The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, spanning roughly 9.2 million square kilometers across North Africa from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. Its name descends from the Arabic for the greatest desert. Two theories compete for why the region dried out: a weakened African monsoon following Quaternary glaciation, and the earlier drying of the ancient Tethys Sea around seven million years ago. Neither has displaced the other as the accepted explanation. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
Why this is disputed. The popular image is the Sahara steadily marching south, but satellite data (1981-2005) attributed most of the Sahel's large-scale vegetation swings to rainfall variation rather than permanent degradation; some researchers hold the desert is fluctuating rather than advancing, while others document real, localized desertification requiring field verification case by case.
Source Defining Desertification (NASA Earth Observatory)
Hosts
Source Wikipedia: African spurred tortoise
Source Deathstalker (Wikipedia)
Source Desert Locust (Wikipedia)
Source Fat-tailed gerbil (Wikipedia)
Source Fennec Fox (Wikipedia)
Source Leopard (Wikipedia)
Source Olive Baboon (Wikipedia)
Source Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Procavia capensis (Animal Diversity Web)
Source Rock Pigeon (Wikipedia)
In Biome
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Sahara (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction
The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic.
- Biogeographic realm: palearctic (derived from location stated in entity description)
- In Biome: Desert, lead section
View the Source Fennec Fox (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Fennec Fox, IntroductionQuote, Hosts: Fennec Fox, Introduction
The fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula.
Defining Desertification (NASA Earth Observatory)
NASA Earth ObservatoryDemonstrates: Desertification, IntroductionQuote, Demonstrates: Desertification, Introduction
"The Sahara is not advancing, but fluctuating like waves on the ocean," says researcher Stefanie Herrmann from the Office of Arid Land Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "There is no extensive desertification," Prince agrees.
World Wildlife Fund
Wikipedia: African spurred tortoise
Hosts: African Spurred Tortoise, Wikipedia intro: "lled the sulcata tortoise, is an endangered species of tortoise inhabiting the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and the Sahel. It is the largest mainland spec..."View the Source Leopard (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Leopard, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Leopard, Distribution and habitat
The leopard's range in West Africa is estimated to have declined by 95%, and in the Sahara desert by 97%.
Desert Locust (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Desert Locust, Ecology and swarmingQuote, Hosts: Desert Locust, Ecology and swarming
During quiet periods, called recessions, desert locusts are confined to a 16-million-square-kilometre (6.2-million-square-mile) belt that extends from Mauritania through the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula, and into northwest India.
Deathstalker (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Deathstalker Scorpion, Article textQuote, Hosts: Deathstalker Scorpion, Article text
Its range covers a wide sweep of territory in the Sahara, Arabian Desert, Thar Desert, and Central Asia, from Algeria and Mali in the west through to Egypt, Ethiopia, Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula, eastwards to Kazakhstan and western India in the northeast and southeast.
Fat-tailed gerbil (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Fat-tailed gerbil, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Fat-tailed gerbil, Distribution and habitat
Fat-tailed gerbils are native to the Northern Sahara (northwestern Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria).
Olive Baboon (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Olive Baboon, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Olive Baboon, Distribution and habitat
Isolated populations are also present in some mountainous regions of the Sahara.
Rock Pigeon (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Rock Pigeon, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Rock Pigeon, Distribution and habitat
They will even live in the Sahara so long as an area has rocks, water, and some plant matter.
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Procavia capensis (Animal Diversity Web)
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyHosts: Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis), Geographic RangeQuote, Hosts: Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis), Geographic Range
It is the most arid-adapted of hyrax species, and its range includes dry mountainous regions in the Namib, Sahara, and Arabian deserts.
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Demonstrates: Desertification
Satellite data from 1981 to 2005 attributed most of the Sahel's large-scale vegetation swings to rainfall variability rather than permanent human-caused degradation; the Sahara is fluctuating rather than steadily advancing, though other researchers still document real, localized desertification that needs field verification case by case.
A dissenting reading, from a reviewerDefining Desertification (NASA Earth Observatory), NASA Earth Observatory
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