Within a month, the spring blooms are finished. The plants now set their seeds, taking advantage of the warm summer winds which sweep the desert. For a while, the karoo just glows. But trouble is stir...
In spring , the desert undergoes a remarkable transformation. For just a few weeks a year, the flowers of over 3, 000 different plant species turn this desert into the Garden of Africa. This dazzling...
On certain nights, the secret is revealed. Warm, damp air moving in from the mid-Atlantic is transformed to fog as it crosses the cold coastal current. A vast blanket of moisture steadily rolls across...
Each melon is a valuable package of moisture and seeds. The plant also benefits from this plunder as its seeds may be carried for fifty kilometers in the elephant's stomach before being dropped in a p...
With the spider exposed, it's now a battle between the wasp's paralyzing sting and the spider's jaws. But the wasp has quick reflex es. Cornered, the spider now plays its trump card. Hurling itself do...
Pinning the ants to the hot sand surface, the spiders first cook them to death before dragging them under. In the Namib, even the toughest animals struggle with the heat. Gemsbok trek to the crests of...
In this barren sea of sand, it's harder for larger animals to find enough to eat. You've got to be a real specialist, like the Namib sand snake. By sidewinding, it can swim its way up the dunes. But i...
Lifelines of the Desert The Nasca desert in Southern Peru is a vast wasteland that stretches from the Andean 1)foothills to the Pacific Ocean. In 1926 came the first commercial flights over the area a...
Scientists are trying to make the deserts into a good land again. They want to bring water to the deserts, so people can live and grow plants there. They are learning a lot about the deserts. But more...
By Jessica Berman Scientists with the U.S. space agency NASA have begun investigating the crash landing Wednesday of the Genesis space capsule in Utah. The mission came to a disastrous end when a para...
