Cloze: The Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert, located on the continent ___________________________(1) Africa, is the world's largest hot desert. With a size ___________________________(2) is comparable to the size of the entire United States, the Sahara represents a major part of the landscape in Africa. The land here is ___________________________(3) exactly friendly to those creatures that would choose it for a home.

___________________________(4) of the most important of the Sahara Desert life forms is actually man. Around 2.5 million people live in the Sahara, with most of this population being centered in Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. Man is undoubtedly the most adaptive of species, so ___________________________(5) about the creatures that do not have the capacity to build homes and use technology to withstand the extreme heat?

The Sahara was not always the very dry place it is today; ___________________________(6) fact, after the last ice ___________________________(7) the area was quite wet. Over 30,000 primitive drawings of lifeforms such as crocodiles have been found in the area. Dinosaur fossils were also discovered there, which means that ___________________________(8) had to be at least a minimal water source at the time of these large reptiles.

More recently ( ___________________________(9) still over 8000 years ago), some of the most populous Sahara Desert creatures ___________________________(10) cattle. Ancient Egyptians used to herd cattle through the Sahara and allow them to graze ___________________________(11) what vegetation was available.

Today, many smaller life forms populate the desert, such as gerbils, hares, the desert hedgehog, gazelles and foxes. Additionally, there are over 300 migratory bird species that nest in this area. So although it is often said that the Sahara Desert is inhospitable ___________________________(12) all living creatures, it is ___________________________(13) from a dry and animal-free climate.

Adapted from an article written by Richard Monk
(FactsMonk.com – a site with facts about everything)