CAMELS are the perfect survival machines of the desert, where intense heat and lack of water affect both plant and animal life. What then is the secret of their survival? The factors are mainly structural and physiological.

Camels have a thick coat of hair on their backs. Its outer surface sometimes reaches temperature in excess of 70 degrees C – temperature that can cause skinburn– but on the skin surface the temperature remains about 40 degrees C. Thick coats are generally associated with keeping heat in, but they are equally good in keeping heat out.

The size of the animal is also very helpful in fighting heat. It is common knowledge that larger the mass, the longer it will take to heat up, like a vessel full of water takes longer to heat up than a half-full one. Despite the provisions of large size and thick coat,to the camels still need to lose heat for which they transfer heat underside of the body where there are much less hair and the surface skin has a large network of blood vessels. When the blood passes through this part of the body, excess heat is offloaded in the cooler air.

Warm-blooded animals have a finely tuned metabolism, which operates at a specific temperature and this has to be maintained to keep the beast alive. In case of fluctuations in body temperature, many complications arise and life is threatened. For instance, in humans high temperature is dangerous. But if we take the case of the camel, the animal allows its body temperature to rise as much as 6 to 7 degrees C during the day without any ill-effect and comes back to normal automatically in the night when the atmosphere cools down.

It’s common knowledge that sweating is a very effective method of cooling, but in the process a lot of valuable water is wasted, often causing dehydration. The physiology of normal animals is such that as the water content of the body drops beyond a point, water present from other parts is used. In particular, water is lost from the blood, which becomes thicker as its volume decreases and puts a severe strain on the heart, but the camel has overcome this problem too. In certain conditions these animals are able to lose between a fourth and a third of their body weight as water bypassing blood, which is the single richest source of water inside the body. In fact, the fluid loss is from less vital areas. Besides they are also able to drink large quantities of water extremely rapidly when it is available, and so quickly replace their losses.

Animals living in desert conditions also have some special adaptations to enable them to walk or run more efficiently over the shifting surface, like sand. Camels have two toes per foot and each of them is quite broad to prevent the animal from sinking into the sand.

Camel’s ability to survive in a hostile environment made it the most favoured animal for the humans living in deserts all over the world. The association between man and the beast started about 5000 years ago when the people of southern Arabia first tamed dromedary camels that used to roam wild in huge numbers throughout the entire expanse of the Arabian Desert. Unfortunately, now there are no dromedaries in the wild, what remains is either the domesticated or the feral ones.

Soon after domestication, this hardy animal found admirers in Palestine and Syria too. Initially, people used them for transportation purposes but with the rise of Muslim power they also became the vehicle of war and in the 7^th century AD, they carried Muslim conquerors into Egypt.

With the passage of time man realised that there can be no place for humans among shifting sand dunes without these masters of desert. They are not just physiologically superior to survive in arid environment but also have uncanny ability of sniffing water, the most precious element, and a powerful homing instinct, a most essential quality. In the middle of desert where there are no landmarks except the sand and dunes it is almost impossible to keep the track of the direction, consequently many people get lost and perish. In such a situation it is the camel that can be safely depended upon.

It is believed that by observing these animals in the wild, nomads and merchants of the bygone era might have learnt the art of turning a herd of camels into an orderly caravan. It is the breeding male that controls the females of his harem by herding them from behind. In the caravan too the same strategy is applied by keeping the dominant male at the rear that disciplines the members of the group by calling intermittently.

Over the years, camels and their masters have become so interdependent that now it is impossible to separate them. There are even customs that have been woven around these animals. For instance, among the Teda tribesmen in the Sahara desert it is imperative for a young suitor to prove his eligibility by stealing camels from another clan. Yet camel stealing is regarded as a crime on a par with murder. It is such a grave offence that a theft can trigger a feud that may last half a century and hundreds of Teda have been killed for the theft of a single camel. Some other examples of mutual need are that camels have the ability to find water but they depend on their owner to draw it out of the well. When there is no food available, it is the duty of the drivers not only to feed them but also supply salt, which is essential for their good health. All human life, in fact, revolves around camels in the desert.