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Camels are a mammal of the Camelidae family. Camels form the genus Camelus. There are three living species of camels. Best-known are the dromedary (one hump) and bactrian (two humps) camels.

The camelids, as a family, include the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña.

The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago, during the Eocene. It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.

Habitat and adaptation

Camels live in deserts, where it is hot and dry. Camels have adapted and found ways to help them survive in deserts. They have a thick coat of hair that protects them from the heat in the day, and keeps them warm at night. Their large feet spreads their weight on the sand when they are walking. When there is food and water, a camel can eat and drink large amounts of it and store it as fat in the hump. Then, when there is no food or water, the camel uses the fat for energy, and the hump becomes small and soft. A camel's waste contains very little water. Even the water from the camel's breath flows back into its mouth. The camels have bushy eyebrows that don't let the sand go in their eyes in a sandstorm. It has a long slender neck in order to reach high leaves such as palm trees, and rubbery patches on the belly and knees to protect the skin when kneeling and sitting on the hot sand. These form after five years of age.

A camel has a naturally adapted temperature regulation - it can change its bodily temperature by six degrees Celsius either way. It has two sets of eyelashes, closing muscles in the nasal passages with slited nostrils, hairy ears and tough, leathery skin to protect the camels skin in vital emergencies such as a sandstorm. It has thick rubbery lips to eat dry, prickly plants and a large, haired tail to swat pests such as mosquitos and flies.

Camels live in groups, with one male, many females, and their young calves or calf. They are animals that use their hooves.

Reproduction

An unborn camel gestates about 9 to 11 months. There is usually one calf per birth. A camel calf can run only a few hours after it is born. Calves are weaned when they are about 1 year old.

In the desert, people feed camels with grass, grains, wheat and oats. When camels are travelling in the desert, food is often very hard to find. So the animal might have to live on dried leaves, seeds, and thorny twigs (without hurting their mouths). If there is not any regular food, camels will eat anything:, leather, even their owner's tent.

Camels are ruminants but camels do not chew their food very well before swallowing. The first stomach stores the food that is not completely chewed. Later, this food (or cud) returns to the camel's mouth, and the camel chews it again. Then the camel swallows the cud and it goes to the other parts of the stomach to be completely digested.

Camels and humans

Camels have been domesticated by humans for about 5000 years. They are used for riding and to carry things, and for meat, milk and wool.

As domesticated animals they are used in Africa, Asia, and since the 19th century also in Australia. About 900-1000 wild Bactrian Camels still live in China, Tibetan Plateau and Mongolia. There are no wild dromedaries anymore, but there are escaped domestic dromedaries in Australia. Today there are about 700,000 dromedaries living wild in the outback in Australia.

10 fun facts about camels

Newborn camels don't have humps. They gradually grow as they get older.

Camels are smarter than horses.

Camels pee on their back legs to help them cool down.

Camels can live around 40 - 50 years.

Female camels are called cows and males are called bulls.

The worlds largest meal is roasted stuffed camel! The Bedouin are nomadic Arabs and they make the feast for weddings.

In Abu Dhabi you can get a camel milkshake made with camel milk.

A group of camels is called a caravan.

Camel dung can be used for fuel.

Camels can carry about 375 to 600 lbs (170 to 270 kilograms).

Images for kids

Camel Corps at Magdhaba, Egypt, 23 December 1916, by Harold Septimus Power (1925)

Camels at the Khan and old bridge, Lajjun, Palestine (now in Israel) - 1870s drawing

Petroglyph of a camel, Negev, southern Israel (prior to c. 5300 BC)

Joseph Sells Grain by Bartholomeus Breenbergh (1655), showing camel with rider at left

The Magi Journeying ( Les rois mages en voyage)-James Tissot, c. 1886, Brooklyn Museum

In Spanish: Camelus para niños

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The Arctic fox ( Valpes lagopus) is an omnivorous (meat-eating and plant-eating) member of the Canidae family. The Arctic fox can also be called the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox. It lives in the Arctic tundra habitats of northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. The Arctic fox is found at elevations up to 9,800 ft. (3,000 m.) above sea level and has been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. Natural predators of the Arctic fox are golden eagles, Arctic wolves, polar bears, wolverines, red foxes, and grizzly bears.

The Arctic fox is about 10-12 inches high (25-30 cm) and it weighs from 6.5 to 21 pounds (2.7-4.5 kg). The females tend to be smaller than the males. The Arctic fox has a round body shape, a short nose and legs, and short fluffy ears. This small round shape means that less of its body surface is exposed to the cold, which helps to keep it warm. It has a deep, thick fur which is brown in summer and white in winter. The pups are born with brown fur which changes to white as they get older.

