s and animals
adapted to
desert
condit ions struggle to survive
. Only a few
speci
es of plants grow rapidly enough to survive
burial by the moving dunes, but several types
of small animals have evolved white colorations
to camouflage them in the gypsum sand. White
Sands National Monument preserves a major part
of this gypsum dune field, along with the plants
and animals that have adapted successfully to this
constantly changing environment.At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies
a mountain-ringed valley, the Tularosa Basin. Rising
from the hea
rt of this basin is o
- ne of the world's great na
- tural wonders-the glist
