Today’s random object was a camel. I pulled out the little Safari toy, blocked in the shapes, and tried to make it fit on the page. Sometimes you have to cut shadows short to get everything in.
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Camels started around 50 million years ago in North America. The camel family includes llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos. They spread into Asia and split into dromedaries and Bactrians, but died out in North America. Even after millions of years apart, dromedaries and Bactrians can still interbreed, and their hybrid offspring are bigger and stronger than either parent.
Camels have a lot of strange adaptations. They have three eyelids, and the third one is clear so they can keep walking in sandstorms. When they spit, it is not just spit, it is partially digested cud. Their fur insulates against heat, their long legs keep their bellies off the sand, and they even have a chest pad called a pedestal that props them up to let air circulate when they lie down. Their humps are full of fat, which slumps over when they are dehydrated. Camels let their body temperature swing from 93°F to 107°F to save water, and their oval blood cells keep them alive even when they lose 30% of their body water.
Camels drink about 114 gallons at a time. That would kill us from water intoxication, but they handle it without trouble. Wild Bactrian camels in Mongolia can even drink salt water, the only land mammals that can. Their mouths are armored to eat cactus and thorny shrubs. People have relied on camels for milk, for fuel from their dry dung, and as the main transport on the Silk Road. Cyrus the Great even used camels to spook horses in battle. And in Australia, feral camels multiplied until helicopters were sent to cull them. Ugly or not, camels remain one of the toughest animals on Earth.
Click here to watch this episode of Sketch & Coffee
Also, if you, or a teacher friend, would like a 20-30 minute lesson plan about camels, feel free to download and share this one:
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