Since water is the basis of life, composing the greater part of the tissues of all living things, the crucial problem of desert animals is to survive in a world where sources of flowing water are rare. And since man’s inexorable necessity is to absorb large quantities of water at frequent intervals, he can scarcely comprehend that many creatures of the desert pass their entire lives without a single drop.

   Uncompromising as it is, the desert has not eliminated life but only those forms unable to withstand its desiccating effects. No moist- skinned, water-loving animals can exist there. Few large animals are found. The giants of the North American desert are the deer, the coyote, and the bobcat. Since desert country is open, it holds more swift-footed running and leaping creatures than the tangled forest. Its population is largely nocturnal, silent, filled with reticence, and ruled by stealth. Yet they are not emaciated.

   Having adapted to their austere environment, they are as healthy as animals anywhere else in the word. The secret of their adjustment lies in the combination of behavior and physiology. None could survive if, like mad dogs and Englishmen, they went out in the midday sun; many would die in a matter of minutes. So most of them pass the burning hours asleep in cool, humid burrows underneath the ground, emerging to hunt only by night. The surface of the sun-baked desert averages around 150 degrees, but 18 inches down the temperature is only 60 degrees.

According to the passage, creatures in the desert ...........

Câu hỏi liên quan

• Why does the author refer to Gilbert White’s book in line 2?

• All of the following are TRUE about long – term memory EXCEPT that ..........

• The phrase "a resonant hoot" is closest in meaning to ............

ZUNIA12

• What is the author's main purpose?

• The word "excruciating" in the last paragraph means ________.

• According to the passage, what did Carson primarily study at Johns Hopkins University?

• The word  “they” in the third paragraph refers to ..............

• Sixty years ago, most women ..............

• How many Americans are involved in telecommuting?

• People need to communicate in order to__________

• The passage would most likely be followed by details about _______.

• The word “their” in line 1 refers to ...........

• When is the wedding ceremony completed?

• Which of the following is right according to the passage?

• All of the following are defined in the passage EXCEPT ............

• What is the main idea of this passage?

• According to the passage, the full-time university students have ............. of about 10 weeks in each year.

• The passage indicates that Harvard is ............

• It can be inferred from the passage that limestone deposits serve as the basis of ...........

• Which of the following is the author‟s main point?