The sole habitat of its kind on the Indian subcontinent is the Thar Desert in northwest India. The rich plains of the Indus define the Thar desert's western edge, while the Aravalli highlands represent its easternmost boundary line. The riparian sub-Himalayan plains define its northern bounds, and the Great Rann of Kutch provides a severe barrier in the south. The Desert National Park (DNP) has a total size of 3162 km2, of which 1900 km2 are in the district of Jaisalmer and the rest 1262 km2 are in the district of Barmer in the state of Rajasthan. The region has very little rainfall (less than 100 mm) and is extremely hot and dry. DNP was published in the 1980 gazette.

Low heights, between 210 and 300 meters (320 meters) above mean sea level, may be found across the Jaisalmer terrain (Govt. of India, 1994). Sand dunes (44.8 percent of the area) and flat buried pediments/pavements/structural plains were the dominating landforms according to Kar's (1989) classification of the landforms in Jaisalmer into eleven terrain groups (28.4 percent ). The division of natural desert ecosystems into rocky, gravelly, and sandy habitats is more biologically significant (Prakash 1962).

The western portions of the Jaisalmer district are dominated by sandy terrain, whereas the centre, southern, and eastern regions are dotted with gravelly and rocky terrain. The DNP mostly desolate, with a few sand dunes and hills towards the northwest. The Park's topography is largely sandy and undulating. The topography is gravelly, rocky, with a few isolated ridges, from Khuri to Sam (Kalra et al. 2006). Other topographic features include sandy plains and interdune (produced by wind) (Kalra et al. 2006).