Sahara Desert

This astronaut photograph of the Saharan coastline was captured on May 20, 2014, by Expedition 40 aboard the International Space Station.
This astronaut photograph of the Saharan coastline was captured on May 20, 2014, by Expedition 40 aboard the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA)

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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