Explore

Desert animals

Desert animals, from the obvious (camels, scorpions, rattlesnakes) to the small specialists: fennec foxes, jerboas, gerbils, sand cats and sidewinders.

A lot of them are awake at night, when it's cooler, which is worth knowing when "Awake when?" comes up in a game.

45 animals, A to Z.

• 🦎Bearded dragonEight species of Australian lizards named for the spiny "beard" under the throat, which darkens and puffs up when they are stressed, threatened or courting.
• 🪲BeetleInsects whose front wings are hardened into wing-cases.
• 🐾BilbyThe greater bilby: a long-eared, rabbit-sized marsupial of Australia that lives in burrows and comes out at night.
• 🐆BobcatA medium-sized North American wild cat with tufted ears and the short, "bobbed" tail that gives it its name.
• 🦜BudgerigarA small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot of Australia.
• 🐫CamelThree living species of humped desert animals: the one-humped dromedary (94% of the world’s camels), the two-humped Bactrian camel, and the endangered wild Bactrian camel.
• 🐆CaracalA slender, long-legged wild cat with a reddish-tan coat and long black ear tufts; its name comes from the Turkish for "black ear".
• 🦎ChameleonAbout 200 species of Old World lizard with independently moving eyes, a projectile tongue and gripping feet and tail.
• 🐆CheetahThe fastest land animal: a lightweight, long-legged cat built for short sprints across open ground.
• 🦅CondorTwo New World vultures, the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere: the Andean condor of the Andes and the California condor of the western US and Mexico.
• 🐈CougarA large, plain-coated cat of the Americas, also called puma, mountain lion and panther.
• 🐺CoyoteA North American wild dog, smaller than its close relative the grey wolf.
• 🐕DingoA lean, hardy wild dog of Australia, ginger, black-and-tan or creamy white.
• 🫏DonkeyA domesticated member of the horse family, bred from the African wild ass some 5,000–7,000 years ago and used mainly as a working animal ever since.
• 🐪DromedaryThe one-humped camel, and the tallest of the three camel species.
• 🐾EmuA flightless bird found only in Australia, the country’s tallest native bird and the third-tallest living bird after the two ostriches.
• 🦊Fennec foxThe smallest fox, from the deserts of North Africa.
• 🐾GazelleSmall, fast antelopes, mostly fawn-coloured, living in herds in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa and in south-west and central Asia and India.
• 🦎GeckoNearly 2,000 species of small, mostly nocturnal lizards, the most species-rich lizard group.
• 🐾GerbilAbout 110 species of small desert rodents from Africa, India and Asia, including jirds and sand rats.
• 🦗GrasshopperPlant-eating insects with powerful hind legs for leaping, one of the oldest groups of chewing plant-eaters.
• 🐾GuanacoA wild camelid of South America and the ancestor of the domestic llama.
• 🐹HamsterStout-bodied rodents with cheek pouches that stretch to their shoulders, used to carry food home.
• 🐺HyenaFour species of dog-like carnivores, including the spotted, brown and striped hyenas.
• 🐺JackalWild dogs of Africa and Eurasia: the black-backed and side-striped jackals of Africa and the golden jackal of south-central Europe and Asia.
• 🐾JerboaSmall, nocturnal hopping rodents of the hot deserts of North Africa and Asia, with very long back legs, a tuft-tipped tail longer than the body, and often huge ears.
• 🦎LizardScaly reptiles, usually with four legs, with over 7,000 species.
• 🦗LocustShort-horned grasshoppers that can switch into a swarming phase.
• 🦫MeerkatA small, highly social mongoose of southern Africa.
• 🐾OryxFour species of large, pale antelopes with dark markings on the face and legs and long, nearly straight horns.
• 🦤OstrichThe tallest and heaviest living bird, flightless and native to parts of Africa.
• 🦉OwlMore than 200 species of mostly solitary, nocturnal birds of prey, with an upright stance, a broad head, forward-facing eyes and feathers adapted for near-silent flight.
• 🐾QuollSix species of spotted carnivorous marsupials from Australia and New Guinea, also once called native cats.
• 🐍RattlesnakeThirty-six species of venomous pit vipers of the Americas, named for the rattle of interlocking keratin segments at the tail tip.
• 🐾RoadrunnerThe greater roadrunner, a long-legged ground cuckoo of the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico.
• 🐾SaigaAn antelope of the Central Asian steppes with a swollen, downward-pointing nose.
• 🐈Sand catA small, pale sandy cat of sandy and stony deserts far from water.
• 🦂ScorpionArachnids with eight legs, grasping pincers and a curved tail ending in a venomous sting.
• 🐍SidewinderA small rattlesnake of the deserts of the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico.
• 🐍SnakeLimbless reptiles with more than 4,170 species, found on every continent except Antarctica.
• 🕷️SpiderEight-legged arachnids with fangs that inject venom and spinnerets that make silk.
• 🐾SpringbokA slender, fast antelope of the dry south-west of Africa, with a white face, a dark stripe from eye to mouth and a reddish-brown band along each flank.
• 🕷️TarantulaLarge, often hairy spiders, over a thousand species in almost 200 genera.
• 🐢TortoiseLand-living turtles with domed shells and column-like, elephant-like legs.
• 🦅VultureBirds of prey that scavenge carrion.

How each answer is decided: How we answer. Every animal, in one list: All animals.