Which desert is located in central Australia. See what “Deserts of Australia” are in other dictionaries. Great Victoria Desert

Australian deserts are divided into several types, among which the country's scientists distinguish mountain and foothill deserts, rocky and sandy, as well as clayey ones.

About 32% of the continent's area is occupied by sandy deserts.

In second place are rocky deserts - they occupy about 13% of the area of ​​all desert territories. Large rocky deserts are located on foothill plains.

Australian deserts occupy almost half of the continent's entire surface. For this reason, Australia is sometimes even called the continent of deserts. But the rest of the continent's surface remains dry for most of the year. Of course, such harsh conditions are not conducive to rich vegetation - in the Western Desert you can only find mulga acacia, eucalyptus and spinifex.

It can be concluded that Australia is the driest continent on earth. An explanation for this must be sought in the climatic conditions caused by geographical location continent, huge water surface Pacific Ocean and close proximity to the Asian continent. In addition, most of the continent's deserts are located in the subtropics.

The Great Sandy, or, as it is also called, the Western Desert, belongs to the sandy-salt marsh type. The desert topography consists almost entirely of ergs - this is the local name for sandy massifs consisting of dunes, dunes, flying sand and salt marshes. The Great Sandy Desert has a unique feature: due to the predominance of trade winds in this area, the sand turns into high ridges, up to 15 meters high. The length of each dune is about 50 km. This desert is one of the most dangerous in Australia - rain falls here in small quantities and not every year, there are no permanent rivers.

Among the animals in this desert are the dingo dog, the moth lizard, the red kangaroo, goannas and several marsupials - the rabbit bandicoot, comb-tailed mice and rufus moles. In a word, typically Australian fauna. Of the birds, only two or three species of parrots have learned to survive in hot sand conditions.

Early explorers of Australia called the Gibson Desert "a vast, rolling gravel desert." This is true: the entire surface of this desert is covered with rubble - a material unsuitable for agriculture. This area was discovered in 1874. Unlike the Western Desert, the Gibson Desert contains several natural bodies of water—salt lakes.

The desert, although poor in vegetation and animal world, however, here you can find some representatives of Australian fauna and flora. In particular, acacia and spinifex, and among animals the marsupial badger, red kangaroo and emu, grass wren and moth lizard. Some of these animals are at risk of extinction - marsupial badgers, which previously inhabited about 70% of Australia, have now declined significantly. The reason for this is the low ability to reproduce, as well as the extermination of animals by poachers.

The Victoria Desert is a clear confirmation and proof that Australia is not for nothing called the driest continent on Earth. It is a huge space located in Western and South Australia. Travelers who explored this desert even found something poetic in this sun-baked landscape: picturesque folds of sand, which, thanks to the north-west and south-east winds, are laid parallel and painted in brown-red, yellowish, ash and purple colors. The only trees that grow on Victoria's sands are eucalyptus, acacia and spinifex.

This desert is almost completely devoid of water sources and is extremely difficult to access for both habitation and research. Despite this, the Mirning Kogara tribes live in the Great Victoria Desert, trying to preserve their traditional way of life. Also worthy of attention is the creation of the protected Mamungari Park on the outskirts of the desert, where you can observe birds, plants and some rare animals.

The Victoria Desert is also known as the opal capital of the world, with rich deposits found in a place called Coober Pedy. This town is better known among tourists for its underground dwellings, which workers built in mined-out drifts.

This desert was discovered thanks to the Australian government's desire to find new areas for grazing and human life. However, as one might expect, the desire to use the Gibson Desert or, as it was first called, Aruntu, for this purpose, turned out to be in vain. By the way, it deceived the expectations of oil seekers - searches were carried out in the 70s of the 20th century. Currently, several protected areas have been created in the Gibson Desert. One of them - National Park The Simpson Desert is considered the largest. However, you won’t find any rare animals or plants inside – most visitors come here to experience the silence of the desert while driving an SUV.

Lake Eyre, largest lake The mainland, although salty, is also not empty - it attracts eagles, ducks, seagulls and Australian pelicans. Budgerigars and kingfishers, finches and wheatears, as well as swallows and pink cockatoos have chosen rare trees in this area - acacias.

As in any desert, the flora is represented by thorns and drought-resistant grasses: spinifex and eucalyptus, and the flora is represented by lizards and rodents: the marsupial jerboa, desert bandicoot, marsupial mole, marsupial mouse, the ubiquitous dingo and kangaroo, as well as wild camels.

The desert is located within the Nambung National Park near the city of Cervantes in Western Australia. There are free-standing stones here, which are a combination of the remains of trees that once grew here, the remains of seashells and marine life.

