Dromedary Camels: How the One-Humped Camel Handles the Desert

Photo: Skander zarrad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The dromedary is the one-humped camel, the familiar animal of Arabia, North Africa and the deserts of western India. Its Bactrian cousin has two humps and lives in the cold steppes of Central Asia. When people say camel in a film or a cartoon, they are usually picturing a dromedary, standing in front of a sand dune with a bored expression.

Photo: Asfour hamza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The hump is not a water tank, which is the most common myth about it. It stores fat, which the animal can burn when food is scarce, and keeping the fat in one place rather than spread over the body helps it shed heat. A thirsty dromedary can also drink an astonishing amount in one go, well over a hundred litres in a few minutes, and its body is built to tolerate a bigger loss of water than most mammals could survive.

Photo: Skander zarrad, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The details are lovely. Long eyelashes and a double row of lashes protect the eyes from blowing sand, and the nostrils can close. The broad, padded feet spread the weight on soft ground, and the thick pads on the knees and chest take the strain when the animal kneels. Even the fur is useful, because a camel's coat insulates against heat as well as cold.

Photo: Manojkiri photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

People domesticated the dromedary a few thousand years ago, and it made long desert trade routes possible. Caravans carried salt, spices and cloth for months across ground that would have defeated a horse. No truly wild dromedaries are left, although feral herds live in Australia, where camels were brought in the nineteenth century to help explore the interior.

Photo: Musaddam Idriss, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I find them a better subject than their reputation suggests. They are calm, tough and strangely elegant when they move. If you have ever seen a camel caravan crossing a desert road in Rajasthan, you know what I mean. Have you ever ridden one?