Reporting From The Burning Sand Dunes

Have you ever had the curiosity of taking a trip into a desert area? Or perhaps the better way to begin an article about the vast desert would be by making an exercise of imagination. Now get ready…one, two, and three and go…close your eyes in this very moment and try to imagine vast areas of sand and an almost wilting, scorching sun and in this empire of sand and hotness picture some plants and animals. How do you think all these plants and animals you pictured there with the eye of your mind manage to survive in these rather harsh conditions?

For the moment I am going to leave plants away and refer to animals that spend their entire life in the desert areas. As you can all imagine under the scorching sun the heat becomes sometimes unbearable and of course it leads to a lack of water. What would you do if you were in their situation? We often mention one’s power to adapt to the various situations one comes into in this life and this seems to be the ultimate solution that ensures one’s survival amid harsh conditions and as such animals had to adapt too; they adapted their bodies as well as their habits to the desert climate. The surprising part comes when mentioning the various methods used to manage to do just this. Like most of us humans tend to do when it is hot outside they too search the shade of trees, but this happens mainly in the case of large animals that are capable to impose their will. But, as you can imagine trees are rather scarce in the vast bareness and as such animals are sometimes forced to cover appreciable distances in order to come across rather solitary springs or wells in the middle of the desert area. Yet, animals manage to do this because they have adapted their body to these conditions. You would be surprised to find out how Mother Nature seems to have thought about almost every detail to make them stronger and ensure their survival.

Let’s take for example the already famous scorpions. Did you know that these rather dreaded creatures live in arid areas which in fact they seem to love? Indeed they are nocturnal creatures and during the day they rather avoid showing up, hiding under rocks, logs or sometimes even burrows. Did you know that they have adapted themselves to cold areas and hot, arid ones as well? Surprisingly or not, in cold areas they spend the cold months of the year hibernating and in arid areas they spend the summers in a sleepy, latent state, the specialized term for this being aestivate.

I do not know if you ever saw an ostrich. Most of you probably envisage them as rather strange looking birds, a bird which came to be recognized as being the world’s largest one. But, despite of its already famous height and famous running speed did you know that they have adapted themselves to arid areas? Did you know that during a hot day they can drink up to 12 liters of water? Yet, there is more to it than just this as they are able to store water in their bones and this is why they were probably given the Latin name of Camelus Struthios. They are envisaged by many as some sort of watching guardians for many grazing mammals such as zebras, giraffes and even gazelles. Being endowed by nature with rather long legs, much craved by top models nowadays, I am referring to long legs in general not precisely ostrich legs, they are capable of traveling across large areas in order to obtain the much craved food and water. They are also helped by the attribute of speed. Next time you happen to see an ostrich in a picture or perhaps on TV take a close look at its eyelashes. You will be able to notice that they are rather thick and as such they come to protect the ostrich’s eyes during those nasty sand storms that can take one by surprise in the middle of the desert. Not the ostriches, as they are used to them!

I am going to continue the periplus in the desert animal world by mentioning the next animal on my list that is the desert bighorn sheep. Some of you may not be able to associate the name with the animal. It happened in my case too, so do not worry! They are to be found mostly in the desert areas of the United States. It is interesting how these animals have adapted to the harsh conditions of the desert. As they have to feed themselves they use their hooves and horns to remove spines from cacti and as such are able to enjoy the flavor of the juicy, thorny cactus. You would be also surprised to hear that even though rather unusual for such an animal in order to cool themselves they make use of two survival techniques that is perspiring and panting, the latter being somehow unusual for the animals living in the desert areas. They too spend the hot days regaining their strength hiding in caves or perhaps under rocks they may find. In this way they reduce their water consumption. They seem to be smart enough to know that in order to be able to survive the arid summers they need to move closer to the water sources and this is precisely what they do.

