Life in the Deserts

1 10 Life in the DesertsIn Chapter 5, you have seen that water means life toplants, animals and people. It is difficult for anyone tolive in places where there is no water to drink, wherethere is no grass for their cattle to feed on and wherethere is no water to help the crops to will now learn about the places in the world wherepeople have learned to cope with extreme harshtemperatures; in some places as hot as fire and some ascold as ice. These are the desert areas of the world. Theseare characterised by low rainfall, scanty vegetation andextreme temperatures. Depending on the temperaturesthere can be hot Deserts or cold Deserts . The peopleinhabit these lands wherever little water is available topractise HOT DESERT SAHARALook at the map of the world and thecontinent of Africa. Locate the Saharadesert covering a large part of NorthAfrica. It is the world s largest desert.

2 Ithas an area of around millionsq. km. Do you recall that India has anarea of million sq. km? The Saharadesert touches eleven countries. Theseare Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali,Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan,Tunisia and Western you think of a desert the picturethat immediately comes to your mind is that of sand. Butbesides the vast stretches of sands, that Sahara desert iscovered with, there are also gravel plains and elevatedplateaus with bare rocky surface. These rocky surfacesmay be more than 2500m high at some : The Sahara DesertGlossaryDesert: It is an aridregion characteriesedby extremely high orlow temperatures andhas scarce ENVIRONMENTDo you know?Fig. : Sahara in AfricaAl Azizia in the Saharadesert, south of Tripoli,Libya recorded thehighest temperature C in climate of the Sahara desert is scorching hot andparch dry. It has a short rainy season. The sky iscloudless and clear.

3 Here, the moisture evaporatesfaster than it accumulates. Days are unbelievably temperatures during the day may soar as high as50 C, heating up the sand and the bare rocks, whichin turn radiates heat making everything around nights may be freezing cold with temperaturesnearing zero and FaunaVegetation in the Sahara desert includes cactus, datepalms and acacia. In some places there are oasis greenislands with date palms surrounding them. camels ,hyenas, jackals, foxes, scorpions, many varieties ofDo you know?You will be surprisedto know that presentday Sahara once usedto be a lush greenplain. Cave paintingsin Sahara desert showthat there used to berivers with , lions,giraffes, ostriches,sheep, cattle andgoats were commonanimals. But thechange in climate haschanged it to a veryhot and dry IN THE DESER TS73Do you know?Depressions are formedwhen the wind blowsaway the sands.

4 In thedepressions whereunderground waterreaches the surface,an oasis is areas are may settlearound these waterbodies and grow datepalms and othercrops. Sometimes theoasis may beabnormally Oasis inMorocco is a largeoasis with an area ofabout 13,000 : Oasis in the Sahara DesertPeopleThe Sahara desert despite its harsh climate has beeninhabited by various groups of people, who pursuedifferent activities. Among them are the Bedouins andTuaregs. These groups are nomadic tribes rearinglivestock such as goats, sheep, camels and animals provide them with milk , hides fromwhich they make leather for belts, slippers, waterbottles; hair is used for mats, carpets, clothes andblankets. They wear heavy robes as protection againstdust storms and hot oasis in the Sahara and the Nile Valley in Egyptsupports settled population. Since water is available, thepeople grow date palms.

5 Crops such as rice, wheat, barleyand beans are also grown. Egyptian cotton, famousworldwide is grown in discovery of oil a product in great demandthroughout the world, in Algeria, Libya and Egypt isconstantly transforming the Sahara desert. Otherminerals of importance that are found in the area includeiron, phosphorus, manganese and cultural landscape of the Sahara is undergoingchange. Gleaming glass cased office buildings tower overmosques and superhighways crisscross the ancient camelpaths. Trucks are replacing camels in the salt are seen acting as guides to foreign and more nomadic herdsmen are taking to city lifefinding jobs in oil and gas and lizards are the prominent animal speciesliving you know?Scientists haveactually foundskeletons of fish inthis desert. Whatcould have happened?74 OUR ENVIRONMENTTHE COLD DESERT - LADAKHL adakh is a cold desert lying in the Great Himalayas,on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir (Fig.)

