On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 17:13:22 +0000, "Peter Duncanson [BrE]"
<
ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 07:15:19 -0700, RH Draney <
dado...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>On 12/18/2017 6:22 AM, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
>>>>
>>> We don't have many camels in Britain, and those that we do have are in
>>> zoos. The average Brit has no need to distinguish between dromedarys and
>>> bactrians. We don't buy and sell them. We don't have them as pets and we
>>> don't use them for transport. The vast majority of Brits have even less
>>> reason to distinguish between them than to distinguish between breeds of
>>> horses.
>>
>>I assume, then, that you also don't have picture books to read to your
>>children, with pages saying "C is for Camel" with pictures of
>>dromedaries for the brighter kids to point at and say "that's not a
>>camel, it's only got one hump!"...
>>
>>Lest this strike some as a contrived example, it happened here with me
>>as the precocious child, leading to a lifetime of buying camel
>>tchotchkes of all sorts for the cousin who was trying to read to me at
>>the time....
>
>That seems to be an English language distinction, perhaps local?
>
>
https://www.livescience.com/27503-camels.html
>
> Camels are mammals with long legs, a big-lipped snout and a humped
> back. There are two types of camels: dromedary camels, which have
> one hump, and Bactrian camels, which have two humps.
>
Missing from the description is that camels spit. This is not a myth
as many Central Floridians of a certain age will know.
The local zoo* used to be located in small piece of property with no
room for expansion. A Shriner's group "donated" a camel to the zoo.
I've scare-quoted "donated" because their real motive was to get rid
of the loathsome beast. It was foul tempered, mangy, and was prone to
spit on anyone who neared it.
The zoo did not have any space to add a camel enclosure, so they put
the camel on a narrow plot at the entranceway to the zoo. This was
not a good choice. That put the camel within spitting distance of all
visitors, and few visitors managed to pass through the entrance gate
without being spat upon.
The camel finally died, but if it's not known if it fell or was
pushed. It wasn't mourned.
The zoo has since relocated to much larger quarters and once again has
a camel on exhibit. The current one has a much better disposition. It
also has a large area that buffers the camel from visitors in case it
spits.
The zoo also houses a llama...another animal known for spitting. To
the best of my knowledge, the two have never engaged in a spitting
contest.
*It's the Central Florida Zoo, but located in Sanford FL and not
Orlando. Sanford is contiguous with Orlando.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida