What Reptiles Live in the Sahara?
Fotolia.com”> jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.co.uk/images/a06/k5/u1/reptiles-live-sahara_-1.1-800X800.jpg’); }); The Sahara is home to just under 100 species of reptiles. The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest hot desert, spanning approximately 3.5 million square miles. It is home to nearly 100 species of reptiles, mostly snakes, lizards and tortoises. Their thick skins slow down water loss, and burrowing in the sand helps these animals store heat during the cold desert nights. Snakes The most common snake in the Sahara is the horned viper, also known as the sand viper. This venomous snake buries itself just under the surface of the sand to ambush its prey. Pythons are also common in the Sahara; however, rather than use poison to kill their prey, pythons use constriction by wrapping their bodies around their prey and suffocating it to death. The reticulated python can grow up to 25 feet long, but the African
The Sahara is home to just under 100 species of reptiles. sahara image by Dusan Radivojevic from Fotolia.com The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest hot desert, spanning approximately 3.5 million square miles. It is home to nearly 100 species of reptiles, mostly snakes, lizards and tortoises. Their thick skins slow down water loss, and burrowing in the sand helps these animals store heat during the cold desert nights. Snakes The most common snake in the Sahara is the horned viper, also known as the sand viper. This venomous snake buries itself just under the surface of the sand to ambush its prey. Pythons are also common in the Sahara; however, rather than use poison to kill their prey, pythons use constriction by wrapping their bodies around their prey and suffocating it to death. The reticulated python can grow up to 25 feet long, but the African ball python rarely grows longer than six feet and is less dangerous. Lizards Two lizard species indigenous to the Sahara are the spiny-tai