Samplings

NOSY CAMELS

Its cussedness is legendary. It will kick its master when it is annoyed, and spit cud at curious bystanders. Despite its vile temper, the camel is prized for its ability to withstand searing desert temperatures with a bagful of survival tricks. Among them are its unusual abilities to retain water in the bloodstream (with the help of high concentrations of a special kind of albumin), sweat so little that its skin almost always feels dry, and keep out heat with a coat of thick fur.

Now Physiologist Knut Schmidt-Nielsen of Duke University and Israeli Zoologist Amiram Shkolnik have explained another dromedary ploy: its ability to exhale far less water than even other desert animals. For 16 days the scientists kept two camels standing in peak temperatures of 40DEG C (104DEG F) without water at an Israeli kibbutz near the Dead Sea. After about ten days the camels' nightly exhalations became dryer, showing that they were saving water. But how?

Examining camel remains recovered from local abattoirs, the scientists found the answer. Camel noses are filled with many tiny winding passageways, moistened with glandular secretions. As the camel loses water, the secretions dry and form an absorbent crust. This crust soaks up moisture coming from the lungs. During inhalation, the stored moisture is carried back into the lungs. In short, the camel saves water not in its hump but in the folds of its prodigious shnoz, which cover an area of roughly 1,100 sq. cm, vs. only 12 sq. cm for the average human.

NERVOUS REINDEER

Come Christmas, Santa had better not overwork his reindeer or he may end up financing some fancy surgery for them. According to Dr. Claes Rehbinder of the Swedish Veterinary College at Uppsala, reindeer suffer from stress and are prone to ulcers. Studying animals slaughtered during a roundup in the Lapp village of Mittaadalen and elsewhere in northern Sweden, Rehbinder found that an astonishing four-fifths of them had ulcers.

Veterinarians blame the stomach bleeding on nervous exhaustion brought on by modern technology. Once the Lapps herded the animals by skiing alongside them and crooning soothing songs. Now they use helicopters, snowmobiles and motorcycles, and the animals become spooked by noise. Though no one has yet suggested that the Lapps be made to return to skis, there is concern that machine-caused stress may affect the quality of reindeer meat, which retails for $5.68 per lb. With costlier herding techniques, prices would be even higher. That could increase stress, at least among those who buy the delicacy.

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