Camels and water

[I love Gobi]

I have always read that Camels can go long periods of time without water, and then when they finally do drink, they drink gallons of it. My question is, if they have access to water all the time, how much do they drink at one time? Will they still not drink any for a long time, or will they drink as any other animal would that has continuous access to it?

[Cameleer]

A normal camel will drink less often than a horse but not really much more at one time. Camels actually need to be trained and conditioned to go for more than a few days without water. With wild camels that’s another story, they learn this things to survive. But with domestic ones, the cameleer will train the camel to drink up before heading out on a long dry journey. :cool:

And yes, they can drink a lot when they need to! :eek:

[camel4ever]

I have always read that Camels can go long periods of time without water, and then when they finally do drink, they drink gallons of it. My question is, if they have access to water all the time, how much do they drink at one time? Will they still not drink any for a long time, or will they drink as any other animal would that has continuous access to it?
Camels feeding on green fodder do not need to drink, on completely dry fodder they can normally go for 8-16 days without water. Of course for the longer water intervalls they need to be trained gradually. It depend also from the camel breed and environmental temperature. Salinity of the water is important the more salty the water the more frequent the watering intervall. Reproductive status is also important with milking camels in need of more frequent waterings. As a practical rule a large camel (500 kg) feeding on completely dry fodder in a hot temperature needs 8-10 liters per day so if is using a 4 days watering intervall he will drink about 40 liters of water when he will be watered