Small Sandy Desert

The Little Sandy Desert is located in Western Australia to the south of the Great Sandy Desert, in the east it connects with the Gibson Desert. There are several lakes in the Small Sandy Desert, the largest of which is Lake Disapoinmet in the north, into which the Saviori River flows. The area of ​​the Small Sandy Desert is 101 thousand sq. km. The only settlement in these parts is Parnngurr. Across the Little Sandy Desert, from the town of Wilun to Halls Creek, there is a single road for driving cattle, 1.5 thousand kilometers long.

The Tirari Desert is located in South Australia. Its area is 15,250 square meters. km. The topography of the Tirari Desert is similar to the Simpson Desert, and there is an area with fossil deposits. In the north, the Tirari Desert turns into the Simpson Desert, in the east it borders on the Strzelecki Desert. Part of the desert is part of Lake Eyre National Park.

Rocky sandy desert The Tanami Desert is located northwest of Alice Springs. It is a desert steppe covered with sandy plains, drying up salt lakes and swamps, and small water formations of the Lander River. The area of ​​the Tanami Desert is 292,194 square meters. km. Gold mining is carried out in some places.

The Strzelecki Desert is located in the southeast in the states South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, northeast of Lake Eyre, north of the Flinders Ranges. In the northwest, the Strzelecki Desert becomes the Simpson Desert. The desert area is 39,830 km. It was discovered in 1845 and named after the Polish explorer Pavel Strzelecki.

The Sturt Desert is located in the state of South Australia. The desert got its name in honor of Charles Sturt, who tried to reach the center of Australia in 1844. For the most part, the Sturt Desert is a collection of sharp small stones. Therefore, the local aborigines did not sharpen their arrows, but simply dialed stone tips here.

The Pedirka Desert is a small desert in South Australia with an area of ​​about 1250 square kilometers, located 100 km north-west of Oodnadatta and 250 km north-east of Coober Pedy, a city known as the opal capital of the world and famous for its underground dwellings. Pedirka sands are red in color. The desert is not considered popular among nature lovers and is gradually being developed.

Interestingly, some Australian deserts, namely those located in the western part of the continent, are located higher than the rest of the topography - approximately 200 meters above sea level. There are also those that rise to 600 meters. Despite the exceptional severity of the deserts that make up most of the continent, travelers and researchers come to Australia at all times of the year, for whom this country is a constant source of new discoveries. There are several in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne travel agencies specializing in organizing driving tours through the deserts of Australia.

Later named Simpson's Desert by Englishman Charles Sturt (1795-1869). He led a special expedition tasked with the governor of Australia to find sources in these parts fresh water: the government was interested in the prospects unknown places for human life and livestock grazing. Sturt himself believed that there were fertile oases somewhere in the center of the country, because his track record already included such discoveries in other deserts of the continent. But this desert did not reveal to him the slightest sign that there was water somewhere. And the expedition set off on its way back to Adelaide. For another year, Sturt and his people reached this city, tormented by thirst and scurvy along the way, to convey the news that their hopes were in vain... Together with the Sturt desert, this territory has been covered since 1926. began to be designated on maps of the country as the Arunta region. Until 1929, when geologist Cecil Medigen flew over the area and named it after Alfred Allen Simpson, president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. In 1936, the Sturt case was brought to an end by the expedition of Edmund Albert Colson. He and his companions rode camels across the entire desert.
In 1960-1970 Here they were no longer looking for water, but for oil. But to no avail. In 1967-1977 Several protected areas were established. The largest among them is Simpson Desert National Park. Today its area is 10-120 km2. The park is visited mainly by those who like to drive SUVs in the desert silence.
Charles Sturt's hopes that the water in these places must come to the surface somewhere were not entirely groundless, in the most literal sense of the word. It turns out. Near the rivers there are small settlements of cattle breeders. But these are all the inhabitants of the Simpson Desert, or Arunta, as it is still often called out of old memory and for the sake of brevity. As for its soils, these are not only sands, but also rocky, finely gravelly, and also clayey areas - on the approaches to the salt lake Eyre, the very big lake mainland (area 9,500 km 2, in those years when it rains, it can overflow up to 15,000 km 2). In dune regions, the most common plant is the grass spinifex; xerophytic (that is, drought-resistant) acacias and eucalyptus trees are also found. The most common representatives of the local fauna, as in all deserts of the world, are lizards and rodents. Among the latter endemics are the comb-tailed marsupial mouse, found only in this part of the continent, as well as other Australian animals: the marsupial jerboa, desert bandicoot, marsupial mole, fat-tailed marsupial mouse, and larger ones - the wild dog dingo, the large red kangaroo, wild camels. On the outskirts of the desert, near water sources, albeit salty ones, there are speckled ducks, gulls, and Australian pelicans. Wedge-tailed eagles soar in the sky. The acacia bushes are home to budgerigars, red-backed kingfishers, zebra finches, wheatears, black-headed tree swallows and roseate cockatoos.

