40 Amazing little known Facts About Camel | Amazing Facts 4U
- The word ‘camel’ comes from the Arabic word, meaning ‘beauty’.
- There are 17 million camels worldwide. 90 % are Arabian camels (with one hump) and 75 % of them are found in North/East Africa. 50 % of them are found in Sudan and Somalia. About 20,000 of them roam western and central Australia.
- Arabian camels have domesticated in southwestern Arabia between 6,000 to 3,500 years ago, initially for their milk, while the larger and slower Bactrian camel (with two humps) in Northeastern Iran and southwestern Central Asia about 3,500 years ago.
- From Arabia, Arabian camels entered Somalia, 3,500 years ago, and by 500 BC they reached the Atlantic coast.
- Amazingly despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.
- A camel’s hump does not store water. It stores fat, lessening heat-trapping insulation around the rest of the body.
- The amazing fact is Camel’s hair brushes are not made of camel’s hair. They were invented by Mr Camel.
- Camels lips are split to help them graze. They can eat anything, including thorny twigs, without injuring their mouths.
- They can eat anything, including thorny twigs, without injuring their mouth.
- Camels are ruminants like cows and goats. They do not chew the food and swallow it instead. They regurgitate and chew the cud later.
- Camels chew in a figure of eight pattern.
- Camel milk is the basic food of the Somali people.Camel milk is lower in fat and sugar than cow’s milk.
- There are 46 different Somali words for camel.
- It’s amazing that camel’s milk does not curdle.
- Camels have thick bushy eyebrows to protect their eyes from the rays of the sun. Camels also have two layers of thick eyelashes to protect them from the dust.
- Camels can kick in all four directions with each of their legs.
- Amazingly camels can close their nostrils against wind and sand when necessary.
- Their coats reflect sunlight and insulate them from the desert heat.
- Camel’s milk has 10 times more iron than the Cow’s milk.
- Their temperature ranges from 34 degrees Celsius at night to 41 degrees during the day. They don’t begin to sweat until they are over 41 degrees.
- The average water content of the camel’s body is low. While the cow’s tissues contain 80 % water, the donkey’s 65 %, for camel it is just 50 %.
- Amazingly wild Bactrian Camels from the Gobi desert (China-Mongolia) can drink saltwater.
- Amazing fact is that a camel can lose up to 30 percent of its body weight in perspiration while crossing the desert. A human would die after sweating away only 12 percent of body weight.
- Camels can carry heavy cargoes in desert , stand sand storms and large temperature differences. They are aptly called the “desert ships”, and they can swim when they encounter water.
- The north Egyptian Lake Borollos has a depth varying between 20 cm and 2 m (0.6 to 6 ft). It cannot be crossed by boat or vehicles, and only camels can be used in this case.
- It is amazing that a camel can go without water even for a month under a scorching heat.
- Their red blood cells are oval and so will flow when they are dehydrated rather than clump as ours do. Amazingly the camel is the only mammal to have oval red blood cells.
- But when it has the opportunity, in can drink 100 litres of water at once (the Bactrian Camel, which is larger, can drink up to 120 litres), in 7-8 minutes! Amazingly three days later, there is no sign of water in its stomach or hump.
- Camels can drink so much water without water intoxication due to oval red blood cells which swell achieving a double volume and after that gradually releasing the stored liquid.
- Camels never run, they just speed up, in their typical gait. Running would raise transpiration. They can make daily 160 km (100 miles) with a speed of 16 km (10 miles)/hour. In caravans, they make 30-40 km (18-25 miles) per day, with an average age of 3.5 km per hour. The maximum speed achieved by a camel is 25 km (16 miles) per hour, but they get tired quickly.
- Camels adjust to the lack of water in surroundings. Their body temperature in the cooler morning is of 34o C, whereas during the hot afternoon it goes up to 41o C. The kidneys produce 7 litres of urine when water is abundant, and 500 g when it does not drink for days.
- Ability to fluctuate body temperature and the efficiency of their sweating allows them to preserve about five litres of water a day.
- Camel’s faeces are dry enough to be used for fuelling fire when drought.
- Camel loses just 2.5 kg litres of water daily though feces while a cattle loses 20-40 litres!
- Amazingly their urine is as thick as syrup because they retain water.
- Camels avoid stony deserts, as the gravel harms their feet.
- Camel’s ears are very small and hairy but their hearing power is very strong .
- Never get a camel angry, for he or she will spit at you.
- They amazingly throw up a foul smelling greenish fluid from its first stomach chamber all over you if provoked.
- Cats, Camels and Giraffes are the only animals that amazingly walk right, right, left, left rather than right foot, left foot.
A lovely insight. Find more at www.wisdomlifequotes.com
