The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on Earth and provides habitat for flamingos on its high-altitude salt flats.
It stretches for roughly 1,600 kilometres along northern Chile between the Pacific coast and the Andes. Cold offshore waters, persistent high pressure, and rain shadows created by the Andes and Chilean Coastal Range block moisture from both oceanic and continental sources.
The Atacama is not completely lifeless. Andean, Chilean, and James’s flamingos feed in mineral-rich lagoons and salt flats, while fog-dependent habitats called lomas support plants and small animals. Some areas are so dry that they resemble the surface conditions of Mars, making the desert useful for astrobiology research.
The Sahara is larger and the Mojave is famous for desert wildlife, but neither is the driest non-polar desert. The Atacama is also distinct from Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, which are drier but polar.