<P> Several species of fox live in the Sahara including: the fennec fox, pale fox and Rüppell's fox . The addax, a large white antelope, can go nearly a year in the desert without drinking . The dorcas gazelle is a north African gazelle that can also go for a long time without water . Other notable gazelles include the rhim gazelle and dama gazelle . </P> <P> The Saharan cheetah (northwest African cheetah) lives in Algeria, Togo, Niger, Mali, Benin, and Burkina Faso . There remain fewer than 250 mature cheetahs, which are very cautious, fleeing any human presence . The cheetah avoids the sun from April to October, seeking the shelter of shrubs such as balanites and acacias . They are unusually pale . The other cheetah subspecies (northeast African cheetah) lives in Chad, Sudan and the eastern region of Niger . However, it is currently extinct in the wild in Egypt and Libya . There are approximately 2000 mature individuals left in the wild . </P> <P> Other animals include the monitor lizards, hyrax, sand vipers, and small populations of African wild dog, in perhaps only 14 countries and red - necked ostrich . Other animals exist in the Sahara (birds in particular) such as African silverbill and black - faced firefinch, among others . There are also small desert crocodiles in Mauritania and the Ennedi Plateau of Chad . </P> <P> The deathstalker scorpion can be 10 cm (3.9 in) long . Its venom contains large amounts of agitoxin and scyllatoxin and is very dangerous; however, a sting from this scorpion rarely kills a healthy adult . The Saharan silver ant is unique in that due to the extreme high temperatures of their habitat, and the threat of predators, the ants are active outside their nest for only about ten minutes per day . </P>

What type of climate does the sahara desert have