Let’s settle this once and for all: Do camels have one hump or two? There are 2 “species” or types of camel: the dromedary, which has 1 hump, and the bactrian camel, which has 2 humps. Also, camels can go for days without drinking water, but they don’t keep extra water in their hump, like people used to think. The hump is just a big lump of fat. Camels aren’t friendly — they spit at you if they get annoyed — but if you can climb up on one, you can enjoy a nice bumpy ride.
Wee ones: Who has more humps, a dromedary or a bactrian camel?
Little kids: A grown-up camel stands 6 feet tall at the shoulder, but its hump is 1 foot higher up than that. How high is the top of its hump? Bonus: If 2 dromedary camels and 4 bactrian camels go for a walk, how many humps do they have? (Reminder: bactrian camels have 2 humps while dromedary camels have 1 hump!)
Big kids: Camels can live for 50 years. How many years from now will a 12-year-old camel match that? Bonus: If you have 20 humps in a group of camels, and there are twice as many bactrian camels (2-humped) as dromedaries, how many of each animal do you have?
Answers:
Wee ones: The bactrian camel, since it has 2 instead of 1.
Little kids: 7 feet. Bonus: 10 humps.
Big kids: 38 years. Bonus: 4 dromedaries and 8 bactrian camels. Each “set” of a dromedary plus 2 bactrian camels has 5 humps, and there are 4 sets of 5 humps in 20.
