Spanning about 3.6 million square miles (9.4 million square kilometers) the Sahara —Arabic for "The Great Desert" — is the largest hot desert on Earth, third in size to the cold deserts in Antarctica and the Arctic. The Sahara stretches across most of North Africa, and plays host to winds that can whip up punishing sand storms. Little grows there, but this harsh environment is home to scorpions, snakes, and more than 40 species of rodents, as well as mammals like hyenas, jackals, antelopes and foxes.
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Whale Valley: The whale graveyard in the Sahara desert that shows they once had feet and toesEgypt's Whale Valley, or "Wadi Al-Hitan" in Arabic, holds more than 400 primitive whale skeletons that offer a snapshot of the evolution of these creatures from land-based to marine animals.
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Unknown human lineage lived in 'Green Sahara' 7,000 years ago, ancient DNA revealsResearchers analyzed the ancient DNA of two mummies from what is now Libya to learn about people who lived in the "Green Sahara" 7,000 years ago.
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Giant, pyramid-like 'star dunes' slowly wander across Moroccan desertEarth from space This 2023 astronaut photo shows a series of slowly moving "star dunes" in the Erg Chebbi region of Morocco. Most of these massive structures are likely several centuries old.
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Spotted hyena found in Egypt for 1st time in 5,000 years — then trackers killed it with a pickup truckResearchers documented the first spotted hyena in Egypt for 5,000 years after it was hit with a pickup truck for killing goats.
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Massive field of ancient lava casts an eerie, gold-specked shadow in the SaharaEarth from space A stunning composite image, made up of three years' worth of satellite photos, shows the ancient lava of Libya's Haruj volcanic field interspersed with patches of golden sand.
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Wandering sand dunes circle a gigantic 'eye' sculpted by an ancient city-killer meteor in the SaharaEarth from space This 2013 astronaut photo shows a giant eye-shaped impact crater in the Sahara Desert that is slowly being circled by migrating sand dunes, helping researchers track how far these dunes can move over time.
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Butterflies cross Atlantic ocean on 2,600-mile non-stop flight never recorded in any insect beforePainted lady butterflies discovered in French Guiana — thousands of miles from their usual habitats — got there through a Herculean transoceanic flight.
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Near-lifeless 'Land of Terror' looks like an alien landscape in the SaharaEarth from space A 2017 satellite image of the Sahara's Tanezrouft Basin shows the abstract beauty in ancient rock folds and colorful salt flats that have been sculpted in this terrifying region over millions of years.
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Eye of the Sahara: Mauritania's giant rock dome that towers over the desertThe Eye of the Sahara, also known as the Richat structure, stands out like an oversized ammonite among the sand dunes of the Sahara desert in Mauritania.
