Deserts are defined by dryness, wind, and temperature
extremes. To survive these challenges, many desert plants and animals
avoid the hottest driest times. They also store water, reduce water loss,
or find water. Water is essential to life.
Sometimes, especially in El Niño years, storms make it past the
mountainous barrier. The desert responds with a riot of flowers and seeds
that feed kangaroo rats, lizards, hummingbirds, beetles, butterflies.
Predators benefit too, as abundance--however brief--blankets the land.
In the Future Exhibits
- Experience a desert rainstorm, then watch as desert browns transform into fields of color.
- Compare survival strategies of plants and animals in this dry habitat with extreme temperatures.
- Feel the hot desert floor, then feel the cool interior of an animal burrow.
- Make an earthquake; feel pressure build, then release.
Habitat Journey | Ocean | Coast | Shrublands | Mountains | Mine Tunnel | Rainshadow Desert | Colorado River Delta | Midriff Islands | Gulf of California | Central Desert | Cape Region
Future Permanent
Exhibits | Exhibits
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