Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today on the show Camels, It's
Speaker 1: just a dent. Camels acent of the time every species
Speaker 1: of camel discussed on this podcast. I realized that I've
Speaker 1: never really talked about camels on the podcast, and I
Speaker 1: had to fix that issue. It was an oversight. I apologize.
Speaker 1: I apologized to camels. I apologize to people who love
Speaker 1: camels and I Yet, camels are fascinating. They are so
Speaker 1: much more than you might expect. They have ridiculous evolutionary traits,
Speaker 1: incredible adaptations from inside out, from the tiniest cells in
Speaker 1: their bodies to those big old humps you know and
Speaker 1: love and spoilers. That hump is not filled with water,
Speaker 1: but something else. Discover this and more as we answer
Speaker 1: the age old question, is that a flesh balloon coming
Speaker 1: out of your mouth? Or are you just happy to
Speaker 1: see me? Joining me today is producer podcaster friend of
Speaker 1: the show, Friend of Camel's Bridget Greenberg. Welcome, Hey, best
Speaker 1: friend of camels, big dumb faces, so excited you got
Speaker 1: the dumbest faces. They do. They have the sweetest, dumbest faces.
Speaker 1: I love I love them so just like you look
Speaker 1: at them from any angle really, from that amazing pouty lips,
Speaker 1: those big bug eyes, it's such a and then those
Speaker 1: luscious eyelashes. Oh yeah, they have beautiful eyelashes. And uh,
Speaker 1: they are constantly chewing nothing. It seems like every time
Speaker 1: I've seen one, it's like chewing the cut. Yes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're just like chewing a circle motion stereo with their
Speaker 1: weird eyes. I was traveling in Israel once and we're
Speaker 1: on like a tour bus, and I fell asleep and
Speaker 1: I woke up. I don't I don't know. You woke
Speaker 1: up next to a camel. I've heard this story a
Speaker 1: million times. Oh yeah, I made it happens. They're very seductive.
Speaker 1: Um the eyelashes. No, I like woke up on the
Speaker 1: store of Us and I like look out into the
Speaker 1: distance and I swear to God, I saw a camel
Speaker 1: with the fez on, just wandering the desert. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's true. It was like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it like escaped somewhere, but I was wearing
Speaker 1: a fez and it was just a lone camel out
Speaker 1: in the desert. Camels I enjoy fashion as well. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: no one else said they saw it, but I I
Speaker 1: swear he was wearing a little hat. I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that there is a cryptid now that is
Speaker 1: camel wearing a fez, and Bridget has seen it and
Speaker 1: swears it shaky at the Middle East and confuses sleepy tourists.
Speaker 1: That's incredible. They're everywhere out there, they are, and it's
Speaker 1: really interesting because they are domesticated, and they have become
Speaker 1: much more cosmopolitan, much more globally present than they were
Speaker 1: typically when they were wild. Huh. Yeah, I guess that
Speaker 1: makes sense because I mean I felt bad for the camels,
Speaker 1: but traveling around I would just see them, like at
Speaker 1: gas stations and be like, hey, pet my camel for
Speaker 1: like five dollars. Oh gosh, five dollars a pet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one pet, five dollars. That's there. That's has to be
Speaker 1: hard to keep a camel, I mean actually, I mean
Speaker 1: maybe if you're trying to keep it in your apartment.
Speaker 1: But they were very well suited to domestication. They're more
Speaker 1: strong willed than say a horse or a cow, but
Speaker 1: they are they were I mean the fact that they
Speaker 1: are so hardy and so well adapted to extremes made
Speaker 1: them invaluable in terms of being pack animals and animals
Speaker 1: that we rode on and and domesticated animals in human history. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess that they do seem very they're very gentle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're gentle, but with but with a little bit of attitude,
Speaker 1: which I admire. Yeah, yeah, you know, they have some
Speaker 1: edge to them. Yeah, and you can tell you stare
Speaker 1: at you with their expressionless dumb faces, just chewing in
Speaker 1: big old circles like I'm gonna go where I want
Speaker 1: to go, So just sort of a rundown. What is
Speaker 1: a camel? A camel is an even toed ungulate like
Speaker 1: dear sheep, bison. They're actually distantly related to whales and dolphins,
Speaker 1: which also descended from who land animals. But yeah, they're
Speaker 1: basically they're even toed ungulates. So they're similar to antelope, deer,
Speaker 1: sheep pigs. Is that what the is? Are we going
Speaker 1: to find out? The hump is a fin essentially a fin,
Speaker 1: I like that sand whales they're called sand dolphins dolphins.
Speaker 1: I love that for them. So camels have an interesting
Speaker 1: evolutionary history. The oldest known camel, Protolopus, lived around fifty
Speaker 1: million years ago and was about as big as a
Speaker 1: medium sized dog, So not very big, little tiny miniature camel. Cute,
Speaker 1: let's bring that back. That feels more like the apartment camel.
Speaker 1: I know, lap camel. I would love a dream little
Speaker 1: lap camel and pettit have a spit up spit at
Speaker 1: courtesan's that I don't like. Yeah, the spit is grassed.
Speaker 1: So we don't necessarily know if these early ancestors of
Speaker 1: camels actually had a hump or not. We don't have
Speaker 1: the soft tissue evidence. Um, but they were found in
Speaker 1: North America. In fact, camels lived in North America until
Speaker 1: around fifteen thousand years ago, when they went ex inked
Speaker 1: along with other mega fauna, probably because humans came along
Speaker 1: and just ruined everything, as as we tend to like
Speaker 1: to do this mega fun. Well no, so, so these
Speaker 1: early ancestors of camels went extinct, But the other other
Speaker 1: species of camels evolved and moved across the globe and
Speaker 1: became their own thing. So that's why we got big camels.
Speaker 1: I mean, the some of the camels that lived in
Speaker 1: North America were quite big, actually a little taller than
Speaker 1: modern day camels. May or may not have had a hump,
Speaker 1: but they did. They went extinct, while the other camels
Speaker 1: that migrated over to northern Africa and Asia actually ended
Speaker 1: up surviving until modern times after going through a little
Speaker 1: bit of human mettaalings. So interestingly, camels, uh, we're not
Speaker 1: always adapted solely for hot climates, nor are they solely
Speaker 1: found in hot climates even in even today. Um, which
Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit about later, But first thing
Speaker 1: to know is that there are three species of camel
Speaker 1: still alive today, which I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: just think there's like it's camel. Every camel is just camel.
Speaker 1: There are three types of camel. Yeah, it's funny because, yeah,
Speaker 1: you said three types of species, and I did think
Speaker 1: camels just camel, and then I also at the same
Speaker 1: time thought that seems low. But so there is the
Speaker 1: dromedary camel, which is probably the camel you're thinking of
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, that that looks like camel, camel, camel camel,
Speaker 1: sort of your camel classic, which is actually a little
Speaker 1: deceptive because there is the bactery and camel, which is
Speaker 1: probably actually an older species of camel and the wild
Speaker 1: bactory and camel. So we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: the Bactrian and the wild Bactrian, who are fascinating camels.
Speaker 1: But first we're going to talk about the good old
Speaker 1: Dromedary camel, the one we know and love, which is
Speaker 1: also incredibly, incredibly interesting. So the Dromedary is the most
Speaker 1: common camel. Um. It is your stereotypical, prototypical, archetypical, all
Speaker 1: the typicals camel. They're the ones that wear the feaces exactly,
Speaker 1: very handsome. And it is a domesticated animal. It is
Speaker 1: not a wild animal. They are all domesticated and it
Speaker 1: has not been wild for at least two thousand years.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's you know, essentially like a horse or
Speaker 1: a cow, it is domesticated. I remember seeing, like I've
Speaker 1: seen wild horses, and I like my mind was kind
Speaker 1: of blown, like they just exist. But that's up. I
Speaker 1: thought camels were just you know, thrown it in the woods,
Speaker 1: making more camels the desert. Well they can be. So
Speaker 1: there are feral camels. In fact, a lot of feral camels.
Speaker 1: That fact we'll talk about. Actually I don't like that.
Speaker 1: I don't like that actually that's very scary. We will
Speaker 1: talk about some of these feral camels. Uh, and while
Speaker 1: they're maybe not scary to humans, there are some problems
Speaker 1: with feral camels. So there there are big populations of
Speaker 1: feral camels, but they are technically feral versions of the
Speaker 1: domesticated camel. So just kind of a short description of
Speaker 1: the germanary camel. They have one hump, always one hump.
