Deserts
About Deserts | World Deserts | American Deserts

About Deserts
Gosh, I'm Thirsty!

Moisture of all kinds...rain, sweat, dew, pools, lakes, sap, breath evaporates very quickly in the hot, dry desert air.

• Rain soaks into the sand and disappears in minutes or only hours.
  Swimsuits dry in minutes
• Throats parch and leaves shrivel
• The heat of the ground and the drying wind take most moisture before it can be used by plants and animals
• Sometimes, rain evaporates before it even hits the ground.

Frequently, a barrier of high mountains keeps moist air from entering deserts. The Atlas, Caucasus, Zagros, Sierra Nevada, Andes, Himalayas, and locally, the Santa Rosas, are among the formidable barriers to desert rains. It takes an extremely strong storm to surmount or skirt such mountains. Living Desert's summer rain storms often start as hurricanes in the Gulf of California.

Desert plants and animals conserve water. Because it is so scarce, most desert animals and plants are extremely thrifty in their use of water, and sometimes use very similar strategies to survive. The desert tortoise and barrel cactus are both water savers, with built-in storage capabilities. They spend their stores in drought conditions. Spadefoot toads and wildflowers lie dormant most of the time, then accelerate their life cycles to take advantage of rain. Both need just enough rain to make sure the next generation matures, and both go from egg or seed to adult in a matter of days. Coyotes dig deep "wells", a strategy similar to the mesquite tree, whose roots may drive 150 feet deep.

Banded geckos and night lizards are exceptional lizards....active in moonlight instead of sunlight; succulents are exceptional plants...they begin photosynthesis at night instead of by by day.

Just because desert plants and animals may have the ability to survive drought does not necessarily mean they like being thirsty. Keepers at The Living Desert supply the animals in the collection with water, and drip irrigation and hand watering keep our gardens growing and blooming. We use misters to lower the temperature in the walk-through aviary and in some of the other wildlife exhibits.

The undisputed champions are the kangaroo rat and the creosote bush, both of which seem to defy nature and ignore water altogether.

Kangaroo rats do not need to drink because their bodies are so efficient at conserving and recycling moisture. In extreme drought, creosote bushes can photosynthesize on little or no water.