Researchers have uncovered plenty of evidence to support that the Sahara Desert was once a much wetter area, in which thousands of animals and plants thrived. Elephants, bobcats, and giraffes are depicted in ancient art from the area. While the Saharan cheetah is occasionally seen in the desert, the rest of these species have become extinct and no longer inhabit the area, instead living in the regions that have a greater variety and amount of plant life and water resources. Although so many species of animals have become extinct or have migrated from the Sahara desert, many still remain and depend on the native vegetation of the Sahara for food. There are three specific animal species that feed on these plants of the Sahara desert.
Some forty varieties of rodents thrive in the hot, dry climates of the Sahara desert. They dig underground channels and survive below the surface of the desert, protected from the brutal heat and predatory carnivores that also roam the Sahara. Rodents come out at night to search for various plants, seeds, and roots.
When imagining the Sahara desert, one almost instantly visualizes a strolling camel. The camel, in fact, is designed to thrive in desert conditions. Camels can go more than a fortnight without food, and what little food they do eat is quite simple: tufts of dry grass found along the surface of the Sahara.
The addax is native to the Sahara desert, and is the largest species still living there. They are similar to deer and migrate in groups. The addax is another herbivore that eats tufts of grass that grow along the sand dunes of the Sahara.
As you can see, the plants of the Sahara desert are very important to the ecology of the region, providing food for many species that thrive in the otherwise harsh desert climate. If these plants became extinct, a damaging chain reaction would be set off. The plant-loving animals mentioned above would become extinct, and in turn, the larger carnivorous animals that feed on them, such as snakes and foxes, would quickly die as well.