Speaker 1: They have short but shaggy fur, a long curved neck,
Speaker 1: and absolutely gorgeous maybe the line maybe it's maybe line.
Speaker 1: Maybe she's born with it. Eyelashes and they are born
Speaker 1: with it. They are born with it, I mean, just
Speaker 1: such thick. They're stunning. Yeah, they could fan your face
Speaker 1: with their eyelashes. It's stunning. It's a look and I'm jealous, frankly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, they're they're dumb seductive faces. Can't get around it.
Speaker 1: Those camels are hot. They have they do have vogue faces.
Speaker 1: They know how to have that sort of unfocused, glazed
Speaker 1: look in their eye. They flutter their eyelashes and pout
Speaker 1: with their lips there. Yeah, they're they're very very vogue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they they look like they want you to pet them,
Speaker 1: but they do not. They will spit at you. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Actually that spit is not spit but a mixture of
Speaker 1: saliva and regurgitate. Regurgitate, regurgitate. Regurg makes sense, it does, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because that's not I've seen the spit and it's not
Speaker 1: it looks it looks like they have a virus. Salt
Speaker 1: of time or yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's pretty grossed.
Speaker 1: It's throw up. It's a little bit of throw up.
Speaker 1: They regurgitate and we'll shoot it at you. And this
Speaker 1: is a defensive tactic that they use. It used to
Speaker 1: be against predators, but they will also do it if
Speaker 1: they're just piste off at you a human. They are
Speaker 1: very sassy creatures too. They always they do seem a
Speaker 1: bit pissed a lot. Yeah, it you know, it adds up.
Speaker 1: I I do like that as that feels like the
Speaker 1: kind of defensive tactic that someone like me would have,
Speaker 1: is that I just throw up at you. I like
Speaker 1: that as a superpower as someone with stomach issues. Uh,
Speaker 1: enjoy that as a superpower of just at you. I
Speaker 1: did when I was in elementary school, um like, get
Speaker 1: sick during a choir practice, and I did on accident
Speaker 1: throw up on the front row, including a girl I
Speaker 1: didn't really like. So perfect. It was nontentional, right, exactly,
Speaker 1: it was. It was actually why we're while we were
Speaker 1: seeing uh do ah dear do remy fossil and then
Speaker 1: at the like do remy fossil, Latti barf everywhere on
Speaker 1: the front row, but especially I really didn't like. So good,
Speaker 1: good job, thank you, uh my man, such a memorable birthday,
Speaker 1: A lot of cake. So I I really do feel
Speaker 1: for the camels because I it's like I really embodied
Speaker 1: the camel this day, the camel spirit. Yeah, the power
Speaker 1: of the camel. Today on my birthday, I shall exhibit
Speaker 1: the power of the camel. Yeah, so so uh wild
Speaker 1: camel fur is typically that a lovely tan color. It
Speaker 1: can range from black to white and in very rare
Speaker 1: cases actually piebald, meaning a splotchy mix of black and
Speaker 1: white fur. So yeah, designer camels, So is that. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a thing. Okay, Yeah, I mean I assume, yeah,
Speaker 1: I assume if you're breeding camels, you know, the designer camel.
Speaker 1: I got some coats. No, I'm just want the animal
Speaker 1: designer camel. No, I'm still getting coats. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to assume maybe there are designer camels, but uh, maybe
Speaker 1: they're also just wearing designer coats. I like that better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a coat for a camel to not
Speaker 1: out of a camel, don't worry. So uh, I mean
Speaker 1: it could be a coat mad out of the camel's wool,
Speaker 1: not the like, you don't necessarily have to kill the
Speaker 1: camel to get camel wool, which is you know, nice,
Speaker 1: I guess, which is good. So the wild ancestors of
Speaker 1: dromedaries adapted to intense desert regions, which is actually probably
Speaker 1: why they were domesticated, because they are so gosh darn hardy. Uh.
Speaker 1: These original dromedary camels would live in the Sahara and
Speaker 1: was able to withstand intense conditions in the desert um.
Speaker 1: So this was a huge boon for people who lived
Speaker 1: in the desert regions because they could be used as
Speaker 1: pack animals transportation. They could even be used for their milk,
Speaker 1: their wool, and also their meat. So they've also been
Speaker 1: used for plowing fields. I mean, like they were really
Speaker 1: really useful for people who lived in these desert regions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. They're kind of like they feel like
Speaker 1: the cows of that area, Like if you let them
Speaker 1: loose on the field, they're going to just eat the
Speaker 1: day away. I mean, they're kind of they're like really
Speaker 1: metal versions of cows, uh and like and just kind
Speaker 1: of I don't know, it's they're they're like a utility
Speaker 1: ungulate because there's so many different things that they can do,
Speaker 1: you know, hanging things off those hubs. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I would in an apocalyptic environment, I would rather have
Speaker 1: a camel than a horse, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. They definitely
Speaker 1: seem more party and less high maintenance. Yeah then those
Speaker 1: damn horses. But it is have you have you ever
Speaker 1: ridden a caw? I have not. I imagine it's extremely comfortable.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, I I did one of those. It is
Speaker 1: um crazy getting up. It's what I imagined like a
Speaker 1: hydraulic car to be like, because the camel actually doesn't.
Speaker 1: The camel lie down and then you get on it
Speaker 1: and then yeah yeah, and they stand up like one
Speaker 1: leg at a time, so it's just in the very
Speaker 1: long legs on that camel you got. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: just like one at a time, kind of like shifting
Speaker 1: you a good like seven eight ft in the air, Yeah,
Speaker 1: making like root root noises. Yeah, horses a little not
Speaker 1: that a horse ride is comfortable, but I would recommend
Speaker 1: it more. They also, you know, the back spaces, it's
Speaker 1: mostly humped back there, so you have not a don't
Speaker 1: really have a lot of rooms, right right, not much
Speaker 1: lumbar support. No camel How dare they not be designed
Speaker 1: with the lumbar support, these animals, these living creatures. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they It turns out they weren't made just for me
Speaker 1: to ride them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. If they were,
Speaker 1: they definitely come with sort of like cup holders and
Speaker 1: seat belts. Yeah, I know. They should be a little
Speaker 1: more organomical and they're probably a little less stubborn. The
Speaker 1: camel I was on did not want to go in
Speaker 1: the direction of all the other camels. Yeah, they've got
Speaker 1: they've got none of them did, Yeah, none of none
Speaker 1: of the camels. It wasn't like particular to me, like
Speaker 1: we were Yeah, none of the camels seemed interested in
Speaker 1: going the direction that the ride was the camel ride
Speaker 1: was designed for. Like, they got their own stuff going on.
Speaker 1: Maybe they know they're gonna DJ that night, you don't know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got they got stuff going on. Yeah, their social
Speaker 1: calendar is full, thank you. Yeah, they didn't get put
Speaker 1: on all that mascara for nothing. So the drumedary camel
Speaker 1: still lives in hotter arid regions like the Sahara Desert,
Speaker 1: but domestication has distributed them all across Africa, Asia, the
Speaker 1: Persian Gulf, and they were even brought to Australia in
Speaker 1: the mid eighteen hundreds, which, like many animals that were
Speaker 1: imported to Australia, was a terrible decision because now there
Speaker 1: are over a million feral camels wandering and ransacking the
Speaker 1: Australian bush. No that is yeah, yeah, don't bring animals
Speaker 1: to places where animals don't go, specially Australia. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean they they're full of non native species. They they're
Speaker 1: closed off that. Yeah. I don't. I don't like animal
Speaker 1: as big as a camel. The idea of that being
Speaker 1: feral I can handle, but like that's too big to
Speaker 1: f that's scary. Come on, mittens, and it's just like
Speaker 1: a herd of angry camera of camels. I don't like that.
Speaker 1: But they're I don't like they're gentle and they have
Speaker 1: a big, dumb, flat teeth, but they're very big there's
Speaker 1: a that's a lot of sass to have in a
Speaker 1: feral population of camel. It's funny because I cannot see
Speaker 1: them being like a camel. Camel aggression to me is
Speaker 1: very just sass. Yeah, I mean they do like do
Speaker 1: you spit as we've talked about, or you know, the
Speaker 1: regurgitating weaponized regurgitating. Um, they also do. They will bite,
Speaker 1: I mean if they feel like they have to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it feels like all their defenses are kind of like
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure the bite is hard, but it's
Speaker 1: not gonna like tear you apart like a camel's not
Speaker 1: gonna eat you. Yeah, that's what they want you, that's though,
Speaker 1: that's what they want you to think. Yeah, they're there.
