Sponian Camel
Basic Information
Anatomy
- Four long legs
- Two-toed feet, wide, hairy. Padded with low-thermal-conductivity, water- and salt-impermeable, thick, tough soles
- One hump, which is roughly shaped like a seat for a rider (thanks to many generations of selective breeding). The outer layers of the hump are soft, with a memory foam-like consistency, allowing the "seat" to shape itself perfectly to the form of the rider.
- Long neck, camel head
- Long, thick fur, which is usually coated in a crust of white salt.
Ecology and Habitats
- Originated in the Spon Valley, but since domestication thousands of years ago, does not really exist in the wild. Domestication has led to several adaptations to the salt-desert environment of the Marodeen Sea that would not have been necessary (or beneficial) in its native environment.
- Rolls around in salt, tries to accumulate a crust-like layer of salt in its coat at all times. This reflects the majority of incoming solar radiation, while allowing water evaporated via sweat to be quickly recaptured rather than lost.
Dietary Needs and Habits
- Needs water, but can go up to two weeks without. Is capable of drinking upwards of 100 gallons in 5 minutes.
- Usually herbivorous, preferring grasses or shrubs, but will eat wood, cloth, or even small animals if it gets hungry enough.
- Regurgitates whatever it eats to chew as a cud multiple times, to extract all available nutrition from its food.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Typically used for riding or as pack animals, in the great salt pans of the Marodeen Sea. They can be eaten, and if a carcass is dressed within a day or two of a camel's natural death, it is easy to create a type of jerky from the meat due to all of the salt they are perpetually coating themselves with.
Scientific Name
Camelus sponius
Geographic Distribution
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