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STR ATEGIES & SKILLS AT A GLANCE
Read to
Comprehension
Find Out
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Strategy: Summarize
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Skill: Identify Main Idea and Details
Vocabulary
Australia's Great
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Sandy Desert
climate, eerie, lumbering, lurk ,
shimmer, silken, swallows
has huge red
Vocabulary Strategy
sand dunes.
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What kinds of
Context Clues: Surrounding Words
CONTENT-ARE A VOC ABULARY
life can surv1ve
Words related to the desert
there?
(see glossary)
NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS
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photo credits
Science
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Life Science
Cover: Klein/Hubert/Peter Arnold, Inc.; 1:
Martin Horvey/CORBIS;
and Company;
3:
2-3:
(border) Wetzel
Simon Wilkinson/Getty
Images; 4: (bl) David Aubrey/CORBIS; (br)
Lynwood M. Chance/Photo Researchers,
Inc.;
5:
(border) Wetzel and Company; (b)
PhotoLink/Getty Images; 6: Martin Harvey/
CORBIS; 7: Klein/Hubert/Peter Arnold, Inc.;
Word count: 726**
8: Martin Harvey/Peter Arnold, Inc.; 9:
Jeremy Woodhouse/Masterfile; 10: Dr Paul
A. Zahi/Photo Researchers, Inc.; II: (border)
Wetzel and Company; (b) Leo Meier/Australian
Picture Library/CORBIS;
13:
(border) Wetzel and
Company; (bl) Michael & Patricia Fogden/
CORBIS; 14: (border) Wetzel and Company; (c)
Simon Wilkinson/Getty Images.
illustration: 2:
Lyle Miller.
A
The McGraw·Hill Companies
B
•
Macmillan
McGraw-Hill
Published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of
The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., Two Penn Plaza, New York, New York 10121.
Copyright© b y Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in o database or
retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
including, but not limited to, network storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance
learning.
Printed in the United States of America
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 004 10 09 08 07 06 OS
**The total word count is based on words in the running text and headings only.
Numerals and words in captions, labels, diagrams, charts, and sidebars ore not included.
Survival in the
Great Sandy Desert
by Kathy Kinsner
Table of Contents
Introduction
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Chapter
1 Plant Survival
Chapter
2 Animal Survival
Chapter
3 Human Survival
Conclusion
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Glossary/Index
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Comprehension Check
2
4
6
12
14
15
16
Introduction
Australia is the land of kangaroos and
koalas. It is also the land of deserts. Deserts
cover almost one fifth of Australia. The
Great Sandy Desert is one of Australia's
biggest deserts.
Deserts are dry. A desert gets less than
10 inches of rain or snow in a year. The
Great Sandy is a hot desert. In the sun1mer,
the temperature soars to more than lOOOF
(38°C).
(
Great
Sandy Desert
o
')
"\
\
Gibson
Desert
Great Victoria
Desert�_r----'
(
�
r'
r-�'---./
...
-......
"'-..,__�-J
0 Abou
Tanami
Desert
Simpson
Desert
\
)
20 percent of Australia's land is desert.
The Great Sandy Desert is filled with
huge red sand dunes. Grasses and a few
trees grow there. Animals live there too.
How do they survive?
Plants and animals have bodies that
work well in the climate where they live.
An animal that lives in a cold climate may
have thick fur to keep warm. An animal
that lives in a dry climate may have tough
skin to keep its body from losing moisture.
The ways a plant
or animal's body
changes to fit
the place where
it lives are called
adaptations.
Sand dunes, some :)
as h1g
as 30 feet
(9 m). make
he
Great Sandy Desert
look eerie.
Chapter1
Plant Survival
Desert plants have adaptations that help
them get and save water. Some plants have
roots that collect water from far away. One
kind of root reaches down to get water
stored far below the ground. This is called a
taproot.
Other plants have roots that collect water
from a wide area. These plants grow far
apart. Each can collect enough water to
survive.
0 Taproots can
-
4
0 Other plants' roots can
reach water far
soak up water that
underground.
falls many feet away.
Prickly Pear
A cactus is a desert plant. At one time,
cactuses grew only in North and South
America. One kind of cactus was the prickly
pear. The fruit of the prickly pear was good
to eat. The prickly pear could be grown
in hedges. The hedges could be used as
a fence to keep cows and sheep from
wandering away.
People thought that the prickly pear was
great.
People who went to live in Australia
took it with them. The prickly pear grew
quickly. And it grew every where. Soon it was
growing where other plants used to grow.
People in Australia changed their minds
about the prickly pear. They are no longer
happy to see this cactus taking over.
h
very adaptable prickly pear
Chapter
2
Animal Su vival
Animals have many adaptations that help
them survive in a hot, dry climate. An
adaptation may have to do with an animal's
body. A desert animal's feet may be built in
a way that keeps it from sinking into the
sand. An adaptation may have to do with an
animal's behavior. For example, many desert
animals are active at night when the air is
cool.
One such animal is a lizard called the
thorny devil. The thorny devil drinks dew
that falls on its back. Grooves extend along its
body. The grooves lead water into the thorny
devil's mouth. It catches rain the same way.
e The hairs on
its feet help
keep the
gecko
(GE-koh)
from sinking
into the
sand.
0 The thorny devil eats black ants. It can eat more
than 1,000 ants in one meal. It swallows up to
45 ants per minute.
The thorny devil burrows into the sand
to escape the hottest parts of the day. It also
burrows into the sand when it gets too cold
at night. The temperature below the sand
stays about the same, day or night.