Speaker 1: Their teeth are weird, although they might eat you if
Speaker 1: you are already dead, uh, which I'll talk about we'll
Speaker 1: talk about a little bit more later. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: these feral camels are actually a significant problem because they
Speaker 1: are devastating to the native plant populations and they cause
Speaker 1: erosion with all their stomping with those big, flat, floppy
Speaker 1: feet of theirs. Um. But yeah, I mean it's a
Speaker 1: real testament to the camel's hearty adaptations. That they have
Speaker 1: become such a ust in Australia because they can just
Speaker 1: kind of dominate because they're so they have so many
Speaker 1: incredible adaptations to be able to survive in extreme conditions
Speaker 1: that when you plot them in Australia, they're like, we can,
Speaker 1: we can. Yeah, we'll take it. We can do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah looks nice. Yeah because fire tornadoes, we got it.
Speaker 1: We don't care. Uh yeah, because I have to imagine
Speaker 1: they just eat constantly too, like if they're not just
Speaker 1: well it's yeah, it's interesting because they will eat when
Speaker 1: they have the opportunity to, but they do. They are
Speaker 1: able to withstand incredibly inhospitable conditions and they can last
Speaker 1: for quite a while without eating, without drinking, and it
Speaker 1: is stunning what they are able to endure. Um, but
Speaker 1: we are going to take a quick break and when
Speaker 1: we get back, we are going to talk about how
Speaker 1: the camel is one of the most extreme, most hardy
Speaker 1: large mammals in the world. Bridget, You're ready to talk
Speaker 1: about how much camel's rule. Hell, yeah, that's why I'm here.
Speaker 1: They're I mean, like I often like to talk about
Speaker 1: lesser known animals on the show, sort of the the
Speaker 1: animals you don't, you know, aren't aren't one of the
Speaker 1: big animals that we kind of talk about all the time.
Speaker 1: But camels are really interesting because they are Everyone knows
Speaker 1: that they're really hardy. They can survive without water. But
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of misconceptions about how they
Speaker 1: do this, and it's actually incredibly impressive what they are
Speaker 1: capable of. Yeah, I mean, I I know this is wrong.
Speaker 1: I I've always as it was hump based, Uh why
Speaker 1: they are able to survive. I'm sure the hump has
Speaker 1: something to do with it. But yes, they're they're hardcore.
Speaker 1: If they can live out, you know, in those deserts, Yes,
Speaker 1: and just not drink for days exactly. More. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: a little more metal than they look. They're very metal,
Speaker 1: much more metal than that long luxurious lashes. And actually
Speaker 1: those eyelashes also being just iconic, do serve a very
Speaker 1: important purpose in terms of keeping their eyes protected from
Speaker 1: sand because they live in these places where there can
Speaker 1: be sandstorms, and these really thick, long lashes act, as
Speaker 1: you know, essentially like a a fence, fencing or or
Speaker 1: a net that that protects their eyes. They also have
Speaker 1: a nictitating membrane, which is you know, like, when have
Speaker 1: you ever seen a sleepy cat where they kind of
Speaker 1: like open their Yeah, it's that third eyelash that goes sideways. Yes, exactly,
Speaker 1: that that third eyelid, the nictitating membrane. Birds also have
Speaker 1: it um and it's like, so that's when cats and
Speaker 1: they're kind of like half awake, they look at you
Speaker 1: and they have this weird, like very silly expression because
Speaker 1: that third eyelid is sort of halfway across their eye. Well,
Speaker 1: camels also have this, and they can also use that
Speaker 1: to protect their eyes from sand um. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: they are just incredibly well adapted to dry, desert arid
Speaker 1: environments and can survive extreme water loss. Now, Bridget you
Speaker 1: mentioned like you were thinking, like this hump has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with their survival, and that is true,
Speaker 1: But have you had the notion that it has something
Speaker 1: to do with, uh helping them with hydrating, like like
Speaker 1: storing water, preventing water loss or something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is what I had always heard that camel back backpack.
Speaker 1: This is kind of what I assume the uh the
Speaker 1: hump was was essentially just like a big water bladder.
Speaker 1: But I also know that's wrong because it's not like
Speaker 1: if you poke that thing. It's not like that. It's
Speaker 1: not a bladder of right, it doesn't slash around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know that's what I've heard, but I've assumed
Speaker 1: that was wrong. Yeah, I mean, so it does serve
Speaker 1: a very important purpose, but that is not to keep
Speaker 1: the camel hydrated. It is actually other factors, other evolutionary
Speaker 1: advantages that the camel has that helps it survive without water.
Speaker 1: So in temperatures of up to a hundred and four
Speaker 1: degrees fahrenheit, they only need to drink water every ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen days, which is, for the record, a lot
Speaker 1: longer than humans can. You'd be very dead. I'd be dead.
Speaker 1: We'd be a pile of bones. I mean not bones,
Speaker 1: but yeah, but but dead, but certainly dead, certainly dead.
Speaker 1: That sounds like a long time. Yes. When it does drink,
Speaker 1: it drinks very heartily. It can drink over four gallons
Speaker 1: or liters a minute, and can drink around thirty gallons
Speaker 1: or a hundred and fifteen liters in one sitting. I
Speaker 1: that in the the minute, that how much you can
Speaker 1: drink in a minute is shocking to because I I
Speaker 1: feel like you need a hose to do that, Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like them just laughing up water. It's gotta
Speaker 1: be that. That seems they do that at a quick rate. Yes,
Speaker 1: very powerful mouths, just hoovering up water. Yeah, it feels
Speaker 1: like it would need a tusk to drink that much water.
Speaker 1: But good for them. Uh. Yeah, So the water is
Speaker 1: not stored in the hump. Uh. The hump is actually
Speaker 1: a fibrous mass of fatty tissue that is stored and
Speaker 1: can be metabolized as food. Uh, for the nutrition for
Speaker 1: the camel if it is unable to find food. So
Speaker 1: it's not really for water, it is for nutrition. That
Speaker 1: is handy. Yes, it's like a backpack full of snacks,
Speaker 1: except it's kind of it's just it's just anya. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And this hump can store up to eighty pounds or
Speaker 1: thirty six of fats. So that is significant. That is
Speaker 1: a significant canently uh adequate source of nutrition if they
Speaker 1: are encountering scarcity. Does that mean does it like shrink?
Speaker 1: Yeah as they consume it, Yeah, it's kind of deflates. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of like a sad balloon. Um. But
Speaker 1: with a full plump, they can go several months without food. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah for them in terms of the water, how they survive,
Speaker 1: on how they are able to drink a huge amount
Speaker 1: of water and then go so long without having to
Speaker 1: drink more water. It is actually inside of them, uh
Speaker 1: that is mostly responsible for their water preservation in terms
Speaker 1: of their organs like their kidneys, uh, and also as
Speaker 1: small as their blood cells. Their blood cells are actually
Speaker 1: oval shaped rather than round like our blood cell. Red
Speaker 1: bullet blood cells are kind of like these little like uh,
Speaker 1: doughnuts without a hole in them, But camel red blood
Speaker 1: cells are oval shaped, and what that allows is for
Speaker 1: the blood flow to continue even when they're severely dehydrated.
Speaker 1: So they're kind of more streamlined, these blood cells, so
Speaker 1: they can continue to flow through the veins even in
Speaker 1: cases of severe dehydration. That is very thorough evolution. Yes, Uh,
Speaker 1: that is incredible. That Yeah, down to the blood cell,
Speaker 1: it has figured out how to live in the desert. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. I mean, if you want an example of
Speaker 1: how blood cell shape can kind of change based on
Speaker 1: a mutation but then end up being advantageous, you only
Speaker 1: need to look at humans, where people can get sickle
Speaker 1: cell anemia, which is generally speaking not necessarily advantageous, but
Speaker 1: it does make it harder to contract malaria, and so
Speaker 1: with sickle cell anemia actually provides an advantage to people
Speaker 1: who are in areas where there is high malaria risks.
