20 things you never wanted to know about camels

1. Forty to fifty million years ago, camels were the size of rabbits and lived in forests in North America.
2. Humans domesticated camels about 5,000 years ago.
3. There are 17 million camels worldwide – 90% are dromedaries (the ones with one hump).
4. In scorching heat, a camel can go for 17 days without drinking.
5. A rat can last longer without water than a camel, and so can a giraffe.
6. You’ve heard camels called the ‘ships of the desert’, well, they can actually swim.
7. Camels have a reputation for spitting but they don't (it would be a waste of water). What they are actually doing is vomiting on you.
8. Camels never run, they just walk faster.
9. A camel has 34 teeth.
10. Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.
11. Want to remember the difference between dromedaries and bactrians? Take the first letter in their names, make it a capital and drop it onto its flat side. The ‘D’ in dromedary has only one hump. The ‘B’ in bactrian has two humps.
12. A camel's poop is so dry you can use it immediately to start a fire.
13. Camels can eat thorny twigs without hurting their mouths but they avoid stony deserts, which hurt their feet.
14. Baby camels (calves) are born without humps.
15. Camels live until they’re about 50.
16. Camels can be milked, but the flavour is an acquired taste. Camel milk doesn’t curdle.
17. To combat sand, camels have three eyelids, two layers of eyelashes and can close their nostrils.
18. A camel can drink about 200 litres of water in a day.
19. There are over 160 words for ‘camel’ in the Arabic language.
20. Abdul Kassem Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the tenth century, carried his library with him wherever he went. The 117,000 volumes were carried by 400 camels, which were trained to walk in alphabetical order.
Image: m_bartosch