Destination Desert
Laura Perdew
Illustrated by Lex Cornell
Destination Desert
BIOME EXPLORERS
Laura Perdew
Deserts are lands of opposites. They are tough, but also fragile.
They are places of drought, Though rains can bring floods.
Many deserts are very hot, And they can also get very cold.
The sun scorches the land above ground. It is cool and quiet below ground.
Animals hide and rest during the day. They emerge to hunt at night.
Deserts often look empty, Yet they are full of life.
Let’s go exploring!
Good day, fellow explorers! We’re off to visit an incredible biome!
Pack a sun hat. And sunscreen. And definitely bring along a full water bottle. Because today we’re exploring . . .
A biome is a community of plants and animals that live together in a certain climate.
. . . DESERTS!
These places are very, very DRY! Some are so dry that when rain does fall, it evaporates BEFORE it hits the ground!
Deserts are harsh environments. But each type of desert has special plants and animals that are experts at survival.
Some desert plants have long roots stretching deep underground or sideways to seek out water. Others store their own!
There are deserts all over the world, on every continent.
On our trek, we’ll see towering, barren sand dunes in a hot, dry desert .
We’ll spot sagebrush and sandstone in a semi-arid desert .
We’ll visit a desert by the sea. And we might see snow in a cold desert !
Let’s start in the SAHARA , the world’s largest hot, dry desert.
Antarctica is considered a desert because it gets so little precipitation.
This arid desert gets less than 3 inches of rain per year.
And, phew, it sure is HOT!
In fact, there are only two seasons in the Sahara . . . HOT and HOTTER!
We want to avoid the daytime temperatures, which can be greater than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let’s do what many desert animals do and wait until the sun goes down to explore.
The Sahara has mountains, plateaus, basins, and an extinct volcano.