Ecophysiology of Water and Energy in Desert Marsupials and Rodents

Small mammals and water are both difficult to find in the desert by day. Mammals are cryptozoic and largely nocturnal. By hiding under vegetation, among rocks or in burrows they avoid heat, the dryness of the air and lethal radiation from the sun. If water is to be found it is in rock pools, occasional spring, drops of dew, succulent plants or the bodies of insects and other animals. Several patterns of function for surviving the heat and drought of the desert have evolved (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1964).