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Desert

The driest of all global habitats, with very little precipitation and large temperature variations between day and night, with desert oases playing an important part in the life of flora and fauna. Animals and plants, had to adapt to the extreme environment to survive.

(Pogona vitticeps, Ahl, 1927)

Bearded dragon

Bearded dragons got their name after the distinctive skin flap underneath their throat, strewn with barbed growths. They can inflate the flap when scared, threatened or when they want to scare other individuals. They can darken their throat intensely when showing dominance and occasionally when mating. They camouflage themselves and regulate body temperature by changing the tone of their skin.

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To establish dominance, males bite tails and threaten each other with open jaws, which are extremely powerful. Older males are usually left with damaged tails, souvenirs from previous battles. By gently shaking their head, they show submission but also their desire to mate.

(Eublepharis macularius, Blyth, 1854)

Leopard gecko

A nocturnal species of small lizard which got its name for its spotted colouration. It originates from desert regions of central Asia and feeds on live food (bugs). The sexual maturity of individuals depends on their weight (a minimum of 35 g) and not their age. It is interesting to note that they use their tail to store fat in the event of a food shortage.

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To cover its tracks, this lizard often eats the skin it sheds and is also interesting due to the anatomy of its ear, through which one can easily see the inside of its head all the way to the other side.

African spurred tortoise

(Centrochelys sulcata, Miller, 1779)

The African spurred tortoise is the third largest species in the world. It reaches a body length of 83 cm and 105 kg, and lives longer than 70 years. It lives at the southern tip of the Sahara in Africa, and in order to hide from the extreme heat during dry periods, it digs a burrow that provides it with an environment with a stable temperature. The African spurred tortoise is a herbivore and its diet consists of grasses and plants with a lot of fiber and little protein.


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