What do you think of this fact?
You’ve probably heard it before: camels carry their water supply around in their humps. Sounds logical, but it’s wrong. The hump is fat, held together by fibrous tissue. It’s an energy pantry, not a refillable tank.
A backpack full of energy
A single hump can store up to 80 pounds of fat. When a camel can’t find food for a long time, it lives off that reserve, and the hump visibly shrinks. Once it eats well again, the hump plumps back up.
Chemically, burning that fat even produces some water. But the extra breathing it takes also lets moisture escape from the lungs, so in dry air there’s no net gain. The camel’s real trick is something else: it’s extremely good at saving water.
Water-saving pros
A dromedary lets its body temperature swing over the course of the day, from about 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) in the morning to around 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) or more in the evening. That means it starts sweating late and loses far less water.
On top of that, camels handle dehydration like few other animals. Most mammals are in serious danger after losing about 12 to 15 percent of their body weight in water. Camels can lose a quarter to a third. Their red blood cells are also oval instead of round, which is unusual for a mammal and helps their blood keep flowing when water runs low.
The result: even in serious heat, a dromedary can get by drinking as rarely as once every 10 days.
Then it’s time to refuel
When a camel finally reaches water, it doesn’t mess around. It can drink about 100 liters, roughly 26 gallons, in just 10 minutes. For most other mammals, that much water that fast would be dangerous.
During a sandstorm, dromedaries can close their nostrils to keep the sand out.
So the hump isn’t a water tank, it’s a pantry for hard times. Camels handle thirst with physiology, not luggage.