How does the nature withstand the heat: lifehacks from the inhabitants of deserts and mountains
July 20, 2018 | 11:56 |2967
Last weeks, when the thermometer's column stably rises above the level of 40 degrees, we are saved from the heat by the coolness of air conditioners, with an abundant drink, and avoid coming out under the scorching rays of the sun. The lifehacks in case of heat are also present among the inhabitants of the Turkmen deserts and mountains, animals and plants, whom evolution adapted to the local summer. Under direct rays sand in the desert is heated up to 80 degrees, you can bake. But the sun heats up only the upper layer of the soil, and at a depth of a meter or more it remains relatively cool. This is used by numerous rodents and reptiles living in the Karakum desert. In the summer days, they hide in deep cool burrows and creep to the surface only at nightfall.Batyr YUZBASHEV
For them are selected and predators. Turkmenistan is a home to one of the smallest wildcats lives - the Caspian dune cat. This cat walks most often at night, although it has a dense hard coat on its legs to tolerate hot sand. By the way, the animal is so adapted to the desert, that it dislikes rain even more than heat. If there is precipitation, and this happens in the spring in the Karakum, the cat will never come out of its burrow. Being a skillful hunter, the dune cat is forced to fear jackals and monitor lizards, who regard it as an appetizing prey.
The siesta adheres to the red deer, too. This large animal in the Amu Darya forest in the midst of the heat is active at night and at dusk, and in the afternoon sleeps in shady thickets. And the desert fox and korsak not only avoid the sun, but also change the wardrobe, they moult for the summer, dressing in a more light version of their fur coat.
Large rodents - large gerbils, by the way, have no special need to go out to the surface even on summer nights. In the spring abundance of grass, they filled the underground storehouse with supplies and in the summer they are spared from the search for food.
Someone is saved from the heat even by their engineering talent. Insect termites have such tender and soft bodies that they could simply weld in the sun. These creatures are saved from the harsh environmental conditions by their amazing "houses" - buildings with complex ventilation ducts. Due to this, the air temperature inside is much lower than outside, as if the dwelling is equipped with a conditioning system.
Another unusual inhabitants of the desert are Central Asian turtles. They do not even need regular drinking, they get moisture from flesh parts of plants. True, turtles also do not need summer heat with winter cold, so they spend months unfavorable for the winter in hibernation. In a similar way a yellow gopher experiences an unfavorable time in a sweet dream.
Such luxury is affordable only for those who are in no hurry and can wait for a long time. Therefore, we will hardly ever apply this lifehack by nature just to hide from the heat. Maybe it will come in handy in the distant future, to waste time on the way to distant stars and galaxies.
Champion of survival in the desert undoubtedly are camels. They chose methods that are effective, but require considerable endurance. During the day, the temperature of their body can rise to 40 degrees, at night, go down to 34 degrees. Thus, in the heat, no excess moisture is spent on sweating to cool the body, and the camel consumes three times less water than, for example, a donkey. Moreover, the camel is much more resistant to water loss. It can lose up to a quarter of its weight during dehydration, while other animals already with 10 percent weight loss find severe disruption in life, and at 22 - die.
What forced the camel to go in such a special difficult way? It cannot use the techniques of other animals - hide in the day in holes or at least in the shade. For burrows it is too big, and there are practically no shadows in the Karakum, because the local plants have also perfectly adapted to the heat.
Desert shrubs - tamarisk, kandym, juzgun and others are amicably without leaves, in order to reduce the area of the surface irradiated by the sun. Even almost the only tree in these places - saxaul or in Turkmen - sazak - also went along this path. Instead of leaves, they have green shoots. Moreover, saxaul sheds excess shoots just in the summer, because it uses very salty groundwater of sand and so gets rid of excess salt. It is interesting that the higher the air temperature, up to 40-50 degrees, the more effective the saxaul photosynthesis and the faster it grows. This deserted tree seems to revel in the sizzling rays of the summer sun.
Unlike saxaul and desert bushes - plane trees, growing in mountain canyons, proudly raise giant caps of crowns under the sunbeams. But they want to carry the heat, only by immersing the roots in the moist cool soil along the banks of the mountain streams washing them. It seems like if people in the heat found relaxation in a cool bath.
Matching them is carcass or dagdan - a tree that is considered sacred. It loves the shadow of deep gorges, and the cool fontanelles often break through between its roots. Resisting summer heat in conditions of mountain coolness is just the right thing!
A lot of plants - tulips, irises, bluegrass, etc. have timed to shoot, blossom and even tie seeds in the short time when spring rains carry moisture. And in the summer you will not see them, only rhizomes, bulbs and seeds will remain in the soil to come to life again next spring.
So nature also showed the wonders of ingenuity, animals and plants found a lot of ways to survive a hot period. And when we try to be in the shade, drink more water, rush under a cool shower or build complex engineering cooling systems, we, in fact, adopt their experience.