Speaker 1: So you can see how you might have some kind
Speaker 1: of mutation with blood cell shape that um may not
Speaker 1: seem ideal, but then in certain situations, in certain environments,
Speaker 1: it actually is a really good mutation. A man evolution
Speaker 1: is cool, Ain't it wacky? It's it's it's wild that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your your body just figures out how to best survive
Speaker 1: and then forms everybody that way. Yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: just like it's but it's just luck, right, like if
Speaker 1: you're if you're the person, you're just kind of born
Speaker 1: with the mutation, and it's like, oh, actually this is
Speaker 1: pretty good. It's just end up surviving and end up
Speaker 1: having babies and passing that onto them. Yeah, good for
Speaker 1: these camels and their long blood cells. So yeah. Camels
Speaker 1: can also voluntarily close their nostrils um, which will prevent
Speaker 1: sand from entering their nostrils and can also help them
Speaker 1: prevent more water loss, like by exhaling out of their
Speaker 1: nostrils in like these very dry, windy conditions. How do
Speaker 1: they breathe. Well, it's voluntary, so they open up. They're
Speaker 1: not holding their breath to breathe. Yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: like it's sort of like uh blinking in a way,
Speaker 1: although like voluntary blinking, like if you if it's really
Speaker 1: windy or something, you might kind of blink more to
Speaker 1: keep your eyes were moisturized. It's the same thing with this,
Speaker 1: uh nostrils. It's no, it's nose blinking kind of that.
Speaker 1: I have seen that happen. It is. It's weird. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of always thought of it as blinking that
Speaker 1: it is like kind of involuntary. But that's cool. They're
Speaker 1: big dump nostrils. So other adaptations is Another adaptation is
Speaker 1: that they have thick leathery skin on their feet, knees,
Speaker 1: and chest areas so they can protect themselves from the
Speaker 1: hot sand while walking, kneeling and lying down because they
Speaker 1: do often kind of lie down with their legs tucked
Speaker 1: under them. It's very cute. Yeah, yeah, they're they're they're
Speaker 1: they're like, like I I think of them as a
Speaker 1: very kind of lazy animal because they always see them
Speaker 1: lying down in it. They're efficient. It's not it's efficiency,
Speaker 1: it's efficiency energy efficiency. And they Yeah, that's what I
Speaker 1: call my naps energy efficient, energy efficiency. Yeah. They also
Speaker 1: just have the sleepiest faces. They really do, they really do.
Speaker 1: And then just like that slow chewing. It's it's adorable.
Speaker 1: They always look like the chilling Yeah, and that chewing.
Speaker 1: Actually they are chewing their cuts so they regurgitate this
Speaker 1: quasi digested vegetation back up to chew it some more
Speaker 1: and swallow it again. It's something a lot of ungulates
Speaker 1: will do, a lot of ruminants will do. It's pretty gross.
Speaker 1: It's pretty gross. In addition to that, though, they also
Speaker 1: have really thick lips that they can grasp and choot,
Speaker 1: like pull out and chew vegetation. And since the vegetation
Speaker 1: they have to contend with is often thorny and prickly,
Speaker 1: they have really thick lips and inside of their mouths
Speaker 1: so they can chew on it without getting hurt getting scratched.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's why they have the big faces, those
Speaker 1: potty lips, and those luscious eyela bushes actually served quite
Speaker 1: a good evolutionary purpose. Yeah, I just like, like, what
Speaker 1: are you chewing on my own bombit? I want some
Speaker 1: spits at you. Yeah, just keeping it in my mouth
Speaker 1: in case, just in case we do have to talk
Speaker 1: about their love lives. It's fascinating, course, it's it's I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been I've been staring at this picture that you
Speaker 1: have of a camel making love to another camel for
Speaker 1: an inappropriate amount of time. It is something that, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: without sounding weird, it's like kind of fascinating because it
Speaker 1: was not how I pictured them mating. Honestly. Yeah, they yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're very large and unruly animals. I would say
Speaker 1: their body seems unruly. Uh yeah, just a lot of
Speaker 1: long legs in a week, hump in along neck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the physics seem off, it does it does? It's
Speaker 1: they're ungainly and then you see how they mate, and
Speaker 1: it's like, I guess, I guess that is kind of
Speaker 1: the only way to do it. So what it is
Speaker 1: is the female is lying down with her legs tucked
Speaker 1: under her, sort of just classic bread loaf camel pose,
Speaker 1: and uh, the male is very awkwardly stretched over her
Speaker 1: with his neck kind of like sticking out, his legs
Speaker 1: straddling her, his front legs straddling her, and then you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of kneeling behind her. And just what's funny
Speaker 1: to me is it looks like so much effort for
Speaker 1: the male and then the female is just like just
Speaker 1: lying down. Yeah, whatever, do what you gotta do. Yeah
Speaker 1: it ah, yeah, that male seems stressed, yeah to see
Speaker 1: the least. And she was just like, yeah, good for her.
Speaker 1: But also I like the body shape that this camel
Speaker 1: that the male has contorted itself too, which is just
Speaker 1: like a ball with a Do you remember those skipid
Speaker 1: things that you would tie around your ankle, yes, all, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sort of like that shape, but if the ball
Speaker 1: was like a cannon ball. Yeah, yeah, it's it really.
Speaker 1: It's like, I guess we're just so used to seeing
Speaker 1: the camel and its normal position with its like next
Speaker 1: sort of in a sloping you shape, just kind of
Speaker 1: walking around, but when it like stretches its neck out
Speaker 1: and its legs out and it's like a little pot
Speaker 1: belly is shoved unceremoniously on its knees. Yeah, it's yeah,
Speaker 1: I figure it's e t it's it's it looks like
Speaker 1: et uh. It has that long neck and then that
Speaker 1: weird circle body. Yes, it's it's like little squat legs.
Speaker 1: I don't it's not dignified. It's not very dignify. No, uh,
Speaker 1: it's you know, they have to do this in public.
Speaker 1: But speaking of undignified, males have a lot of romantic
Speaker 1: gestures that they will offer for females to try to
Speaker 1: attract them, one of which is splashing their own urine
Speaker 1: around their genitals. Well, of course, of course, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean how that it's camel cologne. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: want that area to spell good. I can't feel like,
Speaker 1: I know they don't. I know, the female just kind
Speaker 1: of like picks it up. But what you don't have
Speaker 1: to do it on the genitals. I'm stiffing down there,
Speaker 1: But like, where else are you going to go? You
Speaker 1: can't really aim it um and might as well. I
Speaker 1: would rather use splash your urine you know where the
Speaker 1: urine comes from on its neck or something altho. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like not sort of like the perfume thing where you
Speaker 1: roll a little bit on your wrists and on your neck.
Speaker 1: It's because I like with animals, you know, with wild animals,
Speaker 1: you know, I just assume they're covered in urine. I
Speaker 1: don't think they need to do the extra work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure that splashback happens. I mean, it's it's basically
Speaker 1: water park rules, right, like is going to be pe
Speaker 1: You just have to accept it. You just gotta Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're covered and we didn't need to do extra work
Speaker 1: for it, but you know, if it works, who am
Speaker 1: I to judge? And speaking of extra work, the mails
Speaker 1: do have another romantic gesture to offer the females, and
Speaker 1: it is inflating a sack of flesh inside their mouth,
Speaker 1: letting it flop out the side of their mouth like
Speaker 1: this big wet, pink balloon, and then sort of pushing
Speaker 1: air through it such that it makes this like rumbling, gurgling,
Speaker 1: bubbling sound. And yeah, it's very hot. It is called
Speaker 1: the dola. Uh and this is what it sounds like.
Speaker 1: Oh that is not what I was expecting. That sounds
Speaker 1: like a water cooler. Yeah that. I'm also I'm looking
Speaker 1: at this thing that's not their tongue. No, that is um,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to judge, but gross, it
Speaker 1: sounds a little bit judge actually though. Yeah it's oh
Speaker 1: man that it looks like a turd coming out of
Speaker 1: its mouth. You're dull ashaming these camels. I I yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, if it if it helps them attractmates. Good,
Speaker 1: good for them. I just if I saw that, I
Speaker 1: would not go near that camera on you. No, No,
Speaker 1: that doesn't work for me a human. But ah, what
Speaker 1: I know about camel love. I don't like that thing.
Speaker 1: It's just like another what what happened? Like so just
Speaker 1: they can just inflate it. That's just when then suck
Speaker 1: it back in. It's actually it's like tissue that's sort
Speaker 1: of I believe is mean out of the same tissue
Speaker 1: found in like our soft palate. But it's just kind
Speaker 1: of like a bunch of flappy tissue that's inflatable that
Speaker 1: they can stick out the side of their mouth. Yeah. Cool.
Speaker 1: I guess if it works for you, it works for you.
Speaker 1: For me, it it freaks me out a little bit,
Speaker 1: But I think it's personally for me. I like the thought.
Speaker 1: I think it's a nice thought. It's considerate. It's yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: check out this flappy gum. It's it's like when you're
Speaker 1: like double jointed or something and you're like, check this out.
