GEOGRAPHY - Lesson 19Topic: DESERTS

Grade: 6

Presented By: Pitlochry Primary School Educator : Mrs K Pillay

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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 AnimalsDeserts are hot and dry but many animals do live there!

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

Scorpions burrow into the sand when it is really hot. They get water from eating their prey.

Iguanas, like all reptiles, are cold-blooded. They need the hot sun to keep warm.

Tarantulas live underground in burrows and come out at night to find food.

Camels can drink only once a week in summer and be fine!

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

They have long roots to find water.

They have thick leaves or spiky spines.

Desert PlantsDesert plants do not need much water.

Hot and Cold DesertsDeserts 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Tortoise

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!

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.

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Cold Desert Animal Habitats

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Arctic HareArctic 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.

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Arctic FoxThe 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.

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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.

Snow LeopardsSnow 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, pikasand hares.

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LlamaLlamas 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.

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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.

The Arabian DesertThe 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.

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.

cactus plants

agave plants

Animal Life in the DesertThere are many animals that live in the Arabian Desert. They also have

special adaptations that help them to live in the hot, dry conditions.

camel sand gazellespiny-tailed lizard oryx

Camels are able to drink a lot of water at one time. They do

not sweat, which helps them to

conserve the water that they drink.

Other animals, such as spiny-tailed lizards, do not need to drink

any water at all. They have glands that help

them to keep hydrated.

Arabian oryx and sand gazelle survive the heat of the desert by grazing at cooler times of the day and

finding shade from the heat during the day.

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 theSimpson 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 theSimpson Desert

Bread and small seed patties made from grass and plants were eaten by the Simpson Desert’s Aboriginal people.

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.

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.

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.

ANIMAL/PLANT DESERT IT IS FOUND

IN

HOW IT IS SUITED

FOR THE DESERT

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.

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