The World’s Deserts: Heating Up
In The World’s Deserts: Heating Up, narrator Sir David Attenborough explains how Earth’s hottest temperatures have all been recorded in its deserts. The deserts are getting hotter more quickly than the global average. The shovel-snouted lizard adapts to the extreme heat by alternately lifting its feet from the hot ground, performing a kind of dance. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
Lesson Express
Q: Describe what you see in the environment of the desert in the video.
A: The environment consists of brown flat land with a few low shrubs, low mountains, blue sky with a few small clouds, sunshine, horses, cracked mud, antelope, and a heat haze.
Q: How is the desert changing?
A: The desert is getting hotter more quickly than the global average. It is also expanding into areas that were previously grass and farmland.
Q: How does the shovel-snouted lizard adapt to high desert temperatures?
A: It alternately raises its feet to cool them and give them a break from the hot surface temperature.
More Like This
In The American West: Dramatic Landscapes, narrator Sir David Attenborough explores the desert of the American West as a 10-month drought is ended by an intense thunderstorm. As millions of tons of water are dumped in under an hour, raging rivers form. Over millions of years, raging waters like these have carved slot canyons and shaped a beautiful landscape. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In The American West: Dramatic Landscapes, narrator Sir David Attenborough explores the desert of the American West as a 10-month drought is ended by an intense thunderstorm. As millions of tons of water are dumped in under an hour, raging rivers form. Over millions of years, raging waters like these have carved slot canyons and shaped a beautiful landscape. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth II, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.