Name of Desert

Location

Types of Animals

Gobi

China, Mongolia

Bactrian camel, beetles, blue hill pigeon, desert wheatear, gazelle, gecko, Mongolian gerbil, jerboa, Gobi bear, jerboa, lizards, onager, Pallas cat, Pallas sandgrouse, Przewalski horse (now extinct), short-toed larks, snow leopard, wild mountain sheep, wolf, etc.

Iranian

Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

monitor lizard, onager, oryx, scorpion, etc.

Namib

S. W. Africa

fringe-toed lizard, golden mole, jackal, sidewinder, viper, web-footed gecko, etc.

Takla Makan

W. China

Bactrian camel, jerboa, long-eared hedgehog, gazelle, etc.


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Great Jerboa

Desert Wheatear

Pallas Cat

Oryx

Four-Wing Saltbush

  
 

Flora (Plants):


FOUR-WING SALTBUSH
Atriplex canescens
Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae)


Four-wing saltbush are shrubs that grow an average of two to three feet tall although they may reach eight to fifteen feet in height. It has many branches; some twigs are spiny. The young stems and leaves are covered with minute white scales called scurf, which helps protect the plant against water loss. Long linear-shaped leaves are three eighths to one and one half inches long, grow either singly or in small clusters from alternate nodes, and are covered with small scales. These plants are dioecious—the Latin word for "two homes." Male and female flowers are found on separate plants (mostly). The tiny yellow male flowers grow in tiny globular clusters called glomerules. Five sepals are fused into a small cup, from which the five stamens arise. Female flowers grow in open, elongated clusters two to sixteen inches long, arising from the sides of the stem. The seeds, called utricles, have four large, membranous fringed wings that arise at right angles to the seed. The flowers bloom from mid-spring to mid-summer. Some years, plants may be cloaked with seeds.

Fauna (Animals):

Great Jerboa

  • Class: Mammalia: Mammals

  • Diet: Seeds, insects

  • Order: Rodentia:Rodents

  • Family: Dipodidae: Jerboas

  • Scientific Name: Allactaga major

The great jerboa and 8 of the 9 other species in the genus Allactaga have five toes on each hind foot. Great jerboas feed on seeds and insects, which they find by combing through the sand with the long slender claws on their front feet. They are nocturnal, spending the day in burrows; they also hibernate in burrows. One or two litters are produced each year.

Pallas Cat

  • Common Name: Manul (a.k.a. Pallas’s Cat)

  • Kingdom: Animalia

  • Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrata)

  • Class: Mammalia

  • Order: Carnivora

  • Family: Felidae

  • Genus: Felis (Octocolobus)

  • Species: manul

This small cat weighs in between 5 – 9 lb. with a head and body length of 19.5 – 25.5 in. and a tail length of 8 – 12 in. Its coat varies in color from light gray to yellowish buff to russet. The white tips of the hair give a frosted silvery appearance. There are 2 dark streaks across each side of the head and 4 rings on the dark tipped tail. The coat is longer and denser than any other of the felid species. This extremely thick and heavy coat provides a good source of insulation for an animal that spends so much time lying on frozen ground and snow. They have small, rounded ears, set very low on the sides of the head.