Name: Deserts
Released: 2017-03-10
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, David Attenborough

1) guanaco

The guanaco make the most of the dew
2) dromedary

Dromedaries, single-humped camels, take these storms in their stride.
3) waterhole

a camel at a waterhole can drink as much as 200 liters during a single visit.
4) rainstorm

After a rainstorm the saguaro's long shallow root system sucks up the water
5) crevice

These crevice in South Africa contain the highest density of lizards in the world.
6) saguaro

the giant saguaro, one of the biggest of all cacti,
7) outcrop

These outcrop are standing in Egypt's White Desert.
8) pleat

and the pleat on its trunk enable it to expand rapidly.
9) oryx

and the oryx know it.
10) riverbed

The sandy riverbed acts like a giant strip of blotting paper
11) sandstorm

Sandstorms like these appear without warning
12) ibex

These are Nubian ibex
13) midwinter

the temperature in midwinter can drop to minus 40,
14) dweller

A sudden flush of vegetation is what every desert dweller waits for,
15) topsoil

so the kangaroos dig away the warmed topsoil
16) mouthful

But now, with mouthful of snow lying everywhere
17) harem

His rank earns him the loyalty of a harem of females
18) lichen

that moisture loving lichen are able to grow on the cacti

1) moisten

But every square meter of soil moisten by this river
2) flaunt

and they flaunt their multi-colored bellies in territorial disputes.
3) evaporate

and, as the saliva evaporate, their blood is cooled.
4) disperse

What little food exists is so disperse
5) erode

Now lumps of heavily erode rocks have been marooned in a sea of sand.
6) hump

Dromedaries, single-hump camels, take these storms in their stride.
7) soar

In the full sun the temperature on the ground soar to 70 degrees.
8) drip

Before long the cacti are drip with dew.
9) absorb

and they absorb liquid like a sponge.
10) maroon

Now lumps of heavily eroded rocks have been maroon in a sea of sand.
11) dominate

and that problem dominate the lives of all desert dwellers.
12) lick

So they lick saliva on to their forearms
13) expose

strange formations are expose in the naked rock.
14) sweep

Grains, swept up the flanks, are blown off the crests of the ridges
15) pile

so they pile the sand into dunes.
16) bloom

the saguaros bloom at night to attract visitors.
17) concentrate

but this herd concentrate on digging up the roots,
18) merge

And when groups merge,

1) inexorably

They're being inexorably chiseled away
2) upwards

As they're forced upwards
3) amazingly

Amazingly, lions live here, too.
4) evenly

When competitors are evenly matched as they are here,
5) steadily

ancient rivers flowing across sandstone country steadily widen their canyons
6) nonetheless

but they nonetheless need a regular supply of water.
7) altogether

The blasting sand will eventually eliminate them altogether.
8) surprisingly

but surprisingly none are.
9) sometime

But moisture, lost even at night, has to be replaced sometime somehow
10) inland

Further inland the air remains so warm that its moisture does not condense
11) continually

The relentless power of the wind ensures that the face of a desert is continually changing.
12) temporarily

Waterholes are filled temporarily.
13) dramatically

that responds as quickly and as dramatically to the good times as the desert locust.
14) literally

and a whole swarm can consume literally hundreds of tons of vegetation.
15) beneath

to get at the cooler ground beneath.
16) heavily

Now lumps of heavily eroded rocks have been marooned in a sea of sand.
17) rarely

It's rarely seen on this scale
18) somehow

In all of them life manages somehow

1) bactrian

so Bactrian camels eat it.
2) fennec

The extraordinary ears of the fennec foxes of Africa radiate heat
3) centigrade

From a summer high of 50 degrees centigrade
4) acrobatic

In one day each of these acrobatic little lizards may catch 50 flies.
5) scaly

Reptiles have armored scaly skins that protect them from the stinging grains.
6) tongued

attract long-nosed and long-tongued bats.
7) radiate

The extraordinary ears of the fennec foxes of Africa radiate heat
8) nubian

These are Nubian ibex
9) lifeless

appear to be lifeless,
10) blistering

Australia is the world's most arid continent with blistering daytime temperatures.
11) stinging

Reptiles have armored scaly skins that protect them from the stinging grains.
12) ferocious

The ferocious wind, armed with grains of sand,
13) permeable

Toads have permeable skins
14) exhausting

In this heat the effort is truly exhausting.
15) precarious

to keep a precarious hold.
16) nosed

attract long-nosed and long-tongued bats.
17) infrequent

But it is infrequent
18) jagged

These jagged pyramids a hundred meters tall

Planet Earth » Season 1 » Deserts