Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚥馃嚘 Morocco

The dromedary camel

The 'ship of the desert' with one big hump

A dromedary camel walking across the orange sand dunes of the Moroccan Sahara

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The dromedary camel is the most famous animal of Morocco's Sahara. It has one big hump on its back (the bactrian camel, in Asia, has two). For thousands of years, dromedaries have carried people, food and trade goods across the desert - which is why they are nicknamed the 'ship of the desert'.

Tell me more

The hump is not full of water - it is full of fat. When food is scarce, the camel slowly uses up the fat and the hump goes a bit floppy. Once the camel eats well again, the hump fattens back up. So a healthy camel has a tall, upright hump.

Camels can drink up to 100 litres of water in 10 minutes - more than five big buckets. Then they can go for over a week in the desert heat without another drink. Their bodies are amazing at saving every drop of water, even from their breath.

Their feet are built for sand. Each foot has two big toes joined by a wide leathery pad that spreads out as the camel steps - like built-in snowshoes. That stops them sinking into soft sand.

They have long eyelashes (two rows!) to keep sand out of their eyes, and they can close their nostrils to keep sand out of their nose. Even their fur reflects the sun. Almost everything about them is designed for the desert.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01If a camel's hump is fat, where does it store water?
  2. 02Why might it help to have feet that spread out on sand?
  3. 03Why have camels been used for trade across deserts for thousands of years instead of horses?
Try this

Classroom activity

Compare three desert animals you've learned about: the camel, the fennec fox, and the goats in argan trees. Make a class chart of how each one survives heat, thirst and sand. Whose tricks are most clever?