Desert organisms evolved remarkable survival strategies. The kangaroo rat never drinks water — it makes its own moisture from the dry seeds it eats. The giant saguaro cactus stores hundreds of liters of water in its pleated, accordion-like stem, swelling after rare rains to survive months of drought.

Nocturnal behavior is the most common adaptation. Over sixty percent of desert mammals are active only at night, avoiding daytime surface temperatures above fifty degrees Celsius.

The Namib beetle harvests fog by standing on dune crests at dawn, letting condensation roll down its body into its mouth. Engineers copied this trick to build water-collecting surfaces for dry regions.