ANIMALS

Beasts such as the camel are adapted to survive in hot deserts. These animals can survive for up to seven days without water and can cross great distances to an oasis (a fertile spot in a desert where there’s water). They can also survive without food for three weeks thanks to the fat stored in their hump.

Many desert animals get all the water they need from the food they eat. Birds of prey and lizards get their water from their prey while herbivores such as camels get it from plants.

Desert animals regulate their body temperature so they don’t perspire and lose water.

One way of doing this is to dig an underground shelter. A hole of about 40cm deep is well insulated against heat and cold. Inside, the temperature remains fairly constant, regardless of how hot it becomes outside.

South African burrowers include the aardwolf (civet hyena) and badger of the Kalahari, and the desert mice of the Namib.