Speaker 1: I guess it's a There was a guy who in
Speaker 1: my high school would flirt with girls by showing how
Speaker 1: he can like control his salivary glands under his tongue
Speaker 1: and like squirt the saliva out, shoot it out, which
Speaker 1: you know, not you know, not unsimilar to a camel um,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, not the best move human. But you know,
Speaker 1: I don't remember if he ever got got someone to
Speaker 1: go to the problem with him using that technique, but
Speaker 1: you know, using that spitting yeah, uh yeah, that thing
Speaker 1: is Yeah, it looks like a big grist balloon tongue
Speaker 1: hanging out of its mouth. Don't forget wet also wet,
Speaker 1: big gross balloon. Yeah, it seems very vulnerable to just
Speaker 1: like hang that out of your mouth, right, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying that it's like showing vulnerability. Is there anything
Speaker 1: sexier than showing vulnerability? That's that's true because it feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't want to get sand in that
Speaker 1: you have to put it back in your mouth, and
Speaker 1: that can be said for a lot of things. That's
Speaker 1: that's true. But you know, uh it just yeah, it
Speaker 1: does seem very just like, here's this soft, weird, fleshy
Speaker 1: thing that lives in my mouth and it's for you. Now.
Speaker 1: Is that so different from human kissing? I guess not.
Speaker 1: I guess not. I mean, I don't know. Here's the soft, weird,
Speaker 1: fleshy thing that lives in my mouth. It's for you, now,
Speaker 1: it's for you. Now here, take it. I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: that on my husband. Yeah, just here. Uh uh yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess what we do is weirder because I assume
Speaker 1: the female doesn't put that in her mouth too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: probably not. So there you go. Camels less disgusting than humans.
Speaker 1: But that's what we've figured out here. Good for camels,
Speaker 1: Good for camels. Bridget I promise that we would talk
Speaker 1: about factory and camels, and now here we are going
Speaker 1: to talk about. So. Bactrian camels may not be what
Speaker 1: you imagine when you think about a camel, or I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe it is. I don't know I, I don't know you.
Speaker 1: But these were actually the more of the o g camels.
Speaker 1: There's genetic evidence and fetal development of Dromedary camels suggests
Speaker 1: that they probably evolved from the Bactrian camels wild ancestors,
Speaker 1: rather than the Bactrian camels evolving from dromedary like camels.
Speaker 1: So uh, Bactrian camels today are domesticated, just like the dromedaries.
Speaker 1: There is a species known as the wild bactory and camel,
Speaker 1: but This is actually not like a wild version or
Speaker 1: a feral version of the domesticated Bactrian camel. It is
Speaker 1: a relative of the Bactrian camel that diverged evolutionarily. We're
Speaker 1: a million years ago. So we will talk about the
Speaker 1: wild Bactrian camel in a bit. They are amazing, but
Speaker 1: first let's talk about the Bactrian camel, the domesticated Bactrian camel. So,
Speaker 1: domesticated Bactrian camels are not just adapted for the heat,
Speaker 1: but for extreme cold. So even though camels are known
Speaker 1: for living in hunt climates, camel ancestors actually adapted to
Speaker 1: climates such as the cold, extreme cold temperatures, and the
Speaker 1: Bactrian camel today still has to contend with the extreme cold.
Speaker 1: So the bactory and camel is native to the steps
Speaker 1: of Central Asia, which are flat grasslands at a high altitude.
Speaker 1: So Bactrian camels do have similar adaptations to the Dromedary
Speaker 1: camels in terms of surviving drought and starvation. They actually
Speaker 1: have to humps instead of one hump, but the humps
Speaker 1: served the same purpose as the dromedary camels. They store fat,
Speaker 1: but uh they also tend to be taller. The humps
Speaker 1: tend to be taller than the dromedaries, and when they
Speaker 1: are low on fat, that makes them flop over to
Speaker 1: one side. So when the bactin is kind of like
Speaker 1: uh using some of the fat stores, these these humps
Speaker 1: flop over, oh, floppy humps. Floppy humps. And actually, something
Speaker 1: that I didn't mention with the dromedary but is true
Speaker 1: of them as well as it is true with the
Speaker 1: bactreen camels, is that they have another trick up their sleeve.
Speaker 1: If they are really running out of food, they will
Speaker 1: no longer. They will not just restrict themselves to vegetation.
Speaker 1: They will eat bones. So they will eat the bones
Speaker 1: or even the kind of like leathery flesh from mummified
Speaker 1: or decaying carcasses. And they have even been known to
Speaker 1: eat tints and rope when they are desperate enough. All that,
Speaker 1: but that can't provide anything, I mean bones, certainly because
Speaker 1: they're eating like marrow essentially. Yeah, all bloodies don't eat
Speaker 1: the rope rope, phone, help you. I like these guys.
Speaker 1: They're yeah, they're they're short. They got two humps. That
Speaker 1: makes them better than the one hump camel. Camel war
Speaker 1: But yeah, objectively. This is like a sneeches a situation,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Yeah, I don't. I don't want to start
Speaker 1: this amongst camels, but it kind of seems objective to
Speaker 1: me that, you know, two humps or they're taller, yeah,
Speaker 1: the smaller Yeah on a smaller camel, bigger humps, and
Speaker 1: they fluffy. They are massively ma sibly fluffy. So yeah,
Speaker 1: this one looks like it's well, it's interesting. So they are.
Speaker 1: They have a very thick furry coat in the winter
Speaker 1: that is just completely poofy, like so fluffy. I'm talking like,
Speaker 1: you know, just bison levels of total fluff. Beyond that,
Speaker 1: they're like I like, yeah, I like its chest fluff.
Speaker 1: They have so much fluff, and I mean I I
Speaker 1: just kind of want to like hug one of these
Speaker 1: things and get lost in the It is so fluffy.
Speaker 1: It actually will shed this winter coat in the summer,
Speaker 1: spring and summer and it will fall off in these huge,
Speaker 1: messy clumps. And it looks like a toddler took a
Speaker 1: pair of razor to this poor camel and just started
Speaker 1: going to town. But it looks like that camels going
Speaker 1: through or something. Yeah, yeah, or like the camel's just
Speaker 1: kind of like decaying or something. But it's totally natural.
Speaker 1: It's just that this coat has to come off, and
Speaker 1: it comes off really rapidly, so it comes off in
Speaker 1: these huge chunks. That makes it look like a cat
Speaker 1: an incredibly bad day at a barber's. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: In this picture, it seems to be like middle, then top,
Speaker 1: the bottom, so it still has all that like proud
Speaker 1: chest fluff, but the top is a is a mess. Yeah,
Speaker 1: in the middle is patchy at best. When I'm also
Speaker 1: confused about it is this camel seems to be outside
Speaker 1: a house, and therefore I assume is taken care of
Speaker 1: by the people who live in that house. Can't they
Speaker 1: just shave that camel? I mean, it's but this is natural.
Speaker 1: For the camera, it's gonna do it. Yeah, it's gonna
Speaker 1: do it regardless. I would just it's not probably bothering him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wonder if I guess they don't, because, like you know,
Speaker 1: when you give a dog a haircut and they can
Speaker 1: get embarrassed about it. I do have to trim my
Speaker 1: dog's butt fluffies otherwise the poop can get stuck to
Speaker 1: the butt fluff and the amount of treats it takes
Speaker 1: to bribe her to tolerate the butt fluffy haircut is enormous. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what you're doing back there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If that hair, yeah, if that hair just falls fell off,
Speaker 1: I assume, Yeah, it's better just let it. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: the reason that they are they have to go through
Speaker 1: this incredible change from being like this incredible poofy fluffy
Speaker 1: thing to having a very short coat is that they
Speaker 1: live in an environment that has the most dramatic temperature
Speaker 1: changes of almost anywhere in the world. Because from for
Speaker 1: the Steps and the Gobi Desert, it can get down
Speaker 1: into five degrees to negative twenty degrees Fahrenheite in the winter,
Speaker 1: which is negative fifteen degrees to negative thirty degrees celsius,
Speaker 1: which is so so cold, um and in the summer
Speaker 1: gets up to temperatures of around a hundred degrees fahrenheit
Speaker 1: or over or thirty eight degrees celsius, so goes from
Speaker 1: being increasous below freezing cold to being boiling, blistering lee hot.
