Camels are well-known for their ability to retain large amounts of water in their hump… Right? No, not exactly. Against popular belief, camels don’t hold any water in their hump. Their hump is actually used to store fat. But in all fairness, camels can and do drink a lot of water. Camels are able to drink up to 20 gallons of water at a time which is stored in the animal’s bloodstream rather than their hump.
From animals to plants, and even the clouds that float about our heads, there are some things in nature that can hold incredible amounts of water.
One plant that is famous for its ability to store large quantities of water is the cactus. While the size and type of cactus determine how much it can hold, about 90% of a cactus’ body is devoted to storing water. The famous Saguaro Cactus of the Southwestern U.S. expands like an accordian after rainfall soaking up as much water up as possible. A signle Saguaro Cacti can hold a ton of water!
Another one of nature’s water retainers are clouds. A cloud’s ability to retain water is immense. It’s a hard to say what single cloud holds but according to the National Weather Service, “one inch of rain over one square mile equals 17.4 million gallons of water weighing 143 million pounds.” Wow.