Desert in Central Australia.
Its main part is located on Northern Territory(a subject of the Commonwealth of Australia, slightly smaller in status than a state), as well as in the states of Queensland and South Australia.
Nearest Big City: Adelaide (South Australia).
Nearest villages: Birdsville, Oodnadatta.
Largest rivers: Todd, Plenty, Hale, Hay.
Largest lake: Air (salty); in the south of the region there are many small drying up salt lakes.

ATTRACTIONS
■ Simpson Desert National Park (Queensland);
■ Simpson Desert Regional Reserve (South Australia);
■ Wijira National Park (South Australia);
■ Lake Eyre.
FUN FACTS
■ On the outskirts of the Simpson Desert there are... floods. This phenomenon is due to the fact that rainwater from rainfall outside the desert gradually flows to its borders. This desert is considered the largest natural drainage system. And in addition, sometimes here (on average, this happens once every 10-12 years) heavy downpours (monsoon, local) occur, when almost the annual norm of precipitation can fall in the afternoon. Then even the dry river beds (in Australia they are called “creeks”) leading to Lake Eyre are filled with water for several hours. The largest of these "creeks" are Diamantina, Georgina and Cooper Creek.
■ The sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, stretching parallel to each other for many kilometers, are called the longest such formations in the world.
■ There are no specially laid roads in the Simpson Desert, but thanks to the desert conditions, well-worn paths, the so-called outback tracks, laid by geologists who worked here in the 1960-1970s, have been preserved.

On the Australian continent, deserts have a huge area, almost half of the continent. It was the deserts that tested the strength of the first Australian travelers and still attract with their ascetic landscapes.

– Strzelecki Desert, Cameron Corner

Top 10 Australia

Deserts of Australia

Australia's deserts cover approximately 40% of the continent's total surface area. For this, Australia is sometimes even called the continent of deserts. But the rest of the continent's surface remains dry for most of the year. We can conclude that Australia is the driest continent on earth. An explanation for this must be sought in climatic conditions determined by the geographical position of the continent, the vast water surface of the Pacific Ocean and the close proximity of the Asian continent. In addition, most of the continent's deserts are located in the subtropics.

– Location of deserts on the map of Australia

Australian deserts are divided into several types, among which the country's scientists distinguish mountain and foothill deserts, rocky and sandy, clay deserts and plains. About 32% of the continent's area is occupied by sandy deserts. In second place are rocky deserts - they occupy about 13% of the area of ​​all desert territories. Large rocky deserts are located on the foothill plains - these are the areas that serve as habitats for the aborigines.

Let's get acquainted with the deserts of Australia in descending order by area.

– 1 – Great Victoria Desert – (WA, SA)

– Great Victoria Desert

Great Victoria Desert- considered the largest desert in Australia, it covers 4% of the continent's area. The desert is located in Western and South Australia, but, paradoxically, outside the state of Victoria. It extends in a wide strip from the middle of Western Australia to the MacDonnell Ranges. North of Great Victoria Desert The Gibson Desert is located, to the south is the Nullarbor Plain. The total area of ​​the desert is 348,570 km². The height of the desert above sea level is approximately 500-700 meters. Over a large area of ​​the desert there are ridges of sand (elevation 10-30 m), fixed by turf of the spinifex grass. Due to unfavorable climatic conditions(arid climate) there is no agricultural activity in the desert. It is a protected area in Western Australia.

Since 1965, a significant part Victoria Deserts has the status of a protected zone and, together with Mamungari Conservation Park on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia is considered one of the twelve Australian nature reserves under the auspices of UNESCO under the Man and the Biosphere program. Particular attention is paid to the preservation and maintenance of natural complexes of sandy deserts, rocky ridges and salt lakes.

The so-called “Giles Corridor” runs across the entire Victoria Desert - a narrow strip of akatniks, the only continuous contour of bushes here. This corridor connects the Pilbara region of Western Australia to the Central Ranges, passing through the Lake Carnegie region of the Victoria Desert and the southern Gibson Desert.

Travelers who explored this desert even found something poetic in this sun-baked landscape: picturesque folds of sand, which, thanks to the north-west and south-east winds, are laid parallel and painted in brown-red, yellowish, ash and purple colors. The only trees that grow on Victoria's sands are eucalyptus, acacia and spinifex.

The desert was named in honor of Queen Victoria, given by the British explorer of Australia Ernest Giles, who in 1875 was the first European to cross the desert.

This desert is almost completely devoid of water sources and is extremely difficult to access for both habitation and research. Despite this, the Mirning Kogara tribes live in the Great Victoria Desert, trying to preserve their traditional way of life. The isolation of the region was also facilitated by the creation of weapons testing grounds here. All this has led to the fact that this territory is now the least populated region of Australia.