6 The Karakoram Range in the north and the Zanskarmountains in the south enclose it. Several rivers flowthrough Ladakh, Indus being the most importantamong them. The rivers form deep valleys and glaciers are found in Ladakh, for example theGangri altitude in Ladakh varies from about 3000min Kargil to more than 8,000m in the to its high altitude, the climate is extremely coldand dry. The air at this altitude is so thin that theheat of the sun can be felt intensely. The daytemperatures in summer are just above zero degreeand the night temperatures well below 30 C. It isfreezing cold in the winters when the temperatures mayremain below 40 C for most of the time. As it liesWord OriginLadakh is made up oftwo words La meaning mountainpass and Dak meaning country Do you know?Drass, one of thecoldest inhabitedplaces on earth islocated in : LadakhLIFE IN THE DESER TS75in the rain shadow of the Himalayas, there is littlerainfall, as low as 10 cm every year.

7 The areaexperiences freezing winds and burning hot will be surprised to know that if you sit in thesun with your feet in the shade, you may suffer fromboth sunstroke and frost bite at the same and FaunaDue to high aridity, the vegetation is sparse. There arescanty patches of grasses and shrubs for animals tograze. Groves of willows and poplars are seen in thevalleys. During the summers, fruit trees such as apples,apricots and walnuts bloom. Several species of birds aresighted in Ladakh. Robins, redstarts, Tibetan snowcock,raven and hoopoe are common. Some of these aremigratory birds. The animals of Ladakh are wild goats,wild sheep, yak and special kinds of dogs. The animalsare reared to provide for the milk , meat and hides. Yak smilk is used to make cheese and butter. The hair of thesheep and goat is used to make you find any resemblance between the people ofLadakh and the inhabitants of Tibet and Central Asia?

8 The people here are either Muslims or Buddhists. Infact several Buddhists monasteries dot the Ladakhilandscape with their traditional gompas . Somefamous monasteries are Hemis, Thiksey, Shey andLamayuru (Fig. ).In the summer season the people are busy cultivatingbarley, potatoes, peas, beans and turnip. The climate inwinter months is so harsh thatpeople keep themselves engaged infestivities and ceremonies. Thewomen are very hard working. Theywork not only in the house andfields, but also manage smallbusiness and shops. Leh, the capitalof Ladakh is well connected both byroad and air. The National Highway1A connects Leh to KashmirValley through the Zoji la Pass. Canyou name some more passes inthe Himalayas?Do you know?The finest cricket batsare made from thewood of the you know?The Chiru or theTibetan antelope is anendangered species. Itis hunted for its woolknown as shahtoosh,which is light inweight and Thiksey MonasteryDo you know?

9 Ladakh is also knownas Khapa-chan whichmeans snow ENVIRONMENTT ourism is a majoractivity with severaltourists streaming in fromwithin India and to the gompas,treks to see the meadowsand glaciers, witnessingceremonies and festivitiesare important of people isundergoing change dueto modernisation. Butthe people of Ladakhhave over the centuries learned to live in balance andharmony with nature. Due to scarcity of resources likewater and fuel, they are used with reverence and is discarded or you know?Manali - Leh highwaycrosses four passes,Rohtang la,Baralacha laLungalacha la andTanglang la. Thehighway opens onlybetween July andSeptember when snowis cleared from the la1. Answer the following questions.(a) What are the two types of Deserts found in the world?(b) In which continent is the Sahara desert located?(c) What are the climatic conditions of the Ladakh desert?(d) What mainly attracts tourists to Ladakh?

10 (e) What type of clothes the people of the Sahara desert wear?(f) Name the trees that grow in Tick the correct answer. (i) Sahara is located in which part of Africa(a) eastern(b) northern(c) western(ii) Sahara is what type of desert(a) cold(b) hot(c) mild(iii) The Ladakh desert is mainly inhabited by(a) Christians and Muslims(b) Buddhists and Muslims(c) Christians and Buddhists(iv) Deserts are characterised by(a) scanty vegetation(b) heavy precipitation(c) low evaporationFig. Ladakhi Women inTraditional Dr essLIFE IN THE DESER TS77(v) Hemis in the Ladakh is a famous(a) temple(b) church(c) monastery(vi) Egypt is famous for growing(a) wheat(b) maize(c) cotton3. Match the following.(i) Oasis(a) Libya(ii) Bedouins(b) monastery(iii) Oil(c) glacier(iv) Gangri(d) depressions with water(v) Lamayuru(e) cold desert(f) Sahara4. Give reasons.(i) There is scanty vegetation in the Deserts .(ii) People of the Sahara desert wear heavy Map skills.