Deserts

 
 

This page has information about deserts of the world and what you need to make a desert a desert tank, or terrarium.

You may think that deserts are very hot all the time,but at night, in some deserts, it is very cold.  Did you know that some deserts are not hot at all?  There are hot desrts and cold deserts.  Deserts can only receive a certain amount of rainfall each year to be considered a desert.  Hot and cold deserts have very different temperatures but they have one thing in common - they are dry.

 Hot sand, rocks, and dirt in the deserts absorb heat and dry up the water that does fall.  The deserts get hotter and hotter as the day goes on.

The Arctic and Antarctica have dry cold air.  The reason they are deserts is because they have limited rainfall.  The temperatures  there are much colder than tradtional deserts though!

People think all deserts consist only of sand but only a few deserts are all sand.  Most deserts have mostly rocky or dry soil.  People may think that hot deserts are too hot to support any kind of plants or flowers. Well, they would be wrong.  There are lots of plants that live in the desert.  People may think there are only a few animals that live in the desert but, there are many animals that call a desert home.

   The great "traditional" deserts of the world are all over the world, in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America and Australia.  An example of a polar desert would be Antarctica.
    The Mohave Desert in North America covers 15,000 square miles.
    In South America, the Patagonia Desert covers 260,000 square miles and the Atacama Desert is 140,000 square miles.
    Africa has three major deserts.  The Sahara is 3,500,000 square miles!  The Kalahari is 275,000 square miles and the Namid is 97,000 square miles.
    In Asia, home to five major deserts, there is the Turkistan Desert at 75,000 square miles, the Gobi is 374,420 square miles, the Thar Desert has 231,600 square miles, the Iranian Desert is 150,000 square miles, and theTakla Maken Desert has 115,000 square miles.
    The Middle East has two major deserts, the Arabian Desert has 1,600,000 square miles and the Syrian Desert has 20,000 square miles.
    Australia has the Australian Desert which is 979,700 square miles.

Steps:

Fill the bottom of the tank with about a 2 inches of dirt.
Put about 2 inches of mall rocks or gravel in next, then add sand to fill the tank 3/4 of the way up.  Scoop out little holes to put in your cactus plants. (Be careful!  They will probably have sharp spines.)
You will have to water your cactus plants a little bit from time to time.
Your tank or terrarium should gets lots of light and sun.
 
 
 

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