Untamed Americas: Deserts Pictures
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The Slot Canyons
Far from being barren wastelands, deserts are biologically rich habitats with a vast array of animals and plants that have adapted to the harsh conditions there. Some deserts are among the planet's last remaining areas of total wilderness. Yet more than one billion people, one-sixth of the Earth's population, actually live in desert regions.
Deserts cover more than one fifth of the Earth's land, and they are found on every continent. A place that receives less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain per year is considered a desert. Deserts are part of a wider classification of regions called "drylands." These areas exist under a moisture deficit, which means they can frequently lose more moisture through evaporation than they receive from annual precipitation.
The Colorado Plateau is a high-altitude wilderness - shadowed by the Rockies, where the elements twist and carve the rock.
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Plains Bison
Dominant females lead the bison herd to water. Driven by instinct, they can travel miles to find a drink. Bison stand some 5 to 6.5 feet (1.5 to 2 meters) tall at the shoulder, and can tip the scales at over a ton (907 kilograms). Despite their massive size, bison are quick on their feet. When the need arises they can run at speeds up to 40 miles (65 kilometers) an hour. They sport curved, sharp horns that may grow to be two feet (61 centimeters) long.
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Going Batty
Every summer night, twenty million of these Mexican free-tailed bats are set loose to feast on the desert. A group of bats is called a colony. Every March or April, scores of Mexican Free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) migrate up to 1,000 miles (1609 kilometers) from their winter home in Mexico to Bracken Cave in Texas, U.S., where they raise their young. Soon after they arrive, each mother gives birth to one pup. As many as 500 baby bats live crammed into one square foot (30.48 cubic centimeters) of space, and all those bodies create nice warm temperatures to keep them cozy and comfortable.
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Desert Dweller
In the aird environment of the desert, creatures of all sizes and shapes must be hardy. A regal horned lizard can survive on next to no water.
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Blood Squirting Lizard
In the deserts of the Americas, an abundance of wildlife has developed an array of bizarre and baffling against-the-odds survival strategies. For the Regal horned lizard, if camouflage doesn't work and posturing does not deter...it squirts foul-tasting blood out of its eye.
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A Rare Sight
The Altiplano is a high altitude desert in the middle of the Andes. Considering the Altiplano is one of the highest and most inhospitable deserts on earth-at over 12,000 feet, life should not be able to survive here. At a remote, caustic, inhospitable, salt-filled lake in South America, a flock of rare Andean flamingos engage in an elaborate dance. This is an impressive spectacle, provided by one of the rarest birds in the world.
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A Desert Penguin
More than a thousand pairs of Humboldt penguins live up high on the soiled shores on the edge of the Atacama Desert along the coast of northern Peru, one of the driest places on Earth. Father penguins descend a sheer cliff and run a gauntlet of hungry sea lions in order to feed their young offspring.
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A Band of Mustangs
Wild mustangs are icons of the American west. Feral horses are the descendents of once-tame animals that have run free for generations. Groups of such horses can be found in many places around the world. Free-roaming North American mustangs, are the descendents of horses brought by Europeans more than 400 years ago.
