this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Today I Learned

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Sources:

Those canines are "primarily used to chew up wood and other tough foods" as per one of the articles, but male adult camels may also use those to bite opponents when fighting with each other for territory / mates.

"Someone once described them as a Sarlacc pit from Star Wars" ... definitely a fitting description.

Here is a video of an angry camels open mounth and unclipped teeth; https://www.youtube.com/shorts/whsdxuAy37Y ... it is VERY ugly tho, view at your own discretion.

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Honestly that they have 4 large canini in total is by far the least interesting part about the anatomy of a camels mouth. Look at the unique rough roof of the mouth and look how they casually eat cactus. Their mouth is like a heavy leather bag filled with bricks mashing anything that gets between them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9NC2saE5MbQ&pp=ygUMY2FtZWwgY2FjdHVz

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

Cacti: Evolution gave us needles to protect us from being eaten!

Camels: haha eating needles go brrrrr

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

So satisfying

cronch cronch cronch

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I've seen camels eat cacti before, but it doesn't make it easier to watch them do it. They don't seem to mind much though. Perhaps it's like a chili or wasabi to them.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now I'm hungry. It looks delicious.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's the quenchiest.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

And here I am worried about picking a prickly pear from the cactus in the front yard.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

They have that weird throat bag that they cough up too, when they’re looking to fuc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I would imagine that aliens would look at us the same way when it comes to spicy food.

Human: eats a Death Pepper

Alien: "Why would you eat a food whose name has death in it and gives you chemical burns?"

Human: "The citrus hints are SO YUMMY!"

Alien: shocked pikachu face

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (2 children)

if the camel bit me and I punched him, how long will it take it for lemmy.world to receive its next DDoS attack?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I saw a clip of some guy punching a camel in the head, trying to get it to move (or something).

The camel finally snapped at him, got hold of an arm or shoulder, and just ragdolled him, eventually settling in to rip chunks off while pinning his torso.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Saw it too. Nice reference

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This is the kind of stuff I wonder about ancient finds and when we determine whether they were herbivore or carnivore based on the teeth. Would we be able to accurately tell based on the bones of a camel like this if ancient and extinct? Is there more that we typically go on besides just the teeth’s design?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

I think there is also the molars and general jaw shape to consider. Carnivores are not just identified by their fangs, they have generally a different structure and layout of their jaws that is made to lock into a prey animal or tear out pieces of flesh.

In contrast, many herbivores have teeth laid out to grind down plant matter (think cows or goats) and their mouths are laid out to chew off vegetation with very articulated lips to assist. Even if these camels have pointy fangs, the rest of their mouth would indicate they eat primarily plants.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They do have dentals that are extremely specialized for eating vegetation that really doesn't want to be eaten. The large canini are only a trait of males from which we could very reasonably determine that they're used for intraspecific fights if we have both male and female fossils available.
Actually I would consider the anatomy of a camels skull one of the easiest to determine the habits of the species off due to its very specific adaptions.

We can determine that they live in an area with rough vegetation which are to that degree only arid climate zones. That requires high mobility to scan the area for scarce vegetation and even scarcer water sources. You'd probably also assume they move in larger groups if fighting is so relevant for males that huge fangs turned into a selected trait. From that alone you can make many assumptions that probably align with the actual lifestyle of those animals.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

That's actually a good question. I'm no dental expert mind you, but looking at the highly different diets some species have even compared to close relatives, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened to extinct species as well. I mean, look at bears for example - grizzly, polar bear, brown bear .... panda. Suddenly there is a vegan in the group, but with the same type of carnivore teeth.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Huh. I guess the camel mouth pictures I saw before have all their teeth extracted or something? Second pic absolutely looked like that of a large cat pic to the untrained eye (mine)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Fron what I've read, there are differences in breeds (alpacas for example have very small canines compared to other species), females have smaller canines than males (on average), and they're also usually removed / clipped for domesticated camelids (example with an alpaca: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyXSrIUkFNg)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the link, those teeth got out faster than expected. I was kinda expecting the alpaca to go murder mode with how the removal was done.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=vyXSrIUkFNg

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good bot.

Uhh... Do we do good bot/bad bot here?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Sure, why not?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Crikey! Oid better stick me thumb in it!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

I saw a video of a camel murdering a guy like a rag doll after the dude punched the camel. This is just another item tucked away in the " don't fuck with camels" folder.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Super surprising!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Technically a good boi then.

PS: bonus video to show that canines are not the strangest thing about a camel's mouth: https://yewtu.be/watch?v=9NC2saE5MbQ ...it actually seems to love munching on spiny things, look at him go 😍 😱

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fascinating! Llamas don’t seem to have this kind of teeth. Wonder why.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Because it really whips the Llama’s ass

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Who tf just read this comment out loud?? I clearly heard it!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I'm more interested in its gums, which look like they belong in a sarlacc pit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

its tongue, roof of mouth and back of throat all look uniquely tough. There is a lot of evolution going on here

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of many reasons why "Human teeth look like horse teeth, that's why we should be vegan" is a dumb argument

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

except the argument is usually that we have canines, therefore we must eat meat.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know, but vegan extremists have often pointed out that because our teeth are shaped more like a horse's than a lions, that we must be herbivores. Which is fucking stupid for several reasons.

One of them being that horses are opportunistic meat eaters and will eat meat when given the chance, they just merely aren't aggressive or combat suited enough to hunt for it themselves.

Another being as you said, we have canines.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Vegan extremists, you say? What other views do these extreme individuals hold?

I'm guessing it's not that we should be murdering humans for any reason.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Basically the people who say that if you use any Animal product for any reason, then you basically are no better than the people who did the Holocaust. No this isn't an exaggeration.

The kind of people who compare the Civil Rights Movement to the conditions to which pigs live in, and wonder why people think they are racist.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

That first one most certainly does sound like an exaggeration, or at least an outlier. And in the context of this discussion it implies a false equivalence that anyone who thinks that our teeth look more like an herbivore's than an omnivore or carnivore's and takes from that that we should eat more vegetables, also thinks that you're as bad as hitler or a nazis for eating meat.

But maybe one of us is misunderstanding. I certainly do think that the millions of animals being killed without a justified reason is a type of Holocaust. Sure, it's not humans, but I think it's a fair conclusion to come to. Regardless of if you'd call it that, can you see how all of this unnecessary death and torture is incredibly unethical? It doesn't seem extreme to me if that's what these vegans are saying.

Secondly, do you not think there is a similarity between fighting for the civil rights of humans and fighting for the rights of animals? I don't think that's a racist statement at all, and you know what? I think anyone who says it is racist is either actively trying to undermine the argument with adhominem or is simply too dumb to realize that's what the person they heard say it originally was trying to do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Cite your sources.