If the desert is an inhospitable environment for plants, then it is even more so for animals. Shortage of water, lack of food, and extremes of temperature are just some of the obstacles that animals must overcome if they are to survive. However, all types of animal life are found in the world's deserts, from the smallest protozoa right up to large carnivores. Even fish are found in some parts of the North American desert!

Where maximum daily temperatures are consistently high, animals are at risk from overheating and water loss. To avoid this problem, animals will either spend most daylight hours in the shade of rocks or vegetation, or they will burrow into the sand where the temperature remains almost constant. The other alternative is to adapt to the high temperatures. The sections below look in more depth at the different strategies adopted by the various kinds of animal:

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photo courtesy of WWF-UK