surrounding, they had to find ways to resist the extremely high temperatures in the Namib and the Kalahari - the ground can heat up to 80°C and more. Like insects they have become mainly nocturnal and hide away in holes, between rocks or bury themselves in the sand during the heat of the day. To prevent them from loosing too much water, lizards and snakes have a resistant skin, covered with scales of horn, whereas turtles are protected by their thick shield of bone. Some lizards have developed behaviour of positioning themselves differently towards the sun, depending on the time of day, to control their body temperature with the angle the sunbeams hit their body.

The following list of reptiles and insects of course doesn't show all kinds that can be found on the Vogelstrausskluft, but gives an impression of some of the most interesting or most common species.

Because of the harsh conditions life in the desert mainly takes place in small dimensions. The major number of desert animals therefore is insects, spiders or reptiles, of which only a small number is dangerous for a human. Only sporadically seen during the day, the Kalahari at night awakens to life.

In the desert insects have two important advantages of all other species: their small size and their firm exoskeleton. Due to their size insects are able to find shelter from the sun or enemies even under stones or small plants, and need only very little water to survive. In most cases the dewdrops that form every morning on leaves or rocks suffice. The exoskeleton on the other side protects them against loosing too much water due to evaporation and makes them resistant against the high temperatures on the ground.

Although desert reptiles, like all other reptiles, are cold-blooded, and therefore can adapt their body temperature to their

Population				Habitats
	Matebele Ants	widespread		whole farmarea
	Preying Mantis	rare		whole farmarea
	Red Scorpion	spread		whole farmarea
	Spiderhunter Wasp	spread		whole farmarea

Population				Habitats
	Black Scorpion	spread		whole farmarea
	Citrus Swallowtail	often		whole farmarea
	Common Baboon Spider	spread		sandy areas
	Fog-Basking Beetle	widespread		whole farmarea

Population				Habitats
	Mole Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Namaqua Chameleon	rare		whole farmarea
	Namib Sand Gecko	spread		whole farmarea
	Namib Web-Footed Gecko	widespread		whole farmarea
	Namibian Rock Agama	rare		whole farmarea
	Puffadder	spread		whole farmarea
	Shovel-Snouted Lizard	rare		whole farmarea
	Smith's Desert Lizard	spread		whole farmarea
	Spotted Sand Lizard	rare		whole farmarea
	Thread Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Tiger Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Wedge-Snouted Lizard	rare		whole farmarea

Population				Habitats
	Black Spitting Cobra	rare		whole farmarea
	Blind Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Brown House Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Cape Cobra	rare		whole farmarea
	Common Egg-Eater	rare		whole farmarea
	Coral Snake	rare		whole farmarea
	Gecko	spread		whole farmarea
	Horned Adder	spread		whole farmarea
	Kalahari Ground Gecko	widespread		whole farmarea
	Karoo Sandveld Lizard	spread		whole farmarea
	Knox's Desert Lizard	rare		whole farmarea
	Many Horned Adder	rare		whole farmarea