<: The bil by's
pouch faces
backward,
so it doesn't
fill with dirt
when the
bilby digs its
burrow.
The bilby (BIL-bee) has big ears like a
rabbit. The bilby loses heat through its ears.
This helps it keep cool.
The bilby gets most of its water from the
insects and seeds it eats. The bilby is active
at night when it is cool outside. It lives in
an underg round burrow during the day.
f
Marvelous Marsupials
The kangaroo, the koala, and the bilby are
marsupials.
Like other mammals, marsupials
have hair on their bodies and nurse their
young.
But marsupials also have pouches
where they carry their babies until the babies
[):
It
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8
can get around on their own.
As a bird, the galah (guh-LAH) has a
few adaptations that a bilby does not have
that help it survive in the desert. Galahs can
escape the heat by flying. It's cooler up in
the air than on the ground. Galahs can fly
a long way to find water. They rest in trees
where it is shady and cool.
A galah's body is covered with feathers.
Its feathers insulate it from the desert heat.
0 The galah is found all over Australia. The galah
visits the desert in search of food. It can fly
60 miles in a day.
Desert spiders live in burrows inside the
g round. Desert spiders have sturdy bodies
that are good for digging.
Most desert spiders do not spin silken
webs. They do not catch insects in the air.
They catch insects on the g round instead. In
dry climates with few insects, desert spiders
chase their prey across the g round.
C: The trapdoor
spider builds
a cover for its
b urrow. This
trapdoor keeps
heat and
ene mies out.
Some spiders
lurk inside
their burrows.
They pop out
when an insect
is nearby.
Honey-pot ants store food for the months
when it is hard to find food. After a rain,
flowers bloom in the desert. The honey-pot
ants collect nectar from the flowers. There's
more nectar than they can eat.
Some of the honey-pot ants are able to store
nectar in their bodies. The rest of the ants
feed nectar to them.
Soon the bodies of these
ants are as big as grapes. They hang from the
roof of the ant colony. The rest of the ants
eat the nectar later on when food is scarce.
Honey-pot ants can store nectar for up to
10 months.
~
Chapter 3
Hutt1.an Survival
Few people live in the Great Sandy Desert.
There's not enough rain for farming or raising
animals. But some people have survived in the
Great Sandy for many years.
The Aborigines lived in Australia for
thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
They were Australia's first people. The
Aborigines lived by hunting wild animals and
gathering wild plants. They moved from place
to place to find food.
The Aborigines found water when it was
hard to find. They knew which plant roots
might have water in them. They found food
when it was hard to find, too. They knew the
habits of lizards and other animals.
Today Aborigines make up only about
one percent of the population of Australia.
Many live in cities. Some live in the desert
and still follow the old ways of finding food.
12
Follow That Bee!
One story says Aborigines were so good at
gathering food that they could follow a bee
to honey. The story says that the Aborigines
stuck a leaf to the back of a bee. The leaf
made the bee easy to see. The weight of
the leaf made the bee fly lower and slower.
The Aborigines could follow the bee back to
its hive. The Aborigines ate the honey stored
in the hive.
<: This painting
was made by
an Aboriginal
artist. It shows
how Important
animals are to
the Aborigines.
Conclusion
The Great Sandy Desert is a hot, dry
place. The plants, animals, and people that
live there have amazing adaptations. The
adaptations help them survive.
Desert Day/Desert Night
Oh, the desert is quiet at noontime
When the sun overhead is quite bright.
The animals sleep
In their burrows so deep
Awaiting the cool of the night.
Oh, the desert is eerie at nighttime­
More animals now than at noon.
Awake from their slumber,
They sneak, leap, and lumber
By the light of a shimmering moon.
Glossary
adaptation
(a-dap-TAY-shuhn)
a change of a
physical feature or behavior to help a plant
or animal survive in its environment
(page
3)
(DEW) moisture
morning (page 6)
dew
(IN-suh-/ayt)
(page 9)
insulate
cold
protect from heat or
(MOYS-chuhr)
moisture
prey
on the ground in the
(PRAY)
wetness
3)
an animal that is hunted by
another animal for food
taproot
(page
(TAP-rewt)
(page 10)
a root that grows
downward and gives off smaller roots
(page 4)
Index
Aborigine, 72-73
honey-pot ant, 77
bilby, 8
prickly pear, 5
galah, 9
thorny devil, 6-7
gecko, 6
trapdoor spider, 70
15
Comprehension Check
Summarize
Main Ideas
Details
Use a Main Idea Chart like
the one here to record
the main ideas and the
supporting details found
in the book.
Use the
information in the chart to
summarize the book.
Think and Compare
1. Reread page 4. Describe ways that desert
plants get water.
(Identify Main Idea and
Details)
2. What are some ways in which you adapt
to the climate where you live? Explain
your answer.
(Apply)
3. Bringing the prickly pear to Australia was
a big mistake.
Should people be allowed
to grow certain types of plants in areas
where those plants don't grow naturally?
Why or why not?
16
(Evaluate)
Write About Desert Life
Choose an animal that lives in the Great
Sandy Desert. Write a paragraph from
the animal's point of view.
Create a Poster
Find out more about an animal that lives in
the Great Sandy Desert. Tell what it looks
like, what it eats, how and where it lives.
Use pictures and charts to create a poster
that tells about the animal.
Survival in the Great Sandy Desert
Meet the animals, plants, and people of
Australia's Great Sandy Desert. Find out
how they survive in this hot, dry place.
The McGraw·Hi/1 Compames
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