Why are camels called the ships of the desert?

Camels are hungry and thirsty, docile, not afraid of wind and sand, and good at walking the desert, and are recognized by the world as the ship of the desert and an indispensable means of transportation in desert areas. There are two types of camels: unimodal and bimodal. The camel produced in China is a Bactrian camel, with a height of 2 meters, weighing about 450 kilograms, and a lifespan of 35-40 years.

Camel was originally wild, domesticated more than 4,000 years ago, now wild camel is almost extinct in the world, only in the western part of China's Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang Gobi and northern Gansu can still be found in sparsely populated places, is listed as a national first-class protected animal.

The desert environment is harsh and dry, with a large temperature difference between day and night, and water plants are scarce. Camels have lived in the desert for a long time and have a range of adaptability in their bodily functions. Its eyes have two rows of long, thick eyelashes, dense ear hairs in the ear shell, and wind protection valves in the nostrils to block the invasion of wind and sand.

The soles of its feet have about centimeters thick pads, which can withstand the high temperature of 70-80 in the desert or the severe cold of winter, and the camel is covered with brown fluff about 10 cm long, which can be used to resist cold in winter, and form a cooling gap between the fluff and ** in summer, which can prevent high temperature radiant heat. Camels have amazing endurance and can go 20 days without drinking water when the temperature is 50 and the water loss reaches 30 of their body weight; It can also carry up to 200 kilograms and travel at a speed of 75 kilometers a day for four days. The camel bee is used to store fat, and at most it can hold 50 kg of fat, which is about 1 5 of body weight.

The stomach and muscles of a camel can store a certain amount of water, and its first stomach can store nearly 100 kilograms of water at a time. Therefore, when food and water are not available for a while, it can use stored fat and water to sustain life. In addition, camels have a particularly sensitive sense of smell and can identify and sense distant water sources within 3 miles, which is crucial in the vast desert.

Wild camels live in the extremely arid Gobi Desert and desert, where there are few people and extremely few flora and fauna. Natural predators (wolves, lynxes, leopards, etc.) cannot survive due to the lack of water. In order to avoid the invasion of natural enemies, wild camels, which are not strong in self-defense, choose barren land to live and reproduce with their unique physiological functions.

Newborn camels are soon able to stand up and walk with their parents in the desert.

The reason why camels are called "ships of the desert":

The camel is a master of heat and drought resistance, and its body has a thick layer of fur, just like felt, which can resist the sun's exposure, and no matter how hot the sun is, it will not sunburn. The camel's stomach is divided into three chambers, one of which is capable of storing water.

The camel's ears have hair that can block the wind and sand, the camel has double eyelids and thick long eyelashes, which can also prevent the wind and sand from entering the eyes, and the camel's nose can also close freely, these "equipment" make the camel not afraid of wind and sand at all. The sand is soft and easy for people to fall into when they step on it, while the camel's feet are flat, and there are thick and soft meat pads under their feet, so that the camels can walk freely on the sand and will not fall into the sand, so the camel has won the reputation of "the ship of the desert".

Brief introduction

Camels, known as the "ships of the desert", have a small head and a thick, long, curved neck like a goose's neck. The body is tall and has brown body hair. Extremely able to endure hunger and thirst.

Camels can survive without water for 2 weeks and up to a month without food. The hump stores fat, which can be broken down into nutrients for the camel to survive when food is not available.

In addition, the camel's stomach contains many small bubbles in the shape of bottles, which are used to store water. Camels can be used for riding, packing, pulling carts, ploughing, etc., and are an indispensable companion for the people and geological exploration and archaeological workers in the desert Gobi region. dromedary camels are mainly distributed in Sudan, Somalia, India and other countries; Nearly half of the Bactrian camels are found in Australia, and in China, they are mainly found in Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia.

Camels, deserts are like the ocean, and camels are the boats that everyone in the sea needs.

Among the animals, the camel is the most durable. A camel, carrying 200 kilograms of cargo, travels 40 kilometers a day and is able to walk in the desert for 3 days in a row. When empty, it can run up to 15 kilometers per hour for 8 hours straight.

Therefore, it is well deserved to praise it with the "Ship of the Desert".

When traveling in the desert, you will often encounter terrible situations such as strong winds, rolling yellow sand, and dark sky. At this time, the thick long eyelashes are like a thick curtain, blocking the wind and sand and protecting the eyes. When the wind and sand had passed, she stood up again, shook off the sand from her body, and continued to move forward ...... silently

In summer, the sun is blazing, the temperature in the desert is above 50, and walking in the desert is like walking on a hot pot, and it is difficult to walk an inch. However, the camel did not care at all, its wide hooves walked on the desert, as if it were walking on flat ground, it was steady, it could not sink in, and the soles of its feet were covered with a thick layer of pads, like a special "boot" that was not afraid of heat at all.

