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Follow your teacher’s directions to complete the Reading
Notes for each of three environments: desert, oasis, and Sahel.
3 The Desert Environment
What are the physical characteristics of the desert?
Possible answers: The Sahara has three main landforms: ergs, regs, and hammadas. Only two rivers
flow through the Sahara, the Nile and the Niger.
Desert temperatures vary greatly between day
and night. Rain is unpredictable.
How do you think people have adapted to living in
the desert?
Answers will vary
Mediterranean
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4 Adaptations to Life in the Desert
© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
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How have people adapted to living in the desert?
Possible answers: Among those who live in the
Sahara are pastoral nomads such as the Tuareg.
The Tuareg wear long, loose clothing to protect
them from the sun. Tuareg traders use camels
for transportation. Drilling machines have reached
underground water to create new oases.
Life in the Sahara and the Sahel: Adapting to a Desert Region
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5 The Oasis Environment
What are the physical characteristics of oases?
Possible answers: Oases are tiny islands of fresh water in the desert. Some oases are natural.
Others are made when humans dig or drill into the ground. Date palms are the most important
and common oasis plant.
How do you think people have adapted to living in oases?
Answers will vary.
6 Adaptations to Life in the Oases
How have people adapted to living in oases?
Possible answers: Farmers grow cash crops like dates and vegetables. Visiting nomads trade
their products for water and food. Farmers build windbreaks to protect their fields from the
desert. People sometimes must walk to distant wells as an oasis town expands.
7 The Sahel Environment
Mediterranean
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What are the physical characteristics of the Sahel?
Possible answers: The land is marginal for farming.
The vegetation is a mix of grasslands, acacia trees,
baobab trees, and small bushes. Drought is a fact
of life. Desertification has begun in some areas.
R.
How do you think people have adapted to living in
the Sahel?
Answers will vary.
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8 Adaptations to Life in the Sahel
How have people adapted to living in the Sahel?
Possible answers: Farmers plant crops, like millet
and sorghum, that grow in dry places. Farmers use
shifting agriculture. Herders move their herds from
one grazing area to another throughout the year.
Farmers are testing new ways of farming. People are
starting to use coal instead of wood for cooking.
© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
Life in the Sahara and the Sahel: Adapting to a Desert Region
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