Deserts of the World – List of Deserts Around the World

Areas which receive as low as 250 millimeters of rainfall annually are attributed as deserts. These areas receive little or no precipitation at all and have vegetation which ranges from being sparse to none. Deserts are classified into various types, based on their geographical location. The types of deserts include trade wind deserts, mid-latitude deserts, rain shadow deserts, coastal deserts, monsoon deserts, polar deserts, paleodeserts and extraterrestrial deserts. Currently, it is accepted that one-fifth of the earth's surface is covered by these sandy barren lands. So let's know some important facts about these major deserts in the following deserts of the world list.

List of Deserts Around the World

Antarctica Desert
With a whooping 13,829,430 square kilometers, Antarctica is the largest in the deserts of the world list. Situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, this desert is also the fifth largest of the seven continents of the world. An amazing fact about Antarctica is that it increases in its size during winter, due to the build up of sea ice around the coasts. More than 99% of the area is covered with ice and as on 21st July, 1983, the lowest temperature which was recorded in this continent was a chilling -89.2⁰C.

Sahara Desert
The world's largest among the hot deserts around the world and covering an area of 91,000,000 square kilometers, the Sahara desert is known to be homed by 4 million people. In its northern parts, the desert has a sub tropical climate and in the south, a tropical one. The Sahara desert plants include grass, shrubs and trees. Cape hare, desert hedgehog, Barbary sheep, oryx, gazelle, deer, wild ass, baboon, hyena, jackal, sand fox, weasel and mongoose constitute the Sahara desert animals. Read more on Sahara desert facts.

Arabian Desert
This desert covers an area of 2,300,000 and stretches from Yemen to the Persian Gulf and Oman to Jordan and Iraq. Calligonum crinitum, cornulaca arabica, cyperus conglomeratus are the typical plants of this desert and the wildlife include dromedary camel, dung beetle, civet, Egyptian vulture, flamingo, fox, gazelle, hare, hedgehog, arabian horse, hyena, ibex and jackal.

Gobi Desert
The word 'Gobi' itself means desert. Temperature ranges from –40⁰C in winter and 40⁰C in summer. Black-tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, bactrian camels, Mongolian wild ass and sandplovers are the typical animals of this desert and sparse vegetation include bushes and a dozen kinds of grasses and herbs.

Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari desert is largely covered by reddish sand and has an area of 900,000 square kilometers. Apart from different types of reptiles and birds, this desert is home to brown hyenas, lions, meerkats and several species of antelope. Dry grassland and scrubby acacias constitutes the vegetation.

Patagonian Desert
The Patagonian desert is the largest desert in America and occupies 670,000 square kilometers. The climate is divided into 7 months of summer and 5 months of winter. The burrowing owl, lesser rhea, guanaco, tuco-tuco, mara and different species of eagle and hawk can be found in this region. Desert shrubs, tuft grass and aquatic grass on the outskirts are common to the Patagonian desert.

Great Victoria Desert
The largest desert in Australia having an area of 64,7000 square kilometers. Marble gums, mulga and spinifex grass comprise the typical vegetation of this desert and rock wallabies, parrots, snakes, wild camels, lizards and bilbies, comprise the wild life.

Great Basin Desert
492,000 square kilometers is the area occupied by the Great Basin desert. This basin is a series of a myriad of watersheds such as the Great Salt lake, Hamlin valley, Snake valley, Pine valley, Wah Wah valley, Tule valley , Rush valley and many more. Kit fox, coyote, skunk, black-tailed jackrabbit, ground squirrels, kangaroo rat and many species of mice are the common inhabitants of this desert. The vegetation includes restricted range of plants from cactus, sage brush to saltbush species.

Chihuahua Desert
The second largest desert in North America, the Chihuahua desert covers a large area of about 629,000 square kilometers. The desert has a mild temperature which ranges from 35 – 40⁰C. Unlike other deserts, it is biologically more diverse and includes plants such as Agave, Creosote Bush, Mesquite Tree, Prickly Pear, Sotol, Peyote and Lechuguilla. It has a wide range of animal species ranging from desert cottontail, black-tailed jack rabbit, cactus mouse, kit fox, cactus wren to greater roadrunner. Reptiles include mojave rattlesnake, coachwhip snake and new mexican whiptail lizard. Red-spotted toads and barred tiger salamander can also be found on this desert.

Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran desert is said to cover 310,000 squares kilometers and is the wettest desert in the deserts of the world list. Also referred to as the Gila desert, its wildlife comprises of javelina, bobcat, skunk, jackrabbit, coyote, Mexican wolf and cottontail. This desert is also known for the famous saguaro cactus which grows only in this place. Plants from agave family, palm family, cactus family, legume family and many others are all part of the flora of the Sonoran desert.

Great Sandy Desert
After the Great Victoria, this desert is the second largest one in Australia. According to the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage, the Great Sandy desert covers about 284,993 square kilometers. The fauna includes feral camels, thorny devils, bearded dragon lizards, the red kangaroos, dingos, feral camels, etc. Bloodwood, acacias, grevilleas and desert oaks come in the list of the desert flora.

Thar Desert
Also known as the Great Indian desert, the Thar desert occupies an area of more than 200,000 square kilometers. Most of it is in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Desert animals such as the Great Indian Bustard, the black buck, the Indian Gazelle and the Indian Wild ass are to be found on the desert. The desert's wide variety of fauna includes many types of tree species, small trees and shrubs and herbs.

Takla Makan Desert
This desert is China's largest desert with an area of 270,000 square kilometers. Tamarisk, nitre bushes and reeds are the only types of vegetation found on the desert, however, it gets richer along the edges of the desert. Wolves, foxes, gazelles and wild boars are among the sparse population of animals in Takla Makan desert.

Gibson Desert
The Gibson desert of Western Australia, has a coverage of 156,290 square kilometers. It is characterized by sand plains, dunefields and lateritic gibber plains. Mulga and shrubs are its main vegetation and feral pig, fox, rabbit, wild dogs, feral cat and camel are known to be the animal species to be found on the desert.

Simpson Desert
With an area of 14000 – 17000 square kilometers, the Simpson desert contains the world's longest parallel sand dunes. Lizards and marsupials are the common inhabitants among the animals found on the desert. There are about 800 species of plants which are found in the Simpson desert.

Gibson Desert
This sparsely populated region is a home to the red kangaroo, emu, the thorny devil and hardy bush stone curlew and it is spread over 155,530 square kilometers. Hardy species of shrubs, woody trees and grasses are the popular plants on this land.

Atacama Desert
Known to be one of the driest places and covering an area of 140,000 square kilometers, the Atacama desert receives rainfall which is as less as 1 millimeter. It is also one of the oldest deserts in the world and due to its extremely harsh environment, its sparse population of humans, animals and plants is understandable. In some portions, there is no trace of even micro organisms such as bacteria or fungus.

Namib Desert
Attributed as the world's oldest desert, the Namib desert has an area of about 80,900 square kilometers. Due to the formation of thick fog from the Atlantic, there is enough moisture for the species to survive even in the hardy conditions of this desert. The tenebrionid beetle, Lepidochora discoidalis, the black-backed jackal, desert lizards and web-footed gecko are among the common animals found on this desert. Common plants include low-lying shrubs, pencil plants, dollar plants and the famous one which Charles Darwin described as "platypus of the plant kingdom" - the welwitschia plant, are among the common inhabitants of the Namib desert.

Dasht-e Kavir Desert
The Dasht-e Kavir desert of the Iranian plateau, has a surface area of about 77,600 square kilometers. Shrubs and grasses are the common plant species here and as far as wildlife is concerned, the common animals include Persian gazelles, wild sheep, goats, leopards. Wolves, foxes, lizards and snakes are also scattered in different parts of the desert.

Mojave Desert
Southern Nevada, Western Arizona, Southwestern Utah, and Southeastern California come within the area covered by the Mojave desert and it comes to around 125,000 square kilometers. Plants which have adapted themselves to the environment of the desert are joshua tree, pinyon pine, mesquite, California junipe and many other types of cactus and shrubs.

So you can see that there are no major differences between the environment and habitat among the different types of deserts which have been briefly described in the above deserts of the world list. These deserts do not have much to offer when it comes to the different factors which are necessary for survival. However, they are still inhabited by different living species and have retained their attraction for those few desert lovers!