Distribution of body water in the camel (Camelus dromedarius)

¹ Department of Physiology, Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner, India

The distribution of water in the different body compartments were determined in the adult male Indian camels with one hump. The average distributions were as follows: serum volume, 5.9% of body wt.; blood volume, 8.3% of body wt.; total body water (urea space), 68.7% of body wt.; extracellular water (thiocyanate space), 23.3% of body wt.; intracellular water, 45.4% of body wt.; and interstitial water, 17.4% of body wt. The serum and blood volumes of the camel were higher than similar values in other ruminants. When these values were compared with similar values in man, it was observed that the camel had significantly higher serum volumes, total body water, and intracellular water volumes. The capacity of the camel to hold more water might help the animal in withstanding the deprivation of water for a prolonged period in comparison to other animals.