Plants, animals and other organisms that live in deserts have evolved to survive harsh conditions, scarce water and barren landscapes. Animals have adapted to get water from the food they eat and to conserve what little they obtain. They often come out only at night to avoid the worst of the heat. Deserts are drying up from global warming. A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. Depending on the temperatures, there can be hot deserts or cold deserts. The Sahara desert is the most desirable and the world’s largest desert. Ladakh is a cold desert.