Robert Newton, age 11, of Salt Lake City, Utah, for his question;

Is a camel different from a dromedary?

You feel quite sure that you know the name of the large, humpbacked animal with the tawny coat and condescending expression on his face. That, you say with confidence, is a camel. It is very annoying to hear someone then say, No, that is a dromedary. See, he has only one hump. A real camel has two humps. Andy says that you need not be impressed. Your friend is not so learned as he would have you think. Strictly speaking, a camel may have no hump, one hump or two humps. Two humps is the limit. He is a camel if he belongs to the Camelidae family. And this includes the no‑hump camels of South America ‑ the llamas, the alpacas and the guanacos. It also includes the huge one and two humped camels of Asia and Africa.

No camels are native to North America, but this is where the camel family got its start. Forty to fifty million years ago, the ancestors of the camels shared the grassy plains with Eohippus, the little dawn horse. The camels too were small. But they walked as camels still walk, two left feet forward, two right feet forward. By a million years ago, some had loped down to South America. Others had loped over land bridges to Asia and some had found their way to Africa.

We do not know why, but both camels and horses perished from the land which was their cradle. Only the camels who had emmigrated survived. And, of course, they fitted themselves to their new surroundings. The South American branch of the family remained fairly small. They got used to any easy life on the grassy pampas and the gentle slopes of the Andes. They had no need to develop humps, but because of other definite characteristics, they were still members of the Camelidae family.

In Asia and Africa, life was not so easy. In fact it was very tough. Some of the camels settled on the grim, stony deserts of Asia. Others made their homes around the hot, sandy deserts of Africa. As a result, two varieties of camel developed. Both varieties learned to store food in humps on the back, for both lived in deserts where grassy food is tough and scarce.

But there were differences.

The Asian camel chose to store food in two humps. He developed tough pads on his feet to protect himself from the stony ground. He grew a thick, shaggy coat to protect him from the cold winds, We call him the Bactrian camel. He is a sturdy, two‑humped fellow well built for plodding along with heavy loads.

The African camel chose to store his food in one hump. His wide feet have softer soles that are built for striding over fine desert sand. He is taller and more slender than his Asian cousin. We call this one‑humped, more graceful fellow, the Dromedary camel. Life in the Arabian desert would be impossible without him, To his master, he is pack animal, dairy cow and race horse. And, as with our horses and cattle, there are differences among individuals, A fine dromedary compares with a fast race horse ‑ and over the desert sands he is faster than the fastest horse, The heavier, more sturdy dromedaries become the reliable pack animals who carry their loads in the desert caravans. But the one‑humped dromedary and the two‑humped bactrian are both camels and of the Camelidae family,