The region contains the Woomera exclusion zone, created by the British and Australian governments in 1946 for testing missiles and different types imagination. It extends from Lakes Torrens and Lake Eyre in eastern South Australia to the Western Australian border. The northern border of the zone runs along the Trans-Australian railway, and the southern one is 110 km south of the border with the state of Northern Territory. During the creation of this test site, significant areas of the desert were disturbed - mainly during the construction of roads. The Woomera area was used as a testing site for long-range missiles, nuclear weapons testing and nuclear fuel storage. At least 9 large atomic explosions and several hundred smaller-scale tests were carried out here.

– 2 – Great Sandy Desert – (WA, NT)

– Great Sandy Desert

Or Western Desert- the hottest region of Australia, it ranks second in area after Deserts of Victoria– 360,000 km². The desert is located in the north of Western Australia, in the Kimberley region, east of the Pilbara. A small part of it lies in the Northern Territory. It is here that the famous Kata Tjuta National Park - Uluru (Ayers Rock) is located, which attracts travelers from all over the world.

Extends 900 km from west to east from Eighty Mile Beach on the coast Indian Ocean deep into the Northern Territories to the Tanami Desert, as well as 600 km from north to south from the Kimberley region to the Tropic of Capricorn, passing into the Gibson Desert.

Great Sandy Desert contrary to its name, it is not only a sandy desert. In addition to sands, there are also clayey and saline plains. However, the largest areas are covered with red sand. These sands form dunes up to 30 m high (usually 10-15 m), the length of the dunes reaches 50 km. Thanks to the frequent trade winds, the dunes have a latitudinal direction. There are many lakes in the desert - Disappointment, Gregory, Mackay, Carnegie. For most of the year, the lakes are dry salt marshes or cracked clay, and during heavy rains they can overflow for many kilometers. This desert is one of the most dangerous in Australia - rain falls here in small quantities and not every year

There is almost no permanent population in the desert, with the exception of several Aboriginal groups, including the Karadjeri and Nygina tribes. It is assumed that the interior of the desert may contain minerals. Rudall River National Park is located in the central part of the region.

Europeans first crossed the desert (from east to west) and described it in 1873 under the leadership of Major P. Warburton. Passes through the desert region in a northeast direction Canning Stock Route 1,600 km long from the city Wiluna across Lake Disappointment to Halls Creek. Wolf Creek Crater is located in the northeastern part of the desert.

– 3 – Tanami Desert – (NT, WA)

– Tanami Desert / photo by Michael Seebeck

This rocky sand desert is located northwest of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory of Australia. The area exceeds 184 thousand km². The study of the desert began already in the 20th century, but to this day, this is the least studied area among all the desert regions of Australia.

The average annual rainfall in this area is more than 400 mm, that is, quite a lot rainy days for the desert. But the location Tanami Desert such that high temperatures prevail, and with this a high rate of evaporation. The average daytime temperature in the summer months (October-March) is about 38 °C, nighttime 22 °C. Temperature in winter: daytime - about 25 °C, nighttime - below 10 °C.

The main landforms are dunes and sand plains, as well as shallow water basins of the Lander River, which contain water holes, dry marshes and salt lakes.

The first European to reach the desert was an explorer Geoff Ryan, who did this in 1856. However, the first European to explore Tanami was Allan Davidson. During his expedition in 1900, he discovered and mapped local gold deposits. Now gold is being mined in the desert. Tourism has been developing recently.

– 4 – Simpson Desert – (NT, SA, QLD)

– Simpson Desert

This desert was discovered thanks to the Australian government's desire to find new areas for grazing and human life. However, as one might expect, the desire to use the Gibson Desert for this purpose, or, as it was first called, Aruntu, turned out to be in vain. By the way, it deceived the expectations of oil seekers - searches were carried out in the 70s of the 20th century. Currently, several protected areas have been created in the Gibson Desert. One of them - Simpson Desert National Park- considered the largest. However, you won’t find any rare animals or plants inside – most visitors come here to experience the silence of the desert while driving an SUV.

Simpson Desert located in the center of Australia, mostly in the south-eastern corner of the Northern Territory, and a small part in the states of Queensland and South Australia. It has an area of ​​143 thousand km², bounded from the west by the Finke River, from the north by the MacDonnell Range and the Plenty River, from the east by the Mulligan and Diamantina rivers, and from the south by a large salt lake Air. Surprisingly, Desert Simpson rich in groundwater.

The landscapes of this place are amazing: between the high dunes there are areas of smooth clay crust and rocky plains strewn with sharpened stones. The Simpson Desert is not like other hot sand deposits, of which there are thousands of square kilometers in Australia. Desert landscapes are not as monotonous as they might seem at first glance.

