4: Osprey & Arabian Camel
Christian: Good evening everyone. This is Christian Weatherford...
Ellen: And this is Ellen Weatherford...
Christian: and we're here with Just the Zoo of Us.
Ellen: And also it might not be evening time for you when you're listening to this. It's evening time for us though.
Christian: Sure. It is 10:30 on the dot.
Ellen: 10:30 PM on a Saturday night. And we are in our home in our office.
Christian: I just ate a bunch of chicken...
Ellen: And we're here to talk about animals. Let's do it. So we're really raging on this Saturday night, we're wild party types.
Christian: Okay. Do you want to do a musical thank you-
Ellen: I would call us party... Animals.
Christian: Ah, there it is.
Ellen: Yes. Thank you to Louie Zong for the use of his track "Adventuring" off of his album Bee Sides that we're using as our very charming intro and outro music.
Christian: Yes, it's lovely.
Ellen: Yeah, we like it a lot. Okay. So last time in our last episode, I believe I went first.
Christian: Okay.
Ellen: I think it's your turn
Christian: Let's do it. So for this episode, I'm choosing a bird. Not just any bird. A bird very, very close to Ellen and my hearts. It is known as the osprey. Yes.
Ellen: Swoop.
Christian: Swoop indeed. So, uh, Ellen and I, we swoop at the mention of Osprey because we are both alum of the University of North Florida.
Ellen: We swoop and it's, it's become a reflex at this point where you hear the Osprey mentioned and your arms just, you lose control of your body and your arms just flap wildly in a swooping motion.
Christian: Yes. It's a very, it's a very aggressive motion. Right. It's as we-
Ellen: It's combative.
Christian: We emulate the sweep with our arms and then stick out a leg as if we're reaching to grab a fish with our talons.
Ellen: Yeah. You got to really stomp into it too. They train you on it when you go to orientation at UNF.
Christian: Yep. It's kind of built in now.
Ellen: This sounds like a bit, but it's not. It's really true.
Christian: It's real. I don't have a choice in it now.
Ellen: I think I have photos.
Christian: Yeah. Probably. But anywho, the osprey. Specifically going to be talking about the western Osprey, also known as Pandion haliaetus. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Ellen: Are there multiple types of ospreys?
Christian: Technically, yes. Sub species. So there are subspecies because they are all over the place worldwide. Wow. So the western Osprey is the one where you used to here in Florida. That's when I'm gonna be talking about. So first of all, some folks might know it by different names such as a seahawk. Oh yeah. So they are diurnal. Is that how that's pronounced? As opposed to nocturnal. Correct. They are fish eating birds of prey. So I've often, when you think of an Osprey, you will think of the symbolic swoop as it's, as it's going into the water to grab a fish with its nice sharp talons. And they're also going to be cosmopolitan, which means they're pretty much worldwide in appropriate habitats. So anywhere that's appropriate for them, like in terms of temperature and obviously water, they're there.
Ellen: Yeah, they are. They will be. They're not picky.
Christian: Uh, adult size. They range from 0.9 to 2.1 kilograms in mass or two to four and a half pounds about.
Ellen: This is a little bird. Well, as far as birds of prey go, it's a little one.
Christian: Yeah. The birds in general are pretty lightweight, right? And they have to be. In terms of length, they're 50 to 66 centimeters or 20 to 26 inches. So about two feet. Yeah.
Ellen: This is not a big bird. When think of, when you think of a bird of prey, it's not a big one.
Christian: Sure. It's like a, a falcon or something. Yeah. But in terms of their wingspan, because 127 to 180 centimeters or 50 to 71 inches. Okay. That's five feet.
Ellen: Dang. Okay.
Christian: Uh, so, um, I mentioned their, to their location, they're found in temperate and tropical regions on all continents except Antarctica. Wow. Yeah. All of those places.
Ellen: And also they're, they're not afraid to live in urban areas too.
Christian: That's true.
Ellen: They're not the kind of bird that like you have to go very like far out to see them. You can see them- I mean, you'll see them downtown sometimes. Like they're not going to shy away from human activity.
Christian: Oh no, not at all. But yeah, as long as they're near a water source with a fish supply, they are there.
