Why can a camel go for 2 years without water, but a human can't?

Question

Why can a camel go for 2 years without water, but a human can't?

Answer 1

1st they don't hold water in their humps

2 because we are all built differently :)

Answer 2

Exactly Ashley, Camels store water in there humps that's why they can live in the desert with no problem with out water.

Answer 3

they can hold a lot of water in their humps and they drink very little water

Answer 4

Camels can hold more water in there body that humans can.

Answer 5

Camels can't go two years without water.

Two months, maybe.

Two weeks, probably.

Two days, definatly.

The reason they can do this is because the fatty tissues that make up the majortity of their humps retain water.

Humans usually can't go more than two days without some form of hydration.

Try going three days without any type of liquid and only eat dry foods and see how you feel, then you'll understand.

Answer 6

Camels don't store water in their humps, it's a myth.

They store fat there....but they can then metabolize energy from the fat and it would yield 1g of water for 1g of fat through reaction with oxygen.

They live without water for so long due simply to physical adaptations such as having differently shaped blood cells to most mammals that allow them to flow when dehydrated.

So the animal can still function even when thirsty.

They start to sweat a much higher external temperature than most animals therefore not wasting water through sweating.

Their nostrils manage to trap and return water vapour breathed out to their bodies.

They can stand to lose about 20% of their bodyweight in water loss compared about 3% for most mammals.

They conserve about 5 litres of water a day using these methods.....so they simply use what water they have more effectivley than other animals.

That said, I doubt even they can last 2 years without water.

Answer 7

The humps are fat...not big water tanks.

Camels can go without water for up to two weeks. Camels can survive a 40% loss of body weight without serious consequences. Heavy fur and the fatty hump serve to insulate the body, preventing body temperature from rising to the sweating point (the major cause of water loss). When water again becomes available, camels are able to restore their body water quickly; they have been known to drink one third of their body weight in 10 minutes.

The humps on a camel's back are actually huge heaps of fat and flesh that can weigh as much as 80 pounds in a healthy camel. When water and food become scarce on the deserts where camels roam, the fatty humps serve as stored food and are used for nourishment. As the camel's body metabolizes or uses up the humps' stored fat, the hump becomes smaller and flabbier. So the longer the camel goes without eating, the smaller its hump gets. The size of a camel's hump helps determine a camel's health, food sources, and overall well-being.

Answer 8

don't they hold water in their humps?

Answer 9

a camel is an animal that became adapted to sun sand and little water it can slow down its system to the point in which it wont use alot of enery and humans cant do that because we have more pores than animals do and we lose more water than they do.

Answer 10

I can't believe some people here still think that camels store water in their humps. If you didn't  know that camels store FAT in their humps abd not water, you probably shouldn't be in the Zoology section.