FORMATION OF CAMELS FOOT 



sweat glands, the upper lip is split and the dentition 

 remarkable, having incisors in the upper jaw and well- 

 developed canines both above and below. The limbs 

 are elongated, and each of them terminates in two 

 toes only, while the hoofs are replaced by pad-like 

 swellings on the under side of the foot. Further 

 characteristics are the callosities on chest and knees, 

 upon which the camel rests when lying down, the 

 unusual structure and formation of the hind-lees, the 

 fatty reserve in the hump, upon which it draws on the 

 march when other food is scarce, and the internal 

 water-cells. 



All these anatomical peculiarities have probably 

 been developed by Nature by slow degrees to meet 

 the requirements of a life spent in the most arid and 

 inhospitable regions of the world, and there can be no 

 question but that the camel is the most suitable of all 

 domestic animals to serve the needs of man in such 

 surroundings. Such an adaptation to its mode of life 

 is most strikingly illustrated by the formation of the 

 leg and foot of the camel mentioned above. This is 

 characterised by the entire loss of the two smaller 

 outer digits which persist more or less in all ruminants, 

 except the giraffe. The two bones which form the 

 cannon-bone in the camel diverge below, an arrange- 

 ment which gives a large surface of attachment for 

 the pad on the under side of the foot. This enables 

 the camel to obtain a purchase on the yielding surface 

 of the sand on which it walks, and at the same time 

 prevents undue heating on account of its large surface. 

 A very similar arrangement is to be seen in the 

 African ostrich {Struthio camelus), where only the third 

 and fourth toe are present, this reduction in the 

 number of the digits being compensated for by 



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