Rick Schwartz, animal care supervisor and spokesman for the San Diego Zoo, said: “The reality is that camels deal with dry seasons when food and water are scarce. When food is available, camels eat enough calories to build their humps so they can survive for long periods of time when food is scarce.”
With a “full” hump A camel can live up to four or even five months without food, says Schwartz. When camels use up all of their fat, their hollow humps fall out like a deflated balloon, until they collapse. they eat enough to “puff” them back up.
Camels are not born with these fat deposits and do not develop them while they are nursing.
“All the energy they receive from their mother goes toward their body’s growth. Baby camels begin to wean when they are 4 to 6 months old, although their humps don’t begin to form until they are born. 10 months to a year old But because wild camels are dealing with the cycle of the seasons they need to have some sort of hump during that first year. They have to get through that first dry season,” Schwartz shared.
There are two species of camel: the two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus) that lives in the western regions of China and Central Asia and the Arabian camel. Camelus dromedarius more commonly has only one hump. But according to Schwartz, the extra hump does not allow the camel to go any longer without food.
Although many animals store fat around their abdomen and sides, camels have Show this vertically. One theory is that fat is stored in the humps instead of around the sides, exposing camels to less sunlight and heat.
Because camel humps store food So their species needs other ways to deal with water scarcity. For example, camels can drink up to 114 liters of water in one sitting. They excrete dry feces to retain water and their kidneys effectively remove toxins from the water in their bodies so they can retain as much as possible. Camels have several other ways to travel long distances such as by absorbing moisture from each breath they take.
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