gobi

Desert

The Gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert covers parts of north-western China and southern

Mongolia.
It approximately covers 129,500 square kilometers.

Sahara Facts
The Gobi Desert is a cold desert and is the fifth
largest desert in the world, with temperatures
reaching up to 50C in the summer and
-40C
in the winter. Wind speeds in the Gobi Desert can
get up to 140 kilometers an hour. Gobi means
waterless place. The first dinosaur eggs to be
discovered were found in the Gobi Desert.
Scientists have said that the desert is expanding
approximately 3400 square miles over the
southern grasslands of China every year.

LIFE IN The Gobi

A desert is a cold area that gets very little rain.
During the day, the temperature in the Gobi
desert can get as high as 50 degrees. Because of
the very dry conditions, strong winds, intense
heat and wide temperature swings, only certain
kinds of plants and animals can live there.
Life in the Gobi Desert is very difficult due to its
climate. It receives about 7.6 inches of rainfall
every year. It may rain twice in one week, to an
extreme of no rainfall over the next three years.
The reason it receives little rainfall is because of
the Himalayan Mountains that surrounds the
desert. The clouds hit the tall mountains making

Animals of the Gobi

Animals that live

the Gobi desert

in

Because of harsh conditions in the desert, animals

that live there have many adaptations. Some animals
never drink, but get their water from seeds (some
seeds can contain up to 50% water). Other animals
adapt by spending most of the day underground and
out of the hot sun and look for food during the night.
Some animals never come above ground, others sleep
during the entire summer.
The fauna of the Gobi includes about 45 species of

more
Bactrian
Jerboawell-known desert animals
animals.
Some of the
Ibex
Camels
are:
Saiga
Wild Ass
Gobi Bears
Wild Horse

Snow

Jerboa
Jerboas are the smallest
animals in the Gobi Desert
and are nocturnal.
They
have
adapted
by
burrowing into the ground
during the day. They have
strong
back legs, which allow it to
leap up to as much as 10 feet
at a time! They have a long
tail like a kangaroo which
helps keep their balance, and
their head and body look
similar to a mouse's. They can
live in both hot and cold
deserts. They feed on plants
and dig up the roots when the
plants go dry. Some jerboa eat

Snow
Leopard
Snow
Leopards
are
an
endangered species, and there
are only about 6,000 of them left
in the wild. They are hunted
because of their fur and
organs which are used to make
traditional Chinese medicine. It is
about
6
meters
in
length
(including it's tail). It has thick,
light grey fur, with black spots
covering its body. The snow
leopards eat livestock, mainly
ibex. It is native to the mountain
ranges of Central Asia. They use
their long tails for balance and to
cover sensitive parts of their body

Bactrian
Camel
Bactrian camels have two humps
on their backs which stores fat
that can be converted into water
and energy. Their humps allow
them to go for long periods of
time without water. A really thirsty
camel can drink up to 135 litres of
water in about 13 minutes! When
they use all their fat in their
humps the humps will start to
shrink and become flabby. To
survive in the desert they have
adapted, they have a thick coat
which protects them in winter,
and
falls
away
as
the
temperatures start rising. They

Plants of the Gobi

Plants that live

in the Gobi
Plants must change their way of life and get used to the heat and
dryness. Most plants usually have small leaves that look a little
bit like needles. Such plants like this can live without little water,
which they store in the needles or stems. These are "drought
resisters" - plants that have the abilities of storing water,
locating underground water or minimizing the use of water by
various measures. Some desert plants are "drought evaders" they exist as seeds before the rain comes, and grow when it rains.
They flower quickly to produce seeds (in a matter of days) before
the soil dries out and then die. The new seeds may stay dormant
in the dry soil for years until the next rainfall to repeat the cycle.

Saxual Tree
Ephedra

Batis
Tamarisk
Only
a
few
plants
can
survive
in deserts. Some of these are:

Bindweed
Halophytes

Wild Garlic
Nitre Bushes

Saxaul Tree
The saxaul is one of the
most commonly found
trees in the Gobi Desert.
It is an important plant
for
the
survival
of
humans and animals that
live there because it
stores water in its bark,
sort of like a cactus that
stores water in its trunk.
It's roots spread deep into
the ground so they can
get their water and they
help prevent erosion. It

Wild Onion

Wild Onions usually grow in dry rocky areas. They

blossom in June and July and fruit appears on them
in July and August. Animals in the Gobi Desert eat
the wild onions as well as people, some have even
said that it tastes like hazelnut!

Landforms
of the Gobi

Landforms
There is more than just sand in the desert. There are
also other landforms, which are all are formed in three
main processes - weathering, erosion and deposition.
These landforms are shaped as per the direction of the
wind and the occasional rainfall.
Gobidunes
Desert has
many different
landforms:
The
Sand
are mountains
of sand.
Ergs are areas of shifting sand.
Oasis a fertile spot where water is found, usually
from a well/spring
Star Dunes produced by wind gusts that swirl
from all directions
Alluvial Fan build up of material that collects at
the base of slopes

Sand
dune

Oasi
s

Alluvial
f an

Ergs

Star
dune

Hamada
Hamada is an Arabic word used to describe desert
pavement. It is a type of desert landscape, which is
made up of large barren, hard, rocky plateaus, with a
very little sand. Hamadas make up a large part of the
Sahara, and can soar over 3300 metres. They exist in
contrast to ergs, which are large areas of shifting sand
dunes. They are made by the wind removing the fine
products of weathering - a process known as deflation.
The finer products are disposed of, while the sand is
removed, leaving behind a landscape of gravel,
boulders and bare rock.
The Atlas Mountains in
Morocco and Algeria and Tibesti Mountains in Libya

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Bibliography
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Bibliography
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http://dsahara529.weebly.com/fauna.html

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