Why does camel hump? Why does the elephant trunk? Why does a rat need a long tail? There are many questions that can confound even very educated people. In this article we will try to answer one of them. In particular, here you will find many interesting and unexpected facts about camels and their humps.
Camel: photos and general information
Many animals have learned to adapt to difficult environmental conditions. In particular, to an acute moisture deficit. The most striking example is camels, or “desert ships,” as they are still called.
These mammals are able to stay in a hot and arid climate for a long time, without losing their performance. How do they do it? And why are camels humpbacked? The answers to these questions, by the way, are interconnected. But more on that later. To get started, let's get a general introduction to this amazing animal.
A camel is a fairly large mammal from the order of artiodactyls. It lives in deserts, semi-deserts and dry steppes of Asia and Africa. In captivity (for example, in zoos) it is also found in the temperate zone. The average weight of an adult animal is 600-800 kg, the height at the withers is up to two meters. The color of the fur is brown or reddish-gray. 4 thousand years ago, camels were domesticated. Since then, they have been actively used by humans to transport goods and passengers.
The most interesting facts about camels
- A camel has 38 teeth.
- These animals are excellent meteorologists. They can figure out the area where it will rain soon.
- All camels swim perfectly, although in life they rarely manage to demonstrate this talent.
- For a day, a camel can cover huge distances (up to 80-100 km).
- The largest population of these animals is recorded in Somalia - 7.7 million individuals.
- One camel is able to carry weight, which is equal to half the mass of its body.
- In some countries, camel meat and milk are consumed.
- In the United Arab Emirates, camel races are organized annually.
- The average life expectancy of one camel is 45 years.
Why does camel hump?
Now we turn to the main issue of our article. So why do camel humps? What function do they perform?
As you probably already guessed, it is the humps that help a camel for a long time to do without water and food. They, like a gas tank in a car, feed the animal during long journeys through a lifeless desert. But do not think that these unusual outgrowths on the back contain water. In fact, the humps of a camel are filled with fat, during the oxidation of which water is formed. It nourishes the body of the animal.
The famous writer Rudyard Kipling in his own way answers the question "why do camels hump?" In one of his tales, he describes a camel as an incredibly lazy animal. And for this idleness, the almighty Genie “awarded” him a hump, saying the following words: “This is because you walked for three days. Now you can work for three days without any food. ” Of course, this is just a children's parable.
One-humped and two-humped camels
There are two varieties of these mammals:
- Bactrian camels (or Bactrians).
- One-humped camels (or dromedaries).
The first live in Central Asia. Bactrians are well adapted to the arid and sharply continental climate, which is characterized by hot summers and cold winters. In addition to the two humps, they also differ from the Dromedars with a thicker and longer coat on the body.
Single-humped camels are common in North Africa and Southwest Asia. Unlike Bactrian, there are no more wild populations of this species today. Only in the deserts of central Australia can one meet second-time feral representatives of the dromedars - the descendants of those individuals that were introduced to this distant continent at the end of the 19th century. From the Bactrian, the Dromedars are also distinguished by longer and slender paws.
Why do some camels have two humps, while others have only one? Scientists cannot answer this question yet. It is known that initially mother nature conceived precisely two humps. But then in some individuals of the genus they merged into one. Thus, single humping is a later evolutionary acquisition. However, why camels needed it is not known.
How long can a camel do without water?
How much do you think a camel can without water? The answer is impressive: up to 15 days. And without solid food - about a month. However, after this the camel will need several days of rest and good nutrition. In addition, after such a long hunger strike, the animal can drink up to one hundred liters of water at a time!
By the way, by the appearance of the hump, you can determine how long its owner has been starving. So, in a well-fed and watered camel, the outgrowth on the back is level, and in an exhausted camel, it hangs to one side. The fact is that in camel humps there are no bones and joints. Therefore, when the animal’s fat reserves are exhausted, its humps decrease in size and sag.
Thus, a camel can live without water for several weeks. Moreover, without significant harm to their health. In this he is helped not only by humps, but also by other adaptive life hacks. For instance:
- Camels control their breathing rate to minimize moisture loss from the body.
- Thick fur protects the body of the animal both from the scorching heat and from the night cold.
- Fluid is also stored in special aquifers of the stomach, which additionally helps the camel fight dehydration.
- Moisture exhaled from the nostrils of a camel is held in special sinuses and then gets into the mouth.
Power Features
What does a camel eat? This is another interesting question worth answering. Camels are ruminants. In their natural habitat, the diet of these animals includes over 50 different plant species. Most often, they eat camel thorn, wormwood, saxaul, blackberry, leafworm, hodgepodge, sand acacia. Caught in an oasis, the camel does not mind eating juicy shoots of reed or leaves of trees.
The camel stomach is well suited for digesting coarse and prickly foods. It consists of several departments: scar, abomasum and mesh with cellular folds. The walls of the first two sections are covered with a layer of coarse epithelium. Food through the esophagus first enters the scar, where it is ground. Then she burps back into the oral cavity, chews again and again returns to the scar. Only after that, well-ground food gets into the mesh of the stomach, where it begins to be digested.
In captivity, camels are usually fed with hay, branches and oats, sometimes vegetables and buckwheat. Salt bars are also placed for “home” camels, as these animals need a constant source of rock salt.
Finally…
Well, now you know why a camel needs humps. Nature, as you know, does nothing for nothing. And each animal created by it is maximally adapted to the environmental conditions in which it is forced to exist. By the way, camel humps not only feed the camel for many days, but also protect its internal organs from overheating.