The Great Gobi Desert
ICHK-Hong Lok Yuen, Justin Ho, Non-Fiction: Group 2
T
he Gobi Desert is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and
northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are
bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the
north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, and by the North
China Plain to the southeast. This desert is the fifth largest in the world. The word Gobi means
“Waterless”, so Gobi Desert means “Waterless Desert”
The Gobi is a rain shadow desert formed by the Himalaya range blocking rain-carrying clouds
from reaching the Gobi. The Gobi can reach extreme temperatures ranging from minus-forty
degree centigrade to fifty degree centigrade.
There are also animals in the Gobi. In the Gobi there is a animal called a Jerboa, the Jerboa is
an animal really similar to a kangaroo. This rodent’s hind legs are so powerful that it can make
the animal leap ten feet! They also have a long tail the helps the balance in the rocky landscape of
the Gobi desert. The Jerboa is the smallest animal in the Gobi.
The Gobi Desert is also the home to the Snow Leopard. The Gobi Snow Leopard used to
travel in big groups in the colder parts of the Gobi. When the human population in the Gobi
kept increasing, their numbers decreased really quickly. There are only one thousand and seven
hundred of them left approximately.
Another animal is the Golden Eagle. These birds can weigh up to thirteen pounds, with a diet
of Jerboas. The eagle can live up to almost eighteen years. Also in the Gobi, there is a bear called
the Gobi bear. It is the one of the most endangered species on earth. It is estimated that there are
almost less than fifty of them left.
The Gobi Desert is a “cold desert” because it does not have extremely high temperatures.
There are also plants in the Gobi. The Saxaul Tree is probably the most important plant on the
Gobi because it is the only source of water in the Gobi Desert
The Gobi is one million and two-hundred and ninety-five thousand kilometer square.
However, it is expanding at an alarming speed; this process is called desertification. The
expansion of the Gobi Desert is mostly on the southern side that is closer to China. Three-
thousand and six-hundred square kilometers of grassland in China is overtaken by the Gobi
Desert every year.