The greatest skill of the camel is that it can trek non-stop in the desert and can not get along with the water for ten days and a half months. It turns out that camels have a special physiological function to prevent water loss in drought conditions.

The camel's massive snout is a key part of the water conserved. The inner layer of the camel's nose is snail-shaped, increasing the area through which exhaled air can pass. During the night, the inner layer of the nose ** moisture from the exhaled air, while cooling the gas below body temperature.

It has been calculated that the camel's special abilities allow it to save up to 70% of its water than humans exhaling warm gas.

Camels usually do not sweat until their body temperature rises. At night, camels tend to precipitate their body temperature below 34, which is lower than normal during the day. It takes a long time for the body temperature to rise to the point of sweating the next day.

In this way, the camel sweats very little, and in addition to the fact that it rarely pees, it saves water consumption in the body.

Most of the people who die of thirst in the desert die due to the loss of water in the blood, the blood will become thicker, and the body heat will not be easy to dissipate, resulting in a sudden increase in body temperature and death. Camels, on the other hand, are able to maintain blood volume even when they are dehydrated. Camels lose water in their blood only after almost every organ has lost water.

Interestingly, camels can both "throttle" and "open source". Its stomach is divided into three chambers, and the first two chambers are equipped with numerous "water bladders", which have the effect of storing water and preventing drought. Therefore, once it encounters water, it will drink water desperately, in addition to storing water in the "water bladder", it can also quickly send water to the blood for storage, and slowly consume.

Camels travel long distances in the desert and need to have enough energy in reserve. The hump stores fat, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the body weight. When it can't find anything to eat, it lives on the fat inside these two lumps.

At the same time, fat can also produce water during oxidation, which helps to maintain the water needed for life activities. Therefore, the hump is both a "food storehouse" and a "reservoir".

There are two types of camels, dromedary with one hump and Bactrian with two humps. Dromedary camels are tall and can walk, run, transport goods and carry people in the desert. Bactrian camels have stubby limbs and are better suited for walking on gravel and snow.

Camels, unlike other animals, are particularly hungry and thirsty. People can ride camels across the desert, so camels are known as the "ships of the desert".

The desert is another kind of "ocean", hence the name "Hanhai". In ancient times, China's Silk Road to Central Asia was a camel coming out of the "Hanhai". Even today, with the development of transportation, camels are still an indispensable "ship of the desert".

The most striking feature of the camel is the towering hump on its back, the one with one hump is called "dromedary" and the one with two humps is called "Bactrian camel". The camels in our country are basically Bactrian camels. The camel has long limbs and walks in a peculiar posture, with the front and hind legs of the same side striding at the same time, which is ridiculous.

Its hooves are flat, shaped like plates, and the soles of its feet have thick pads, which are elastic, and it is very stable when walking on the desert without sinking into the sand, and it is also very fast, and it is also good at night.

The northwest grassland is very windy and sandy, blowing strong winds, the yellow sand is rolling, flying sand and rocks, covering the sky and avoiding the sun, but the camels are not afraid of all this. It turns out that it has special eyes and nose that can withstand wind and sand.

The vast desert lacks water and grass, and camels are the most resistant to hunger and thirst. Hunger-resistant because it has a special "food storehouse", which is the hump on its back. Some of the nutrients ingested by camels are converted into fat, which accumulates in the hump.

When the hump is at its fullest, it can store 20-30 kg of fat. When the camel does not get food, or travels long distances, and the physical exertion is relatively large, the fat stored in the hump will be broken down and converted into the nutrients it needs for the body, and the hump will also become significantly smaller. Thirst-tolerant because it is very drinkable, it can drink 100 liters of water in one breath, and even the bitter salty water can be drunk with relish, and the water that is drunk is not only stored in the body, but also stored in red blood cells, which can be used by the body.

In addition, the protein in its plasma can maintain the water in the plasma and ensure the needs of life. Camels rarely open their mouths and breathe less, which avoids the evaporation of water. The camel's body temperature can be regulated, it can rise and fall, up to 40 degrees, so the desert temperature is high, it does not sweat, saving water in the body.

In addition, when the fat in the hump undergoes chemical changes, it produces a lot of water and supplies it to the body. Therefore, as long as the camel is fed and drunk enough and given some salt, it can bear it even if it is not given food for ten days and a half months. In addition, in the desert, the camel has a knack for finding water, and its nose can smell the smell of water in the distance or buried under the dunes.

The camel is not always standing, it needs to rest. When lying down, the front legs are slowly kneeling on the ground first, and then the hind legs, but always with the head raised and the bent neck extended.

Camels are known as the ships of the desert because camels have humps, which store many nutrients and can go days without eating or drinking. The nose and eyes are protected from wind and sand, and less breathing can reduce water loss. There are large pads of flesh on the feet to facilitate walking in the desert, so the camel has the reputation of the ship of the desert.