Ellen: We will pretty much a hundred percent of the time when we cross any of the large bridges that Jacksonville is known for, specifically the Buckman bridge, you will almost every time you'll see an osprey on that bridge chilling out. A lot of times they'll build nests up on top of the light poles there. In that big bridge by Tampa, they put big bowl shaped structures on top of the light fixtures so that ospreys can build their nests up there. Oh yeah. You'll, you'll see them all over the place around there.
Christian: Yup. Their taxonomic order... I'm probably going to butcher this.
Ellen: Let's hear it.
Christian: Accipitriformes.
Ellen: Oooookay.
Christian: So notable relatives of course, hawks, eagles and vultures, but not falcons.
Ellen: Oh, but they look like falcons. Yeah. Full Hawks and eagles though. I mean that makes sense. Yeah. Those are all kind of the fish eating birds. Yeah.
Christian: Let's get right into some scoring. So effectiveness, I gave him a big old 8 out of 10.
Ellen: That's not bad. That's pretty good.
Christian: So I give them effectiveness because they are the second most widely distributed raptor species. Second only to the Peregrine Falcon. Wow. Yeah. So they've got a good foothold, Huh?
Ellen: Yeah. Oh Wow. There is a pretty adaptable then like they can kind of like thrive in a wide variety of environments.
Christian: Yes. Uh, they are very built to catch fish out of water, which comprises 99% of their diet. So, you know, they have very sharp eyes, you know, they're able to see fish in the water. Uh, their talons are very sharp and they have kind of a backward facing scales on their talons to kind of like really grab slippery fish.
Ellen: Right, right. So it's not going to slide off.
Christian: Yeah. Um, and their feathers, the feathers are specifically designed to be in water, so they're, they're oily so that they don't get water logged so they can still fly. That's really cool. Yeah. So I took a point or two off of predation. So for ospreys they primarily have to worry about other birds of prey and egg stealers. So, so actually those being like raccoons, snakes, that sort of thing.
Ellen: I would love to see a raccoon climb to the top of one of those light poles.
Christian: They will try. And I learned a new phrase when learning about this, things they have to worry about: kleptoparasitism .
Ellen: Wow. Is this like a parasitic sort of relationship that involves thievery?
Christian: Yes. So specifically where for example, a bald eagle will steal the food that it osprey is trying to catch and eat.
Ellen: Wow. Rude. Honestly.
Christian: Right. So there's a phrase for this. I didn't know that. Well, not a phrase but a word. So yeah. So just imagine that. An osprey sitting on top of a light pole with a fish, you know, going to town and then here comes along, you know, America Eagle, and steals it.
Ellen: So this is like a step above scavenging. Like you're not scavenging, you're actually like stealing a kill from somebody else.
Christian: Yeah. So, um, you know, the source I was looking at was saying, you know, bald eagles are very capable of trying to eat ospreys and their young, but they're more likely to try and steal their food instead.
Ellen: Dang.
Christian: Just easier.
Ellen: Sure. I mean, why do the hard work? Right? Like let somebody else do it for you.
Christian: Yeah. So that that affects the Aspray itself, but also that's young, right? Cause a lot of times is going to be trying to collect food for their, for their young. Sure. So 8 out of 10 for effectiveness. Uh, ingenuity... I didn't get, I didn't see very much to give here. They're... they're kind of the standard bird of prey. You know, they build nests and catch food, but nothing too... Nothing I would describe as contributing to ingenuity. I gave it a 6 out of 10 though. Some deductions there around where they choose to build their nests. Sometimes...
Ellen: Light poles.
Christian: Which can become a fire hazard.
Ellen: Oh shoot.
Christian: Not necessarily light poles, but power don't like that can do it. Yeah. That's not a good idea. Yeah. I don't know that much in this category. Just 6 out of 10 .
Ellen: That's like standard bird fare, right? Sure. It's About how birds do. Sure.
Christian: Aesthetics. I gave it a full ten out of ten.
Ellen: Alright. This is a beautiful animal.
Christian: Yeah. So folks that aren't just aren't familiar with what ospreys look like, you know, do a quick Google search. They're pretty cool looking. They have very distinct colors. They have a, uh, lightly colored stomach and underside, sometimes patches of brown around the breast, and then their wings are darker. Their head is lighter, but then they usually have darker markings around the eyes, which they describe as a mask.
Ellen: If you're driving and you see an osprey, you can immediately tell that that's what it is. Yep. It's very easy to tell that that's what you're looking at. There's no, there's no confusing it for a hawk or a seagull or anything like it's very clear. Like that is an osprey. You can see them from very far away.
