Lead
"On the way to the market, I saw a thirsty camel in the desert, and I thought about giving it some water to drink, but the other party said that it would endanger our lives, and I later learned what happened to the camel's hump."
What exactly is stored in the camel's hump?
Why keep your distance from the carcasses of camels?
After encountering a thirsty camel in the desert, the other party said that the camel could not be given water to drink, what is the truth behind this?
1. Thirsty camels that should not be touched.
The camel is an animal that lives in the desert, and people often see some camels dying of thirst in the desert as well.
Because water sources in the desert are very limited, once some camels cannot find a place to drink, they can easily die of hunger and thirst for a long time.
However, even when camels appear in our field of vision, people who want to help them quench their thirst are out of reach.
The camel's hump stores a lot of fat, which is able to break down into water and heat when the camel has not been drinking water for a long time, thus providing the camel with water and allowing the camel to survive in the desert.
Therefore, camels do not easily die of thirst.
However, if once the camel dies, people should not touch the camel carcass at will, otherwise they will inadvertently violate a taboo in the desert, not only can not quench their thirst, but even endanger their lives.
So, what exactly is wrong with the carcass of the camel?
Why is it not only impossible not to touch, but even to get close to the carcass of a camel is dangerous?
Second, the role of the camel hump.
One of the most obvious features of a camel is the hump.
The camel's hump is formed by the large subcutaneous area of fat deposits, which can store fat and help the camels maintain a normal metabolism in an environment without food.
There are two types of fat present in the camel's hump, one is white fat, which is mainly used to store energy, and the other is brown fat, which is mainly used to provide calories.
The fat in the camel's hump is able to break down into water and heat, thus solving the problem of the camel's hunger and thirst in the desert.
The camel's hump has an amazing amount of water to hold for a week to ten days without drinking water, and the amount of fat in the hump is sufficient to provide the camel with an energy expenditure of about a week.
It is rare for a boatload of camels to go in the desert without finding drinking water for a week, so the fat in the camel's hump guarantees its ability to survive in the desert.
In addition, the fat in the camel's hump can also be used to provide energy for the camel, and even when needed, the fat is broken down into glucose, which provides energy for the camel's body to maintain its life activities.
Sometimes, when the fat stores in the camel's hump are depleted, the camel's body adapts and begins to break down muscle cells, converting amino acids from protein into energy for various activities in the body.
3. The camel's stomach system.
The camel's stomach system is also adapted to the desert environment, and they are able to collect and use the water they drink, allowing the camel to survive even when there is no drinking water.
The stomach of the camel is divided into three gastric chambers, which also serve different purposes.
The first stomach chamber is the largest and can store a large amount of food, so it is also called the rumen, similar to the rumen function, which allows the camel to drink a lot of water at once after finding a water source, and store it for later use.
The second stomach chamber, known as the reticulated stomach, filters the food it eats and breaks down the fiber in it, while the microorganisms in the reticulum are able to break down complex carbohydrates into simple organic acids that provide energy to the camel's body.
The third stomach chamber, also known as the rumen, breaks down the proteins in the food and absorbs the amino acids in the food, allowing the camel to obtain energy from the food.
At the same time, the rumen separates the fibrous matter from the cell wall in the microorganism, thus separating the nutrients in the microorganism from the nutrients needed by the camel's body.
The camel's stomach is able to use the protein and nitrogen compounds in the water to convert these two elements into protein, which provides energy for the body.
Fourth, why can't the carcass of a camel be touched?
When people see the carcass of a camel in the desert, they often want to see what the camel is like, whether it is safer to touch the carcass of the camel or leave at a glance, this kind of psychology is an instinct of human beings, but it is easy for people to violate a taboo in the desert.
The carcass of a camel can easily explode after death, and the explosion is also very powerful.
This is because there are a large number of bacteria present in the carcass of the camel, and after the death of the camel, these bacteria will quickly decompose the camel's body, resulting in a large amount of gases, including toxic gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide.
As these gases accumulate in the carcasses of camels, they eventually explode under certain conditions, which is especially acute in the desert, where temperatures tend to be higher and contribute to the fermentation of these gases.
The fat stored in the camel's hump also quickly decomposes into gases after the camel dies, including methane.
Therefore, as long as someone gets too close to the carcass of a camel, it is easy to trigger an explosion, and it is difficult to be rescued in time, so that it poses a threat to life.
In addition, camel carcasses can also contain a large number of parasites and bacteria, including a virus called "rabies".
If you accidentally drink the liquid in the camel's body, it can cause poisoning, and this liquid does not quench your thirst, so touching the carcass of the camel can also be life-threatening.
5. The death of camels in the desert.
People in the desert often see some camel carcasses, which indicates that there are humans living in this place, but for some reason, the camels did not come down alive and died in the desert.
Camels are very capable of surviving in the desert, and their bodies are also very adapted to the desert environment, but once the camel dies, it will be buried by the wind and sand in the desert.
The carcass of a camel can be preserved in the desert for a long time, even thousands of years, so it can be said that the carcass of a camel in the desert is a piece of history in the desert.
The death of a camel is also very worth thinking about, a camel can hold out for a week or so at most without drinking water, and if a place to drink water is not found for a long time, a camel will starve to death.
The death of a camel in the desert is not a trivial matter, which means that the vitality of the desert is also weakening, because the death of the camel as a species in the desert also means that the vitality in the desert is weakened.
Therefore, it is best for people not to get too close to the carcasses of camels that appear in the desert, but to keep a distance as much as possible so as not to cause further harm to the carcasses of camels.
epilogue
Humans live on land, so humans are able to reproduce on land, and deserts are known as the "sea of land", and there are also abundant biological resources.
As a species in the desert, camels also have a rich survival mechanism, the most typical of which is the hump and stomach system, and their presence also allows camels to survive in the desert.
In the eyes of humans, the creatures in the desert are like alien creatures, but humans should still try to get along with the creatures in the desert as harmoniously as possible, respect their living environment, and avoid causing damage to the ecosystem in the desert and affecting the survival and reproduction of camels and other creatures.
Therefore, people walking in the desert should not touch the creatures in the desert at will, and do not take away some species in the desert at will, the species in the desert have a good ability to adapt to the desert environment, and humans are not qualified to interfere.