Do Camels Store Water in Their Humps?

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Rezultat iskanja slik za camel imageCamels have long been known for their ____________________ (1 ABLE) to go weeks at a time without needing to drink water—which makes them particularly useful pack animals for people traveling across arid environments and that earned them the nickname “ships of the desert.” Camels are also known for their prominent humps (either one or two humps, ____________________ (2 DEPEND) on the species), which leads many people to believe that these are used to store water for access at a later time. However, camels’ humps actually store fatty tissue, not water, which is used as a source of ____________________ (3 NOURISH) when food is scarce.

So why do camels store fat in these humps instead of having it spread equally throughout their bodies, like other mammals? Camels ____________________ (4 TYPE) live in the desert, where food sources can be hard to come by. When a camel is unable to access food for a long period of time, its body is able to metabolize the fat in the humps for nutrition. The humps can deflate and droop if the camel has gone a particularly long time without food, but they will sit upright again once the camel is able to ____________________ (5 FUEL). The camel’s humps also help the animal regulate its body temperature, an important feature in the desert, where temperatures can be extremely high during the day and drop ____________________ (6 DRASTIC) at night. By concentrating fatty tissue in humps on their backs, camels are able to minimize heat insulation throughout the rest of their body during the day when the temperature is high, and their body temperature rises. Then, at night, the extra ____________________ (7 HOT) dissipates through the rest of the camel’s body so that their body temperature is not too low when the temperature is cooler.

Although the humps do not store water, camels are still incredibly ____________________ (8 EFFECT) in the amount of water they use per day, which is why they are able to go nearly a week without drinking. This is partly due to the unique shape of their blood cells, which are oval. Oval-shaped blood cells allow camels to consume large amounts of water (up to 30 gallons in one sitting!) since the cells are more elastic and can change shape more ____________________ (9 EASY). This shape also allows their blood to flow when water is scarce, which is common in a desert.

A camel’s humps are incredibly important for the animal’s ____________________ (10 SURVIVE) in a tough environment like a desert. Without its humps, a camel would be more likely to overheat and sweat—but it’s still the oval-shaped blood cells that help the camel retain so much water, not the humps.

(Adapted from britannica.com on 7 October 2017)

Rešitve naloge / Answer Key