This amazing desert has dunes that are parallel to each other. Their length is the longest in the world. Of course, these are the dunes that have a more or less constant location. They stretch in the direction from south to north. The highest of the sand dunes reaches a height of 40 meters! But there are also dunes that are slowly shifting. The total number of dunes in the desert reaches 1100!

The desert was open Charles Sturt in 1845 and in Griffith Taylor's 1926 drawing, together with the Sturt Stony Desert, was named Arunta After surveying the area from the air in 1929, geologist Cecil Madigan named the desert after Allen Simpson, president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. It is believed that the first European to cross the desert was Medigen in 1939 (on camels), but in 1936 it was done by the expedition of Edmund Albert Colson.

– 5 – Gibson Desert – (WA)

– Gibson Desert

Early explorers of Australia called the Gibson Desert "a vast, rolling gravel desert." This is true: the entire surface of this desert is covered with rubble - a material unsuitable for agriculture. Unlike Western, in the territory Gibson Desert There are several natural reservoirs - these are saline lakes. However, people live even in such difficult conditions - the Pintubi tribe, one of the last Australian tribes that has preserved the traditional way of life.

Sandy Gibson Desert located in the center of Western Australia, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, between the Great Sandy Desert to the north and the Great Victoria Desert to the south. It has an area of ​​155,530 km². The desert is bordered on the west by the Hamersley Range. In Western and eastern parts consists of long parallel sandy ridges, but in the central part the relief levels out. There are several lakes near the Hamersley Range in the western part of the desert. However, travelers should not rejoice - these are salt marsh lakes, the water in which is not suitable for drinking.

The desert was discovered by explorer Ernest Giles during an English expedition of 1873-1874. The desert received its name in honor of expedition member Alfred Gibson, who died in it while searching for water.

– 6 – Little Sandy Desert – (WA)

– Little Sandy Desert

Little Sandy Desert is a piece of land in Western Australia located south of Great Sandy Desert, and in the east it turns into Gibson Desert.

In the territory Little Sandy Desert There are several lakes, the largest of which is Lake Disapointment, which means “disappointment”, and is located in the north. Seyviori is the main river passing through this area. It flows into Lake Disapointment. The area of ​​the salt marsh reaches 330 square meters. The water surface was discovered by a traveler who made a significant contribution to the study of the Pilbara region, Frank Hann in 1897. In search of water, he followed small underground streams in the hope of discovering a fresh lake, but nature played a cruel joke on the researcher - the water in such a huge natural pit turned out to be salty.

The area of ​​the region is 101 thousand km². The average annual precipitation, which falls mainly in summer, is 150-200 mm. Average summer temperatures range from 22 to 38.3° C, in winter this figure is 5.4-21.3° C

The name of the desert is due to the fact that it is located next to the Great Sandy Desert, but has a much smaller size. According to the characteristics of the relief, fauna and flora, the Small Sandy Desert is similar to its large “sister”.

– 7 – Strzelecki Desert – (SA, NSW, QLD)

– Strzelecki Desert, New South Wales

Strzelecki Desert is located in the southeast, between Lake Eyre to the north and the Flinders Ranges to the south. It is located in the north-east of South Australia, north-west of New South Wales and its edge in south-west Queensland. In the northwest it becomes the Simpson Desert. The area is 80 thousand km², which is almost 1% of the area of ​​Australia. Explored in 1845. Named after the Polish scientist Pawel Edmund Strzelecki. Often referred to in sources as Streletsky Desert.

The seasonal rivers Strzelecki Creek and Yandama Creek and the lower reaches of the Cooper Creek and Diamantina rivers pass through the desert. Along the northern edge of the desert are the settlements of Birdsville, Cordillo Downs, Gidgella and Innaminka, and Itadanna on the southern side. On the northwestern outskirts is the Goydera Lagoon swamp.

– 8 – Sturt Stony Desert – (SA, QLD)

– Sturt Stony Desert

The rock desert, which occupies 0.3% of Australia's territory, is located in the state of South Australia and is a collection of sharp small stones. Local aborigines did not sharpen their arrows, but simply dialed stone tips here. The desert got its name in honor of Charles Sturt, an explorer who in 1844 tried to reach the center of Australia in search of an inland sea. A heroic attempt to penetrate the desolate interior of the continent led him to the Sturt's Stony Desert, where he was forced to spend six months "imprisoned" in the town of Preservation Creek.

Charles Sturt was the first white settler to discover the Darling River, which he named after the governor of the colony, and walked almost 2,500 km along it. However, the expedition had to be interrupted because, due to drought, the water of the Darling River became salty. He also discovered the Simpson Desert.

With a few companions, horses and a supply of food for 15 weeks, Sturt reached one of the driest and most dangerous places on the continent - the Simpson Desert, the south-eastern part of which became known as Sturt's Stony Desert. This endless desert plain, strewn with sharp-edged silicified rock fragments of red color, cracked by changes in temperature with the loud sound of gun shots, and almost devoid of vegetation, was a satanic landscape. It was September, the beginning of spring.

Smooth, table-like areas of gravelly desert, similar in appearance to the Saharan regs, occupy vast areas in the Sturt Desert. The very famous red sands are also found here. But dune fields occupy small areas in the region compared to gibbons.

– 9 – Tirari Desert – (SA)

– Kalamurina Dune, Tirari Desert

IN Tirari Desert, located in the state of South Australia and occupying 0.2% of the continent's area, has one of the harshest climatic conditions in Australia, due to high temperatures and virtually no rain. Its area is 15,250 km². The Tirari Desert is home to several salt lakes, including Lake Eyre, as well as sand dunes running from north to south. The desert was discovered by Europeans in 1866.

The Tirari Desert contains the largest sand massifs, in which numerous fossils and bones of fossil animals have been found.

– 10 – Pedirka Desert – (SA)

– Pedirka Desert

Pedirka Desert located in the state of South Australia, 250 kilometers from the famous town of Coober Pedy.

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California ground cuckoo is a North American bird from the cuckoo family (Cuculidae). It lives in deserts and semi-deserts in the south and southwest of the United States and northern Mexico.

Adult ground cuckoos reach a length of 51 to 61 cm, including the tail. They have a long, slightly downward curved beak. The head, crest, back and long tail are dark brown with light splashes. The neck and belly are also light. Very long legs and a long tail are adaptations to the desert running lifestyle.

The California ground cuckoo can reach speeds of up to 42 km/h. The special arrangement of her toes also helps her in this, since both outer toes are located back, and both inner toes are located forward. However, due to its short wings, it flies very poorly and can stay in the air for only a few seconds.

This bird spends most of its time on the ground and hunts snakes, lizards, insects, rodents and small birds. She is fast enough to kill even small vipers, which she grabs by the tail with her beak and hits her head on the ground like a whip. She swallows her prey whole. This bird got its English name Road Runner because it had the habit of running after mail coaches and grabbing small animals disturbed by their wheels.

Death Valley

Death Valley got its name from settlers who crossed it in 1849, seeking the shortest route to the California gold mines. The guidebook briefly reports that “some stayed there forever.” The dead were ill-prepared for crossing the desert, did not stock up on water and lost their orientation. Before dying, one of them cursed this place, calling it Death Valley. The few survivors withered mule meat on the wreckage of dismantled carts and reached their goal. They left behind them “cheerful” geographical names: Death Valley, Funeral Ridge, Last Chance Ridge, Coffin Canyon, Dead Man's Passage, Hell's Gate, gorge Rattlesnake and etc.

The Badwater Basin is the lowest part of Death Valley, located at 85.5 m below sea level. Once upon a time after the Ice Age, Death Valley was a huge lake of fresh water. The local hot and dry climate contributed to the inevitable evaporation of water. Annual short-term, but very intense rains wash tons of minerals from the surface of the mountains into the lowlands. The salts remaining after the evaporation of water settle at the bottom, reaching their highest concentration in the lowest place, in a reservoir with poor water. Here, rainwater lingers longer, forming small temporary lakes. Once upon a time, the first settlers were surprised that their dehydrated mules refused to drink water from these lakes, and marked “bad water” on the map. This is how this area got its name. In fact, the water in the pool (when it is available) is not poisonous, but it tastes very salty. It also has its own unique inhabitants that are not found in other places: algae, aquatic insects, larvae, and even a mollusk named after its place of residence, Badwater Snail.

Nearby is the lowest area in the Valley Badwater Basin. Salt behaves differently here. A uniform salt grid 4-6 cm high is formed on an absolutely flat white surface. The grid consists of figures gravitating towards a hexagon in shape, and covers the bottom of the Valley with a huge web, creating an absolutely unearthly landscape.

Sailing stones, also called sliding or crawling stones, are a geological phenomenon. The stones move slowly along the clayey bottom of the lake, as evidenced by the long tracks left behind them. The stones move independently without the help of living creatures, but no one has ever seen or recorded the movement on camera. Similar movements of stones have been noted in several other places, but in terms of the number and length of tracks, Racetrack Playa stands out from the rest.

The park includes the Salina Valley, most of the Panamint Valley, and several mountain systems. In the west rises Mount Telescope Peak, in the east – Mount Dante’s View, from the height of which a beautiful view of the entire valley opens.

coati- a mammal from the genus Noshu of the raccoon family. This mammal received its name for its elongated and very funny movable snout-nose.
Their head is narrow, their hair is short, their ears are round and small. There is a white rim on the edge of the inside of the ears. Nosukha is the owner of a very long tail, which is almost always in a vertical position. The animal uses its tail to balance itself when moving. The characteristic color of the tail is alternating light yellow, brown and black rings.

