hey there!  welcome to the new episode of Curiosity! A series in which we will answer some of the questions that makes us all curious.

There are some situations, where you don't want to be stuck without water. One of these situations is being stuck in a desert. In my Previous article I described about , can you survive in desert by drinking your own urine?. So, now Imagine  once again you are stuck in desert and this time you know, drinking your own urine would not keep you hydrated because you read my previous article :) cheers!. The last bottle of water you had is already finished. You are stuck out there in the most forbidden and driest part of the country.Now, you are looking for a source of water and you have lost all your hope. Suddenly, a great idea strikes your Brain. Why not extract water from cactus?. Well, we all have seen it in movies and Tv shows. So, why not try it by yourself. Well, doing something is better than doing nothing to survive in the situations like these. But is it possible to Extract and drink water from a cactus? How much of truth is in there? Is it even Safe? Let's Find out.

Simple Structure 

To be Precise, there are more than 2000 species of cactus plant in the world. Some of them are tall , some are short. Even some are round. The most commonly shown cactus plant in the Tv shows and cartoons are related to the species called Saguaro. These cacti are mostly tall , green and covered with spines. One thing common in all of these cacti are they manage to survive the most harsh conditions.What really helps them to survive?. Well, The marvellous inner structure of the Cactus plant helps it survive the conditions like these.

Fig: Different Cacti (Credits)

Cactus plant mostly have thick and succulent stem. The stem of these cacti are green because they are photosynthetic. Depending on the different species of the cactus the stem from inside is either spongy in nature or hollow. These thick and fleshy stem prevents evaporation.

Fig: Spines (Credits)

Instead of Leaves they have spines or scales. These are basically modified leaves. As we know, the leaves of regular plants loses a lots of water, but spines and scales loses very less water, in-turn helping to store water for a long time. Also these spines has a major function. It helps in protection from predators. They are the insects or animals that eat cactus for water.

How do they exactly store water?

Most people think that , Cactus plants have very very long roots, which goes deep down in the search of water and helps in keeping the cactus alive. But this is not exactly true. In-fact, they have shallow root system. These roots is just under the ground or some of them might be popping out from the ground. These roots might not even be vertical. Most of them have horizontal roots system. These roots can be up to many feet longer. And they are always ready to absorb water. They use a surprising tactics to absorb water.

They actually, absorb rain water. They absorb the rain water as much as they can. These roots systems are highly specialised to collect the rain water. When the rain occurs, the plant roots are activated but when the dry period hits, the roots are inactivated or even the roots might break off from the plant.

Fig: Roots system (Credits)

This is done to preserve the water stored in the cactus. During rain, it absorbs to much of water that, the plant itself becomes more hydrated than the soil. So, there is high chance of losing water back to the soil. To prevent this, the roots actually, breaks and detaches from the plant.

Now, Is it possible to drink water from the cactus?

You might say, why not? of course we can, after all there is large quantity of water already stored. All we have to do is, cut it and drink water. Sounds like a cool survival tip. But wait, this might not exactly be true. And doing these might end you up in a hospital.

Water is not less than a lost treasure in a desert. And these Plants do not how to protect their treasure from the predators. No! I am not talking about the spines. I am talking about the fleshy stem of the cactus. Those Stems of the cacti plants are often protected by acids and alkaloids. These chemicals are very effective and humans cant tolerate these chemicals.

In movies you might have seen , a cowboy cuts a barrel cactus and dips his hand to find drinkable water and he finds it too. But, that is not exactly water. It's actually a noxious jelly like fluid and toxic too. When you are already exhausted and dehydrated in the desert, your kidneys are weak. If you take in the fluid, you kidneys have to work harder to process this, which might put you in a bigger trouble.

Another Problem is The toxicity of these fluids causes vomiting, diarrhoea and even temporary paralysis sometimes. None of these would help you in a desert. But still there are some exceptions,  there is a species of barrel cactus , which is not toxic. It's called the fishhook barrel.

Conclusion

Well, if you are ever lost in the desert, extracting water from cactus and drinking it, might make feel hydrated initially even though it's very unpleasant to drink. But too much of this can have some very bad effects. Too much of it can immediately make you very sick causing major complications like vomiting, diarrhoea, which might speed up the dehydration process. So, the even though it is shown in the movies, you might have to find a better option to survive in real life.

Well, thats it for this Episode. Hope you Enjoyed it , if you did Upvote and comment your thoughts below. Thank you!!

Stay Curious.

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References used:

[1]- Anatomy of cactus

[2]- How cactus stores water

[3]- Is it safe to drink water from Cactus?

Last Five Episodes:

Curiosity | What's Laughing Gas? Does it really make you laugh?

Curiosity | Can you survive a Desert by drinking your own urine?

Curiosity | Do Fish ever Get Thirsty?

Curiosity | Can an ant reach your brain through your ears?

Curiosity | What Causes Earthquakes? The Science of Earthquake.