The Desert ... Deserted?
Heat, Dryness, Intense light, Space, Stillness
Summer midday temperatures 4 feet above ground may
reach 125o - a foot above, 150o - an inch above, 165o - on the
surface, 180o.
It may have rained an inch in 10 minutes last week, but most of
the water evaporated before it could seep into the ground.
The desert: hot - dry - no visible movement - no breath of live -
but deserted?
Look for life!
It's in the sparse, stunted, often gray and leafless plants, which
have found special ways of adapting to Hot and Dry in their leaves,
sems, spins, roots - by sheeding, shrinking, hoarding.
Look for life!
It's in an astonishing variety of creatures, who have found special
ways of adapting to Hot and Dry - by burying themselves in the
sand, and burrowing deep in the ground until night - and by taking
water from plants and the body fluids of other animals, searching
over wide territories for it, manufacturing it themselves.
