NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Geography Chapter 9:Life in the Deserts

A desert is simply defined as a barren area of land. This is a region where little precipitation occurs and has hostile living conditions for plant and animal life. Deserts are Classified as hot deserts and cold deserts, due to the extreme temperatures combined with little rainfall, life is difficult for people in the desert, especially plants and animals. The last chapter of the book explains life in the deserts and how the animals and vegetation living there manage their sustenance. The first desert we begin with will be the great Sahara desert.

It is known as the world's largest desert with an area of 8.54 million sq. km, which touches eleven countries. The Sahara desert is made up of gravel plains and elevated plateaus with the bare rocky surface which at places is more than 2500m high. This chapter will explore the climate of the Sahara desert. The focus of the chapter would also be the temperatures during the day and night. We will then move ahead towards understanding flora and fauna of the region, and what kind of vegetation it can sustain due to the harsh weather conditions it is located in apart from learning about animals that can manage such conditions and why they can do so.

Lastly, in the Sahara desert segment, we live to learn how the people live in the region- the different tribes that exist there and how they manage themselves and the changing cultural landscape. Next, we will move on to the cold Ladakh desert and understand the same parameters about it but in terms of sustenance in a cold desert with very low temperatures and barely any vegetation.