WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Jun 22
Camel Day
The Camel's Hump
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"The camel has a single hump;
The dromedary, two;
Or else the other way around.
I'm never sure. Are you? "
~ The Camel, Ogden Nash (1902-1971)
Yalla, yalla, camels and Dancers! World Camel Day, celebrated each year on June 22, honours both the one-humped Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) and the two-humped Bactrian (Camelus bactrianus), along with their camelid cousins such as llamas and alpacas. Surprisingly, about 94% of the world's camels are one-humped Dromedaries, while only 6% are the two-humped Bactrians.
Known as the "ships of the desert," camels have been transporting people, goods, and occasionally bewildered travellers across some of the world's harshest landscapes for thousands of years. Their broad feet act like built-in sand shoes, allowing them to stride across dunes with enviable ease.
Camels have even had military careers. During the First World War, the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade brought together troops from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand for service in the Middle East.
This John W Mitchell 32 bar reel for 4 pairs of camels is just the ticket for today, Hump Day (Wednesdays) or any day!
These days, camels are branching out into more fashionable pursuits. Their luxurious hair became the inspiration for the classic camel-hair coat, while camel milk is gaining popularity as an alternative beverage and for specialty ice cream! So after a long evening of dancing, including this, why settle for ordinary dessert when you could enjoy a genuine desert dessert? Yalla, yalla! Go Camels! 🕺 💃 🤎 💛 🤎 🐫 🐪 🐫🍦
The Camel's Hump
Why the humps? Camels are nature's desert survival specialists. Contrary to popular belief, their humps do not store water—they store fat, a concentrated energy reserve that allows camels to travel long distances when food is scarce. By storing fat in a hump rather than throughout the body, camels avoid carrying an insulating layer of fat over their entire bodies, helping them stay cooler in intense desert heat.
The number of humps depends on the species. The one-humped Dromedary camel evolved in the hot deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, where a single large fat reserve was well suited to its environment. The two-humped Bactrian camel, native to the deserts and steppes of Central Asia, evolved an extra hump to store additional energy for surviving colder winters, longer food shortages, and more extreme seasonal conditions.
When food is plentiful, a camel's hump stands tall and firm. During lean times, the stored fat is gradually used up, and the hump may shrink, droop, or even flop to one side. In a sense, a camel's hump is a visible "fuel gauge"—a remarkable adaptation that has helped camels thrive in some of the world's most challenging landscapes for thousands of years.
The humps even influence how people ride them. Saddles for one-humped Dromedaries are typically positioned over or just behind the hump, allowing riders to sit high and balanced. Two-humped Bactrians offer a natural "seat" between their humps, so their saddles are often designed to rest in the valley between them. For centuries, traders crossing deserts and mountain passes adapted their saddles to fit each camel's unique anatomy—proof that even the humble hump has shaped human travel, trade, and exploration.
For more on military camel corps, click the camels in the photograph of the Ottoman camel corps at Beersheba during the First Suez Offensive of World War I, 1915.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
