The Tanami Desert is a

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

in northern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, situated in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

. It has a rocky terrain with small hills, and

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

. The Tanami was the

's final frontier and was not fully explored by Australians of European descent until well into the twentieth century. It is traversed by the

Tanami Track __NOTOC__ The Tanami Road, also known as the Tanami Track, Tanami Highway, and the McGuire Track, is a road in Australia that runs between the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory and the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia. It ...

. The name ''Tanami'' is thought to be an

anglicisation Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influe ...

of the Warlpiri name for the area, "Chanamee", meaning "never die". This referred to certain rock holes in the desert which were said never to run dry. Under the name Tanami, the desert is classified as an interim Australian bioregion, comprising .IBRA Version 6.1
data

Biological resources

According to government commissions, the Tanami desert is uniquely "one of the most important biological areas to be found in Australia particularly as it provides refuge for several of Australia's rare and endangered species". The species that are found include: * Western chestnut mouse (''Pseudomys nanus'') * Little native mouse (''Pseudomys delicatulus'') * Long-tailed planigale (''Planigale ingrami'') Significant bird species include: * Grey falcon (''Falco hypoleucos'') *

Australian painted snipe The Australian painted-snipe (''Rostratula australis'') is a medium-sized, long-billed, distinctively patterned wader. Taxonomy The distinctiveness of the Australian painted-snipe was recognised by John Gould in 1838 when he described and named ...

(''Rostratulas'') *

Freckled duck The freckled duck (''Stictonetta naevosa)'' is a waterfowl species endemic to Australia. The freckled duck has also been referred to as the monkey duck or oatmeal duck. These birds are usually present in mainland Australia, but disperse to coas ...

(''Stictonetta naevosa'')

Mineral resources

There are several mines in the Tanami Desert including: *

The Granites gold mine The Granites, also known as the Tanami Mine, is a gold mine in the Tanami Desert of the Northern Territory of Australia. It has been operated by Newmont Mining since 2002. The mine is about north-west of Alice Springs. History The first Europ ...

* Coyote Gold Mine

Local indigenous groups

The Tanami Desert is part of Kukatja and Warlpiri country. The Tjurabalan live at the edge of the desert. There are a large number of cultural sites in the Tanami.

Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area

In July 2012, of the desert area (38% of the total bioregion) was declared an indigenous protected area or conservation zone.

Notes

References

* Kelly, Kieran, (2003) '' Tanami : on foot across Australia's desert heart'' Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia, 2003. * Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) ''An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program'' Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995.

External links

Australian government paper on environmental conditions
{{Coord, 20, S, 130, E, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Biogeography of Western Australia Deserts of Western Australia IBRA subregions Deserts of the Northern Territory