OK, it is late in the day, but since it is hump day I have been thinking about camel humps.
I have written two previous posts about camels: Camel Knees and Camel Head
I decided to continue the series with Camel Humps. However, there is a slight change in this one as not all the pictures come from Samaria as in previous posts.
This first picture is of a camel at the Toronto Zoo. The camels in the pictures today are all Camelus dromedarius. They are also known as dromedary or Arabian camels.
I visited the Toronto Zoo last year, shortly after starting my blog. The many pictures that I took that day have helped to illustrate quite a few posts. Here are a few of them:
OK, back to the camels. This is an interesting picture. I took this picture in Kansas way back in 2000. There was a farmer who imported a bunch of camels and they were often visible from I-70 as I would fly past. One day I decided that I had to get close enough to take a picture.
Just imagine, camels in Kansas!
Finally we get back to the camel at Samaria. Here we have a picture of the saddle that is covering the hump. The saddle is very colorful. Hmm, thinking of Kansas. I have pictures of a friend of mine from Kansas riding this camel. They may make it into a future post.
Now what about that hump. One of the common misconceptions is that the camel uses the hump to store water. This is actually not true. The hump is actually fat reserves and when the camel does not have enough food it will burn the fat. Similar to us. When we go on a diet we burn our fat reserves and lose weight.
The camel is an amazing animal and can function even when it loses a large amount of body weight due to water loss. When camels drink deeply they are re-balancing their water levels. The camel will not over drink. They will drink just enough to bring their fluids back into balance.
As mentioned in the previous post, the camel has several features that minimize water loss. The hump does this also as it provides insulation to help keep them cool in the hot sun.
Have you ever ridden on the hump of a camel?
Steven
Braman's Wanderings 
Those camels are remarkable creatures but you through a unexpected curve with the reference to camels in Kansas. That’s definitely not where I thot this was going.
my kids and I visited the zoo and were watching the camels and commenting on the humps cuz they looked funny and one of the caretakers was next to me and told me that misconception on the humps and that as the fat is depleted, the humps get floppy. I think I have some pictures of them, I’ll post them
I haven’t, Steven, and I would love to. I have a dream of riding across a desert on one; but I wonder of I would get saddle sore?
Lovely pictures 🙂
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