There are two types of camels. The Bactrian, which has only two humps and the Dromedary which has one hump. The Bactrian camel is much shorter and can endure much more extreme temperatures, from hot weather in Iran to freezing temperatures in Tibet. Its wool is much finer than the Dromedary. A male is called a bull, a female is a cow and a baby i called a calf. When calfs are born they weight 40-50kg but when fully grown they can weigh up to 600kgs. These animals can live up to 50 years and reach their full size by the age of 2. Camels are called the "Ship of the Dessert" because of the way they walk. They move both legs of each side at the same time, the rolling motion that you feel resembles a ship at sea. The wool that camels produce is high in quality and is used in the Arab world for clothing and rugs. They shed 2kgs of wool each time they molt. Camels produce milk and it can be used to drink, but it has a taste that gets some getting used to. Most people think that the hump that camels have are full of water, but its made up of fat. The hump decreases in size if the camel does not eat and babies must start eating as soon as possible to develop this hump. Camels have two layers of eye lashes to protect them against sand. There is also a third row that acts as a windshield wiper that move to side removing any sand. The bushy eyebrows are used to shade their eyes from the sun. Their ears are fairly small but have excellent hearing. Again, long hairs cover the ears to protect from sand getting in. As you can see, this animal has evolved to live in a place with a sandy environment. Their knees have protection by a formed patch that protects when they kneel. The way they eat is not common, they swallow their food whole and they regurgitate it and then chew that. Camels in the wild get their water mainly from plants and they need 30-40 liters of water each day. When camels are extremely thirsty, they can drink up to 100 liters of water in 10 minutes. Their diet is high in salt so in captivity they are provided with a salt block.
Working on this drawing was great, i loved getting the layers of hair and the the contrast from the dark and light hairs. The detail on the eye is not as evident, because of the eyebrow and eyelashes that protect the eye.