Nevertheless surprising are the addax antelopes which can be met in the Sahara desert. Mother Nature did a great job in their case too since being endowed with flat soles and feet they are able to walk in the desert without sinking in the vast sand. Moreover it uses this sand in order to dig real pits in it where they can rest and regain their strength whenever the sun is too hot or they happen to be too tired. Not only that they dig these pits but they also choose just the right places to do this, looking for shade, away from the sun’s powerful rays and from the sometimes bothering wind. In fact, these animals are said to take their water supplies from their food’s moisture and sometimes even from the condensed dew on the plants. It is said that in fact they are able to survive without water for long periods, periods which would equal at times what many of us refer to as the infinite. Moreover scientists believe that they possess a special inner coating in their stomach that permits them to store water in some kind of pockets and as such in the periods when they get dehydrated they can use these supplies in order to survive. What can I say to this, if not an exclamation “Surprising nature!”?

The greater roadrunner is the next on my list of surprising animals adapting to arid temperatures and areas. It is to be met in the deserts of the southwest USA, where temperatures vary to a great extent from night to day, being very gold in the night and extremely hot during the day. As such, this animal has come adapt itself to these conditions in a quite odd manner: by lowering their temperature and falling into some sort of lethargy at night and by warming up when the dawn breaks as it needs to refill its body with energy. You will see that I am right as I consider these birds some sort of batteries charging in the sun’s scorching hotness; they manage to do this as they had been endowed with a black spot placed on its back and meant to practically “swallow” the sun’s rays. It thus manages to survive in the bitter conditions of the desert areas.

What about the so called sand cat? Have you ever heard anyone mentioning this animal in his conversations? Most probably when the Sahara or Gobi deserts were mentioned as accidentally or not these animals are perfectly fit for the life in the desert. It is said that their medium length fur keeps them warm in the cold nights and that the same fur on its feet and pads this time helps it not feel its feet like burning because as you can all imagine the sand is “in fire” at times during the hot days. And after all, it proves to be safer like this when walking on the rather moving, unstable sands.

And, as if no discussion about the desert can be a veritable one without them then it is a must that they should be brought into discussion too. I am referring to the fascinating and at times patronized camels. These animals for sure have learned to adapt to the desert environment in order to be able to survive. You probably already know that there are two types of camels namely the so called Bactrian camel which has two humps and is to be    met in the Gobi desert and the Dromedary camel which has only one hump and lives in the Sahara desert. I happened to take a walk on the desert’ dunes on the back of a dromedary camel and I have to say that at first I was afraid that it might behave strangely with me in its back but after all I ended up loving the walk and having a lot of fun admiring part of the desert from its height. Indeed even though I had almost my entire face covered with a veil meant to protect me from the rather bothering and sometimes annoying sand particles, I didn’t manage to escape these as being very small they get even in your mouth as you attempt to say something, most of the times marveling at the beauty of the desert. And I say this thinking about the fact that I wasn’t forced to live there. But, unlike us, camels have the ability to close their eyes and nostrils in order to keep out the blowing sand.

Did you know that there are about 17 million camels around the world? What about the fact that 90% of these camels are dromedaries? I dare say that there are quite a few and as such it comes as no wonder that they are even used in some Arabian countries as the price being paid for the loved bride. As such, being able to pay with a high number of camels indicates one’s wealth. Therefore, if you happen to be a woman and you read this article I may ask you “How many camels do think you are worth?” (I need an honest and fair answer from you and as such I am going to play some sort of truth or dare with you) and because I do not want men to feel ignored I shall ask them too a quite delicate question “How many camels are you willing to pay for your loved one or for the person whom you will sometime happen to fall in love with?”. The same truth or dare game applies in your case too.

Now that I cannot but hope that I made you smile I shall go on with my “you know…” foray in the world of camels.  It is no wonder this habit has become something usual in some Arabian countries since Muslims assert that in fact Allah first created the camel and only afterwards thought about creating the other things such as other living creatures and the natural elements surrounding us. In case you never heard about there is a superstition in the Muslim world according to which the left fore limb of the dromedary envisages Satan in fact. But, as I honestly do not believe in such superstitions I will be pretty reserved in saying that this things is true or not and as such I dare labeling it as a mere superstition and nothings else.

These “desert ships” as they are called at times show amazing physical traits helping them survive in the rather dry and at times barren desert. Did you know that camels can swim? By looking at them some would rather be skeptical about the veracity of this information, yet it has been discovered that they have been used in crossing a lake called Borollos situated in the northern part of Egypt. In fact it is said that they are the only ones daring to cross it as no boats or ships can be used to travel across it.

