Great Victoria Desert, Australia Photograph by ROC Tours Australia Pty Ltd.   Southern Australia Deserts and Xeric Shrublands   163,900 square miles (424,400 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Utah Relatively Stable/Intact

· Salt Lakes and Spinifex
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Salt Lakes and Spinifex

Like all deserts in Australia, the Great Victoria Desert receives only limited and inconsistent rainfall. Only the hardiest vegetation lives here, such as resilient spinifex grasses. While the ecoregion’s extensive sand hills and vast grasslands may not foster abundant and diverse wildlife, the deserts do harbor a range of unique creatures, all well-adapted to the searing heat and dry conditions. Small marsupials, lizards, frogs, and even parrots can all be found here.

Special Features

In 1875, the explorer Ernest Giles was the first European to cross the desert and he named it for Queen Victoria of Great Britain. The Great Victoria Desert is a barren area of sandhills, salt lakes, and sparse grasslands that extend for approximately 450 miles (725 km) from South Australia into Western Australia. Serpentine salt lakes serve as refuges for waterbirds and wetlands species in the middle of an otherwise arid area. The Yellabinna region to the south is known for its landscape of desert mallees, which are small eucalyptus trees.

	Water-holding frogs live in the Great Victoria Desert. They spend their days in burrows deep underground and can remain there for several years, using the water they have stored in their bladders. When it rains, they return to the surface to breed in temporary ponds.

Wild Side

This ecoregion is home to many desert-adapted animals. The marsupial mole is a small, furry, completely blind mole that spends most of its life underground and comes to the surface only after it rains. The little-known sandhill dunnart is a rarely seen small marsupial that feeds mostly on insects and resembles a mouse with oversized ears. Its relative, the hairy-footed dunnart, easily navigates the surface of soft sand, aided by fine bristles that cover the soles of its feet. The scarlet-chested parrot forages for seeds in pairs or small groups. The endangered blue bonnet parrot is a brown, blue-faced bird that is highly prized as a pet. Graceful brown and yellow slender-billed thornbills flit about the saltpans, while large Australian bustards soar smoothly overhead. These brown and white birds are known for the males’ breeding displays. On the ground, terrestrial lizards known as dragons scurry around.

Cause for Concern

In isolated parts of the Yellabinna section of the desert, tourist traffic may be causing habitat degradation. Feral and introduced animals, including camels and rabbits, are also a concern. Rabbits eat young seedlings, destroying tree and shrub species.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.