Topic summary
Desert animals
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Xerocole.
Morphology
Desert animals have less fat than their non-desert counterparts, as fat would act as insulation, so retaining heat. What fat they do have is localized, such as in the camel's hump or the bison's neck. In terms of fur, however, desert animals have thick insulating coats that impede the conduction of heat towards the body. The coats are not uniformly distributed, but rather leave sparsely covered patches called "thermal windows" at the axilla, groin, scrotum, and mammary glands. Heat can be dissipated from thermal windows via convection and conduction.