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Arabian Peninsula: Deserts
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The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية, or جزيرة العرب) is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia consisting mainly of desert. The area is an important part of the Middle East and plays a critically important geopolitical role because of its vast reserves of oil and natural gas.
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For thousands of years, Arabians lived among the desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula, bred by the Bedouins as war mounts for long treks and quick forays into enemy camps. In these harsh desert conditions evolved the Arabian with its large lung capacity and incredible endurance.
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The nutritive quality of most indigenous desert plants in the Arabian Peninsula has not been determined. In collaboration with the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the UAE University in Al-Ain, the nutritive value of five desert grasses was measured in situ, using gas production techniques, in fistulated camels and goats. Initial results show that their nutritional value is as high as the introduced forage crop, Chloris gayana.
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Before the time of Alexander the Great, the location of Kuwait made this area an important trade link between what is now Iraq and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. The tribes were able to sustain themselves through fishing, pearling and trading. The inhospitable nature of the desert prevented any significant development of the land itself.
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Ar Rub' al Khali... known as the Empty Quarter, is the most arid part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the largest uninterrupted sand desert in the world. Ridges of sand up to 40 km long, run northeast-southwest, giving characteristic linear dunes.
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