one-fifth of all the land on earth is desert. The hottest may be the sahara in Libya,where 136 F
has been recorded in the shade. The next hottest is Death Valley in California's Mojave Desert,where temperatures mey go as high as 134 F.Humans cannot live very long without water in such heat. To a visitor these extreme temperatures of nature might suggest that desert live is scanty.This is not really true.Only a foot and a half down in the ground is a cool,spring-like 60 F. This is a desert secret.The many animals who live in the desert know it.Pocket mice, desert foxes,kangaroo rats, and other small animals sleep in cool underground burrows to avoid the daytime heat, and search for food at night when the temperatures have dropped.