Everyone who has been to the zoo comes with special care to the aviary with camels - nobody wants to be spat upon by a hunchbacked artiodactyl. Therefore, in order to dispel fears and not turn a pleasant meeting with a cute animal into an incident, you need to understand why a camel spits and whether a person can become its potential “target”.
Saliva as a weapon and a way of self-defense
A camel is far from a stupid animal, and the animal will not spend precious saliva in harsh climatic conditions of residence, spitting from "nothing to do" to the right and left. Indeed, in the desert, where water is worth its weight in gold, the loss of saliva will mean the loss of its own accumulated fluid. The answer to the question of why the camel spits is actually quite simple. In the struggle for the female during mating games, all possible ways are used to neutralize and defeat the opponent: hoof blows, pushing with the chest, bites with a massive jaw, and including spitting with viscous and fetid saliva.
The consistency of this liquid resembles chewing gum. And often a camel uses it as a defense against predators. To avoid the sad consequences, when a predator enters the field of vision of a cloven-hoofed animal, a good portion of camel saliva is sent directly to the eyes of the first one to blind.
In this case, a humpbacked animal gets an advantage in time and can immobilize a predator. To this end, it grabs its powerful jaw of a “spat upon” adversary, trying to clear his face of saliva and restore his vision, and throws it 2-3 meters above the ground. And the already landed animal pushes to the ground with its massive body, to get out from under which the predator has practically no chance.
The use of saliva in such cases is a completely logical action on the part of the ruminant herbivore - the animal is driven by the principle of survival, and he simply does not want to be killed. But why a camel spits on people is not always clear.
Is digestion to blame?
In fact, a person who behaves absolutely calmly next to this animal can get a spit from him only by accident. There is an opinion that he shows his “disregarding attitude” because of the peculiarities of his digestion. During chewing, a large amount of saliva accumulates in the mouth of the artiodactyl, from which the camel can get rid of excesses only by spitting it out. And if at that moment a person was nearby, then he can become an involuntary target.
Spit from Resentment
Another version of the answer to the question of why the camel spits in people who seem harmless to him at first glance is from resentment. Aggressive behavior towards the animal, for example, throwing sticks or stones in its direction, can be regarded by a camel as an act of attack. And the only affordable way to protect these animals is to use unpleasant and fetid saliva. The same situation can be observed when trying to scare, tease or grimace an animal - it will necessarily “take revenge”. Therefore, being next to him, it is worth remembering why the camel spits on people and opponents, and it is extremely not recommended to offend the animal.