Pushkar Fair (Camel Fair) Part 2

I just wanted to put a few more pictures on this site and tell you (who actually are interested) a little more about the fascinating camel.

This picture is of two buds just hangin' out eating some grain out of the back of a camel cart. I liked the arrangement of them and the way they were standing. Notice how there is black on the back of their necks below their heads. This is a blackish tarry discharge that is released when the males are in rut. This is the time of year when they can be very aggressive, unpredictable and dangerous.


Here is a picture of an adult male with a small male (about one year of age). For work such as riding and pulling carts, only male camels are used; the females are not large or powerful enough to do most of the work. Male camels have the good life for the first three years of life. They eat, sleep, chill out and travel with the pack. At the age of three they are finally big and strong enough to work and begin their new occupation as a career man; this is generally when they get their nosepegs. Camels are indispensable for those living and working in the desert; they are affectionately called "the ships of the desert".


Here is a picture of the bottom of a camels foot. I realize that this seems somewhat strange but it is amazing that something so massive as a camel has legs that look like broomsticks and feet that look like big bags of jello. There is nothing on the bottom except a pad similar to a dog (except one large pad rather than several small ones). There is no protection for the bottom of the foot and even though they are calloused they are still sensitive. Camels have problems with their pads cracking similar to humans having their heals cracking. Camel feet can be very large, sometimes they will be as large as a dinner plate. The wide flat bottom helps them to keep from sinking into the sand as they are sailing through the desert.


Here is a picture of a camel with his best and brightest clothing on. This is not so he can pick up some babes, it is so the tourists will take a picture (like me) and take a ride. There was a picture in the paper the other day of the camel who won the "fanciest camel" award at the fair. It was simply amazing, you could barely recognize a camel below all of the bells, ribbons, straps and eye popping colors.


This picture took me by surprise. I had no idea that ice cream was made from camel milk. They had a really nice booth with fancy signs but nobody seemed to be very interested in what they were selling. I fear that you will not be able to find any camel milk ice cream in a supermarket near you any time soon.


I could write more, such as the fact that a camels normal body temperature is 101-105 degrees, has a water retaining capacity of five liters (about 1.3 gallons), the hump on this type of camel (known as dromedary) is actually fatty tissue that can be metabolized in times of need (to the point that the hump will nearly disappear), have an average lifespan in our state of 40-50 years and camels are used not only for work but they also provide milk, meat, wool, leather and fuel (from their dried dung) but I will not bore you with such random and fascinating facts.