Desert Animals

Mammals living in the Desert

A desert is an area that is hot and dry. Temperatures in a desert are very hot during the day and cold at night. Deserts receive little rainfall which makes them unique. The scarcity of rainfall makes the soil dry and means plant life is scarce.

Types of animals living in the desert include birds, mammals and reptiles. Two kinds of birds that live in the desert are ostriches and roadrunners. Some of the mammals who reside in the desert are kangaroo rats, rabbits, squirrels and foxes. A few of the reptiles that live in the desert are a type of lizards called Gila Monsters, rattlesnakes, iguanas and toads. Deserts in different parts of the world have different animals.

The various kinds of animals have their own ways of coping with the heat. Some of the birds are active mainly at sunrise and sunset. Many of the mammals and reptiles sleep during the day.

Desert animals use different techniques to compensate for the lack of water. They may burrow into damp soil so water will be absorbed through their skin. They receive moisture from their food.

Animals living in the desert have developed to meet the challenges of living in a hot place with little water.

Even-toed ungulates

Queen of sheba's gazelle
Salt's dik-dik
Addax
Gacela de przewalski
Bharal
Springbok
Blackbuck
Saiga antelope
Wild yak
Addra gazelle
Roan antelope
Dorcas gazelle
Nubian ibex
African buffalo
Idmi
Rhim gazelle
Klipspringer
Sahara oryx
Red-fronted gazelle
Arabian oryx
Goitered gazelle
Chinkara
Argali
Saudi gazelle
Bighorn sheep
Arabian gazelle

Carnivores

Spotted hyaena
Sand fox
African lion
Cross fox
Leopard
Cheetah
Rusty-spotted cat
Fennec fox
Cougar
Peruvian desert fox
Chinese desert cat
Jungle cat
Sand cat
American jackal
Black-footed cat
Arctic wolf
Wild cat
Black-backed jackal
Striped hyaena
African caracal
Chilean pampa cat
Afghan fox
Eurasian lynx
Corsac fox
Bay lynx
African sand fox

Bats

California leaf-nosed bat
Rüppel's pipistrelle
Midas free-tailed bat
Geoffroy's horseshoe bat
Lesser mouse-tailed bat
Botta's serotine
Horn-skinned bat
Trident bat
Ethiopian large-eared roundleaf bat
Egyptian slit-faced bat
Naked-rumped tomb bat
Namib long-eared bat
Heart-nosed bat
Southern long-nosed bat
African sheath-tailed bat

Dasyuroid marsupials and marsupial carnivores

Chuditch
Banded anteater

American marsupials

Grayish mouse opossum

Hyraxes

Rock dassie

Elephant-shrews

Bushveld elephant shrew
North african elephant shrew
Somali elephant shrew
Round-eared elephant shrew

Marsupial moles

Northern marsupial mole
Marsupial mole

Bandicoots and bilbies

Bilby

Horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs

Black rhinoceros

Primates

Hamadryas baboon

Elephants

African elephant

Rodents

Fat-tailed gerbil
Desert pocket gopher
Texas pocket gopher
Gray glimbing mouse
Gerbil mouse
Tropical pocket gopher
Cape short-eared gerbil
Hairy-footed gerbil
Sundevall's jird
Littledale's whistling rat
Namib brush-tailed gerbil
Texas kangaroo rat
Libyan jird
Dune hairy-footed gerbil
San quintin kangaroo rat
Cairo spiny mouse
Bushy-tailed hairy-footed gerbil
Giant kangaroo rat
Phillips's mouse
Mauritanian gerbil
Fresno kangaroo rat
Namaqua rock rat
Pleasant gerbil
San jose island kangaroo rat
Gobi jerboa
Anderson's gerbil
Margarita island kangaroo rat
Euphrates jerboa
Greater fat-tailed jerboa
Dallon's gerbil
Iranian jerboa
Four-striped grass mouse
Somalia gerbil
Olrog's chaco mouse
Flower's gerbil
Lesser egyptian gerbil
Yellow steppe lemming
Mackillingin's gerbil
Pouched mouse
Baluchistan gerbil
Long-eared jerboa
Mearns's pouched mouse
Pale gerbil
Bucharian vole
Greater egyptian gerbil
Thick-tailed pygmy jerboa
Somalian gerbil
Heptner's pygmy jerboa
Tarabul's gerbil
Kozlov's pygmy jerboa
Waters's gerbil
Thomas's pygmy jerboa
Mohave ground squirrel
Five-toed pygmy jerboa
Cape gerbil
Highveld gerbil
Bushveld gerbil

Edentates

Pichi
Screaming hairy armadillo
Large hairy armadillo
Lesser fairy armadillo