What is a desert

welcome to moomoomath in science in this video you will learn about the biome called desert although most people think of the Earth's deserts as wasteland there is large number of animals and plants that have adapted to the harsh conditions of desert in fact one-sixth of the Earth's population live in desert regions but what is desert deserts cover more than one-fifth of the Earth's land and they are found on every continent place that receives less than 10 inches or 25 centimetres of rain per year is considered desert if you take look at this map of the earth you can locate areas that are deserts the Sahara Desert is here the Gobi Desert is found here Arctic polar the great Victorian to name few many deserts are dry and hot but there are cold deserts as well the Sahara Desert in northern Africa is the largest hot desert in the world and reaches temperatures up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit or 50 degrees Celsius during the day but some deserts are cold like the Gobi Desert in Asia and the desert on the continent of Antarctica desert animals have adapted ways to help either keep them cool and use less water for example camels can go for days without food and water many desert animals are nocturnal coming out to hunt only at night in order to avoid the Sun some animals like this tortoise will spend much of their time underground in burrow other desert animals have adaptations to help keep them warm and survive in cold temperatures this polar bear has thick layers of fat in fur for insulation against the cold and the white appearance is helpful for camouflage the snowshoe hare has white fur in the winter and reddish brown fur in the summer which means it is camouflaged from its pet predators from of the year desert plants may have to go without water for long periods of time several plants have adapted by growing long roots that reach the water table underground other plants like cacti conserve water in order to stay alive plants in cold deserts grow close to the ground and close together which helps resist the effects of cold weather and to reduce damage caused by snow and ice particles driven by the cold winds some plants like lichens can survive on bare rock plants and animals and hot deserts have to survive extreme heat Death Valley holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded at 130 4.06 degrees Fahrenheit plants and animals in cold deserts have to survive extreme cold average temperature the Arctic polar desert is negative 30 degrees fahrenheit in the winter so there we go look at our biome called desert thanks for watching and moomoomath uploads new math and science video every day please subscribe and share