Previously we looked at the classic penguin in more detail than you'd ever get in school. The way their bodies are survival machines in the extreme cold is astonishing. I wanted to go the other direction this time, and what better classic creature to survive the extreme desert heats than the Camel. So let's look at some of the lesser-known features of this super-horse.

Humps

You probably know a few things about camels if you've had any kind of education; they have humps filled with water that help them survive a long time. Then you learn that it's actually fat, not water. Well, it turns out it's kind of both.

Though it is fat stored in those humps, the fat itself releases a significant amount of water for the creature to survive on; for every gram of fat released, 1.13 grams of water can be released with it, and given that the humps can store up to 36kgs of fat, that's quite substantial for a creature who has built itself to last a long time with very little.

Basically, through metabolic processes, the hydrocarbons combine with oxygen, so when fat is broken down, it creates CO2 and H20 in excess.

But the humps do more. By putting all the fat in a couple of storage spots on the top, camels reduce the insulating effects of fat around the body, lowering the risk of negative effects from hot weather.

Nose

'Why limit your nose to the singular function of smelling? Breathing through protective hairs could be useful too!' you might hear evolution say. But the nose can do so much more. For the domedary camel, it also functions as a water supplier conservatory.

At night, deserts can get pretty cold. Colder than the camel, anyway. Inhaling that cooler air creates an exchange of heat. As the cool air goes through the nose, it cools down the nostrils before entering the lungs. While in the lungs, the air becomes body temperature and fully humidified - 100%. When the camel breathes out, that warm, moist air hits the cold nostrils and heat exchange occurs again, releasing much of that humidity as liquid water; condensation.

The nasal area is highly complex and ruffled inside with structures called turbinates which give a surface area 10 times more than that of a human nose. This allows the camel to very efficiently recapture much of the water leaving its body via the nose. A camel can actually desaturate the exhaled water with about a 75% conservation rate, compared to a human's lame 16% or so!

To help with this efficiency, the surface of the inner nose mucosa (A membranous lining) is hygroscopic when exhaling, meaning it can easily absorb the moisture back into the body. But, weirdly, when inhaling, the same mucus becomes hydrophobic thus maximizing the efficiency of the lung-humidity-capturing technique

This process is only really going on at night however, when the ambient temperatures are lower than the core body temperature. This is convenient because in the daytime, the camel needs to remove heat from its body to prevent more immediate things like brain-death via overheating.

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Oh, don't let that line break fool you, I'm not done with the nose yet. Like the penguins from before, the camels use a counter-current heat exchange system, something common in animals that live in extreme temperatures to help regulate their bodies (though also common in other animals to a much lesser extent). Warm air can carry a high volume of water, so breathing out warm air is still a dangerous, dehydrating process for camels even with their absorption nose super power.

The counter current heat exchange happens in the turbinates. Blood vessels pass near the cool mucus in the nose, cools the blood down and then goes into the brain and eyes 3°C cooler, effectively air conditioning the brain.

The camel is able to control this system through the day and night, allowing it to lower its core temperature to 34°C, or raise it to a sweaty 41°C while keeping the important organs at a decent, stable level.

Mouth

Terrifying, right? Well, as usual, this freaky mouth serves a pretty decent purpose. Those spikes are Pappilae. They aim down the mouth so to guide the rough leaves and sticks down the throat more effectively. They're quite tough:

The papillae are sort of firm—they can be partially keratinized—and can feel almost like plastic.

This toughness of course protects the mouth from being stabbed or scratched by spines and other dangerous junk the camel eats. Tough papillae can also be found on the tongue which is small but quite mobile.

Each half of the camel's top lip can actually move independently, the left and right being split down the middle. This gives them an advanced ability to pick low-lying plants while avoiding injury with clever maneuvers. To top it off, the oesophagus if wide with a consistently thick lining of mucus to prevent irritation upon swallowing.

Camels can still be stabbed though even after all these precautions, which is why camels munch on their food in that slow, lumbering way.

Legs & Feet

You might notice that camels don't have hooves, but toes, making that... phrase... accurate. The toes are widely set for ease of walking on loose sand without sinking under. underneath the two divided toes is some webbing which joins up the divisions, allowing an even larger surface area. The soles are thick, with a thick layer of fat on the ball which together protects its feet from the scorching hot sand.