Speaker 1: Good for them, you know, to be able to groom
Speaker 1: themselves for that. Yeah, that's that's a that's a good
Speaker 1: trait that also, Yeah, I would if it was that hot,
Speaker 1: I'd find a way to get anything off my body. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just start peeling my skin off. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: And they also have adaptations that allow them to survive
Speaker 1: in the really dry winter condition because winters can even
Speaker 1: though like we think some in certain climates you think
Speaker 1: of winters as being maybe kind of wet, a lot
Speaker 1: of rain or something, winter extremely dry, the factory and
Speaker 1: camel can actually eat small amounts of snow to stay hydrated,
Speaker 1: which is not something you should do as a human. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess not. No, you should not. If you if
Speaker 1: it's on the ground, if it came from the sky,
Speaker 1: no you should not. You shouldn't eat even fresh snow
Speaker 1: for hydration because you're actually going to dehydrate yourself more.
Speaker 1: It takes more moisture for you to process that really
Speaker 1: cold cold snow, and your body essentially has to like
Speaker 1: melt it so that you can process it, and it
Speaker 1: ends up on net causing making your metabolism work harder,
Speaker 1: and so you actually end up loose using water when
Speaker 1: you eat snow like that. So if you are hiking
Speaker 1: in the snow and you're thirsty, do not eat the
Speaker 1: snow unless you're a back drain camel, or you boil
Speaker 1: that snow. I don't know, you boil the snow from Florida.
Speaker 1: I live in California. Now, I don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of snow experience, right, I don't. I don't know what
Speaker 1: it takes. Yeah, yeah you can. You can catch snowflakes
Speaker 1: on your tongue. That's fine, but don't don't eat snow
Speaker 1: if you are hiking in your thirsty it's not not
Speaker 1: a good situation unless you boil it. But the back
Speaker 1: drain camel can eat small amounts of snow. It can't
Speaker 1: go overboard or else. It will actually encounter the same
Speaker 1: problem as humans and other mammals. But they are one
Speaker 1: of the few animals that are able to eat snow,
Speaker 1: and they have a fish and enough internal thermal regulation
Speaker 1: to be able to turn the snow into something that
Speaker 1: actually hydrates them. So uh, it is a really really
Speaker 1: useful adaptation for them that we do not possess. Good
Speaker 1: for them, Good for them, I mean, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe live in a nicer climate. Camme, well, it will
Speaker 1: be a lot easier for you. But you know, like
Speaker 1: we're making it work and work camels take a break,
Speaker 1: moved to the beach. It's like like, well I'm tired
Speaker 1: of the cold, Well let me move to the desert instead.
Speaker 1: That was the decision they made. Um. Yeah, but they
Speaker 1: actually were really important in human history, the backt and camel.
Speaker 1: Their ability to survive in incredibly harsh conditions from the
Speaker 1: extreme heat to the extreme cold, allowed humans to use
Speaker 1: them as pack animals along the Silk Road, and without
Speaker 1: this camel, this trade route would probably not have been possible. Yeah, that,
Speaker 1: I mean makes a lot of sense because I feel
Speaker 1: like I've seen pictures of camels like packed up with stuff,
Speaker 1: and it seems easy for them. It seems like they
Speaker 1: got it. Yeah, I mean they are. They're they're strong,
Speaker 1: and they they are very they can they travel long distances.
Speaker 1: They're very good at traveling long distances, and they are
Speaker 1: extremely hardy and they can survive a really long time
Speaker 1: without food or waters. So they're amazing as pack animals. Now,
Speaker 1: whether they enjoy it, I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: if they Yeah, but they can handle it. And uh,
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody enjoys walking that long. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think the humans were having a great time either,
Speaker 1: probably not. They did help. I mean this was before
Speaker 1: we had like jeeps, so you know we had how
Speaker 1: to use camels. We had to use Joe Camel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: impart all the cigarettes. Oh man, Joe Camel such a
Speaker 1: bad look for camels. Yeah, no, he wasn't. He wasn't
Speaker 1: their best spokesperson. No, no, they should have sent someone else,
Speaker 1: but we got Joe. Um. But even though they look
Speaker 1: like kind of ungainly like, they wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: run very fast, especially because they're fluffy back during camels
Speaker 1: as well as actually the drumedary camels can run pretty fast,
Speaker 1: up to forty miles per hour or sixty kilometers per hour. Typically,
Speaker 1: they don't like to run. That's not like their thing.
Speaker 1: They don't gallop around just for just for fun. But
Speaker 1: they can't. They don't seem like runners. Yeah, they don't.
Speaker 1: They don't strike me as runners. They're not. They have
Speaker 1: those long legs, but I can't imagine that their bodies
Speaker 1: are so misshapen to their legs. They're they're awkward. They're
Speaker 1: a little awkward. They I mean, they are capable of
Speaker 1: running pretty fast, they just it is not not they're
Speaker 1: like not a fun activity for them. They're not like
Speaker 1: up at six am and they're in there. They Yeah,
Speaker 1: they seem low energy or they just know how to
Speaker 1: conserve that energy. Yeah, with their with their CrossFit tennis
Speaker 1: shoes and they're yeah, I'm trying to think of the
Speaker 1: runner like intense runner outfits. Yeah, they have they have
Speaker 1: the belt with why they don't need the belt they
Speaker 1: like water belt yew, they got got the tube like
Speaker 1: the water backpack. That third picture you have with this
Speaker 1: factory and camel um, it's so funny. I do like
Speaker 1: that they seem to keep tufts of hair on the top.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just waiting to lose those
Speaker 1: like thinner tufts of hair on the top of its
Speaker 1: back or humps, uh, but I like that it's just
Speaker 1: like a little decorative poof Yeah. I think they kind
Speaker 1: of keep those whispies, like those kind of dark whispies
Speaker 1: on the top of their humps. That's fun. It's really fun.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just fun. And I also like he
Speaker 1: has like he kept like top of the it looks
Speaker 1: like I know people with his hair cut. Yeahs like
Speaker 1: a nineties boy band like middle part haircut. Yeah. Good
Speaker 1: it's good. Uh, it's it's a look. It looks like yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just it looks like this camel's like starting new
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, he's a he's a what is it
Speaker 1: Backstreet boys? Yeah, yeah, I I like his haircut. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's doing good. He looks like, you know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't look that much like a crisis. I mean
Speaker 1: there's a little crisis going on underneath. But at the
Speaker 1: top he's grooming himself. Ye yeah, I mean like if
Speaker 1: you ignore him from sort of like the waist downs,
Speaker 1: he's well groomed. Yeah. Um, it does look like one
Speaker 1: of those Chinese crested dogs. It does a little bit, yeah,
Speaker 1: which I do, which I do think are cute. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I for the fluff, but you know, this
Speaker 1: camel's figuring out his look. Without this camel, it's got
Speaker 1: the best of both worlds because like in the winter,
Speaker 1: fluff for days, and then the summer, boy, yeah, and
Speaker 1: the summer he's shedding. You know, yeah, you prepared, you
Speaker 1: prepared for the summer, and he knew what his look
Speaker 1: was going to be exactly, yeah, and he achieved it,
Speaker 1: he really did. I really like that. He does have
Speaker 1: this like like human like haircut. I hope he keeps
Speaker 1: that for the summer. Kind of dark roots too. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's grown out a little bit, a little bit of
Speaker 1: mullet shape going on, but he has he is is
Speaker 1: swoopy hair, little haircut. Yeah, really cute. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: a little pomp pomps back. Do you like like? I
Speaker 1: like that? They just like keep that. They're just like
Speaker 1: these are for me, just like keep them keeping them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So onto. The only undomesticated wild camel still left in
Speaker 1: the world the wild Bactrian. So again, this is not
Speaker 1: like a feral version of the Bactrian camel. This is
Speaker 1: a different species that diverged over a million years ago
Speaker 1: and it is the only still living, completely wild and
Speaker 1: free camel. Now. Unfortunately, they are critically endangered. Only around
Speaker 1: a thousand individuals still exists in the wild, and in
Speaker 1: my opinion, it is really important to make sure they
Speaker 1: do not go extinct because they are incredible. So they
Speaker 1: live in the Gobi Desert and in China's Lopnur Desert
Speaker 1: mountain region in protected reserves, and these are the only
Speaker 1: places where you will find them. The wild Bactrian camel
Speaker 1: is more lithe and wiry than its domesticated counterparts, a
Speaker 1: little more sleek, little more aerodynamic. Uh, it looks similar,
Speaker 1: more similar to the Bactrian camel, the domesticated Bactrian camel,
Speaker 1: than it does to a dromedary camel. It has two humps,
Speaker 1: it's got that the same a lot of the same features,
Speaker 1: the fluffy coat in the wind winter that it sheds
Speaker 1: in the summer because it lives in similar conditions in
Speaker 1: the the extreme hot and extreme cold climates. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it is. It is very similar in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways to the domesticated Bactrian camel. Yeah it Uh, this
Speaker 1: looks like a wild camel now that I'm comparing, this
Speaker 1: looks like the this guy who's been out there, live
Speaker 1: in the he has been the road, live in a
Speaker 1: hard life. He also, yeah, I mean he's he's clearly
Speaker 1: losing patches of flour. But yeah, there's something about this
Speaker 1: one's eyes that is like I've seen out here. Um,
Speaker 1: it's not. It looks a little more alert than the
Speaker 1: other camels do. And indeed they have seen they have
Speaker 1: seen some stuff, some crazy stuff. They actually faced nuclear
Speaker 1: threats from humans in the sixties. Uh. China in the
Speaker 1: sixties tested nuclear weapons in the atmosphere overlap near Um
Speaker 1: where these camels were located, so they were exposed to
Speaker 1: a lot of radiation. Oh. Weirdly enough, the camels survived.
