A desert is an area of land that receives no more than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation a year. While many people imagine hot, sandy places like the Sahara or Sonoran deserts when they think of deserts, they can also be rocky like the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia, or cold like Antarctica, which is the largest desert on Earth. Though deserts are a difficult place for plants and animals to survive, many living things have adapted to make deserts their homes. Over one billion people around the world live in desert regions as well—that's one-sixth of the Earth's population. Learn more about desert ecosystems with this learning resource collection.

Use this collection as a companion material for the Museum of Exploration’s outdoor Courtyard. You can also explore more Museum of Exploration Education Resource collections.