Camels

"This strange beast lurches like a turkey and sways its neck like a swan," wrote said Gustave Flaubert when he visited Egypt. "It also emits a rattle with a kind of tremendous gargling as an accompaniment."

Strange as the are, camels are well suited to the desert. Their feed have wide pads, ideal for walking on unstable sand. To prevent sand getting in they close their nostrils when not breathing and have a third eyelid for the same reason.

With extremely tough skin inside their mouths, camels eat the coarsest vegetation. When the feeding is good they accumulate fat - not water - in their humps. Water is made when this fat is oxidized. Thus they can go without water for 17 days and survive.

When camels walk they move the same side feet at the same time, which gives it the swinging motion when you're riding it.