Camels are worthy of their title as the "kings of the desert"

In nature, even elephants weighing 5 tons will be eaten, but camels are the absolute overlords, and there are almost no carnivores that eat camels. Does it really have no natural enemies?

No natural enemies?

The answer is no, even the largest animals in the world can be eaten, let alone camels.

It’s just that due to the harsh environment where camels live, many carnivores find it difficult to survive, and they naturally have few natural enemies, making them less likely to be eaten.

The camel's biggest natural enemy is the wolf. The wolves in the desert are even more ferocious and are not picky about their prey. As long as the food is edible, the wolves will eat it all.

There are not many herbivores in the desert environment, and wolves sometimes regard camels as prey, so wolves and camels become enemies.

The wolves wanted to eat the camels, but they were afraid of the camels' huge sizes, so they had no chance to attack them and could only harass them from the side.

Although camels have good tempers, they are also annoyed by the harassment of wolves day and night. Sometimes when they get angry, they kick the wolves, and the wolves that cannot dodge in time will at least break some bones.

Therefore, although wolves are the natural enemies of camels, they do not dare to prey on camels easily.

Just imagine, on one side is a camel weighing 600 kilograms, and on the other side is a 60-kilogram wolf. The difference between the two is obvious when compared.

In nature, body size is an important criterion for measuring an animal's fighting power.

The reason why the elephant dares to wander around in front of the lion is that it relies on its huge size to make the lion stay away.

But when elephants are alone or sick, they will still become targets of carnivores.

It seems that there is a reason why camels are "invincible" in the desert.

You may wonder, aren't wolves social animals? Why don't they rely on their numbers to hunt camels?

In our impression, wolves usually travel in groups of a dozen or dozens, but the wolf packs in the desert are different.

Because the environment is too harsh and there are too many wolves in a pack, there are not enough resources to go around, so the desert wolf packs have to split into smaller groups.

For example, a pack of five or six wolves gather together to share prey.

The combined weight of these five or six wolves is not as heavy as a camel. Let alone hunting a camel, they would be lucky not to be kicked to death by a camel.

Moreover, since wolves are social animals, why not camels too?

The number of camel groups is generally around 10, and a slightly smaller group may have 5.

If a pack of wolves wants to hunt camels, they do not have the advantage in numbers, and their only chance is to kill a lone and exhausted camel.

As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Wolves must be extra careful when hunting lone camels. Once they are kicked, they are likely to die.

The key is that even if the camel is besieged by a pack of wolves, it can run directly into the depths of the desert, and the wolves will not dare to chase it any further after chasing it halfway.

Wolves are not as drought-tolerant as camels in the desert. If they go deep into the desert, they are likely to become dehydrated, which will bring disaster to the entire wolf pack.

On the other hand, camels can go without water for several days and still live comfortably.

Therefore, camels are never a priority for wolves. When they are on the verge of collapse from hunger, the wolves may try their best, but the chances are slim.

Even if there are large predators like lions and tigers in the desert, they probably wouldn't dare to target camels.

The camel’s title of “king of the desert” is well-deserved.

The Invincible Camel

To take a step back, even if a camel is really hunted by a wolf pack or dies in the desert, it is difficult for people to observe it.

The area where camels live is sparsely populated, and no one is willing to stay in such an area except some biologists.

Some camels still live in uninhabited areas. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, not even a ghost can be seen, let alone a human.

Moreover, camel meat is not as delicious as other meats, not even as good as desert rat meat.

Because camels have evolved a unique physiological structure to prevent water loss in their bodies.

For example, sweat on the body surface will be collected and reused.

This body shape that uses water to the extreme causes their cells to be dehydrated for a long time, seriously affecting the quality of the meat.

Camel meat tastes like tree bark and is tough to chew.

Dangerous corpse

Not only is the camel the king when it is alive, but even when it is dead, no animal dares to approach it.

The carcass of a camel is a breeding ground for pathogens. Under high temperature conditions, microorganisms decompose cells very quickly, and pathogens multiply in large numbers in the camel's body.

In the dry and hot environment, the camel carcasses decay faster and emit a lot of foul smell around.

Generally speaking, wild camels in the desert cannot be eaten one day after death. Even if wolves encounter a dead camel, they will stay away from it.

Not only because it stinks, but also because the camel's carcass is dangerous.

In order to conserve water in their bodies, camels have very closed bodies. Once a large amount of gas accumulates, an explosion similar to a "whale explosion" is likely to occur.

Camels’ alternative “natural enemies”

There is a species that rarely lives in the desert. Its weight is close to that of a wolf, but its impact on camels is greater than that of wolves. It is called an alternative natural enemy of camels.

That species is human beings.

Humans have had many impacts on camel survival. From an environmental perspective, the disorderly expansion of humans in the natural environment has led to intensified desertification.

Although this seems to increase the camel's living space, in fact, the man-made desert is seriously polluted, with all kinds of garbage everywhere, which is not suitable for camels to survive.

The garbage brought by humans will also pollute the surrounding land and occupy the living space of camels.

From the perspective of edibility, many wealthy people pursued novel foods and hunted wild camels indiscriminately, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of wild camels.

At the end of the last century, people discovered that the humps of Bactrian camels were highly edible and were a sought-after "green delicacy."

Thus, a camel hunting operation began. People drove to the desert Gobi to find camels, killed them, and took away only their fur and humps.

Later, international conservation laws explicitly prohibited people from hunting wild camels, but there are still illegal hunters who engage in hunting for profit.

In order to survive, camels had to move deeper into the desert to find new habitats.

Today, wild camels are rarely seen on the edge of the desert.

In nature, no species is invincible. They always have a natural enemy, and that is human beings.

To a certain extent, human production and life, intentional or unintentional, are affecting the normal operation of nature.

Camel Status

Even the overlord of the desert has to face the crisis of survival due to human greed.

Previously, data surveys in my country showed that there were only 500 wild Bactrian camels in China, and no more than 800 wild Bactrian camels in the world.

The number of dromedary camels is as high as 13 million, but more than 99% of them are domesticated by humans, and the real wild dromedary camels are on the verge of extinction.

People are worried whether wild camels will disappear from people's lives in the future.

Since the 5th century BC, people have used camels to transport various goods and cargoes. Camels, as "desert oases", have been diligently helping humans for thousands of years with their thick paws. However, they are now in a survival crisis under the influence of humans.

We have to reflect on where the bottom line is in the process of developing the natural environment.

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