Desert

The desert horned viper (or Cerastes cerastes) is a venomous snake native to the deserts and semi-deserts of Northern Africa and the Middle East. It is also known as the Saharan horned viper. The body of the desert horned viper is sand-coloured, often with a paler underside. They may have slightly darker brown mottling on their scales as camouflage. The head is large and triangular. Most notably, they may have distinctive, pointed horns above their eyes, from which they get their name. Males and females look alike, although females tend to be slightly larger.

As a subspecies of the African wild ass, the Somali wild ass (or Equus africanus somaliensis) is an equid that lives in the deserts and semi-deserts of Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has a grey coat with a pale underside and white legs, which are covered in thin black stripes. It has a rigid, black-tipped mane, black-tipped ears and a black tuft at the tip of its tail. The muzzle is pale but may be grey-black around the nose and mouth.

The sand cat (or Felis margarita) is a small wild cat native to the deserts of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. It has thick, sand-coloured fur, with thin, dark stripes across its back, legs, and tail. The sand cat’s face is round, with dark, striped markings, large ears and yellow eyes. Males and females look alike, and are 24cm to 36cm tall at the shoulder, 39cm to 52cm long, with their tail measuring a further 23cm to 31cm. Male sand cats weigh 2.1kg to 3.4kg, while females are a little lighter at 1.4kg to 3.1kg.

The dama gazelle (or Nanger dama) is a species of ungulate living in the Sahara desert and the Sahel. It has a short white coat on its belly, legs, hindquarters, and face, and red-brown fur on its back, shoulders, and neck. On its head, the dama gazelle has large protuberant ears and a black, curled horn. These horns are present on both males and females, however those of females are much shorter. Horn length in males ranges from 25cm to 35cm, with female horns around half that size on average.

The dromedary camel (or Camelus dromedarius) is a camelid living throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia. It has also been introduced to European countries and Australia. Dromedaries are usually sandy brown, tan, or cream in colour, but may also have dark or pied colouration. They have a single hump on their back, long legs, and a long neck. The dromedary camel has a domed head with small, rounded ears, large eyes with long lashes, and large, protuberant lips.

The addax (or Addax nasomaculatus) is a species of antelope that lives in remote areas of the Sahara Desert. Having historically lived throughout North Africa, they are now only found in areas in Niger and Chad. The addax is cream, white, or sandy in colour, with brown markings around the face and muzzle. Both sexes have dark, twisted horns, which is why they are sometimes called screwhorn antelope. Addaxes can achieve a body length of 1.20m to 1.30m. Males are usually taller and heavier than females, standing 1.05m to 1.15m tall at the shoulder and weighing 100kg to 125kg.

The scimitar-horned oryx (or Oryx dammah) is an antelope that used to live in and around the Sahara desert in Northern Africa. The fur of the scimitar-horned oryx is cream-white in colour, fading to tan patches on neck, chest and legs. Their face is white with brown markings. They are named for their most distinctive feature, the long, ridged and backwards curving horns which exceed 1m in length. Scimitar-horned oryxes measure 1.3m to 2.4m in length and are 1m to 1.3m tall at the shoulder.

The sacred scarab beetle is a dung beetle native to the coastal dunes and marshes around the Mediterranean Sea, meaning it is found in North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The head of the scarab beetle has 6 oblong projections and its front legs have an additional 4 each, giving the appearance of an arc of rays on the beetle’s front end. The sacred scarab beetle is 10 to 25mm in size and has a shiny, black carapace.

The meerkat is a species of social mongoose that is found in complex underground burrows in the savannahs and semi-deserts of Southern Africa. It lives in family packs and is considered to be ‘eusocial’, meaning it is highly socially organised and pack members have strongly defined roles within their group. Meerkats have a flat, pointed head and a sandy-coloured face with black eyes and ears. They have a mottled pattern of grey and yellow fur on their back and a pointed, black tipped tail. Meerkats move on all fours but assume a distinctive stance on their hind legs when alert.

The fennec fox is a small species of canid that lives in the Sahara desert. The fur of the back, head and tail is sandy coloured, and the fur of the legs, belly and face are white. The fennec fox’s most distinctive feature is its extremely large pointed ears. The fennec fox is very small, measuring 18 to 22cm tall at the shoulder with a head-body length of 34 to 40cm. Their tail is up to 25cm long and their ears measure 9 to 10cm in length. They weigh between 0.8 and 1.9kg. Males are slightly larger than females.