Christian: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Ellen: So like UNF's colors are navy blue... What, what are UNF's colors? Navy blue and silver? And white? Something like that. But you can, you can see where that inspiration is from. When you look at an osprey they kind of have that like white and dark gray colors. Yeah, they're beautiful. They really are gorgeous.
Christian: Yeah. They have their eyes. They're, they're kind of, they can be a striking different, different color. It can be like a brown to a yellowish colors, so I think it's a very interesting contrast with the rest of the coloration. Their talons are usually white or like ish, a shade that is white- What, what was your phrase? White adjacent.
Ellen: Yeah.
Christian: So yeah, beautiful eyes. The, their overall just very sleek, um, and of course swoop.
Ellen: Yeah. Swoop is very good. I think swoop contributes to it a lot, but that is something that's near and dear to us.
Christian: Yeah. So you'll see a wildlife photography of these, these animals and often it's mid swoop who I like catching a fish. It's very majestic.
Ellen: Oh yeah. These are really good models. Natural models out here. Yeah.
Christian: So that overall score comes out to eight out of 10. Nice. So a little bit of miscellaneous info, conservation status is of least concern.
Ellen: They're doing fine.
Christian: Yeah. That's pretty impressive. Um, there are signs of regional decline, like in certain regions they're seeing less and less because of just certain things going on in those regions. But as a whole, they're fine.
Ellen: Great. They're doing good.
Christian: Yeah. Uh, they had some troubles in the fifties and sixties, um...
Ellen: Who didn't.
Christian: There was an insecticide called DDT used at that time and it affected the ospreys metabolism. How they metabolize calcium, and it was making their egg shells more fragile.
Ellen: Oh... Poor babies.
Christian: And sometimes infertile, so they had a problem and during that time period, but I believe DDT was made illegal in most parts, so they made a come back from that. And then they're just, another note is there, as I mentioned earlier, they're used as a sports mascot. So for us, you know, it's with the University of North Florida ospreys and we have our mascot, uh, Ozzie, the Osprey.
Ellen: Yeah. Ozzie the Osprey is a friend to us all. Yeah.
Christian: Then of course for those who follow, you know, American NFL football, there's the Seattle Seahawks. So like I mentioned earlier, Seahawks is just another name for osprey.
Ellen: Oh, I thought that was like a different animal.
Christian: Nope! Same bird.
Ellen: Okay! Although Seattle Seahawk has much better alliteration.
Christian: That's probably why they... Well, maybe that's why they went with it, or maybe it's a regional thing that they refer to them as.
Ellen: Yeah. I mean it's, it's just, it sounds better. Seattle Seahawks, you got that repetition there.
Christian: Yup. So that's the osprey.
Ellen: All right. That's a good animal! Very good. So I have for you an animal that I thought was going to be boring, that ended up not being boring at all. So this is the Arabian Camel, also known as the dromedary. Although I don't think I've ever met anybody who actually calls it the dromedary... That's just a name for it. We all know it as a Camel, but there are multiple different types of camels. So the dromedary refers specifically to this one species of camel called the Arabian camel. So their scientific name is Camelus dromedarius, the- Oh, I also have wanted to mention that we are not zoological experts.
Christian: Oh No. Not at all.
Ellen: And that we're getting our information... I'm getting my information largely from National Geographic and um, the San Diego Zoo. For this particular animal, I also got information from Encyclopedia Britannica, Desertusa.com and scientific American. So I just wanted to kind of put out there where we're getting our information from. Lest people think that we are experts. No, no, we're not. Um, we're just us.
Christian: And your citations are much more impressive than my own. This last one was mostly Wikipedia...
Ellen: That's okay. I mean, that counts. So yeah, I just wanted to include a quick note on where I'm getting my information from before I have really launched into it. So Camelus dromedarius. This is the largest species of camel. They are over seven feet or two meters tall at the hump and up to 1600 pounds or 725 kilograms. This is a big camel. This species only exists in the world as a domesticated animal. There are not any wild dromedary like Arabian Camels except for a large feral population that lives in Australia. So in the Australian outback back in the 19th century, this large import of camels came in where I guess some of them got out and have been living wild and free in the Australian outback. Huh. That's, that's the only, that's really the only place in the world where you're going to see these camels in the wild.