The color of the nose is varied: from orange to dark brown. The muzzle is usually a uniform black or brown color. There are light spots on the face, below and above the eyes. The neck is yellowish, the paws are black or dark brown.

the catch is elongated, the paws are strong with five fingers and non-retractable claws. The nose digs the ground with its claws, obtaining food. The hind legs are longer than the front legs. The length of the body from the nose to the tip of the tail is 80-130 cm, the length of the tail itself is 32-69 cm. The height at the withers is about 20-29 cm. They weigh about 3-5 kg. Males are almost twice as large as females.

Nosukhi live on average 7-8 years, but in captivity they can live up to 14 years. They live in tropical and subtropical forests South America and southern USA. Their favorite place is dense bushes, low-lying forests, and rocky terrain. Due to human intervention, lately nosos prefer forest edges and clearings.

They say that nosuhs used to be called simply badgers, but since real badgers moved to Mexico, the true homeland of nosuhs, this species received its own individual name.

All noses, including coatis, are predators! Coatis get food for themselves with their noses, diligently sniffling and groaning, they inflate the foliage in this way and look for termites, ants, scorpions, beetles, and larvae under it. Sometimes it can also feed on land crabs, frogs, lizards, and rodents. During the hunt, the coati clamps its prey with its paws and bites its head. In difficult times of hunger, the Nosukhi allow themselves vegetarian cuisine; they eat ripe fruits, which, as a rule, are always in abundance in the forest. Moreover, they do not make reserves, but return to the tree from time to time.

Males usually lead a solitary lifestyle and only during the mating season do they join family groups of females with young ones. During the mating season, which is usually from October to March, one male is accepted into the group of females and young ones. All mature females living in the group mate with this male, and soon after mating he leaves the group.

Nosukha gives birth to cubs once a year. Usually there are 2-6 cubs in a litter. Newborns weigh 100-180 grams and are completely dependent on the mother, who leaves the nest for a while to find food. The eyes open at approximately 11 days. The babies remain in the nest for several weeks, and then leave it with their mother and join the family group.
Lactation lasts up to four months. Young noses stay with their mother until she begins to prepare for the birth of the next offspring.

Red Lynx is the most common wild cat on the North American continent. In general appearance, this is a typical lynx, but it is almost twice as small as an ordinary lynx and is not so long-legged and wide-legged. Its body length is 60-80 cm, height at the withers is 30-35 cm, weight is 6-11 kg. You can recognize a red lynx by its white

You can meet the red lynx in dense subtropical forests or in desert areas among prickly cacti, on high mountain slopes or in swampy lowlands. The presence of humans does not prevent it from appearing on the outskirts of villages or small towns. This predator chooses areas where it can feast on small rodents, nimble squirrels or timid rabbits and even prickly porcupines.

Vision and hearing are well developed. Hunts on the ground, sneaking up on prey. The lynx holds its prey with its sharp claws and kills it with a bite to the base of the skull. In one sitting, an adult animal eats up to 1.4 kg of meat. He hides the remaining surplus and returns to it the next day.For rest, the red lynx chooses a new place every day, without lingering in the old one. This could be a crack in the rocks, a cave, a hollow log, a space under a fallen tree, etc. On the ground or snow, the red lynx takes a step approximately 25 - 35 cm long; The size of an individual footprint is approximately 4.5 x 4.5 cm. When walking, they place their hind paws exactly in the tracks left by their front paws. Thanks to this, they never make very loud noise from the crackling of dry twigs under their feet. Soft pillows on their legs help them calmly sneak up to the animal at close range. Bobcats are good tree climbers and can also swim across a small body of water, but they only do this on rare occasions.

The red lynx is a territorial animal. The lynx marks the boundaries of the site and its paths with urine and feces. In addition, she leaves marks of her claws on trees. The male learns that the female is ready to mate by the smell of her urine. A mother with cubs is very aggressive towards any animal or person that threatens her kittens.

IN wildlife males and females love solitude, meeting only during the breeding season. The only time when individuals of different sexes look for meetings is during the mating season, which occurs at the end of winter - the beginning of spring. The male mates with all the females that are in the same area with him. The female's pregnancy lasts only 52 days. Cubs are born in the spring, blind and helpless. At this time, the female tolerates the male only not far from the den. After about a week, the babies' eyes open slightly, but for another eight weeks they remain with their mother and are fed with her milk. The mother licks their fur and warms them with her body. The female red lynx is a very caring mother. In case of danger, she moves the kittens to another shelter.