The legs are pretty long, keeping it far away from the burning sand. If you've ever been on a beach in the tropics, you'd get it. The sand around camels can reach over 70°C! They're also very strong, allowing those long commutes of 100 miles or so every day. They can also carry an extra 500kg or so on top if need be.

Excretory System

Not satisfied with super noses, the camel takes a look at her waste materials.

Sweat

Sweat isn't exactly a waste material per se, since it has its uses, but it's a fluid leaving the body nonetheless, and the camel has a special way to do this. The sweat of a camel is concentrated on the back of its head, and is highly saline. When the salt crystalizes on its head, it requires more energy per mole of water, allowing its head to stay cooler for longer.

Overall, a camel can actually lose about 25% of its entire bodyweight in sweat. That fact sounds ridiculous and would cause heart failure and a swift death in any other animal (except maybe some desert rats of sorts)

Kidneys

The Kidneys of camels have a particularly thick and large medulla.

...the relative medullary thickness in various mammalian species varied directly with the ability to produce hypertonic urine (Morphometric observations on the kidney of the camel)

This, along with a couple of other kidney adaptations allows the camel to concentrate urine to a very high level, called hypertonic urine. This provides an extra bonus; the super power to drink salty water more saline than seawater as well as salty plants, something that would basically kill humans. This also makes water absorption more like a sponge around the body. After having dehydrated over many days, a camel can completely replenish its water content within just a few minutes.

That is to say, a camel can drink about 21 gallons of water in a 10 minute period.

I'd like to see you try that.

With water absorbing into the bloodstream at an incredible rate, a severely dehydrated kidney will functioning as normal within 30 minutes. This, along with other bizarre facets of its body such as intestines and colon that can efficiently reabsorb water into the body, allows a camel to lose 40% of its overall weight, largely in water, without going through any discomfort.

Milk

The ability to produce milk in times of scarcity is kinda astonishing, and a primary cause of domestication.

When lactating camels were subjected to chronic dehydration ( 10 days of water restriction followed by1 h . water followed by another 10 days dehydration ) from spring to the end of summer ,milk secretion was not affected( Wilson,1984)

To achieve this, camels have very diluted milk when times are scarce. In a situation where a camel can drink just once a week, the milk is 90%+ water and barely 1% fat, while maintaining high lactose and vitamin C at three times the level of cow's milk. . The continuation of milk production functions due to the ADH (antidiuretic hormones) aldosterone and prolactin, meaning they prevent the need to pee away water, and aids the process of re-absorption of water in the digestive tract.

General Behaviour

Camels also act in a way like heat is their enemy. Every morning they sit down and tuck their feet under their bodies facing towards the sun. They often sit together, huddled like penguins, too. These tricks minimizes the surface area of the camel that absorbs heat, preventing it from overheating before the day has even begun.

They eat rather selectively, though its a wide selection when times are tough. They select specific parts of plants, often thorny, to maximize nutrition, which, as mentioned above, doesn't really bother them.

Conclusion

This is by no means close to everything the camel has perfectly molded to survive the desert life, from long eyelashes to the ability to store 1.5 gallons of water in each 3 compartments of its stomach, this creature lives up to its name as a survival machine, able to survive over 6 months without food or water!

Honestly researching this I learnt a hell of a lot about the creature and I have a new found appreciation for a creature that is usually portrayed as rude and dumb. It inspires me to dig deeper into more and more animals for this series, because the more we learn about them, the more we respect them and I think what humans need above all is to reconnect with nature.

With that in mind, thank you for reading this mass of learning and feel free to follow if you want to follow my journey into the deep nooks and crannies of the natural world!

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Image Sources:

Turbinates
Infra-red Nose
Other images free to use etc

Sources:

Camel Hump Water
Camel Nose Water(sign in required)
Camel Lactation (permission required)
Counter current exchange
Morphometry of Camel Kidneys
Digestive Adaptations
Antidiuretic Hormones
Camel Feet
Camel Mouth
Camel Stomach