Author's Note:
This is number 45 in the series of my hypothetical 'new boyfriends'.

The creatures I have written about previously are: Penguin, Chimpanzee, Whale, Albatross, Rabbit, Bull, Cat, Dog, Pig, Horse, Grey Parrot, Snake, Polar Bear, Bee, Octopus, Goat, Vampire Bat, Swan, Snail, Elephant, Flamingo, Kangaroo, Rainbow Trout, Dung Beetle, Beaver, Swordfish, Giraffe, Mouse, Sheep, Pigeon, Gnu, Porcupine, Centipede, Cheetah, Alligator, Owl, Seahorse, Tortoise, Praying Mantis, Fur Seal, Squirrel, Condor, Shark, Rhinoceros.

CAMELS are ungulates (mammals with hoofs). They have been domesticated for more than 4,000 years.
The dromedary camel, also called an Arabian camel (one hump), can be found in North Africa and the Middle East. The Bactrian camel (two humps) lives in Central Asia. The usual habitats for camels are deserts, prairies or steppes.
There is also a huge feral population of camels in central Australia (now estimated at over a million animals), descendants from dromedaries brought in to help early explorers. Between 1870 and 1920, as many as 20,000 camels were imported into Australia from the Arabian Peninsula, India and Afghanistan, together with at least 2,000 handlers, or cameleers, from the same regions. They were ideally suited to the climate of the Australian interior. The impact made by these camels - and just as importantly, their handlers - over the following decades was considerable. The cameleers opened lines of supply, transport and communication between isolated settlements, making the economic development of arid inland Australia possible.

Some interesting facts:
Camels have wide, soft feet, so they can walk for a long time in the hot sand. They are described colloquially as 'ships of the desert'. With thick pads of skin on their chest and knees, they can comfortably sit in very hot sand.
Camels have three sets of eyelids and two rows of eyelashes to keep sand out of their eyes. During sandstorms, they can shut their nostrils completely.
They have thick lips which let them forage for thorny plants other animals can�¢??t eat.
Their humps let them store up to 80 pounds of fat, which they can live off for weeks and even months.
They can drink up to 40 gallons of water in one go.
A newborn camel is able to walk beside the mother within half an hour.
Camels are very strong and can carry up to 900 pounds for 25 miles a day.
They can gallop at up to 40 miles per hour - the same as a racehorse!

Meaning of 'cud': Cud chewing is necessary because the foods ruminant animals eat are difficult to digest and it takes extra effort to get all of the nutrients out of it. Cud is a portion of food that returns from a ruminant's stomach to the mouth to be chewed for the second time. Ruminants include cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, deer, elk, giraffes and camels. These animals all have a digestive system that is uniquely different from our own. Instead of one compartment to the stomach they have four. Of the four compartments the rumen is the largest section and the main digestive centre.

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