The Desert - The New World

When this world ends and the Brave New World begins, I think that there will be an extreme lack of water, making the landscapes dry and dusty all over the world, leading to the world being covered in many more desert areas than forest areas. I have decided that my hybrid will thrive in a place like this, just like the regal horned lizard did in the deserts of Arizona. Deserts have extreme temperatures, from freezing cold nights to blistering hot days. Deserts are arid areas, which means they suffer a severe lack of moisture, with most receiving less than ten inches of rain a year. In other biomes, there are many less creatures and vegetation that are able to live in this climate comfortably. Many plants are succulents, which means that they store any water in leaves, or roots, like the cactus. Other plants grow long roots to search for water deep underground, whilst other plants remain dormant until the rainy season. There are four different types of desert:

Subtropical Deserts - These are the hottest deserts, with rapid evaporation and extremely parched landscapes.

Cool Coastal Deserts - Receive a cool wind from offshore waters, to keep the temperatures much lower than subtropical deserts, although they remain in the same latitudes.

Cold Winter Deserts - These deserts change temperature with the season, ranging from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to just a mere 10 degrees.

Polar Regions - Although there is no sand here, polar regions are considered to be desert areas as all of the moisture is locked up in ice.


Kalahari Desert - 
The appearance of all deserts can appear very different. Some deserts like the Kalahari Desert have much vegetation alongside sand dunes. The Kalahari Desert is a subtropical desert, situated in Africa, covering most of Botswana, and Namibia and South Africa. Some parts of this desert receive around 250 millimetres of rain annually, allowing a substantial amount of vegetation to grow. The desert was created around 60 million years ago, alongside the formation of Africa. It covers roughly 350,000 square miles, and the mixture of terrain allows animals to graze, leading to many game reserves and conservation areas. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is the second biggest protected area in the world, containing animals such as giraffes, leopards, hyenas and lions. In the summer, the desert can reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) whilst in the winter it can lower anywhere to 0 degrees Celsius. The name Kalahari is derived from Tswana word Kgala, meaning 'the great thirst'. There is only one permanent river, the Okavango river. Other rivers form in the rainy season (October through to April), but in the summer dry up. The Kalahari is not only home to animals, but also many human beings. The oldest tribe in the world, San Bushmen, still finds it's home in the Kalahari, just as their ancestors have done for twenty-thousand years before them.

The Kalahari Desert

The Kalahari Desert

The Atacama Desert -

The Atacama Desert is a Cool Coastal desert situated in Chile, South America. The desert covers over 40,600 square miles of land, and is called 'the rainless plateau'. NASA has described the Atacama desert at the driest desert in the world, with National Geographic confirming this, which means it is over 50 times drier than Death Valley in California. The land that the desert sits on is mainly salt basins, dried lava flows and sand, meaning that there is little vegetation or wildlife that can live comfortably here. The most amazing thing about this place is that it is pretty much rainless, with less than one millimetre of rain a year, many weather stations report no rainfall at all. This means that even the mountainous areas of the desert, which reach up to 6,500 metres, do not have any glaciers because there is no moisture. This desert is abundant in Sodium Nitrate, and in the 1940's many mining towns were set up, but all have been abandoned now. The soil has been compared to that of Mars, and has been used many times in filming, such as Space Odyssey the TV show. NASA is also using this area to test instruments they will send to Mars. 

The Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert

The Karakum Desert -

The Karakum desert is a Cold-Winter desert, situated in Central Asia, covering 70% of the country Turkmenistan. The name Karakum means 'Black Sand' in Turkish, which responds to the terrain in this area. There are frequent thunderstorms and sandstorms in this area, but has very little rainfall, about 70-150mm a year. There is a ratio of 1 person to every 2.5km in this desert, mainly tribesmen or farmers. There is little farming available to do in this desert, mainly cotton, which is sustainable through the Murghab and Hari River with is the main source of water here. Other than the rivers, there is a soviet-constructed irrigation canal (the largest in the world), called the Karakum Canal, which connects the Amu Darya River and Caspian Sea. A typical summer can reach up to 24 degrees celsius, whilst in winter can go as low as -4 degrees celsius, although in extreme seasons, the winters can go as low as -20 degrees and the summers 50 degrees. The Karakum has a substantial amount of oil, natural gas and third largest deposit of sulphur in the world, making this a very expensive piece of land. In 1971, a group of soviet geologists were drilling into the ground, when the ground collapsed beneath the drill, causing a crater with a diameter of 7 metres. They feared that there was be a leakage of poisonous gas into the atmosphere, so decided to burn off the natural gas. Little did they know that this gas would remain burning for 40+ years. This can be seen for miles around, including a small village Derweze, where they call it 'The Door to Hell'. 

'The Door To Hell'

'The Door To Hell'

Sands of the Karakum Desert

'The Door To Hell'

The Arctic Desert -

The Arctic is a Polar Desert. Although it is not of an extremely hot temperature, there is very little precipitation, meaning that this area of land falls into the desert category. The Arctic's annual precipitation is about 50 cm of snow, but many people imagine the Arctic to be continuous snow, and this is not the case. The high winds lift up snow and it falls back down, making it seem like it is always snowing. During the winter, temperatures can fall to -40 degrees celsius, with the record being set at -68 degrees celsius, whilst the summers are slightly warmer, at around 10 degrees celsius. The Arctic is strongly being affected by Global Warming, leading to the shrinking of the ice glaciers and also the release of arctic methane gas. Although this seems to be one of the most challenging living conditions for any plant or animal, there are many creatures that thrive in this area. The Polar Bear, will often pine for the winter months, as the ice is brought back, and the summers are too warm. Alongside the bear is the Arctic Fox, Seals, Hares, and Whales, as well as vegetation and plant life such as lichens and mosses. 

The Arctic

The Arctic Glaciers

Polar Bear and Cubs

Researching all of these deserts has benefitted me massively. I had very little knowledge of the desert, and I have not travelled to any myself. When coming up with my Hybrid, I need to think about the adaptations that will be made to suit to life in that landscape. I think my chosen type of desert is going to be a Subtropical Desert like the Kalahari Desert, as it still has a substantial amount of living creatures, even with the searing heat. The Regal Horned Lizard lives in the Sonoran Desert, which is a Sub-Tropical Desert. My Horned Lizard Hybrid will thrive in an area such as the Kalahari, as there is substantial foliage for the lizard to hide under and nest in, rocky areas to heat up on and many insects. The lack of water will not effect my hybrid, as it is used to such arid conditions. From here, I can begin to design my hybrid, as I now know what animal I have chosen to be the other half of my hybrid, but also where The New World will be.

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KALAHARI DESERT FACTS (no date) Available at: http://interesting-africa-facts.com/Africa-Landforms/Kalahari-Desert-Facts.html (Accessed: 17 November 2015).
7 interesting facts about Atacama desert in Chile (2010) Available at: http://www.traveladvisortips.com/7-interesting-facts-about-atacama-desert-in-chile/ (Accessed: 17 November 2015).
The Karakum desert (2010) Available at: https://blacksandsfilm.wordpress.com/the-karakum-desert/ (Accessed: 17 November 2015).
Preece, R. (2012) The door to hell: Take a look inside a giant hole in the desert which has been on fire for more than 40 YEARS. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179622/The-Door-Hell-Giant-hole-Karakum-Desert-40-YEARS.html (Accessed: 17 November 2015).
Arctic (2015) in Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic (Accessed: 17 November 2015).