Hot Desert Animals

The Hot Desert is the hottest habitat on Earth. With its hard extremes of lack of water and oppressing heat, it is known for its rugged terains of sand and stone. Hot Deserts can range from flat landscapes to hills, cliffs and canyons. Rainfall in a Hot Desert will be less than 10 inches per year.

The Animals that live in the Hot Desert, are unique in that they have bodies and behaviors adapted and equipped to survive on low amounts of water. For example, the Road Runner has the ability to raise and lower their body temperature. Desert Big Horn Sheep use their hooves and horns to break into cacti, for their moisture packed insides. Other animals that can be found in a Hot Desert are Scorpions, Tarantulas, Vultures, Coyotes, Rattlesnakes, Jackrabbits and LIzards.

These Animals use a variety of methods to escape the hot, dry days. Some will migrate into the mountains or toward desert plains. Using the advantage of the deserts low vegitation coverage, some animals find shady places to rest and avoid the harsh sun. Birds can soar, to cool off. Some animals spend days in caves and burrows, hunting during the nighttime hours for food.

The Hot Desert and its inhabitants are truly unique, and are one of the great lessons in adaptablity.


Even-toed ungulates	Carnivores	Cetacea	Bats	Dasyuroids	Opossums	Sirenia	Primates	Fish	Reptiles	Amphibians	Birds

Hot Desert Animals

Animals living in the Hot Desert habitat

Even-toed ungulates

Carnivores

Bats

Dasyuroid marsupials and marsupial carnivores

American marsupials

Hyraxes

Elephant-shrews

Marsupial moles

Bandicoots and bilbies

Horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs

Primates

Elephants

Rodents

Edentates