A male bobcat often occupies an area of ​​100 km2, and border areas may be shared by several males. The female's area is half the size. Within the territory of one male, 2-3 females usually live. A male red lynx, whose territory is often home to three females and cubs, must provide food for 12 kittens.

Among the almost two and a half thousand species of higher plants found in the flora of the Sonoran Desert, the most widely represented are species from the family of Compositae, legumes, cereals, buckwheat, euphorbia, cactus and borage. A number of communities characteristic of the main habitats make up the vegetation of the Sonoran Desert.

The extensive, slightly sloping alluvial fans support vegetation, the main components of which are clumps of creosote bush and ragweed. They also include several types of prickly pear, quinoa, acacia, fuqueria, or ocotillo.

On the alluvial plains below the fans, the vegetation cover mainly consists of sparse forest of mesquite trees. Their roots, penetrating into the depths, reach groundwater, and roots located in the surface layer of soil, within a radius of up to twenty meters from the trunk, can intercept precipitation. A mature mesquite tree reaches a height of eighteen meters and can be more than a meter wide. In our time, only the pitiful remnants of the once majestic mesquite forests remain, long cut down for fuel. The mesquite forest is very similar to the black saxaul thickets in the Karakum Desert. The forest composition, in addition to mesquite, includes clematis and acacia.

Near the water, along the banks of rivers, near the water, there are poplars, with ash and Mexican elder mixed in with them. Plants such as acacia, creosote bush and celtis grow in the beds of arroyos, drying up temporary streams, as well as in the adjacent plains. In the Gran Desierto Desert, near the Gulf of California coast, ragweed and creosote bush dominate the sandy plains, while ephedra and tobosa, ragweed, grow on the sand dunes.

In the Arizona Highlands, northwest of the Sonoran Desert, the vegetation is especially colorful and varied. The denser vegetation cover and diversity of vegetation is due to more rainfall here than in other areas of Sonora, as well as the ruggedness of the terrain, a combination of steep slopes of different exposures and hills. A peculiar cactus forest, in which the main place is occupied by the giant columnar saguaro cactus, with a low-growing encelia shrub located between the cacti, is formed on gravelly soils with a large amount of fine earth. Also among the vegetation there are large barrel-shaped ferocactus, ocotillo, paloverde, several types of prickly pear, acacia, celtis, creosote bush, as well as mesquite tree, in the floodplains.

The trees and shrubs of the Sonoran Desert that attract attention with their unique appearance include ivory tree, ironwood and idria, or buium, growing only in two areas of the Sonoran Desert, located in Mexico, which is part of the region of Latin America.

The Vizcaino region is located in the central third of the California Peninsula. There is little precipitation, but the air is cool, as humid sea breezes often bring fogs, weakening the aridity of the climate. Rain falls mainly in winter and averages less than 125 mm. Here in the flora there are some very unusual plants, bizarre landscapes are characteristic: fields of white granite boulders, cliffs of black lava, etc. Interesting plants are bujamas, an ivory tree, a 30 m high cordon, a throttle ficus growing on the rocks and a blue palm. In contrast to the main Vizcaino Desert, the Vizcaino Coastal Plain is a flat, cool, foggy desert with 0.3 m tall shrubs and fields of annuals.

Riverine communities are usually isolated ribbons or islands of deciduous forest along temporary streams. There are very few permanent or dry watercourses (the largest is the Colorado River), but there are many where water appears only a couple of days or even a few hours a year. Dry beds, or "washes", of arroyos - "arroyos" - are places where many trees and shrubs are concentrated. Xerophilic open forests along dry riverbeds are highly variable. Along some ephemeral streams, almost pure mesquite forest occurs, others may be dominated by blue paloverde or ironwood, or develop a mixed forest. Characteristic is the so-called "desert willow", which is actually a catalpa.

year, it was crossed by the Briton Ernest Giles, who gave it its name in honor of Queen Victoria, who was then sitting on the throne of Great Britain, which also owned Australia.

Small Sandy Desert is located in the west of the mainland. In the east it becomes the Gibson Desert.

Gibson Desert- sandy desert in western Australia. It is bordered by the Great Sandy Desert to the north and the Great Victoria Desert to the south. Area 156 thousand km². Was opened in 1873 by the British expedition of Ernest Giles. Named after the deceased expedition member Alfred Gibson.

Simpson Desert located in the center of mainland Australia. Area 176 thousand km². Discovered in 1845. In 1939 it was named after geographer Allen Simpson.

Streletsky Desert is located in the southeast, between Lake Eyre to the north and the Flinders Ranges to the south. Area 80 thousand km². Explored in 1845. Named in honor of the Polish scientist Pavel Streletsky.

Tanami Desert- rocky-sandy desert in the north of the continent. The area exceeds 184 thousand km². The study of the desert began already in the 20th century, but to this day, this is the least studied area among all the desert regions of Australia.