chubby chipmunk cheeks cozy kangaroo
pouches
hairy bee legs stylish cargo jorts
storage is important for so many animals
whether it's a safe place for their
young
a snack for later or just a nice ball of
dung
so what if i told you there was an
animal that could survive for weeks
without food or water
in the scorching desert all thanks to
one ingenious storage solution
that's right today we're going to be
talking about camels
and their amazing humps
[Music]
camels are some of the most durable
animals out there which makes sense
because scientists think that their
ancestors migrated from north america
through the harsh arctic tundra
eventually making their way to the
desert regions where they live now
there are three types of camels the
dromedary which has one hump
and the bactrian and wild camel which
have two
thanks to their stamina strength
intelligence and speed
dromedaries and bactrians known by some
as the ships of the desert
have sustained generations of tribes and
traders
with their meat milk and mileage but
possibly the toughest species out there
doesn't interact with humans much at all
the rare wild camels found in regions of
china and mongolia
have not only been known to drink salt
water but due to their unfortunate
proximity to china's lap nerd testing
site
they've somehow withstood more than 40
nuclear weapons tests
so what makes camels so robust well
first of all
they're huge almost two meters tall at
shoulder height
and one of the things you might think
you know about camels is that their hump
store water
looking at you hydration backpack brand
guy
but actually it's fat and it's some
pretty
fascinating stuff which we'll talk about
in a minute
but what about that water well the hump
helps
but a camel's real hydration secret has
to do with its unique blood
unlike our round disc shaped red blood
cells
most of a camel's red blood cells are
flexible ovals similar to reptiles
for us dehydration increases our risk
for blood clots
but a camel's blood still flows easily
when thickened by dehydration
when that thirsty camel finally gets a
drink though these cells can expand to
almost two and a half times their
original size
that means after losing about half its
body weight and moisture
a camel can chug 100 liters in under 10
minutes
rehydrating faster than any other mammal
but back to fuel let's talk about the
junk in that trunk
almost all of the fat in a camel's body
is concentrated in its hump
which can make up roughly 10 percent of
its body weight storing about 35
kilograms at a time that's about the
same weight as a baby camel
camel fat is a miraculous and highly
nutritious substance packed with
vitamins and minerals
like an ever-present superfood smoothie
some of its most powerful ingredients
include palmitic stearic and oleic acids
these fatty acids help a camel store
energy in a crazy efficient way
and may protect the myelin coating on
their neurons so these fatty acids could
be responsible for some of their
cognitive superpowers
like their awesome spatial and social
memory in
fact they've been said to possess the iq
of an eight-year-old child
for them this essential nutrient
backpack helps them not just survive
but thrive during long distance travel
and harsh conditions
withstanding a huge range of temperature
is no sweat for a camel
up to 40 degrees of searing heat and
down to 40 degrees negative celsius
in cold desert winters and by no sweat i
mean strategic sweat
camels don't sweat nearly as much as
other animals but when they do it's in
specific patterns and cycles
to help them conserve moisture but their
trusty hump helps them with
thermoregulation too
you and i have fat all over our bodies
meaning we're great at trapping our body
heat with insulation
but because a camel's fat is all in one
place it leaves the muscles on the rest
of the body basically exposed
helping the animal cool down much more
quickly
and when it gets too cold camels can
exchange their summer coat for a thick
winter one for an extra layer of warmth
i could literally go on forever about
how awesome camels are
i mean transparent third eyelids
prehensile lips
callous pads on their chest and feet to
protect from the hot
searing sand projectile puke spit
voice talent worthy of star wars
but for now i'll leave you with a
message from the wild camel protection
foundation
despite their nuclear resistance for
wild camels the threat of extinction
is very real the wild camel is
critically endangered
and it's the eighth most endangered
large mammal on the planet so that makes
it more endangered than
panda or some types of tiger so it
really is
on the edge of existence and it's a very
important animal it's the last of its
kind the wild camel is
truly its own species a species in its
own right and it's doing really badly
so we're trying now the camo protection
foundation to
learn more about the species and to be
able to save it from extinction
to learn more about their research head
over to wildcammels.com
thanks for watching tusk details if
there's an animal you want us to feature
let us know in the comments below
check out the rest of the series for
more awesome animal adaptations and i'll
see you next time on seeker