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#106424 06/25/03 10:16 AM
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Here's a news flash:

I went to a zoo last week and saw a couple of very old, very hairy bactrian camels.

Now let's say you draw a representation of a bactrian camel. Oh, you'd probably draw those humps with lovely rounded curves, right? Well, wrong in the case of these elderly camels.

One, whose humps were still functional, I suppose, had two sharp triangles on its back--sharp-peaked, but somewhat flabby humps, not curved at all. Think: side of a pyramid rather than curve.

The other, a truly elderly fellow, had humps that hung at its side like saddlebags, no joke. Those humps were long past their standing up days. It was pitiful to me, somehow, to see those humps hanging their triangular selves over on the side of the belly of that bactrian. Embarrassing somehow. Of course, in the camelian way of thinking I guess hanging humps could be viewed something akin to a badge of honor or an old man's beard. Hope it wasn't a female. It would be a shame to think of those saggy humps as an old woman's beard.


#106425 06/25/03 10:39 AM
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the shape of the hump is made up of a cartalidge like material.. and like human noses, that often get more hooked as they get older from the cartalidge stretching over time, camal's humps tend to topple and fall to the right or left as they get older.

zoo animals (even when used for camal rides, as the bronx zoo uses them) are so well cared for, they out live their cousins--as domestic camels out live wild ones, zoo animals outlive domestic ones (on average). the slow leasurely pace of a 'camel ride', even with out of weight adults riding, is till less than the ton of goods a working camel might have to carry, up and down dunes, or hills, for months, on short rations...
zoo animals have shorter working hours, less to carry, and better rations.. and live long enough for their humps to collape!


#106426 06/26/03 11:05 PM
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Whew, Wordwind, you had me worried there. My screen showed almost your whole post in one piece. All that was missing was the two-word last line. I didn't think the last word was going to be beard!
Honi soit etc.


#106427 06/27/03 01:18 AM
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Dear Zed: were you thinking of Nicholas in the Miller's Tale?


#106428 06/27/03 01:56 AM
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Zed's Screen: Ha!

I sure wish someone had some way I could send you the digital photographs of those two camels so you all could see them, particularly the one whose humps are hanging at
its sides...a site where everybody could take a look.


#106429 06/27/03 10:53 PM
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send them to me, WW, and I'll put them up:

roger@rogergrow.com



formerly known as etaoin...
#106430 06/29/03 10:34 AM
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I'll send them to you this afternoon, et'. I just read your message, but must get ready to go up to Concord to play for the morning service--and haven't practiced my hymns!

Thanks very much for doing so. I have two photos in particular that should show the peaked humps that are standing up like pryamids and one of the old geezer camel whose humps have collapsed.


#106431 06/29/03 11:16 AM
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okey-dokey!



formerly known as etaoin...
#106432 06/30/03 07:00 PM
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the pics are up!

http://www.rogergrow.com/awad/camels.html

if you think of clever captions, let me know, I'll post 'em!


formerly known as etaoin...
#106433 06/30/03 07:11 PM
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We used to make bactrian camels when I was in college the first time around. We would take two regular Camels, strip the paper off and roll them into one paper. For those for whom a regular Camel didn't pack enough of a jolt.


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