Desert Animals

Acinonyx jubatus

The cheetah is the fastest land animal on Earth, built for explosive short sprints across the open grasslands and semi-desert of Africa.

Camelus dromedarius

The dromedary, or one-humped camel, is a large desert mammal domesticated thousands of years ago and superbly adapted to surviving extreme heat and long stretches without water.

Vulpes zerda

The fennec fox is the smallest fox species in the world, adapted to the extreme heat of the Sahara Desert with famously oversized ears.

Cathartes aura

The turkey vulture is a widespread scavenger found across the Americas, playing a critical ecological role by cleaning up carrion using one of the keenest senses of smell in the bird world.

Velociraptor mongoliensis

Velociraptor was a small, fast, feathered predatory dinosaur that lived in the arid deserts of what is now Mongolia around 75-71 million years ago, far smaller than its famous Hollywood depiction.

Crotalus atrox

The western diamondback rattlesnake is one of the most dangerous and widely-distributed venomous snakes in North America, easily identified by the diamond pattern along its back.

Xerus inauris

The Cape ground squirrel, or xerus, is a burrowing rodent of southern Africa's arid plains, easily recognized by holding its bushy tail overhead like a built-in parasol.