Christian: Hmm. I guess that means they were pretty suited to that kind of environment.
Ellen: I mean it works, right? It's a large, super hot desert. It was a very hostile environment and then they would just, they just really suited to it. So you're going to find these camels in northern Africa, the Middle East, south western Asia, all of those sort of arid regions of the world. Over half of the world's camel population is in Somalia, specifically in Somalia and interesting. Yeah, so lots of them in the northern Africa area. The camels are in the taxonomic order of Artiodactyla, which we've already visited with the Okapi.
Christian: Oh, makes sense.
Ellen: Yeah. These are those even toed ungulates, so pigs, deer, cattle, stuff like that. These are all artiodactyla. Some notable evolutionary relatives are the, there is the less common bactrian camel so that's the camel with two humps, but those are much less common. Only about 10% of camels in the world are bactrian camels, so those are, most of them are domesticated, but there is actually a separate species of wild bactrian camel, which are really a sight to behold. They're very scraggly and thin and don't really look great at all. The bactrian camels are the big, they're really, really fluffy. They have lots of, lots and lots of hair. They're more suited to like the more mountainous areas. That's just the, the other type of camel that there is, but the Camelid family also includes other animals like the llamas, the alpacas and their cousins, the Vicunas and the guanacos. They're cousins of the llamas and Alpacas, so they're all in the Camel family, which makes sense when you look at them, they kind of look like that. So those, that's kind of the camel family. But I am specifically talking about the Arabian camel, which is probably the one that you're thinking of. The one humped one, the big one with one hump.
Ellen: Now, effectiveness. Perfect score. 10 out of 10 this is a really interesting animal. This is an animal that is so incredibly well suited for the environment that it lives in. This is just insane how every single part of their body is extremely well adapted to a very hostile environment. So the most notable thing about the camel's efficiency to me was their water efficiency and how well they handle water. So the most probably noteworthy feature of the Camel is the hump, and most people probably know this, but the hump is where they store their fat. So it's not water in there, it's just it's fat and the fat breaks down into water. So they, they're storing the water in the form of fat and that hump can store up to 80 pounds or 36 kilograms of just fat. So when there's no food or no water around, the fat breaks down into water and keeps them supplied with water over time.
Christian: So does the, does the hump change in size when this happens or...
Ellen: Yes. Yeah. So that's where they're keeping their, their fat for consumption later. So a cam- this allows the camel to travel vast distances, even in complete desert so they can travel up to a hundred miles or 161 kilometers, like just going off of that fat. They also very, very rarely sweat. They do not sweat until their body reaches a temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit or 41 degrees Celsius. So that is another way that they conserve water by not sweating. They only sweat in like very extreme temperatures so they don't have to sweat very much.
Christian: Hmm. I guess that means their body can handle just operating at that temperature up until then.
Ellen: Oh yeah. Yeah. It's, they can just survive insane temperatures. They take in water not only from like just drinking water but from desert plants. So they eat plants that they find in the desert, including cacti and take in water from that. So you just, eating desert plants helps them go even longer without drinking water. So they can go like weeks and weeks and weeks at a time without drinking. Now when they do drink, they drink up to 30 gallons or 114 liters of water in less than 15 minutes. So they're going to town, they're just drinking a lot of water so they can lose up to 40% which this is a high number, but I saw some figures that said 20% son that said 30% but up to 40% of their body weight, that's how much body weight they can lose from sweating before becoming dehydrated.
Christian: Woah.
New Speaker: Yeah. So for context, most other animals can't lose more than 5% of their body weight before their heart fails and they die. So the camels can lose up to 40% which is just insane. That's so much of their body weight that they can lose before their body starts to shut down from dehydration. So this is due to the oval shape of their red blood cells. This is getting a little bit out of my realm of understanding, but the shape of the cells allows them to continue flowing even in a dehydrated state. And this is called osmotic variation. Hmm. This is, that's all I got on that. But it's interesting. It's due to the shape of the red blood cells. They're an oval shape rather than around shape. Hmm. Now the camels nose,... It even, like every single part of it is so adapted to, to dealing what it's dealing with. So the camel's nose, the inside of the nostril is lined with really thick hairs and those thick hairs catch water from its breath and recycle it back into the body. So the camel is actually not losing very much water from breathing like, like you and I, we're losing moisture as we breathe. Sure. So even just breathing loses water but the camel's nose is catching that water and putting it back into the body.
