Camel

True Wild Life | Camel | Camels are best known for their impressive water-storing humps that are prominent on the camels back. Camels are mainly found in the deserts of the Middle-East, and in some areas of eastern Asia. Camels are incredibly resilient to the desert climates and the arid conditions that would easily kill another animal. Camels also possess the incredible ability to lose nearly 40% of their body weight as water and be unharmed. Camels have been used for hundreds of years for transporting people and goods across the desert. Camels were also used in the transportation of silk along the first trade route from China to the Middle East in the middle ages.

The average camel tends to get to nearly 50 years old with a mature adult camel standing at around 2 meters tall. The water storing hump on the camels back can grow to a size of 75cm out of the camels body, when the camels hump is full of water. The camel is a surprisingly fast animal and has been known to run at speeds of 25mph for long periods of time. The camel is also able to run at speeds of up to 40mph for shorter periods of time.

Although the camel is native to the deserts of the Middle East, the camel can today be found in many other parts of the world with small populations of camels found in parts of Africa and South America, and there is also thought to be roughly 700,000 camels inhabiting the arid desert lands in Australia. These camels are thought to have moved such long distances as humans took the camels to these parts of the world to use for transportation, camel milk and camel meat.

Camels are incredibly adaptable mammals and are able to go for long periods of time without food or, more importantly, water but the camel is able to drink more than 100 litres of water at a time. The camel is also highly adaptable to temperature changes which is incredibly important in the desert lands. The desert is typically extremely hot during the day and temperatures can drop to nearly freezing when the sun goes down at night.

Bactrian Camel

 

True Wild Life | Bactrian Camel | The bactrian camel is better known as being the type of camel with two humps. There are only two surviving species of camel remaining, the single humped camels from the Middle East and the bactrian (double humped) camel from Northern Asia. There are thought to be more than a million bactrian camels domesticated worldwide in not just Asia, but also parts of Africa and the Middle East. Camels have been domesticated for around 2,000 years for both pulling/carrying heavy loads but also for transporting both humans and merchandise.

Like the single humped camel, the bactrian camel is able to survive on its own water reserves for long periods of time meaning they can cross enormous desert plains and mountain ranges without the need to stop so often. Today the bactrian camel is considered to be a critically endangered species with less than 1,000 bactrian camels thought to living in the wild in parts of China and Mongolia.

The bactrian camels humps work in the same way to the Arabian camels humps, with the bactrian camels humps used for storing fat which can be converted to water and energy when the bactrian camel is unable to find food and water. The bactrian camels humps give the bactrian camels their legendary ability to endure long periods of travel without water, even in harsh desert conditions. As the fat in the bactrian camels humps gets used up, the bactrian camels humps become floppy and flabby.

The bactrian camel is one of the most adaptive animals in the world with the bactrian camel being able to withstand temperatures from 40 degrees Centigrade in the summer to -30 degrees Centigrade in the winter. Bactrian camels have developed special adaptations to allow the bactrian camel to survive in such a brutal environment. The bactrian camel has a thick, shaggy coat that protects the bactrian camel from the cold in the winter and the bactrian camels coat falls away as seasons change and temperatures rise to allow the bactrian camel to keep cool in the summer.