The Camel—Humped Marvel of the Desert
FOR millions of people living in the arid regions of Asia and Africa, the camel is the most important animal. It provides food, clothing and shelter, and serves as the chief mode of transportation as well as a draft animal for agricultural work.
Camels may be seen pulling plows, turning waterwheels for irrigation purposes or plodding through the desert carrying heavy loads. They are a source of milk and cheese, and fat from their humps is used for butter. Young camels may be slaughtered to provide meat that tastes something like veal. Camel’s hair is woven into cloth and employed for clothing, blankets and tents. The hide is used to make a variety of leather goods, including footwear and saddles. Even bones are not overlooked. When dry, they may be fashioned into a work of art. The animal’s dung may serve as fuel.
Of the two basic varieties of camels, the two-humped Bactrian camel is the stronger. Having longer and shaggier hair than the one-humped Arabian camel, the Bactrian can endure the cold better. Carrying a load of some four hundred pounds (181 kilograms), this animal may cover a distance of thirty miles (48 kilometers) a day at a speed of two or three miles (3 or 5 kilometers) per hour.
The dromedary, a one-humped Arabian camel bred for riding and racing, can run through the desert at a speed of up to ten miles (16 kilometers) per hour and may cover as much as a hundred miles (160 kilometers) in a day. Since the camel moves its two right legs forward at the same time and then the two left legs, the ride is quite uncomfortable at a fast pace. The swaying motion may cause a rider to become “seasick.” Not without good reason, then, camels have been referred to as “ships of the desert.”
These creatures do not have exactly pleasant dispositions. Woe to the man who mistreats this animal! Though many days may pass, he should not be surprised to have the mistreated camel spit into his face. When loaded, it may whine and then grunt and groan loudly upon getting up.
Well-suited for Desert Areas
These animals are ideally suited for life in desert areas. Thick hair provides fine insulation from the hot sun during the day and from the cold at night. Bare patches on the camel’s chest and knees are present from birth and develop into tough, thick leathery pads in a few months. As the animal rests on these pads, they protect the knees and chest from injury. The camel’s feet consist of broad pads, from each of which two toes extend. When the animal walks, these pads spread and this prevents the feet from sinking deeply into soft, yielding desert sands.
Camels are not troubled by blowing dust and sand. Why is this? Well, the animal can close its long slitlike nostrils at will. Long eyelashes and heavy eyelids shield the eyes. What about the ears? Can they easily become filled with sand? No. The ears are small, far back on the head and covered both outside and inside with hair.
Food poses no problem either for the camel. The lining of its mouth is so tough that the animal can eat the thorniest of plants without being injured. Then, too, its strong teeth enable it to eat almost anything.
The camel’s hump, weighing some eighty pounds (36 kilograms) or more, is mainly fat. It serves as a kind of portable pantry. When the animal has to draw heavily on this stored-up food supply, the hump becomes smaller. It may finally fall over and hang like an empty bag on the animal’s side. Once the camel again gets nourishment and rest, the hump fills out.
When water is available, a camel may drink from five to seven gallons (19 to 26 liters) a day. But the remarkable feature is its ability to get along for extended periods without doing so. Loaded, these animals have been known to travel eight days without drinking water. Thirty-four days is a record.
How does a camel survive without drinking water? It does not store water in its hump, nor in its stomach. Of course, some water is taken into its system from the vegetation on which it feeds. The explanation for its endurance, however, seems to lie in its ability to retain water in its system and to undergo considerable loss of moisture without experiencing ill effects. A camel’s temperature may rise 11 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius) and yet there are no noticeable problems. A man is in serious trouble when he loses water amounting to one tenth of his body weight, but a camel can tolerate a loss of water equaling one fourth of its body weight. This is because the animal loses water mainly from the tissues. Any loss of water from the blood is negligible. In man, however, moisture is lost from both the tissues and the blood. The notable difference between the blood of man and that of the camel is the shape of the red blood cells. Man’s red blood cells are disk-shaped, whereas those of the camel are oval.
After having gone without water for a prolonged period, a camel may drink twenty-seven gallons (102 liters) of water within some ten minutes. When that happens the animal is transformed from an emaciated creature to a normal state in short order. This is because the water passes into the tissues.
Truly the camel is a remarkable animal, ideally suited for life in desert areas. It has served man well for many centuries and will doubtless continue to do so in the drier regions of the earth.