Christian: So how, how's it getting it back in the body? Is it just like, like...
Ellen: When it breathes back in, like when it breathes back in that water.
Christian: Oh, you know what I was imagining? It was like the hairs in its nose were catching in the water and then it was just collecting and coming out of its nose.
Ellen: Oh gross. No, it's like, it's like when it breathes back in, the water comes back in. So it's like it's not, it's not losing moisture from breathing. Oh yeah. So since the, since the camel is so good at utilizing the water in its body, so little moisture is wasted that the camel is not excreting very much water. So camel urine is extremely thick and viscous. It's really thick. Like it's, it's, it has the consistency of syrup. Yes. Gross. And their poop is so dry that it can be used as fire fuel. You can actually light it on fire and use it as fire fuel. Yeah. That's camel poop. They're not, they're not pooping out very much water. They're using all of their water. So why waste it on poop? Yeah. So you can see the evidence of their water efficiency even in their excrement.
Christian: I guess us humans, we're so wasteful with our water.
Ellen: Yeah. So not only are they super duper good at using water, but they have all these other adaptations to protect them from the hostility of the environment they live in so their nostrils can close up and that keeps sand from getting into their nose, so they have that protection from sand flying around in the air. They also have really bushy eyebrows and two rows of eyelashes that protect their eyes. They also have a thin nictating membrane, which is that inner eyelid that you'll sometimes see in some other animals. Each eye has that inner eyelid that allows them to keep their eyes open even during sandstorms so they can still keep their eyes open and still see they can't, can't see super great out of it, but you can still keep your eyes open and see and move around even in the middle of a sand storm.
Ellen: Yeah, very cool. Their lips and mouth are lined with a really, really thick skin, which means that they can eat dry, thorny desert plants.
Christian: Oh, I was going to ask how do they manage cactuses.
Ellen: Yeah, they have, the skin in their lips and mouth is so thick that they can just eat it. They don't have to do anything to it. It just pick it up and grab it and eat it.
Christian: Alright then.
Ellen: Yeah, like spines and all. They just eat right through it. It's no big deal. Their upper lip is also split. And this I had no idea but this is crazy. Each half of the lip moves independently of the other one. Yeah. So they can like move the left side of their lip independently of the right side. It's crazy. It's insane. But so that kind of lets them like maneuver like when they're eating cacti and stuff, they can like turn it around and do what they need to do to eat this, these crazy plants.
Ellen: Uh, so that that really thick skin. They have leathery padding on the bottom of their feet and this really thick leathery padding keeps them from sinking into the sand, but it also makes their steps totally silent. So you can't hear one coming. They're very, very, they're quiet as they walk. You can't hear them, that- that same thick leathery skin is also on their leg joints so that they can kneel or lay down in the hot sand without getting burned or like scratched up. Yeah, so they can like lay down in the sand. No problem. It's very, very cool. The- now, the hair that their body is covered in has two layers. There's a guard hair for protection against the sand and then underneath that guard hair is an undercoat that's really soft and insulating. Both of these types of hairs can be used for textiles, for clothes.
Ellen: You can use either one. Now the camel can carry up to 200 pounds or 91 kilograms on their back, making them really, really useful to humans for transportation. This is probably what you've seen camels doing most is like carrying loads for people. They carry things around because they're very, very strong. Now this, I didn't know: camels are popular for racing. They do camel races. Yeah, camel races or like a popular sport in parts of the world where camels are found. So a racing dromedary can reach up to 40 miles per hour or 65 kilometers per hour. That's pretty fast. Yeah. For, for such a big animal. So yeah, they're, they're pretty quick and they can carry a lot of weight. So they're very strong and very useful. So although they're herbivores, they will eat fish, meat, bones, pretty much anything. This is very goat-like behavior, I think. They'll just eat whatever is available to them.
Ellen: So I was thinking like, wow, this is all this cool stuff that the camel can do. But what is it doing about predation? Like what is it doing to keep itself safe? So this doesn't really apply so much because the camel doesn't exist in the wild anymore. So they don't really have to worry about predators. But even camels that are kept free range, like they can kind of face regional predators like wolves, lions and tigers and stuff. But here's the thing: they are so well adapted to such extremely hostile environments that in those areas that they're capable of living, no other large carnivorous animals are able to live there because it's such a hostile environment. Like they are able to live in environments that so few other animals can live that they do not have to worry about predators because there's no like large carnivores that live out there.
