What does a camel store in its humps?

Answer 1

Fat.

Answer 2

Many people think the camel does store water in its hump, but it does not. Instead, the camel stores something else there, food. The camel's hump is really a hump of fat. When the camel, often called a "ship of the desert," is not traveling and is in a place where there is plenty of food and water, it eats and drinks great quantities. As it does so, its hump rises from the fat its body produces. Then, when the camel is traveling across the desert and food is scarce, it can live off this stored fat.

A camel can go for days or weeks with little food or water. However, when its hunger reaches the point of starvation, its hump shrinks and may even slip off its back and hang down on its side. Camels are not fussy about what they eat. Thorny plants don't hurt their mouths; grasses of any kind will do and so will hay, dry grains, cactuses, or dates from trees.

There are one-humped camels and two-humped camels. Camels with one hump are called Arabian camels, or Dromedaries, and come from North Africa. Camels with two humps are from Asia, and are called Bactrian camels.

If food is scarce, a camel will even eat its own bridle or its owner's tent!

Answer 3

A camel's hump does not hold water at all - it actually stores fat. The camel uses it as nourishment when food is scarce. If a camel uses the fat inside the hump, the hump will become limp and droop down. With proper food and rest the hump will return to normal.

The hump is not used for water storage, but camels can go for long periods of time without water. They drink large amounts of water - up to 20 gallons at a time. This water is stored in the animal's bloodstream.



Midnight~Angel :)

Answer 4

Actually the perception that it carries water in its hump is wrong - water is stored in the camel's stomach. Camels actually use their hump as a fat store - they live in a desert, so I guess its to provide them with the energy they need in case their is food shortage.

Answer 5

a camal with 3 humps calle humpfrey could store more you would thing 2 humps would store more that one

Answer 6

Fat (not water as is popularly believed) is in the hump. If there is no water available for the camel to drink, the fat can be metabolised to produce water (amongst other things).

Answer 7

It's not just water ~ it's fatty tissues that hold water. The tissues break down and release the water and energy from the stored fats as the camel plods along on his journey.

Answer 8

camel juice. Seriously, they do NOT store water in their humps. That is a legend not based in zoological fact. They actually just store fat there. No joke, see the link.

Answer 9

It's just fat. Come on people, a camel does NOT store water in its hump. It does gulp in around 80 L of water at one time, but it DOES NOT store water.
The fat though, can be metabolised to yield water.

Answer 10

FATTY TISSUE, it gets metabolized and turned to energy.
BUT can yield about 1g of water per 1g of fat convered trough reaction with oxigen (from air DUH!)

by the way for some reason WIKIPEDIA dot com exists

Answer 11

water for drinking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel