## Fact Sheet #4: Animals of the ![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.375in" height="2.53125in"}Desert

Desert animals, like desert plants, have adapted in very special ways to
live in this hot, dry environment. When finding water is a problem, many
animals develop ways of living to help them use less water.

One way to save water is to stay as cool as possible. When people get
too hot their bodies start to sweat. This water, coming from small pores
in the skin, helps to cool the skin and keeps the body temperature from
getting too high. Most desert animals don\'t sweat, so they have to find
other ways of keeping cool.

People are lucky because they can carry water with them in canteens and
water bottles. Animals must rely on the water that they can find. Most
of the time little water is available, so animals have to be masters at
keeping cool and saving water.

Almost all desert animals are smart enough to stay out of the sun during
the hottest part of the day. They stay deep underground in burrows.
There the sand is much cooler, and burrowing animals, like the kangaroo
rat, the badger, the gopher, the coyote and the kit fox, sleep while you
are playing on the dunes. At night, after the sun goes down and the sand
cools off, the animals come out to hunt for food. When an animal is
active at night and rests during the day, it is called nocturnal.

There are a few animals that can be seen during the day. Darkling
beetles are crawling about, red-tailed hawks are flying overhead, and
you might see a whiptail lizard darting past your feet. These animals,
active during the day and inactive at night, are called diurnal. Diurnal
animals protect themselves from the heat by spending most of the day in
whatever shade they can find.

Because there are no permanent bodies of water in the dune field, most
animals get their water solely from the food they eat. Green leaves
contain lots of water. The animals that eat only plants, like
jackrabbits and gophers, are called herbivores. The body of an animal
also contains liquid in its blood and tissues. Animals that eat only
other animals are called carnivores. The coyote will eat just about
anything, plant or animal. That\'s what makes him a master at desert
survival. Animals that eat both plants and other animals are called
omnivores.

The best desert survivor is the kangaroo rat. This little rodent eats
only dry seeds, and is never seen drinking water. He is able to make
water inside his body while digesting his food. This "metabolic water"
is all he needs to survive. He is also a master at saving water. When in
his burrow during the day, he seals all the entrances so none of the
cool, moist air is lost.

Suppose you are a little brown mouse and you live in the dune field. You
don\'t have long sharp claws, or chemical sprays, or even great speed to
save you from being eaten by predators. Even when you wait until dark to
go out to hunt for food, your color still makes you stand out against
the white sand. Any owl sitting in the treetops can easily see you and
swoop down to make you his dinner. You might think an animal like this
has no chance to survive, but nature always comes up with a solution.

When a litter of mice is born, they\'re not all the same color. Some are
a little darker, some are a little lighter. When the mice grow up and go
into the dunes to hunt for food, which ones do you suppose get gobbled
up first? Which ones blend with the color of the sand and are harder for
predators to see and catch? If you guessed the dark ones wind up being
the meal and the light ones escape, you\'re right. More of the light
ones will survive and have babies with light colored fur.

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.375in"
height="1.6979166666666667in"}Because they are better adapted to their
environment, because they blend into their surroundings and are less
likely to be killed by predators, these lighter-colored animals stand a
better chance of survival. This is what is meant by survival of the
fittest. You don\'t have to be the biggest or strongest animal. You just
have to be well adapted to your surroundings.

There are two animals living in the dunes that are nearly as white as
the sand. They are the Apache pocket mouse and the bleached earless
lizard. Their color has changed over many generations to help them
survive. This change is called adaptive coloration.