Ellen: Nothing can touch them out where they are able to live, that nothing else can live there. So like why would they have to worry about, what do they have to protect themselves from? Nothing! Nothing can bother them out there. So I was just this animal, the camel is so perfectly suited to such an uninviting environment and it's also the perfect livestock because it provides meat- You can eat camel meat, so it provides meat- textile material, milk, and transportation. So this is a four in one farm animal. Wow. Just spectacular. You're getting four animals for the price of one. This is just a really, really useful animal and they're just so incredibly good at what they're doing. I was blown away. So impressed by the camel.
Christian: That's awesome.
Ellen: Now Ingenuity, I only gave them a seven out of 10 which is like pretty good for a farm. What is essentially a farm animal. I wouldn't really call them a farm animal cause you're not really going to find them on like a, a farm with your horses and cows. But sure. You know a domesticated animal, they do a spit like llamas. They're known, known for spitting. But what it actually is, what they're actually doing when they do that hostile spitting that is actually projectile vomiting.
New Speaker: I was about to say, like that seems like a waste of uh...
Ellen: That's because it is both saliva and stomach contents. Yeah. So when they're threatened or startled and they are trying to deter something from agitating it, they just puke on them. Just a little bit of projectile vomit, which I mean if I could, man, I would.
New Speaker: My favorite Sea of Thieves meta.
Ellen: You just puke on them and then they'll leave you alone. So when camels live together, they live in herds called caravans. So a caravan usually consists of a dominant adult male and the surrounding females, they have a kind of a social structure. Like they, each one kind of has its own place in their social hierarchy, they communicate with each other using bleats, bellows, roars, stuff like that that they also communicate with each other non vocally with body language. So the positioning of their ears and neck and tail has different meanings to each other such as like if they have their tail kind of curled under that indicates submission to each other. So they kind of do have a way of communicating to each other. Friendly camels will breathe in each other's faces, like exhale, like kind of blow on each other to indicate that they're friendly. Yeah, like to as, as a friendly greeting to each other. They blow in each other's faces and that just means like, I'm cool with you. Um, mothers and newborns will hum at each other and I find that really cute. They hum. And it's really sweet. Camel's are known for being really docile in gentle, but they can become stubborn and difficult if they're mistreated. So you gotta be nice to your camel, but if you're good to camel, camel's good to you. Yeah. You'll get good results from being nice to your camel, which I think is a lot like horses, right? You have to kind of be good to your horse. Otherwise they'll...
Christian: It's a good life lesson.
Ellen: Yeah, just in general, just in general, be nice to your animals. So for aesthetics, this is where the camel really falls behind for me, I gave them a six out of 10 because the whole thing could best be described as wonky. They have all these, you know, I talked about leather on the joints of their legs and that kind of gives them a very wonky look. They look, they have all these awkward angles and bulging joints and the those droopy lips, which are like great for what they're doing, they just don't look great to me, which I'm sure the camel doesn't care about it. That's just me. That's just my opinion. Pretty much all of their aesthetic points that I gave them, because I did give them six points, but pretty much all of those points are in those eyelashes. Those eyelashes are stunning. Spectacular. Beautiful. Slay. Yes, so good. Very good. Great eyelashes and two layers of them! Incredible. Really great eyelashes and I guess they can be cute at the right angles. I guess they can be kind of cute if you get them at the right kind of, if you get them from like from their good side, maybe?
Christian: The non-vomiting side.
Ellen: Yeah! As long as they're not puking on you. Then they're, I guess they can be kind of cute, but still they only gave them a six so overall this gives them a 7.7 out of 10 which I will round up to eight out of 10 but honestly like I'm just so impressed by their effectiveness that I would probably even bump them up to a nine just because I'm willing to forgive their sort of less than ideal appearance by how good they are. Yeah, this is a great animal. I, I would give that just based on the scores that I came up with it, it came out to an eight but I'm going to give them a nine for grace point. So some kind of other information about the camel. Their conservation status is domesticated. That is its own conservation status. They are domesticated. Yep. So that just means their extreme power has been harnessed by humans and we're now reaping the benefits of how good this animal is. So I wanted to talk a little bit about camel milk cause it's... I- I didn't really know where else to put it, but it's really interesting. So all the information I have on camel milk is from a Scientific American article by Layla Eplett in January of 2013. So camel milk is 90% water. 90% water.
