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Mauritania. Caravan of dromedaries near Nouakchott. In Mauritania as in all countries bordering the Sahara, the dromedary is the domestic species best adapted to the arid environment. Known as "the ship of the desert," it can go without water for long periods, even for several months in the winter if it is on a good grazing land. In the summer, however, the heat and exertion are such that it can only survive for a few days without drinking (albeit in conditions in which a human being would die of dehydration within 24 hours). The reserves of fat in its single hump provide the animal with both energy and water. Other unique adaptations allow it to conserve body water and it can, for instance, withstand excessive increases in body temperature without sweating. In Mauritania, the Moors rear the dromedary for its milk and meat as well as for its leather and wool. At the end of the 1990s, the country's dromedary population was said to number about one million.

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