Kayo Beasley, age 11, of Peterborough, ant., for the question:

Why does the camel have a hump?

The camel has a superior, disdainful expression, even when he kneels down for you to climb on his back. He was one of the earliest animals to be tamed and has been man's friend for many thousands of years. In fact, man is now his only friend, for the camel is no loner found in the wild state. His character does not always agree with his facial expression. When treated with kindness, he is friendly and obedient. When treated badly, he protests ‑ which is only fair.

The hump on his back was not put there for his human friends to ride upon. It is a sort of pantry where he stores surplus fond. When a human being eats too much and takes too little exercise he also stores surplus food. His extra food supplies are stored in the form of fat, usually tucked away in tissues all over the body. This is not a healthy state of affairs and sooner or later the doctor tells this plump person to reduce.

The reducing diet is a strict one. The dieter must eat less food than his body requires each day. This means that the body must draw on its stored supplies of food. For the camel, storing food in the form of fat and using it when needed is no trouble at all. The job is done in his hump.

This is really a lump of fatty tissue mounted on his back. When times are good the camel eats all he can. He enjoys almost any kind of tough vegetation he can find growing in the desert. The grasses of the oasis are a luxury to ham. He is a cud chewer. He swallows his food whole and coughs it up later to be chewed.

Feeding is a slow process. But, when the camel has had his full, his hump is high and firm. This is because he has taken on enough food to last him for several days. As he trudges over the sandy wastes, he needs food for energy. His body takes what it needs from the fat stored in the hump.

This pantry hump can feed the camel for three or four days. During this time he needs no more food, but the hump slackens and becomes flabby.

When the camel reaches the oasis his hump is just a laying lump. The dromedary,  camel, has but one hump. The Asian camel, has two humps. Whether one or two, the humps are for storing fat during the, long, foodless marches over the sandy deserts.

We all know that the camel can go a long time without water. He carries extra water supplies in his stomach. The stomach is divided into three compartments. One compartment is lined with pockets which act as water flasks. A camel can carry about a gallon of extra water, enough to last him about three days.

So, the camel can journey without food or water for some threw days. This is generally the time it takes far his caravan to travel from one oasis to the next.