The Camel

The camel can go without water for a long time. Some people think it stores water in its hump. This is not true. It stores food in its hump. The camel's body changes the food into fat. Then it stores fat in its hump. It cannot store fat all over its body. Fat all over an animal's body keeps the animal warm. Camels live in the desert. They don't want to be warm during the day. The desert is very hot. The camel gets hotter and hotter during the day. It stores this heat in its body because the nights are cool. The Arabian camel has one hump. The Bactrian camel of Central Asia has two humps. It also has long, thick hair because the winters are cold in Central Asia. There is a lot of sand in the desert. The camel has long eyelashes. Then the sand can't go into the camel's eyes. Arabic has about 150 words to describe a camel. Arabs need all these words because the camel is very important to them.