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|Near Patagonia, Arizona 1990||by PhillipC on Flickr|
A desert is any area of land that receives less than 10 inches of rain each year.
|Desert Leader||by Hamed Saber on Flickr|
Some deserts are made of mounds of sand that are constantly changing everytime the winds blow.
|Finger-Like Colorful Hills||by Hamed Saber on Flickr|
Some hills in the desert are different colors and even look like fingers or other strange designs.
|Desert Moon Rising||by Josh Sommers on Flickr|
The ground in the desert is often very hard and cracked because there is no water. Some insects and small animals live in the cracks to escape from the hot desert sun.
|Dune 45, Sossusvlei||by coda on Flickr|
Sand dunes are made when the wind blows. Some plants and animals use the dunes as protection from the sun and hot winds.
|Mesa Arch||by tibchris on Flickr|
Winds in the desert can erode rocks into strange and beautiful shapes. Some rock formations look like bridges or arches.
|Baobab at Ifaty||by wallygrom on Flickr|
Plants in the desert have adapted to live in areas where there is little water. Some desert plants have very large, thick stems that store moisture for the plant. Most leaves on desert plants are small so that the plant does not loose too much water.
|plants_yucca_gloriosa_1||by time_anchor on Flickr|
Many desert plants take advantage of the small amount of water to produce flowers and then seeds. For short periods of time the desert can be alive with color.
|IMG_0397.JPG||by ellenm1 on Flickr|
When it rains, plants have a short amount of time to produce flowers and then seeds so that the plants can spread across the desert.
|mexican wolf||by stallio on Flickr|
Animals that live in the desert have also adapted to live in areas where there is very little water. They get their water from plants or the animals that they eat.
|wild desert rabbit||by stallio on Flickr|
Adaptations help the animals survive in the desert. The jack rabbit has very large ears used to hear predators as well as to release heat when they get too hot.
|King of the Desert||by :: Suwaif :: on Flickr|
The camel is known as the ship of the desert. It is a strong animal and is able to travel very long distances with very little water.