Animals & people
The generations that have adapted to the seemingly life-less terrain
Many people think the desert is a seemingly dead place, with not much vegetation and and what seems to be not much animal life either, well its wrong. the sahara is home to hundreds of life forms. Altogether, the Sahara hosts some 70 species of mammals, 90 species of resident birds, 100 species of reptiles, and numerous species of arthropods (invertebrates). This includes Barbary sheep, oryx, anubis baboon, spotted hyena, dama gazelle, common jackal and sand fox (endangered). It's birds are are ostriches, secretary birds, Nubian bustards and various raptors; and most importantly the sandy reptiles cobras, chameleons, skinks, various lizards and (where there is sufficient water) crocodiles from the nile, numerous ants, scarab beetles and the "deathstalker" scorpion. All this wildlife depends on the northern and southern water on the out skirts and inner desert.
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human communitiesDespite harsh conditions, plants and animals have taken hold in the desert. Although, human communities have also adapted to life in the desert. Humans have two ways of living in the desert, either adapting to its environment or to try and change the conditions of the environment.
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The Tuareg peopleHuman communities such as the Tuareg people have adapted to the hot and sandy conditions. The tribe of 1 million members is wide spread throughout the Sahara desert and most of the people originating from Saharan and Sahelian people and mostly Niger, Mali, Algeria, Libya, and Burkina Faso. The Tuareg people are an Islamic African people and are seminomadic - meaning that they travel with their herds on a seasonal basis but also have a home area where they grow some food crops. The Tuareg people face threats because of changing in climate which affects the sequence of their seasons
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Now the SaharaThe Sahara is a desert stretching across 13 countries, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. At 9,400,000 km² the Sahara includes the vast sand dunes commonly seen in images but it also includes rocky plains, mountains, dried riverbeds and one permanently flowing river -- the Nile. The nile is the main supplier of water for animals and tribes located along the nile through the desert.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Andy Hay