Speaker 1: They were okay. Uh. They survived nuclear radiation from forty
Speaker 1: three nuclear tests over the Lobner region And it's really amazing.
Speaker 1: It's hard to say how they managed this. It's possible
Speaker 1: that they're thick fur and skin may have protected them somewhat.
Speaker 1: There may also be something going on with their gut bacteria.
Speaker 1: I'll talk about that a little more in just a minute.
Speaker 1: But it's really incredible that they are were able to
Speaker 1: survive like nuclear radiation, extreme hot, extreme cold, nuclear radiation.
Speaker 1: That's mind blowing these That's a sturdy animal and it
Speaker 1: did not deserve that. But that's that's incredible. I yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it could be like camels and cockroaches at
Speaker 1: the end here. Yeah, no, I mean yeah, I think
Speaker 1: of the animals that may survive a like a nuclear winter,
Speaker 1: God forbid, maybe a camel. Yeah. Who would have thought?
Speaker 1: Not me. I would not have. They would not have
Speaker 1: been at the top of my list. But I'm proud
Speaker 1: of them. I'm proud of hopefully they don't have to
Speaker 1: do that again. But yeah, hopefully, because I'll tell you
Speaker 1: one thing, they'd survive a lot better than humans one. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: uh that I'm proud. I'm happy for them, very happy
Speaker 1: for them. Some good news is that in China signed
Speaker 1: the Comprehensive Test Band Treaty, so those nuclear tests no
Speaker 1: longer happen and now the area is a sanctuary for
Speaker 1: the camels. Oh yeah, I love that for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let them. You can't hug with nuclear arms, but you
Speaker 1: can't hug a camel. It might spit at you. But
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, but you know, we all get puked
Speaker 1: on a little bit of one point exactly or puke
Speaker 1: on or yeah, and it's the beautiful circle of puke.
Speaker 1: Uh so uh. Something that is super super fascinating about
Speaker 1: these wild bactory and camels. So domesticated camels, the drummedaries
Speaker 1: and the domesticated Bactrian camels can tolerate slightly salty water, uh,
Speaker 1: slightly brackish water they'll be able to drink and uh process.
Speaker 1: But the wild bactory and camel amazingly can drink salt
Speaker 1: water that is saltier than seawater, which again is not
Speaker 1: recommended for humans because it will kill you. If you
Speaker 1: drink you drink too much seawater, you're gonna die because
Speaker 1: that is your body is not designed to be able
Speaker 1: to handle that much salt. That is that I know that,
Speaker 1: I'm very well aware of the Yeah, I have blown
Speaker 1: away by these damn camels. We've learned two things today
Speaker 1: about human survival. Is that like, if you're thirsty in
Speaker 1: the snow, don't eat snow. You're thirsty out at sea,
Speaker 1: don't drink the sea water unless your camel. And yeah,
Speaker 1: wild back during camel it's fine, You're good. Um they
Speaker 1: are so, yes, I mean, the exact mechanism for how
Speaker 1: they managed to drink this incredibly salty water is not
Speaker 1: yet known, but summary research is pointing in the direction
Speaker 1: of special gut bacteria that may be passed from the
Speaker 1: mother's milk to her offspring that allows them to process
Speaker 1: high salt content. So this is research that is just
Speaker 1: kind of like starting to figure these things out. So
Speaker 1: it's not I mean, I have not seen like conclusive research.
Speaker 1: If anyone out there is a camel researcher and you
Speaker 1: know more, please let me know right right to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the camel is mysterious and how it survives. It's you
Speaker 1: think we know everything about the ding camel right at
Speaker 1: this point. It's like, Okay, sure, we don't know that
Speaker 1: much about this random like cave moss that nobody studied
Speaker 1: or something, or this in this obscure tiny frog, uh
Speaker 1: deep in the rainforest. But this is a camel, and
Speaker 1: we don't know everything about this camel. It's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's kind of amazing that we still have so much
Speaker 1: to learn about this camel. Yeah, you know, don't be
Speaker 1: fooled by their dopey looks. Are full of mystery. They
Speaker 1: contain multitudes they I mean in those humps. Mhmm, you're
Speaker 1: just looking those humps, those humps, those lovely camel humps. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sad, he did not, like. Yeah, they're they're serious
Speaker 1: creatures and that turns out badasses. Yeah, basses. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: really I will keep up to date on the camel
Speaker 1: research because I'm really interested in how these wild back
Speaker 1: dreen camels are able to survive radiation and drink salt
Speaker 1: water saltier than seawater. It's incredible, truly, Like, I really
Speaker 1: do think that these camels would survive in apocalypse. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it seems like it. They're there way heartier than they
Speaker 1: seem because again, there's such like an awkward preacher. I
Speaker 1: think that's why they're like so lovable. Is weird looking
Speaker 1: and they have those dopey faces and this weird body,
Speaker 1: but you know they're they're more than they look. If
Speaker 1: you said, like, describe a hardy animal, the last thing
Speaker 1: I would think of would be a camel, right, describe
Speaker 1: a hardcore like uh mad max sort of level, you know,
Speaker 1: just the furious of the animal kingdom. It is a camel. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It turns out there the Charlie's there on, especially those
Speaker 1: lovely eyelashes. Yes, hot, and can survive a post apocalyptic world.
Speaker 1: What what more could you want? I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I mean, despite the fact that these are hardcore survivalists,
Speaker 1: like I mentioned, they are critically endangered and that's because
Speaker 1: of you know, human encroachment on their habitat and hunting. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I am really rooting for these camels though,
Speaker 1: because it just doesn't seem fair to you know, wipe
Speaker 1: them out. Yeah, they can deal with all these crazy
Speaker 1: elements and even our nuclear bullsh and yeah, and perhaps
Speaker 1: they shall inherit the earth. You know, that seems like
Speaker 1: a better earth, Camel earth. I don't know about the
Speaker 1: tongue thing in the in the spinning, but you know
Speaker 1: they've they've got some stuff figured out clearly that we don't.
Speaker 1: They do have a lot of stuff figured out. And
Speaker 1: I am I for one, welcome the the inflatable mouth
Speaker 1: sacks of love that they have. But I do hope
Speaker 1: for a bright future where we can coexist peacefully with
Speaker 1: the camels and you know, denuclearize the world, but recamel
Speaker 1: eze it. Yeah, more camels came, more camels, fewer nukes.
Speaker 1: That is my that That is the cause I am
Speaker 1: would be happy to be behind. Yes. So that so Bridget,
Speaker 1: are you ready to play a little game with me?
Speaker 1: Always guess well, we're gonna play guests Who's Squawking? The
Speaker 1: Mystery Animal sound game? Every week we play a mystery
Speaker 1: animal sound and you listeners out there and you, my guest,
Speaker 1: have to give who is squawking? And it can be
Speaker 1: any animal from a fish to a bird too. I
Speaker 1: don't know, some kind of snake anything. And the only
Speaker 1: thing you get is the animal sound animal hint. Because
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm benevolent. I will give you a hint
Speaker 1: and you try to guess who was squawking. So last
Speaker 1: week's hint was this is a redhead with legs for days,
Speaker 1: So bridget, can you guess who's making that sound? The
Speaker 1: redhead is throwing me off? I'm gonna go it just
Speaker 1: it was wrong. I'm I'm just clinging for anything because
Speaker 1: I I dude, I'm stumped. Here is it? Is it
Speaker 1: a hyena? It's a very interesting guess, very very definitely
Speaker 1: not definitely not, But I'm gonna I mean it's because
Speaker 1: famously it is a good guess. It's a fair guess.
