This book is part of a series of photographic information books which takes a close-up look at the world we live in. Each title is devoted to a particular habitat, studying its plant and animal inhabitants in detail and explaining how and why they have adapted to the environment. This book explores the plants and animals that have adapted to the harsh, desert environment, including the sand shrink, a flowering cactus, the ground beetle, desert toads and king snakes. The text works on three levels, with an introduction to the subject, fact-packed captions on specific features and annotation pointing out unusual details. Each illustration is accompanied by captions about size, weight, speed and life span. The author has also written "Animal Atlas".