Deadly Deserts

Summary
An overview of the characteristics of the desert biome including plant and animal life.

Objectives
• Students will identify the climatic characteristics of deserts.

• Students will recognize the plant and animal life of the desert along with their special adaptations.

Suggested Grades
5th Grade
6th Grade

Excerpt
Deserts can be divided into two main categories: hot and cold. A cold desert is the USA?s Great Basin where the Great Salt Lake is found. Our focus will be hot deserts like the Mojave Desert found in the southwestern USA. The largest desert in the world is the Sahara Desert located in Northern Africa. Some parts of this desert get no rain at all for years at a time.

Surprisingly, deserts have a large variety of livings things in them. The large variety of plants found in deserts all have adaptations to help them store water and reduce water loss. Many desert plants have succulent leaves that can store water inside of them. These leaves are thick and tough to reduce water loss.

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