Desert animals have developed various adaptations to survive in the harsh desert climate with high heat and little water. Their bodies and behaviors allow them to go long periods without water, getting it instead from the food they eat or by metabolizing seeds. Many desert animals are nocturnal, seeking shade during the day to avoid the hottest temperatures. Common desert animals like camels, kangaroo rats, red kangaroos, desert larks and elf owls have specialized physical and behavioral traits for living in the desert.

1. Desert
animals

2. Desert Animals
Desert animals can handle the desert heat and lack
of water.
Their bodies and behaviors is made to bare the
desert climate.
Most can survive on small amounts of water and
many get all of their water from their food.
Some drink maybe once a week and travel
considerable distances to find isolated water holes
and springs.
Large animals seek shade during the hottest part of
the day.

3. This animal looks like a rat,
but lives in the desert. What
could it be?

4. Kangaroo Rat
• Kangaroo rat has the ability to convert the
dry seeds they eat into water, and they
neither sweat or pant like other animals to
keep coll.
• They spend their burrows where the air is
moist and humid.

5. This first animal is famous for
it’s humps. However, we
already know that they do not
have water in their humps.

6. CAMEL• Camels are well suited to survive the conditions of the desert.
• They are known as “The ship of desert”.
• Camels have been used for transporting goods across desert
for 1000 of years.
• The hump in their back stores fat – they store water in the
lining of their stomachs.
• Camels have extra long eyelashes to keep the sand out of
their eyes, and big flat feet to help them walk through the
sand.
• In fact camels are the only desert animals that can carry
heavy loads of goods and travel for a long period of time
without food or water.

7. Camels

8. Are you “hopping” for a
good clue? This animal
lives in the deserts of
Australia.

9. Red Kangaroo
• Like many desert
animals, red kangaroos
prefer to sleep in the day,
when the desert is at it’s
hottest, and wake up at
nighttime, when it is
actually very cold.
• That explains why many
animals have fur, even in
hot deserts.

10. There are many birds that are
able to survive the harsh
conditions of the desert.
Here is one of them.

11. Desert Lark
• The desert larks’ feathers are
a light brown color, which
means that it is well
camouflaged in the desert
sand.

12. Amongst some of the desert
birds are these who play
dead till the danger is over.
Make a guess?

13. Elf Owl
• One of the smallest owl in
the world, Elf owl is very
small.
• It lives in the hollows out
of cactus trunks, where it
is protected from most
predators.
• When captured, this tiny
owl likes to plays dead
until it is sure that all
danger has passed!