Arctic hares are herbivore and eat

woody plants such as willow.
They eat snow to get water.
They have an excellent sense of
hearing and can run up to
40mph which helps them to
escape predators.
Back
 Arctic Fox
The arctic fox is a omnivore. It eats meat such as rodents, birds and
fish as well as fruit and vegetables. They live in the coldest deserts in
the world and burrow tunnels underground to live in.

Arctic foxes have beautiful

white coats so that they
blend in with the snow.
Their coat changes colour
as the season changes.
An arctic fox can live up to
6 years old.

Back
 Snow Leopards
Snow Leopards live in some of
the coldest parts of the world
such as the rocky mountains of
China, Russia and Nepal.
They grow to around 1 metre in
length and are large and
powerful. Their back legs are
strong and they can leap long
distances.
They have long tails which
they wrap around their bodies
to protect them from the cold.
They hunt wild sheep, pikas
and hares.
Back
 Llama
Llamas are mostly found in South America and they are related to the
camel. However, they do not have humps!
They are long legs and necks, short tails and large, pointed ears.

They eat grass and other plants.

They are gentle animals but will
hiss and spit when they are
annoyed or scared.
They have a thick outer coat to
keep them warm and this is
used by humans to make
jumpers and rugs.

Back
 The Arabian Desert
The Arabian Desert is on the continent of Asia.

It stretches across 8
different countries:

• The UAE
• Oman
• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Iraq
• Qatar
 Plant Life in the Desert
Although the desert is very hot and there is
very little rain, plants do grow there.
These plants have special adaptations that help
them to survive the hot and dry conditions.
Some plants have thick stems to store water,
such as cactus plants.
cactus plants
Others have deep roots that are widespread to
collect moisture from the ground.
Some varieties of cactus have round stems to
conserve water.
Many plants have spines instead of leaves to
reduce water lost through evaporation.

agave plants
 Animal Life in the Desert
There are many animals that live in the Arabian Desert. They also have
special adaptations that help them to live in the hot, dry conditions.

Camels are able to Other animals, such Arabian oryx and

drink a lot of water as spiny-tailed lizards, sand gazelle survive
at one time. They do do not need to drink the heat of the desert
not sweat, which any water at all. They by grazing at cooler
helps them to have glands that help times of the day and
conserve the water them to keep finding shade from the
that they drink. hydrated. heat during the day.

camel spiny-tailed lizard oryx sand gazelle

 Where is The Simpson Desert?
The Simpson Desert’s sand dunes stretch over hundreds of kilometres and
lie across the corners of three states - South Australia, Queensland and
the Northern Territory in central Australia.
 How Big is The Simpson Desert?
It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km2
(68,100 square miles). It is the world's largest sand dune desert. It is
almost three times as big as Tasmania.
Animals Found in The Simpson Desert
The Perentie Monitor Lizard

The perentie can grow up to two meters long.

It shelters in
underground burrows.
The burrows are huge
and often have many
escape tunnels.
Perenties are one of
the top predators in
the Australian deserts.
Animals Found in The Simpson Desert
The Red Kangaroo

The red kangaroo, is the largest and most famous kangaroo species.

They are famous for

their hopping
movement. Red
kangaroos need to
cover huge distances
to find enough food in
the Australian desert.
Animals Found in The Simpson Desert
The Bilby

The bilby hides during the day and forages at night to avoid the heat
from the sun. Bilbies dig burrows that are one to two metres
underground so they are much cooler than the surface.

They are so good in

saving water that they
don't need to drink. They
get enough water from
their food: seeds, bulbs,
fungi, spiders and
insects, which they find
by scratching and
digging.
 Aboriginal People and the
Simpson Desert
Aboriginal people travelled all over the country, and would only camp in
one place for a few weeks at a time, hunting and foraging for food.

When food began to run low, people would

get up and move on to another place.
Aboriginal people living in the desert had a
lot of mikiri (wells) where they would camp
and get water. The mikiri were the only place
they could get water in the desert.
People believe that Aboriginal people followed
where the rainwater went, and dug down
through the sand to find where water was
trapped. Sometimes they had to dig up to
seven metres deep!
 Aboriginal People and the
Simpson Desert
Bread and small seed patties made from grass and plants
were eaten by the Simpson Desert’s Aboriginal people.

Materials to make stone tools, knives and axes were very

hard to find in the desert. Because of this, Aboriginal people
in the Simpson Desert traded with other Aboriginal people
for stone, sometimes having to travel hundreds of kilometres
to make their trade.

Aboriginal people found lots of animals to hunt such as

crested pigeons, wrens, budgerigars, galahs and emus.
Kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, hopping mice, native rats,
lizards and even snakes and dingoes were also eaten by the
Aboriginal people here.
ACTIVITY 1 : Look at the climate graph below and answer the questions
that follow.

1.1 What is the hottest temperature?

1.2 How much rain falls for the whole year?
1.3 What do you notice about the rainfall when the temperature
is at its highest?
1.4 Match the following sentences to the month of the year.
1.4.1 Today was the coldest day of the year.
1.4.2 It hasn’t rained in 15 weeks.
1.4.3 Today was very hot and rainy.
1.4.4 It was cold and rainy this month.
ACTIVITY 2 : Answer the question below.

1. Name one way plants can survive in hot deserts.

2. What is the main way animals survive the hot desert temperatures?

3. Describe the different ways people live and work in the desert.

Mention both traditional and modern ways.

ACTIVITY 3 : Copy and complete the table based on the Arabian and

Simpson Desert. Find out about plants and animals found in the deserts.

ANIMAL/PLANT DESERT IT IS FOUND HOW IT IS SUITED

IN FOR THE DESERT
ACTIVITY 4 : Discuss how people survive in a desert.

Pretend you are living in a hot desert far away from a big city.

Write two examples explaining how you would get:

• Water
• Food
• Shelter