Great Victoria desert - Wikipedia Great Victoria desert Great Victoria Desert The IBRA regions, with Great Victoria Desert in red Country Australia States Western Australia, South Australia Width 700 km ( 435 mi ), E / W Area 348,750 km ( 134,653 sq mi ) Biome Desert The Great Victoria Desert, an interim Australian bioregion, is a sparsely populated desert area in Western Australia and South Australia. Contents 1 Location and description 2 Habitation 3 History 4 Environment 4.1 Flora 4.2 Fauna 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Location and description NASA - Visible Earth, the Great Victoria Desert is in the center of the image, north of the Nullarbor Plain. The Great Victoria is the largest desert in Australia and consists of many small sandhills, grassland plains, areas with a closely packed surface of pebbles ( called desert pavement or gibber plains ) and salt lakes. It is over 700 kilometres ( 430 mi ) wide ( from west to east ) and covers an area of 348,750 square kilometres ( 134,650 sq mi ) from the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia to the Gawler Ranges in South Australia. The Western Australia Mallee shrub ecoregion lies to the west, the Little Sandy Desert to the northwest, the Gibson Desert and the Central Ranges xeric shrublands to the north, the Tirari and Sturt Stony deserts to the east, while the Nullarbor Plain to the south separates it from the Southern Ocean. Average annual rainfall is low and irregular, ranging from 200 to 250 mm ( 7.9 to 9.8 in ) per year. Thunderstorms are relatively common in the Great Victoria Desert, with an average of 15 -- 20 thunderstorms per annum. Summer daytime temperatures range from 32 to 40 ° C ( 90 to 104 ° F ) while in winter, this falls to 18 to 23 ° C ( 64 to 73 ° F ). Habitation The majority of people living in the region are Indigenous Australians from different groups including the Kogara, the Mirning and the Pitjantjatjara. It is the part of Australia with the most populous and most healthy indigenous population. Aboriginal populations have been increasing in this region. Young Indigenous adults from the Great Victoria Desert region work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture. Despite its isolated location the Great Victoria is bisected by very rough tracks including the Connie Sue Highway and the Anne Beadell Highway. Human activity has included some mining and nuclear weapons testing. History In 1875, British explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross the desert. He named the desert after the then - reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. In 1891, David Lindsey 's expedition traveled across this area from north to south. Frank Hann was looking for gold in this area between 1903 and 1908. Len Beadell explored the area in the 1960s. Environment Serpentine Lakes, South Australia, 2011 The Great Victoria desert is a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion and an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia ( IBRA ) region of the same name. As this area has had very limited use for agriculture, habitats remain largely undisturbed while parts of the desert are protected areas including Mamungari Conservation Park ( formerly known as Unnamed Conservation Park ) in South Australia, a large area of pristine arid zone wilderness which possesses cultural significance and is one of the fourteen World Biosphere Reserves in Australia. Habitat is also preserved in the large Aboriginal local government area of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia and in the Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve of Western Australia. The nuclear weapons trials carried out by the United Kingdom at Maralinga and Emu Field in the 1950s and early 1960s have left areas contaminated with plutonium - 239 and other radioactive material. Flora Only the hardiest of plants can survive in much of this environment. Between the sand ridges there are areas of wooded steppe consisting of Eucalyptus gongylocarpa, Eucalyptus youngiana and mulga ( Acacia aneura ) shrubs scattered over areas of resilient spinifex grasses particularly Triodia basedowii. Fauna Wildlife adapted to these harsh conditions includes few large birds or mammals. However, the desert does sustain many types of lizard including the vulnerable great desert skink ( Egernia kintorei ) and a number of small marsupials including the endangered sandhill dunnart ( Sminthopsis psammophila ) and the crest - tailed mulgara ( Dasycercus cristicauda ). One way to survive here is to burrow into the sands, as a number of the desert 's animals, including the southern marsupial mole ( Notoryctes typhlops ), and the water - holding frog do. Birds include the chestnut - breasted whiteface ( Aphelocephala pectoralis ) found on the eastern edge of the desert and the malleefowl of Mamungari Conservation Park. Predators of the desert include the dingo ( as the desert is north of the Dingo Fence ) and two large monitor lizards, the perentie ( Varanus giganteus ) and the sand goanna ( Varanus gouldii ). See also Australia portal Geography portal Deserts of Australia List of deserts by area Nullarbor Plain Tallaringa Conservation Park References Jump up ^ Great Victoria Desert -- The Largest Desert in Australia. Birgit Bradtke. Retrieved 26 March 2013. Jump up ^ Wilurarra Creative 2011 ; Jump up ^ `` Southern Australia ''. World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 21 October 2015. Jump up ^ `` Great Victoria desert ''. Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund. Jump up ^ IBRA Version 7 data Jump up ^ Australia 's Biosphere Reserves. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities. Retrieved 3 May 2015. Shephard, Mark ( 1995 ), The Great Victoria Desert : north of the Nullarbor, south of the centre, Reed Books, ISBN 978 - 0 - 7301 - 0485 - 8 Joseph, Leo ; Greenslade, Penelope ; Barley, R.H. ( Rachel ) ; Nature Conservation Society of South Australia ; Barley, Rachel ( 1986 ), The Great Victoria Desert, Nature Conservation Society of South Australia Inc, ISBN 978 - 0 - 949751 - 08 - 9 Peppas, Lynn ( 2013 ), The Great Victoria Desert, St. Catharines, Ontario Crabtree Publishing Company, ISBN 978 - 1 - 4271 - 9100 - 7 Friebe, Marlene ; Matheson, W. E ; South Australia. Department for Environment and Heritage ; Friends of the Great Victoria Desert Parks ( 2006 ), Shrubs and trees of the Great Victoria Desert, Friends of the Great Victoria Desert Parks with the assistance of the Dept. for Environment and Heritage, ISBN 978 - 0 - 646 - 45948 - 6 Friends of the Great Victoria Desert Parks ( S.A. ) ( 2007 ), Friends of the Great Victoria Desert, The Friends of the Great Victoria Desert Parks, retrieved 25 June 2017 External links Online natural history of Great Victoria Desert Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia ( IBRA ) Arnhem Coast Arnhem Plateau Australian Alps Avon Wheatbelt Ben Lomond Brigalow Belt North Brigalow Belt South Broken Hill Complex Burt Plain Cape York Peninsula Carnarvon Central Arnhem Central Kimberley Central Mackay Coast Central Ranges Channel Country Cobar Peneplain Coolgardie Coral Sea Daly Basin Dampierland Darling Riverine Plains Darwin Coastal Davenport Murchison Ranges Desert Uplands Einasleigh Uplands Esperance Plains Eyre Yorke Block Finke Flinders Lofty Block Furneaux Gascoyne Gawler Geraldton Sandplains Gibson Desert Great Sandy Desert Great Victoria Desert Gulf Coastal Gulf Fall and Uplands Gulf Plains Hampton Indian Tropical Islands Jarrah Forest Kanmantoo King Little Sandy Desert MacDonnell Ranges Mallee Mitchell Grass Downs Mount Isa Inlier Mulga Lands Murchison Murray Darling Depression Nandewar Naracoorte Coastal Plain New England Tablelands Northern Kimberley New South Wales North Coast New South Wales South Western Slopes Nullarbor Ord Victoria Plain Pacific Subtropical Islands Pine Creek Pilbara Riverina Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields South East Coastal Plain South East Corner South Eastern Highlands South East Queensland Southern Volcanic Plain Stony Plains Sturt Plateau Subantarctic Islands Swan Coastal Plain Sydney Basin Tanami Tasmanian Central Highlands Tasmanian Northern Midlands Tasmanian Northern Slopes Tasmanian South East Tasmanian Southern Ranges Tasmanian West Tiwi Cobourg Victoria Bonaparte Victorian Midlands Warren Wet Tropics Yalgoo Bioregions of the National Reserve System World deserts Desert Desertification List of deserts List of deserts by area Africa Algerian Bayuda Blue Chalbi Danakil Djurab Eastern Ferlo Farafra ( White ) Kalahari Libyan Moçâmedes Namib Nubian Nyiri Owami Richtersveld Sahara Tanezrouft Ténéré Western Asia Ad - Dahna Akshi Arabian Aral Karakum Aralkum Badain Jaran Betpak - Dala Cholistan Dasht - e Kavir Dasht - e Khash Dasht - e Leili Dasht - e Loot Dasht - e Margo Dasht - e Naomid Gurbantünggüt Gobi Hami Indus Valley Judaean Karakum Katpana Kharan Kumtag Kyzylkum Lop Maranjab Muyunkum Nefud Negev Polond Ordos Qaidam Ramlat al - Sab'atayn Rub ' al Khali Russian Arctic Registan Saryesik - Atyrau Syrian Taklamakan Tengger Thal Thar Ustyurt Plateau Wahiba Sands Australia Gibson Great Sandy Great Victoria Little Sandy Nullarbor Plain Painted Pedirka Simpson Strzelecki Sturt 's Stony Tanami Tirari Europe Accona Bardenas Reales Błędów Cabo de Gata Deliblatska Peščara Hálendi Monegros Oleshky Oltenian Sahara Ryn Stranja Tabernas North America Alvord Amargosa Baja California Black Rock Carcross Carson Channeled scablands Chihuahuan Colorado Escalante Forty Mile Gran Desierto de Altar Great Basin Great Salt Lake Great Sandy Jornada del Muerto Kaʻū Lechuguilla Mojave North American Arctic Owyhee Painted Desert Red Desert Sevier Smoke Creek Sonoran Tonopah Desert Tule ( Arizona ) Tule ( Nevada ) Yp Yuha Yuma South America Atacama La Guajira Los Médanos de Coro Monte Patagonian Sechura Tatacoa Zealandia Rangipo Desert Polar Regions Antarctica Arctic Greenland North American Arctic Russian Arctic Project Commons Coordinates : 29 ° 09 ′ 08 '' S 129 ° 15 ′ 35 '' E ﻿ / ﻿ 29.1521612833 ° S 129.259643555 ° E ﻿ / - 29.1521612833 ; 129.259643555 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Victoria_Desert&oldid=806809590 '' Categories : Deserts of Western Australia Deserts of South Australia Ecoregions of Australia IBRA regions Biogeography of South Australia Biogeography of Western Australia Ergs Goldfields - Esperance Protected areas of Western Australia Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from July 2013 Use Australian English from September 2011 All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English Geobox usage tracking for other type All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013 Coordinates on Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Asturianu Azərbaycanca বাংলা Башҡортса Беларуская Български བོད ་ ཡིག Bosanski Català Cebuano Čeština Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gàidhlig 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Íslenska Italiano ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Кыргызча Lietuvių Magyar मैथिली Монгол Nederlands नेपाली 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Português Română Русский Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska ไทย Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 24 October 2017, at 08 : 31. 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Question: what kind of animals live in the great victoria desert
Answer: great desert skink