gobi Desert

The Gobi Desert

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

It approximately covers 129,500 square kilometers.

The Gobi Desert is a cold desert and is the fifth largest desert in the world, with temperatures reaching up to 50°C in the summer and -40°C 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.

Sahara Facts

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 it only rains on one side.

Animals of the Gobi

Animals that live in the Gobi desert

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 animals. Some of the more well-known desert animals are:

• Jerboa• Ibex• Saiga• Wild Ass• Wild Horse

• Bactrian Camels

• Gobi Bears• Snow

Leopards• Gopher

Snakes• Gray

Wolves

JerboaJerboas are the smallest animals in the Gobi Desert and are nocturnal.They have adapted by burrowing into the ground during the day. They have strongback 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 insects as well. They don't drink water, they get it from the moisture in their food. They can live up to 6 years in the wild and are an endangered species.

SnowLeopard

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 andorgans 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 from the cold. They are solitary animals, and only come togetherduring the breeding season.

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 have big feet which help them walk on the soft sand and rocky surfaces. Bactrian camels are herbivorous, they prefer to eat grass, leaves, and shrubs, but they will eat thorns and dry vegetation as well.

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.

Only a few plants can survive in deserts. Some of these are: • Ephedra• Tamarisk• Halophytes• Nitre Bushes

• Saxual Tree• Batis• Bindweed• Wild Garlic

Saxaul TreeThe 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 only has a few leaves which means that it doesn't use as much water for them.

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!

Landformsof 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.

The Gobi Desert has many different landforms:     • Sand dunes – 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

ErgsSand dune

Oasis

Star dune

Alluvial fan

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 and Chad are hamadas found in Sahara. The tallest hamada in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (or Mount Koussi) in the Tibesti Mountains of Libya and Chad, which is 3415 metres high.

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