Great Victoria Desert

The Great Victoria Desert ( Great Victoria Desert English ) is the largest Australian desert in the south and west of the continent. It is one of the Australian states of South Australia and Western Australia. The Great Victoria Desert is about 348,750 km ².

Discovery history

The Great Victoria Desert is named after Queen Victoria. The name goes back to the British explorer Ernest Giles, who had crossed the desert in 1875.

Climate

The temperatures in the Great Victoria Desert are between 18 and 40 ° C; in short winter ( end of September ) it may even be frost.

Landscape

In the desert there are numerous sand hills, but also grasslands and salt lakes. A special feature are crescent-shaped dunes composed mainly of clay. They form on the leeward edges of episodic lakes from dry deposits of the lake bottom.

Flora and Fauna

The largest part of the Great Victoria Desert is of open eucalyptus forests, especially of hummock grasslands and other grasses, and also overgrown with bushes. Only eight percent of the area is grassland. The Giles Corridor, which traverses the entire desert, is a narrow continuous strip, which is covered with acacia trees and bushes.

Some endangered species of mammals live in the great desert, including sand dunes Schmalfuß bag mouse ( Sminthopsis psammophila ), the Big Beutelmull ( Notoryctes Typhlops ) and the delicate comb tail bag mouse ( Dasycercus cristicauda ). North of the Dingo fence exists the Dingo (Canis lupus dingo ). Feral cats and foxes that hunt vertebrates are common in this desert. In this desert there are more than 100 species of reptiles, including the giant goanna ( Varanus giganteus), Thorny Devil ( Moloch horridus ) and Gould's monitor lizard ( Varanus gouldii ), which reaches a length of up to 1.6 meters. Numerous Gekko revive the arid area. The critically endangered species brown breast Whiteface ( Aphelocephala pectoralis ) lives in the desert, as well as the thermometer chicken ( Leipoa ocellata ) and the Night parrot ( Geopsittacus occidentalis), which is probably extinct there.

Thorny Devil

Perentie

Night parrot