Question

All the following facts about camels make them adapt to a long period of drought in hot deserts, except
A. The camel’s thick far insulates its body against high temperatures thereby reducing water loss.
B. Camels can survive a loss of up to 40 percent of their body water, for most mammals this limit is 20 percent
C. Camels do not sweat until the external temperature rises to about 41$^\circ$C which is much higher than for most mammals.
D. Camels can drink as much as 1/3 of their body weight in ten minutes, which other mammals cannot.

Answer 1

Hint: The evolutionary process by which organisms evolve some physiological, structural, and behavioural modifications that provide them better survival rate in their habitat. This process is called adaptation. Adaptation is needed for an organism to fit in the continuous slow-changing environment.

Complete answer:
Camel belongs to the order Artiodactyla and family Camelidae. Two types of camels are found, named dromedary camel and Bactrian camel. Camel is a desert animal that possesses several adaptations to survive in the hot climate. These adaptations are:
The top of the camel’s body is covered with thick fur which provides shade to the body and reduces the loss of water. The thin far that is found apart from the top is responsible for easy sweating. Thus thick fur acts as the insulator to the body.
Camels can survive in excessive loss of body water without hampering their body activities. They can sustain by losing up to 40% of their body fluid. No other animal can survive in this high dehydration. In the case of humans, if the body fluid loss crosses the 15% of the body fluid it will lead to death.
The body temperature of the camels varies between 34-41$^\circ$C. Camels will not sweat until the body temperature rises to 41$^\circ$C.
There is no relation between the drinking rate of camels and it’s survival.
So, the correct answer is “Option D”.

Note:
Camels can survive more than a week without water and several months without eating. They are capable of drinking upto 46 liters or 32 gallons of water at a time. The hump of the camel is made-up of fat that is used in metabolism to produce ATP. Wide feet of camels allow them to move.