Gail Ballai, age 12, of Somerset, N.J., for her question:

WHAT DO CAMELS EAT?

The remarkable camel is a strict vegetarian, and he seems to enjoy the scrawny plants that grow in desert regions. He can eat enormous meals when plenty of food is available because he is a cud chewing animal. He swallows each mouthful and coughs it up later to be chewed. Surplus food is stored as fat in his hump. On long desert journeys, when supplies run low, he has perhaps 100 pounds of this stored fatty food to change into energy.