There are two genetically different coat color morphs: white and blue. In the winter, the white morph is white and turns brown along the back with light grey around the abdomen in summer. The blue morph is often a dark blue, brown, or grey color year-round. 99% of the Arctic fox population is the white morph. The white morph mainly lives inland (away from the sea) and blends in with the snowy tundra, while the blue morph lives near the coast because its darker color blends in with the cliffs and rocks.

Adaptations

Arctic foxes must endure temperatures outside that are extremely different from their internal core temperature. To prevent heat loss, the Arctic fox curls up tightly, tucking its legs and head under its body and behind its furry tail. Arctic foxes also stay warm by getting out of the wind and staying in their dens.

Arctic foxes do not hibernate. They grow thicker fur in the autumn and put on more than 50% of their body weight as fat for insulation and as saved-up energy. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. It is the only fox that has fur on its paws. Its broad, fluffy paws let it walk on ice and snow to look for food.

The Arctic fox has such good hearing that it can hear small animals under the snow. When it hears an animal under the snow, it jumps and punches through the snow to catch its victim.

Arctic foxes also have a keen sense of smell. They can smell carcasses that are often left by polar bears as far away as 6 to 24 miles.

Arctic foxes live in large dens in frost-free, slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels covering as much as 1,200 sq yds (1,000 m ²) and are often in eskers, which are long ridges of sedimentary material deposited in areas where there used to be glaciers. These dens may be in existence for decades and are used by many generations of foxes.

Arctic foxes tend to choose dens that are easy to enter. There are many openings and dens are clear from snow and ice, making them easier to burrow in. The Arctic fox builds and chooses dens that face southward toward the sun, which makes the den warmer. Arctic foxes prefer large, maze-like dens so that they can more easily escape predators.

Arctic foxes are omnivores. They eat lemmings, Arctic hares, fish, birds, eggs, fruit, insects, small seals, and carrion. They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators as well. Their main prey is lemmings, and a family of foxes can eat dozens of lemmings each day. They also eat berries and seaweed, so they are considered omnivores. This fox eats all bird eggs except the largest tundra bird species. When they have more food than they need, the Arctic fox buries (caches) the extra to store for later.

Reproduction

Arctic foxes form pairs in the breeding season. Breeding usually takes place in April and May. It takes 53 days for the pups to grow in the mother before they are born. The mother can produce 5-8 cubs, and sometimes as many as 25 cubs, depending on the availability of food. Both the mother and the father help to raise their young pups. The young come out of the den when they are about 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age. Arctic foxes live for about 3 to 6 years.

Conservation status

Overall, the conservation status of the species is good. Several hundred thousand individuals are estimated to remain. The IUCN given the Arctic fox the status of " least concern."

The larger red fox is catching up in numbers to the Arctic fox. Scientists think that climate change could be the reason. When there is less snow cover, the Arctic fox is not as camouflaged as when there is more snow on the ground.

New Zealand does not allow Arctic foxes to be brought into the country. In their Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, New Zealand classed the Arctic fox as a "prohibited new organism."

Conservation status

The Arctic fox has been assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004. However, the Scandinavian mainland population is acutely endangered, despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals. Of these, especially in Finland, the Arctic fox is even classified as critically endangered, because even though the animal was pacified in Finland since 1940, the population has not recovered despite that. As a result, the populations of Arctic fox have been carefully studied and inventoried in places such as the Vindelfjällens Nature Reserve (Sweden).

The pelts of Arctic foxes with a slate-blue coloration were especially valuable. They were transported to various previously fox-free Aleutian Islands during the 1920s. The program was successful in terms of increasing the population of blue foxes, but their predation of Aleutian Canada geese conflicted with the goal of preserving that species.

The Arctic fox is losing ground to the larger red fox. This has been attributed to climate change -the camouflage value of its lighter coat decreases with less snow cover.

The world population of Arctic foxes is thus not endangered, but two Arctic fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island ( Commander Islands, Russia), which was reduced by some 85-90%, to around 90 animals, as a result of mange caused by an ear tick introduced by dogs in the 1970s. The population is currently under treatment with antiparasitic drugs, but the result is still uncertain.

The other threatened population is the one in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola Peninsula). This population decreased drastically around the start of the 20th century as a result of extreme fur prices, which caused severe hunting also during population lows.

Interesting facts about Arctic Foxes

Arctic foxes are about the size of domestic cats.

They use their tails to help them balance and as a blanket.

Arctic foxes mate for life. Both parents raise the pups.

As of now, there is no danger of extinction for Arctic foxes.

Arctic foxes will eat almost anything.

They have been seen hiding food under rocks for the future.

Sweden has the Arctic fox as its symbol.

The Arctic fox is classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Vulpes lagopus para niños

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Unit 2 L 7 Climate Regions Quick Check Guide

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Unit 2 L 7 Completed Guide Notes Climate Regions