Ellen: It's mostly water, which it makes sense because if you're a mama camel and you're trying to keep your baby camel healthy, you're going to be trying to give them as much water as you can. So yeah, 90% water. So this camel milk does not curdle naturally at all. It doesn't curdle.
Christian: So, no cheese.
Ellen: You can actually make cheese out of it. But it's a, it's kind of a big process. Like it's very difficult to make cheese out of it. But you can, you can, you just have to like do some chemical stuff to it. I don't know. You can make, make, um, camel cheese and camel cheeses, I guess. Kind of a popular little treat over in those parts of the world. But I've never had camel cheese, but you can make it, it's just pretty tough to make.
Christian: I'd try it once.
Ellen: So this is really interesting. Camel milk contains a protein in it that has characteristics that are similar to insulin and it doesn't coagulate an acid, so it's more likely to be absorbed in the intestine. So a two year clinical study showed that regular consumption of camel milk correlated with a significant reduction in insulin requirement with three of the participants who were in the study reducing their insulin requirement to zero
Christian: Oh so these are like, diabetic?
Ellen: Yeah. People who are, who require insulin intake. Like just, were consuming large quantities of camel milk. And after consuming all of this camel milk, they didn't have to take as much insulin.
Christian: So I wonder if they would have to keep drinking the camel milk or if they stopped drinking, camel milk, they would have to go back to their...
Ellen: I didn't see that. I think when this article was written, like this study was pretty recent, so I don't know very much more about it. I just thought that was really interesting that camel milk was, that camel milk actually had some potential like legitimate clinical benefits.
Ellen: So yeah, this is just the super animal. This is the best animal ever. Maybe it's not that cute, but come on! It does so good! This is such a good animal. I don't know if you've ever, I'm sure you've seen a camel at some point, like in real life, but I don't know if you've ever gotten to interact with one?
Christian: I don't think so.
Ellen: I rode a camel one time at, I did at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida. I don't know if they still do camel rides. I don't know if they still do that, but I did get to ride one, I think I must have been probably 12 years old. And I went to the zoo with my aunt and I got to ride a camel and it was one of these, um, Arabian camels. So what I remember is that the, the hair of the camel feels a lot like sheep's wool.
Ellen: Like it has that sort of thick dense curliness to it. It feels like wool and also it is a very bumpy ride because it's so tall! This is a really big animal. So you know, there's a lot of swaying back and forth and a lot of bumping up and down. And I remember it being kind of difficult to ride, but it was still really cool. It's a very, very uh, gentle, sweet, good natured animal. And I, I really enjoyed that. I'm going to see if my aunt still has a picture of me riding the camel cause that was cool. Yeah. So this is an animal that is not common where we live in our part of the world, but in other parts of the world is a very kind of standard livestock animal. So it's just a, just a really fascinating animal. I was really glad to learn a lot more about it.
Ellen: This is a really cool animal that is extremely well suited to an extremely uninviting part of the world. That is is not well suited for most other animals. So just to like see such a big like massive animal that is so well made to live in a place that is not good for most large animals. It was just really cool. Yeah. I'm very into this. I was not a huge camel fan prior and I am now, so I made, made friends with the camel. It's a good animal. So that's my, that's my segment on camels.
Christian: Excellent. Thank you.
Ellen: All right, well thank you for telling me all about the Osprey. I think we've made a couple of good animal friends.
Christian: Woo! You know, I feel like these two animals would almost never meet.
Ellen: Yeah. Cause you've got the, you've got the osprey that pretty much needs to live near the water and the camel that I'm sure would love to live near the water, but yeah, it's not really their hangout zone. Although I would imagine probably on in coastal areas, coastal areas, there's probably some overlap between the osprey and people who keep camels.
Christian: Yeah. You mentioned there's a, there's a lot of camels in Somalia, and that's, that borders an ocean.
Ellen: That's coastal, yeah.
Christian: Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay.
Ellen: It's good stuff. These are, these are two pretty good animals. So quick, thank you to Louie Zong for letting us use the track Adventuring off of the album Bee Sides... I think that's all I got.
Christian: All right. Well, thank you everyone for listening.
Ellen: Thank you. See you later!
Christian: Bye.
Ellen: Byeeee!