Although camels are famous for their prominent humps, they also have other distinguishing features that make them suitable for life in the desert. The capacity of camels to seal their noses to stop the sand invasion is significant. They also have a third eyelid and two rows of lengthy lashes. Both of these features aid in shielding their eyes from harmful elements like sandstorms. Additionally, they have padded feet to assist them to resist the high temperatures of the desert floor and thick hair to shield them from the harsh sunlight in their environment. They are ungulates with even toes. (Hoofed mammals).
Camels don't have particular food preferences. They can eat thorny plants, for example, that most animals cannot because of their thick lips. However, because they are herbivores, you won't see camels eating meat.
Their milk is incredibly nourishing! Due to its nutritional qualities, camel milk is becoming more and more well-liked in India. Dietitians claim that it has a low sugar content and a high concentration of healthy vitamins and minerals.
There are 18.58 million camels around the world, and 16.2 million of them are one-humped camels.
Range of Geography And Habitat
The Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East, West Asia, Central, and East Asia are where you may find the majority of camels. They are local to these regions' Dry Desert regions. There are approximately 1000 wild Bactrian camels in China and Mongolia's Gobi Desert. In the central regions of Australia, there is an estimated 1,000,000 feral people. These are descendants of people who were brought in as transport animals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Who Is The Oldest Camel?
The oldest known camel, also the smallest, was the "protylopus" that lived 40-50 million years ago. His fossil was found in North America. And he had no hump. His hind leg ended with four toes unlike nowadays camel has only two toes in each leg.
Length: 80 centimeters.
Weight: 26 kilograms.
The Dromedary Camel
Let's talk about a one-humped camel now. The one-humped camel has amazing anatomical physiological and behavioral adaptations that allow him to conserve water and energy.
A mature camel weighs about 400- 700 kg and his height reaches 2.2 meters. His coat helps him to survive in a desert, as it creates a buffer zone to separate his body from the surrounding climate conditions. The camel has a very sharp vision, unlike the giraffe he can drink from a lake and focus on the environment at the same time.
The camel is a pseudo ruminant. That means that he has only three Chambers stomachs, unlike ruminants who have four.
Camels are capable of eating cacti without pain or any damage that’s because they have thick lips and a keratinized lining membrane.
What’s Inside The Hump Of The Camel?
The baby camel is born without a hump. and young camels need to develop a hump during the first twelve months of weaning so that they have the stores needed to make it through their first dry season.
To dispel a common misconception, camel humps are not filled with water.
A healthy, well-fed camel's hump weighs at least 35 kg. It primarily consists of fat. It serves as the primary location for subcutaneous fat storage. This fat in the hump serves as a store of energy for emergencies or secondary requirements, including illness. This fat reserve can be broken down into metabolites to create water and energy.
The camel can drink 115 liters in 10 minutes. So where does this water go?
Where Is The Water?
Most of the water that the camel drinks go to his blood, especially his red blood cells. The camel’s red blood cells are capable of expanding up to 240% of their original volume without rupturing, most animals’ red blood cells can expand only 150%. This makes it possible for the camel to drink the necessarily large amount of water to recover from dehydration.
The Camel Family
The Camelidae Family's Seven Currently Existing Species:
1. Bactrian camel
Let's talk about a one-humped camel now. The one-humped camel has amazing anatomical physiological and behavioral adaptations that allow him to conserve water and energy.
A mature camel weighs about 400- 700 kg and his height reaches 2.2 meters. His coat helps him to survive in a desert, as it creates a buffer zone to separate his body from the surrounding climate conditions. The camel has a very sharp vision, unlike the giraffe he can drink from a lake and focus on the environment at the same time.
The camel is a pseudo ruminant. That means that he has only three Chambers stomachs, unlike ruminants who have four.
Camels are capable of eating cacti without pain or any damage that’s because they have thick lips and a keratinized lining membrane.
What’s Inside The Hump Of The Camel?
The baby camel is born without a hump. and young camels need to develop a hump during the first twelve months of weaning so that they have the stores needed to make it through their first dry season.
To dispel a common misconception, camel humps are not filled with water.
A healthy, well-fed camel's hump weighs at least 35 kg. It primarily consists of fat. It serves as the primary location for subcutaneous fat storage. This fat in the hump serves as a store of energy for emergencies or secondary requirements, including illness. This fat reserve can be broken down into metabolites to create water and energy.
The camel can drink 115 liters in 10 minutes. So where does this water go?
Where Is The Water?
Most of the water that the camel drinks go to his blood, especially his red blood cells. The camel’s red blood cells are capable of expanding up to 240% of their original volume without rupturing, most animals’ red blood cells can expand only 150%. This makes it possible for the camel to drink the necessarily large amount of water to recover from dehydration.
The Camel Family
The Camelidae Family's Seven Currently Existing Species:
1. Bactrian camel
Photo source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelidae
2. Wild Bactrian camel
The Domestic Bactrian does not include the Wild Bactrian as a subspecies.
According to DNA testing, the Wild Bactrian has three more chromosomal pairs than the Domestic Bactrian. The Wild Bactrian is thus a distinct species.
Photo source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bactrian_camel
3. Dromedary
4. Llama
6. Guanaco
7. Vicuna
Written by: Heba Salah
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