Dromedary

The Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius) has, as you might know, only one hump, in contrast to the Bactrian camel which has two humps. There no longer are any wild dromedaries in their original range, but there does exist a feral population in Australia of about 300,000 animals. The dromedary is taller and faster than the Bactrian camel and is used for its milk, meat, wool, leather and is used as a beast of burden. Dromedaries weigh about 360 to 600 kilograms and can become 1.8 to 2 meters at shoulder height. Dromedaries have adapted to the life in the desert by evolving two eyelashes to protect them from the blowing sand and they can also close their nostrils in case of a sandstorm. Their lump is not used for storing water, contrary to popular believe, but is composed of fat and acts as a food storage. Dromedaries can drink an amount of 100 liters of water in 10 minutes. They can become 50 years of age.

Picture of the dromedary taken by Hajor, December 2002. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0