Adaptations of a camel: what the hump really holds, and how camels beat the desert

The main adaptations of a camel are a hump of fat (not water), the power to drink up to 145 litres (32 gallons) in one session, a body temperature that rises by day to save sweat, and nostrils, eyelashes and feet built for sand. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a camel can go a week or more without water.

There are three kinds of camel. The dromedary has one hump. The Bactrian camel has two. Both are farm animals today. The third kind, the wild camel of China and Mongolia, has two humps and is rare. The tricks below work in all three, though most lab studies were done on dromedaries.

What are the main adaptations of a camel?

School worksheets often sort adaptations into three kinds. Structural ones are body parts, like the hump. Behavioural ones are things the camel does, like eating salty plants. Physiological ones happen inside the body, like how it handles heat. The table puts them side by side.

Camel adaptations at a glance

Adaptation	Kind	What it does	Key number
Hump	Structural	Stores fat as an energy reserve	Up to 36 kg (80 lb) of fat (Oakland Zoo)
Huge drinking capacity	Physiological	Refills the body fast after a long dry spell	Up to 145 litres (32 gallons) in one session (SDZWA)
Rising body temperature	Physiological	Stores heat by day instead of sweating it away	Daily swing grew from 2.4 °C to 3.8 °C when short of water (Bouâouda et al. 2014)
Tolerance of water loss	Physiological	Keeps going while badly dried out	Lost 23% of body weight in 19 days without water (Bouâouda et al. 2014)
Closable nostrils	Structural	Keep sand out of the nose	Slit-shaped and able to shut (SDZWA, Oakland Zoo)
Double eyelashes	Structural	Keep sand out of the eyes	Two rows of extra-long lashes (SDZWA)
Wide padded feet	Structural	Spread out so the camel does not sink in sand	Two toes on a broad, callused pad (SDZWA, Oakland Zoo)
Split upper lip	Structural	Picks leaves off thorny plants	Each half moves on its own (SDZWA)
Eating salty plants	Behavioural	Uses food other grazers avoid	Needs 6 to 8 times more salt than other animals (Oakland Zoo)

Do camels store water in their humps?

No. This is the most common camel myth. The hump holds fat, and the fat is an energy store, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. A dromedary’s hump can hold up to 36 kg (80 lb) of fat, according to Oakland Zoo. That is about the weight of a ten-year-old child.

When food runs short, the camel burns this fat for energy. A camel that has gone hungry for a long time has a smaller, floppy hump. Once it eats well again, the hump fills back out. Oakland Zoo notes that breaking down fat also releases some water, but the hump is a food store first. It is not a water tank.

Why keep all the fat in one place?

Packing fat into a hump, instead of spreading it under the skin, leaves the rest of the body with a thinner layer. That makes it easier for heat to leave the body through the skin. Think of it as wearing one backpack instead of a thick coat. This idea is widely repeated in zoo and textbook sources, but we did not find a study that measured it directly.

How long can a camel go without water?

A week or more, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Oakland Zoo gives four to seven days in severe heat. In cooler weather, or when camels eat juicy green plants, they can go much longer, because the plants carry water.

The real secret is not storing water. It is losing less of it, and being able to survive when a lot is gone. In a 2014 study in Physiological Reports, dromedaries kept in desert-like conditions went 19 days without water. By the end they had lost 23% of their starting body weight, and they were still alive. For most mammals, a loss that large would be deadly.

Then, when a camel finds water, it drinks fast. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says a camel can drink up to 145 litres (32 gallons) in one session. That is about the same as a full bathtub.

How do camels cope with desert heat?

They let themselves get hot. Most mammals sweat or pant to keep their body at one steady temperature. That costs water. A camel instead lets its body warm up during the day, stores the heat, and gets rid of it in the cool night air.

The Bouâouda study measured this. With plenty of water, the camels’ body temperature rose and fell by about 2.4 °C each day. After nearly three weeks without water, the daily swing grew to about 3.8 °C, from about 35.4 °C at night to 39.2 °C in the day. The drier the camel, the more it saves water this way.

Bactrian camels face the opposite problem too. They live where winters are freezing. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says they can survive from −29 °C (−20 °F) to 49 °C (120 °F). Their thick winter coat falls out in clumps in spring.

Why do camels have long eyelashes and closing nostrils?

To keep out sand. Camels have two rows of extra-long eyelashes that shield their eyes, and they can close their nostrils when sand blows, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Oakland Zoo describes the nostrils as slit-shaped. In a sandstorm, that is like having built-in goggles and a scarf.

How are camel feet and lips built for the desert?

Camels walk on two toes joined by a big, soft pad. The feet are broad and heavily callused, and they spread out when the camel steps down, says San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Spreading the weight stops the camel sinking into soft sand, a bit like snowshoes on snow.

At the other end, a camel has a split upper lip. Each half moves on its own, so the camel can pick leaves from between thorns. Camels eat plants that many grazers avoid, including salty ones. Oakland Zoo says dromedaries need 6 to 8 times more salt than other animals, and about a third of their diet comes from salt-loving plants.

How do camel adaptations compare with other desert animals?

Camels are giants of the desert, so they rely on their size. Big bodies heat up slowly, which gives the camel time to store heat by day. Small desert animals take the opposite approach. The fennec fox hides in a burrow by day and loses heat through huge ears. See adaptations of a fennec fox to compare.

Animals in the cold use some of the same ideas in reverse. Polar bears keep a thick layer of fat all over to hold heat in; see polar bear adaptations. For a desert-edge hunter built for speed rather than stamina, look at adaptations of a cheetah.

Are camels endangered?

Farm camels are not, but wild camels are. Nearly all dromedaries live with people, and the species has been gone from the wild for about 2,000 years, says Oakland Zoo. The two-humped wild camel of the Gobi Desert is a separate species.

In October 2025, the IUCN Red List moved the wild camel from Critically Endangered to Endangered, reports the Wild Camel Protection Foundation. The group says this reflects better counts, not a recovery. It estimates 1,040 to 1,840 wild camels, in China and Mongolia. Threats include mining, roads, breeding with farm camels and a warming, drier climate.

Quick facts: camel adaptations

• Hump: fat, up to 36 kg (80 lb). Not water.
• Drinking: up to 145 litres (32 gallons) in one session.
• Without water: a week or more.
• Daily body temperature swing: up to about 3.8 °C when short of water.
• Sand shields: two rows of eyelashes and nostrils that close.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Camel.
2. Oakland Zoo. Dromedary camel.
3. PubMed Central (2014). Daily regulation of body temperature rhythm in the camel (Camelus dromedarius) exposed to experimental desert conditions (Bouâouda et al., Physiological Reports, doi:10.14814/phy2.12151).
4. Wild Camel Protection Foundation USA (2026). Wild Camel: status changed, threats remain.

Sources checked 15 September 2026.