Camels can for sure be considered amazing creatures as they are able to resist without water for 17 long hot days. Quite a long period of time if we were to think about the importance water plays in our life! Indeed it is a quite long period of time but nothing should surprise us when referring to camels since even after this period of time whenever they have the occasion to drink some they are able to drink neither more, nor less than 104 liters of water at once. One should also mention here that since the Bactrian camel is larger it can drink up to 120 liters. If it were for them to take part in a competition where one would be asked to drink large amounts of water in a short period of time then they would surely be the winners. It only takes them 7 or 8 minutes to drink all this amount of water.

They possess a rather strange ability to alternate the temperature of their body from let’s say 34 o C in the morning to 40-41 o C in the afternoon and surprisingly enough they are able to sweat much like us but unlike us they are able to reduce their transpiration process whenever experiencing some days of extreme thirst. As such they are able to survive for so longer periods of time without water.

Accidentally or rather fortunately for them these camels happen to have a ‘coating’ which manages to work as perfect insulator protecting them from the burning desert sun. In their survival they are also helped by their long legs which keep them at the right distance from the sand in fire.

Now because I happened to have a face to face meeting with such a camel let me tell you a few things about its looks. If you ask me I find them rather ugly, yet nevertheless interesting. In order to be protected from the annoying sand they have been endowed with thick eyebrows and eyelashes and nostrils which can close automatically as if controlled by some kind of remote control; further on the ears of camels are covered with hair which in fact obstructs the sand to get in.

Contrary to what many think, the humps are in fact repositories of fatty tissues and not water as many tend to believe.

You may wonder how come camels are capable of drinking such large amounts of water at once and not die as this is what happens in our case as surprisingly or not we get to end intoxicated by so much water. The answer will come as one more amazing fact as it looks like the camel’s red blood cells have the property of expanding themselves and being able to even double in their volume and then progressively let go the accumulated water.

Did you ever take a close look at a camel’s lips? They are so thick that it makes many of those botox-ed women envy it. Yet, they surely don’t envy the camel for being able to eat thorny plants without hurting themselves, unless they consider these an appetizing meal.

I happened to see both domesticated and wild roaming camels and I have to recognize that it looked pretty strange to me to see these camels wandering on the desert dunes sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups, yet I found this an enchanting show if I may say so. I have to admit that before getting there on the desert dunes we were prepared in a rather funny way by the travel guide who told us that in order to make friends with the camels we will be asked to emit certain rather unusual sounds and behave in a funny, for some weird manner. Talking about manners I will mention that these otherwise nice and gregarious camels seem to have been missing from some manner lessons and as such they are quite unmannered when it comes to spitting. So, if you happen to see an angry, frustrated camel you should avoid standing in front of it because it may all end with you being spitted. And who wants to go through such an unpleasant experience? But, they may as well spit themselves wanting to gain respect from the other camels or perhaps in the case of females keeping the unwanted males away from them. So, as a conclusion, a funny one, I can say that there is not a single male that may want to be spitted. And after all what a bad habit and what an amazingly interesting animal at the same time! It may seem unfair to some of you that I dedicated so much space to the master camels yet I didn’t mean to favor any of these animals; it all can be explained by the fact that having had the occasion to see them eye to eye if I may say so and due to the fact that even though they cannot be declared miss desert for sure I found them interesting enough as to trigger my curiosity and determine me to start searching for more and more information; being altruistic in my nature I couldn’t keep all that information for me and as such I  felt an almost sudden need  to share them with those of you who were not yet aware of how interesting these so called “desert ships” can be. I cannot but hope that I managed to make these “ships” carry you on the desert dunes.

In fact all animals living in the desert areas around the globe are special in their adapting ability as you can all probably imagine that it is most surely not easy to bear that scorching sun on a daily basis and surely not easy to resist to the extreme alternations in temperature between day and night. I’d say that it is a real adventure going there on the burning sand dunes and surely an even greater adventure living there!