The 3.5 million square miles of the Sahara Desert, covering 10 North African countries, looks like a bare and inhospitable place, devoid of life. Don’t be fooled, says Sheena Harvey.
Wildlife of many kinds is plentiful, although some of it you really wouldn’t want to meet!
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Deadliest animals in the Sahara Desert
Let’s look first at the desert's deadliest snakes…
Desert Horned Viper
Despite its devilish looks, this highly venomous, side-winding snake is not aggressive, but if it’s caught off guard it will shake and scratch its scaly coils as a warning, much like a rattlesnake, and then strike very rapidly. It sinks its teeth into the intruder and hangs on until the powerful venom takes effect.
As far as humans are concerned, it won’t necessarily kill you unless you are young, old or infirm, but it will make you very unwell with vomiting, haemorrhaging, swelling of the affected limb and blood in your urine. At worst it can cause necrosis, the death of tissues and organs while the rest of your body still lives. Desert horned vipers snuggle down in the sand until they are almost completely buried so if you want to avoid them to need to keep your eyes peeled for any sign of shifting sand grains.
Sand Viper
Another animal that secretes itself in the fine dust of the desert terrain, this type of burrowing snake is endemic to the Sahara and other North African arid areas. A maximum of a foot and a half in length (50cm), with a broad head, it is an active hunter that also sounds a warning of an impending pounce by rubbing its hard scales together.
It is the asp that famously brought about the death of Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra, so that tells you how venomous it is. Its bite causes massive swelling, uncontrolled bleeding and tissue death. The good news is that the bite is treatable, responding well to anti-venom. You can minimise the chances of an encounter with the snake in the Saharan winter, because it is a hibernating species.
Nubian Spitting Cobra
This snake species tends to be confined to small areas of the north eastern Sahara, particularly around the Nile River. The snake’s party trick is to target and accurately expel its venom through the air at high speed to strike its victim’s eyes, nose and mouth. It is aiming for anywhere on the face where you find mucous membranes or any form of open wound into which the venom can be absorbed.
On healthy skin the snake’s toxin is pretty harmless but on more sensitive areas it can blind, kill off vulnerable cells and cause extreme pain. However, when it comes to bringing down prey, the spat-out toxin doesn’t deliver a killing dose. Its purpose is to disable and prevent the victim from escaping while the snake follows up with a lethal bite to finish off its potential meal.
Saw-scaled Viper
Last, but scarily by no means least, this reptile species is known as the most dangerous snake in the world. That’s not because it has venom that is any more powerful or lethal than some of the other vipers and cobras that inhabit the Saharan region, but it is the most commonly encountered.
That means it bites more people than the rarer species you might come across only by chance. They also strike first and ask questions later, so you don’t have to have done anything, such as encroach on their hiding place or threaten them, to provoke a sudden, lightning-quick attack. Their venom, being a potent mix of toxins that variously affect the nerves, blood circulation, heart muscle and skin, can be devastating if you don’t get medical aid super quickly.
Moving on to deadly arachnids…
Deathstalker Scorpion
This is the scorpion of the movies – the most dangerous of their type. It only takes a very small dose of deathstalker venom to cause its victim major problems. A healthy adult might survive a sting, but children and elderly people, or anyone with a weak immune system, will succumb quickly to the nerve-paralysing effects of this scorpion’s attack.
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In next to no time, breathing is impaired, fluid fills the lungs and chest, and death follows quickly. Despite this lethal outcome for anyone chancing upon a deathstalker, the animals are sought after and cultivated for their venom because it has been found to be effective in the controlled treatment of human brain tumours and diabetes.
Black Widow Spider
It is the female of this species that you have to look out for, and she advertises her dangerous nature with a bright red hourglass-shaped warning mark on the top of her black abdomen. Her venom, delivered via a bite made with her large fangs, is of the neurotoxin variety, attacking nerve cells and causing very painful muscle spasms, paralysis, intense sweating and nausea.
These symptoms might not be lethal, but the effects of a bite can be long-lasting and cause other problems, such as cellulitis, if bacteria enters into the wound. Luckily, black widows have poor eyesight and only bite in defence, so as long as you steer clear of their rocky crevices and don’t stick your hand into any holes where they might have spun a web, you can avoid being struck down.
There's a deadly reptile…
Crocodile
Being a notoriously dry place, you might not associate the Sahara with crocodiles, but they are there. Recent zoological expeditions have established that there are colonies of Nile crocodiles living in Mauritania, 90 per cent of which lies within the boundaries of the desert, in waterholes known as gueltas.
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These crocs can survive because the gueltas are water-filled all year round – a necessity for these reptiles. In addition, the oases attract other desert creatures to drink where they become prey to the crocodiles. Also present, but in much smaller numbers, are West African crocodiles that have been discovered living not only in gueltas but also in cave systems in the Sahara where they access water deep underground.
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Now the deadly mammals…
Striped Hyena
These fearsome predators are powerful enough to bring down an oryx, gazelle or Barbary sheep, although they are mainly scavengers. Their strong jaws are capable of crushing bones, even those as large as the thigh bone of a camel.
Striped hyenas will consume almost all of a carcass, gorging until they are completely full. Because they eat a considerable amount of calcium in the bones, their droppings dry to a greyish white colour, a good visual indicator of the animals’ presence in an area.
Unlike their spotted hyena cousins further south in Africa, striped hyenas do not congregate in large packs. They mainly live in pairs and stick with one mate for life. They are a valuable asset in the Saharan ecosystem as they efficiently dispose of decaying remains and prevent disease spread.
African Wild Dog
Although not found in the heart of the Sahara Desert, African or painted wild dogs, do inhabit the semi-desert fringes, preying on grazing animals such as gazelle. These canids are bold and fearless in their pack, but within the group they are passive and will defer to each other when it comes to eating a meal.
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Pups are well nurtured by the adults and young animals are allowed to eat first at a kill. Wild dogs eat very quickly. An average-sized pack has been known to strip a gazelle of all edible flesh within 15 minutes. So if you were to be unlucky enough to be targeted by a group of wild dogs, the evidence of your fate would be gone pretty speedily!
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Saharan Cheetah
Lastly we come to the Sahara Desert’s beautiful big cat. An encounter with one of these is highly unlikely as they are sadly Critically Endangered. Historically, Saharan cheetahs used to roam all over the desert but there are now thought to be fewer than 250 left in the wild, living in pockets in protected areas in Algeria.
They have been driven to near-extinction by the loss of their ungulate prey to illegal hunting. Saharan cheetahs differ from cheetahs further south in the continent in being much paler in colour with shorter fur and a face that often lacks spots and the classic tear track from the eyes to the muzzle. They are adapted to the extremely hot climate by virtue of not needing to drink water. They can gain as much moisture as their bodies require from the blood of their prey.
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