Not without some humor at this point we must remember that one of the great questions that humans have asked ourselves over the years is: which animal has two humps, the camel or the dromedary? The answer is not as complex as other questions about the origin of life or if we are alone in the universe, but today, there are still many people who do not know which of the two species has a single hump or a pair of them .
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Before going fully into the article, we must say that the dromedary is also a camel , as it also belongs to the genus Camelus . Now, in terms of terminology, the term “camel” is used to refer to the Asian camel or Bactrian camel , which has two humps, while the word “dromedary” refers to the Arabian camel , which only has one hump.
How many humps have a camel and a dromedary
As is logical, we begin by answering the eternal question. Which of the two animals has two humps? The camel is the one with two humps . The dromedary, for its part, only has one.
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Be that as it may, each hump serves as a fatty tissue reservoir that they use as a place to store energy and reserve water for long trips, which are usually made through hot deserts . They also use them as protection against cold nights, which is common in desert regions . What’s more, they can store up to 35 kilos of fat, which allows a dromedary to drink more than 100 liters in less than 15 minutes . This is about a third of your total body weight, which is surprising.
While a camel can eat up to 50kg of feed in a single day, they also have great stamina, being able to survive on just 2kg of grass for a whole month.
Origin of the dromedary and the camel
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Although they are very similar, the Asian camel is native to central Asia, while the dromedary is from the Arabian Peninsula .
- Dromedaries are more prepared to withstand higher temperatures, reaching up to 50 degrees. It is capable of drinking up to 150 liters of water in a minimum time. It was introduced by the hand of man for the first time in Asutralia, in the 19th century
- Meanwhile, the Asian camel comes from families originating from the Old World. It is an animal that withstands the cold in a better way , being able to survive 40 degrees below zero, and these differences in resistance to different types of climate are reflected in its physical structure and fur.
The coats of the camel and the dromedary
Another fundamental difference between the dromedary and the Asian camel is their coats . At first glance they may appear similar; however, the former has shorter and more uniform hair, while the latter has longer hair, which allows it greater protection against the cold .
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- The thick fur of the Asian camel allows the animal to withstand temperatures of several tens of degrees below zero, so it is not uncommon to see that they can survive mountainous climates of more than 3,500 meters above sea level
- On the other hand, the shorter coat of dromedaries (Arabian camels) allows heat to escape more easily, being they more resistant to hot climates . In addition, their higher extremities allow them to be further from the sand, and therefore, from the scorching heat of it.
The camels generally lose their coats in the spring , so get rid of about 3 kilos of hair to begin to recover in the autumn. Undoubtedly, this hair (especially in the case of the Asian camel) is used to make warm clothes, such as jackets, tents or carpets.
The size of the dromedary and the camel
Another differential point is the size of the camel and the dromedary : the camel is somewhat smaller than the dromedary , and this because its legs are shorter and its total height reaches about 150 centimeters, while in the case of the dromedary, its height can reach up to two meters.
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Although dromedaries ( Arabian camels ) have the longest limbs, their weight is less than that of the Asian camel (also called the Bactrian camel ). In numbers, a dromedary male can weigh close to 400 kg, while male Arabian camels can weigh over 600 kg.
Regarding the physical resistance of camels in general , it is known that they can carry a load of between 200 and 250 kgs for about 40 kilometers, while if they travel unloaded, they can reach a range of 300 km.
