But for the majority of desert animals this strategy would not be enough for survival. The extraordinary ears of the fennec foxes of Africa radiate heat but the animals have another way of keeping cool. They spend their days underground and only emerge at sunset. Darkness brings huge changes. In the Sahara the temperature can drop as much as 30 degrees during the night, so it's cool enough to allow these desert fox cubs to play. All sorts of creatures now appear including some really unexpected ones. Toads have permeable skins and would quickly die from desiccation out in the daytime heat. It's only now that they can leave shelter. The same is true for scorpions, even though their shells are actually watertight.


但对于大多数沙漠动物来说，这些策略，还不足以让它们熬过酷热。非洲的耳廓狐，可以用巨大的耳朵散热，但它们还有其它的避热高招，它们白天在地下度过，到太阳落山之后才出来，夜幕带来的变化是巨大的，在撒哈拉，夜间温度可以骤降30度，这些沙漠狐的幼仔，可以出来玩耍了，所有的生物都出来了，包括那些你根本想不到的动物，蟾蜍的皮肤是裸露的，没有任何保护，在白天的高温下水分蒸发，会让它们很快死去，只有夜晚它们才能离开洞穴。蝎子的情况同样如此，尽管它们的外骨骼是防水的。