What do camels eat in the desert?

The driest, hottest and most barren spots on Earth are where camels live. They get enough food, but what do they eat in places that are not alive?

According to the Natural History Museum, all three species of camels have evolved to live in the desert. They have one or two humps, which are made of fat and do not act as water tanks, as well as specialized lips for desert foods.

They have a split upper lip, with each half moving separately to allow the animal to eat short grasses in the desert.

The zoo said that camels can break off and eat both salty and prickly plants because of their flexible lips. According to the NHM, the camels line their mouths to protect their mouths from poke-y foods and to help them swallow that food.

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The Oakland zoo reported that Dromedary camels primarily eatthorny plants, dry grasses and salt bush. According to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the camels eat grasses, leaves and twigs from any plant in the desert, along with green shoots of the saxaul shrub. According to the zoo alliance, they eat the stems and foliage from various desert shrubs.

The zoo alliance said that Bactrian camels feed on plants that grow there.

What happens when they eat their meals? The food gets partially broken down in the first two stomachs before being cud and nommed on again, according to the zoo alliance. The force of several microbes that help with digestion is what causes the cud to fall into the other stomach.

According to PBS, camels can survive for more than a week with no water and for months without food.