Speaker 1: Certain species of hyenas can be pretty leagy, so I
Speaker 1: don't blame you for that, but this is, in fact
Speaker 1: not a hyena. Congratulations to the three fastest guessers, Joey P.
Speaker 1: Magnus Oh, and Joshua J who all correctly guess that
Speaker 1: this is the raw bark of a maimed wolf. So
Speaker 1: mained wolves are not actually wolves, and they are not
Speaker 1: giant foxes, even though they kind of look like a
Speaker 1: giant fox. Uh. They are wild canines related to dogs, foxes,
Speaker 1: and wolves, but only distantly. They are relatively ancient species
Speaker 1: of Canad, one of the only large South American canid
Speaker 1: species that survived the mass extinction of Mega fon around
Speaker 1: fifteen to thirteen thousand years ago. Ah, look of these guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna it's gonna go wolf for fox. Oh
Speaker 1: this is a pretty animal, very pretty. Yeah. No, I
Speaker 1: I reached for dog because I thought wolf. But they
Speaker 1: I thought of a different sound when I thought of wolf,
Speaker 1: and I should have thought of a different sound when
Speaker 1: I thought of ya. But but I mean, you were
Speaker 1: circling it, right, because it is it is confused. You
Speaker 1: were really circling around it because it is a confusing
Speaker 1: animal because it kind of looks like a wolf, kind
Speaker 1: of looks like a fox, has really long legs, actually
Speaker 1: has that kind of maine like a hyena does. Although
Speaker 1: a hyena is not that closely related to the nine species.
Speaker 1: Hyenas are actually more related to UH mongooses and uh felines.
Speaker 1: So the main wolf is really really interesting canad So
Speaker 1: it is omnivorous. Actually it eats both meat and vegetation
Speaker 1: and almost equal measures, so almost fifty fifty. It loves uh.
Speaker 1: It loves fruit, and it loves meat. They are particularly
Speaker 1: fond of a fruit known as the wolf apple or
Speaker 1: fruita do lobo in Portuguese. It is a flowering shrub
Speaker 1: with a green fruit with white, pulpy flesh that they
Speaker 1: just absolutely love. So I don't know if I'm that
Speaker 1: kind of cute that they're like they love their wolf apples. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that it's called a wolf apple.
Speaker 1: It's just like an apple just for them. Guess who
Speaker 1: else loves apples? Golden? I mean, that's that would be
Speaker 1: weird if I was just like, guess who else likes apples?
Speaker 1: Me love apples. The camels do love apples. I can
Speaker 1: see they know my dog. My dog loves apples. Cookie
Speaker 1: loves apples. She will come running when she here. And
Speaker 1: I do I like apples. I wouldn't say like I
Speaker 1: love them. I'm not crazy for them, but I like them.
Speaker 1: I'll eat them. And but when I do eat them,
Speaker 1: Cookie just gallops into the room and sits next to
Speaker 1: me and starts licking her lips because she knows she's
Speaker 1: about to get some little little bites applepy. That's cute.
Speaker 1: They're funny when they eat, when they eat crunchy foods.
Speaker 1: She loves. Yeah, she loves apples, bell peppers, cucumbers. It's
Speaker 1: it's pretty easy. Yeah. Yeah, she's kind of like one
Speaker 1: of these cucumbers. Yeah, dogs love cucumbers. That's our family dog.
Speaker 1: We we couldn't say no to treats for her, so
Speaker 1: we transitioned her to cucumbers that you love. Some love it.
Speaker 1: There's something about the crunchiness, the hydration. They love it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: give your dog a cucumber, dog, give it a cucumber.
Speaker 1: They'll be so happy. So yeah, these main wolves, I
Speaker 1: think they're one of the most gorgeous canaids in the world.
Speaker 1: They have these long legs that like have these black
Speaker 1: socks like they're wearing. It kind of gives me the
Speaker 1: vibe of like more tissue wearing those that long, long
Speaker 1: black gloves. Yeah. Yeah, the elegance. Yeah, and like I'm
Speaker 1: seeing them like midstep and they walk. Yeah, they have
Speaker 1: a very pretty walk. Yes, very very runway runway walk. Um.
Speaker 1: They have this fluffy black mane on the nape of
Speaker 1: their necks. And they're actually um the tallest wild cane
Speaker 1: in and around three ft or nineties cimeters tall uh
Speaker 1: and sixty pounds there on, which is thirty rams. And
Speaker 1: they live in the grasslands of the Serado, which is
Speaker 1: a tropical savannah region in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're the largest South American canine. They are actually
Speaker 1: not a pack animal. They live mostly solitary lives. Uh.
Speaker 1: They use this roar bark to warn others of its
Speaker 1: territory or to communicate with a mate about where it is,
Speaker 1: where its location is uh. Which it also does the
Speaker 1: same thing with the YearIn It uses its urine to communicate.
Speaker 1: But I can't share mained wolf urine over a podcast,
Speaker 1: so that's why I shared it. I know. Ah, too
Speaker 1: bad podcasts don't come in smell a vision, because I'd
Speaker 1: have some interesting smells for for you folks. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: puppies are cute, so cute, and look they're playing with
Speaker 1: their pups. These guys are good, good animal, good good animal,
Speaker 1: and good job. I got a lot of of correct
Speaker 1: guesses out there, and uh so, congratulations guys you. I'm
Speaker 1: always really impressed that listeners are able to get these.
Speaker 1: I feel like, even though I make the game, I
Speaker 1: would not be as good at playing it as a
Speaker 1: lot of my listeners are. Yeah, it's tricky. I'm impressed. Yes,
Speaker 1: thoroughly impressed. I got I got some smart listeners. So
Speaker 1: uh now onto this week's Mystery animal sound. A hint.
Speaker 1: You might find these little dudes boogying to an imaginary beat,
Speaker 1: but it's probably for the prey that lie deep beneath
Speaker 1: their feet. M So, Bridget, who do you think is squawking? Oh? God?
Speaker 1: That was? Is it like a heron or something? An
Speaker 1: intra sting gifts and I will reveal the answer to
Speaker 1: this week's Mr Animals sound on next week's podcast next Wednesday.
Speaker 1: If you out there think you know who is squawking,
Speaker 1: you can write to me at Creature Feature Pod at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. You can also find me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Creature feet Pod. Uh that's f T, not f ET.
Speaker 1: That is something very different. You can also find me
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Creature Feature Pod. Um. I'm also on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Katie Golden. If you do check out my timeline,
Speaker 1: you might actually get a little bit of a spoiler
Speaker 1: for what this week's Mr Animal sound is. So uh
Speaker 1: we want you may want to check that out or
Speaker 1: try to guess it for yourself, whatever you want. Um
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, Ridget, thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 1: And sharing my love for camels. Yeah, yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Where where can the people find you?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, you can find me doing podcasts over on
Speaker 1: the Small Bean's network. Uh. Me and my co host,
Speaker 1: uh Sarah Griffith are right now going through movie trilogies
Speaker 1: on a series called Shooting Freeze. Uh so check that
Speaker 1: out as we review those and uh all the fun
Speaker 1: stuff that's going on over at the small Beans Network.
Speaker 1: You can follow me at bridget Tweets on Twitter. That's
Speaker 1: normally where I post all my videos that I'm vacant
Speaker 1: and fun stuff like that, and uh yeah, that's where
Speaker 1: I'm at thest next and thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast and you want me to
Speaker 1: know about it, if you leave a review or rating,
Speaker 1: I would so very much appreciate it. I'll even inflate
Speaker 1: my mouth sack for you, that's what you want it. Uh,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I read all the reviews there. It really
Speaker 1: makes my day when I read a new review. Really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. And yeah, it does help out the show
Speaker 1: because it goes into the algorithm and it like tells
Speaker 1: the algorithm, Hey, look, people are there's buzz about the show.
Speaker 1: People are talking about it. Uh so yeah, I do
Speaker 1: do appreciate that. And thanks to the space Colssics for
Speaker 1: their super awesome song. X Alumina. Creature features a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts like the one
Speaker 1: you just heard, visit the I heart Radio app Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or Hey, guess what listen I'm a lovel with you.
Speaker 1: Wherever you listen to your shows, I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: keeping track. You can do. You can listen to this
Speaker 1: podcast in any way, shape or form that you want,
Speaker 1: and no one is going to arrescue, so enjoy that.
Speaker 1: Uh see you next Wednesday.