How Have Animals Adapted to Surviving in Hot and Arid Deserts

Animals are fascinating creatures. Desert animals, for example, have to adapt to extreme climates and figure out how to stay cool and survive. Luckily, these desert animals have innovative strategies to keep cool while not losing water from sweating.

Source: animal fun facts/YouTube

Desert animals often have long ears that can grow and shrink. When they expand, they can help shed heat using blood vessels, and when the air is cooler, the blood vessels shrink and keep the warm blood in the body rather than releasing it back into the environment.

Other desert animals can absorb fluid from their urine. A spinifex hopping mouse’s record-holding pee can reach 9,000 milliosmoles per kilogram of water, according to a study. That is 10 times higher than was humans can hold! Other desert animals will find ways to avoid the heat as a whole. Many animals will burrow to escape the heat or find a place to post up out of the sun.

Spadefoot toads are an interesting species, and three species of the toads live in Arizona and New Mexico. Although the climate is hot and arid, these animals need to find standing water to lay their eggs. When water isn’t available, they burrow in the sand and stay with a slowed metabolism until the rain begins again.

The tadpoles then need to survive as well. These creatures develop lungs very early to breathe if their body of water dries out. To survive, tadpoles have even been found to take a break from their omnivore lifestyles to eat other tadpoles for a better chance at survival.

Despite all odds, desert animals have adapted to these extreme conditions and have figured out ways to survive. Unfortunately, with Climate change looming, the weather is becoming more extreme, and animals can’t necessarily quickly adapt to these new drastic changes to their environment.

Not all animals have the ability to sweat like human beings, so they have to find other ways to cool their bodies down in warm climates. Many species have evolved to beat the heat, some ways are stranger than others!

The hotter the weather, the more likely we are to sweat. But not all animals are equipped with sweat glands. Mammals are the only ones capable of sweating. However, some mammals only use these secret-sweat weapons from gripping in the heat.

Other animals, like reptiles, birds, and amphibians, have had to figure out other ways to cool their bodies down. Check out these 7 Weird Ways Animals Cool Off!

Related Content:

• Why People Should Be Talking About Desertification and the Women It Affects
• Determined Indian Farmer Proves Government Wrong by Planting Trees in a Desert!
• Does Your City Have a Food Desert? Check with This Interactive Map
• 7 Weird Ways Animals Cool Off
• How Wild Animals Help Control Climate Change

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take the initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that raise awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and essential stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your own food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!