Bet You Didn’t Know This About Camels
No, camels do not store water in their hump (or humps in the case of Asian camels), so that’s not why they can go days or even months without so much as drinking a drop of water. But they can eat prickly cactus plants without injuring their mouths.
The reason camels can eat cactus plants without injury is just one of the multiple amazing facts about these storied animals, facts that Eric Lyons of Apologetics Press contends point to the need for a supremely wise creator.
This is the latest installment in the AP’s “Wonders of Creation” video series:
For the sake of accuracy I have to point out that the cacti family of plants are all new world, and while there were prehistoric new world camels, they all died out thousands of years ago, and both camel species are old world species. So cacti and camels really have nothing to do with each other, other than that they’re both desert species, but from entirely different continents.
Hmmm, there seems to be some disagreement here. This is from USA Today: “The Sahara and its oases and plateaus hold life of all kinds. Beyond the above vegetation, you can expect to find figs, oranges, acacia trees, tobacco plants, oleander, peyote cactus, and many more shrubs, trees, plants and cacti.”
Please forgive the nitpicking. I really appreciate your work.
Ian is correct.
The small, psychoactive peyote cactus grows wild only in Mexico and southernmost Texas, for one example. Tobacco is also a North American plant, and would never grow in a desert without constant irrigation from a farmer or gardener. I think USA Today in typically sloppy fashion got its list from a garden brochure.
Again, sorry to fuss. Plant people are just weird like that.
While I don’t know much about cacti and its origin but tobacco is definitely new world. I wouldn’t put much trust in a USA today article. To be fair, the article doesn’t state that cacti or tobacco are native species.
Mark,
I know the tobacco tree which is found in the Sahara I non-native. Tobacco and cactus may be new world imports as well.
If someone with greater knowledge knows for sure I wild be interested to know.
Many Thanks!