The camel is a very ancient and well known animal, and highly regarded because of its natural abilities. These abilities are so unique that they are often misunderstood and have been exaggerated for thousands of years. Let’s take a quick look at this “ship of the desert” and see how God designed it for its desert existence.
Do camels store water? In a word, No! A popular myth that a thirsty traveler could kill a camel and in part of its stomach find water that could be drunk to survive, is not true. The camel does have a very complex digestive system, and its stomach does have pockets in it. But these pockets are filled with liquefied masticated food waiting to be absorbed. A truly desperate person might be able to consume this vile mess and live longer, but not otherwise.
The camel can drink and store as much as 27 gallons of water in ten minutes. The water, however, is not stored in the hump! The camel’s hump is composed of fat that serves as an energy reserve and not a water reserve. The camel can lose a huge quantity of water without dying. It may lose 25% of its body weight and show no signs of distress. A man losing 12% of his body water is in very serious trouble as the blood becomes thicker and the heart has to work harder to move the blood. The camel has been created with a method of taking water out of its tissue instead of the blood. A severely dehydrated camel will look very thin with its ribs showing but suffers no lasting effects once the water is replaced. The mechanism that God has given the camel which allows him to do this is, at this time, unknown to modern scientists. Man in his finite wisdom believes that it is possible to explain every characteristic of every animal by the gradual changes from life form to another. The camel is living proof that–it just ain’t so!!
