Why camels have humps.

Why do camels have humps?

The answer to this burning camel question is that the hump store fat. There is very little food in the desert and when a camels is in need of food and there is none to find it relies on the hump to provide energy. A healthy camel’s hump weighs on average 35KG!
Unlike most animals who store the fat around there body for insulation camels have adapted to having the vast majority of their fat stored in a hump above their backbone. This keeps them cool during the sweltering heat of the day and provides energy when food is in short supply. If a camel has gone to long without any food the hump which is generally supported with strong tissue begins to shrink and can even fall down and hang on to the camel’s side. However the hump returns to normal after a few weeks of food and rest.

Why do some camels have two humps and some only one?

The reason the number of humps varies from camel to camel is that there are two main type of camels. One is called the Arabian camel and has one hump and the other species is called the Bactrian camel which has two humps.




http://www.qatarliving.com/forum/qatar-living-lounge/posts/3-humped-camel-spotted-dukhan

For me this answer posed another question and that was do any camels have three humps? 

And the answer to this that three hump camels are about as rare as three leaved clovers, however cross breeding between the two above species, one with one hump and the other with two, generally produces a camel which is stronger and larger camel with one big longer hump. But some sightings have been reported of three humped camels (see picture) as a rare result of this inter species breeding.   

        



Camel Q&A's:


Many of us have knowledge on camels based on geography textbooks, seeing them in the zoo or the circus. At the offset of this blog my knowledge of camels was very limited I didn’t really know for certain what they ate, there average size or what the hump is actually for, however the more I researched in order to write this blog the more I fell in love with the truly amazing animals that are camels and I hope that by the end of my blog you will too. To improve your knowledge on the topic covering the basics of these brilliant animals I have written what I call Camels Q&A's.

What defines a camel?

Camels are strong, large desert animals that we typically know for having a hump on their backs. They are capable of traveling remarkably long distances every day in hot dry and have remarkably adapted into being perfectly suited to the harsh desert environment in which the live.

How have camels adapted in order to suit their desert home environment?

Camels have adapted over time to perfectly suit their harsh desert home. Camel adaptations include:

·         Long eyelashes to help keep sand out



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·         Nostrils that can close tightly again to  keep sand out during sand storms for example

·         Tough Leathery mouths that 

·         A hump that store fat

·         Long legs to keep its body cool

·         Large feat to preventing sinking into the sand

·         Fur that protects them from the day’s extreme heat and keeps them warm during the cold desert nights

How did camels come to populate so many deserts across the world?

Interestingly camels originated in North America about 40 million years ago. However for reasons unknown to researchers during the last ice age the camels emigrated entirely and walked across the ice to Asia, where they separated and formed the two distinct species we have today. They travelled to the Arabian Desert and even to Northern African Sahara Desert. Also at this time North American camels travelled to South America where they over time became what we know today as alpacas, llamas, guanacos or vicunas. From the 1800s huge numbers number of camels were imported to Australia for exploration purposes and today a quarter of a million roam the wild of Australian deserts.     

What do camels eat in the desert?

The desert is a place of little food as we all know so camels have adapted to not only be able to go for weeks without any food or water but also to have tough leathery lips that can withstand most of the desert’s prickly plants such as cacti that almost all other animals wouldn’t dare attempt to eat. As good meals are such a rarity in the desert camels have adapted to make the most out of their food. All camels have three separate stomach chambers, they often regurgitated their food and by doing this and with the use of these three chambers they can digest their food several times.  

How do camels find water in the desert?

Camels get a lot of their water through eating the desert vegetation which has often adapted to store water for long periods of time eg. Cacti. They also whenever they can drink water from desert oasis which are pools of water in the desert where plants grow and animals can drink. They occur when the sand level drops below that of the water table, exposing pools of water from rare downpours of rain that fell through the sand.    

Hi, my name is Ben and this is an introduction to upcoming blog of mine about the geography of camels.