Arabian Camel
by Amy E Fraser
Title
Arabian Camel
Artist
Amy E Fraser
Medium
Painting - Oil Pastel On Paper
Description
The Arabian Camel by Amy E. Fraser. This is an expressive camel portrait in shades of black, brown, gold and cream with a humorous face and intelligent brown eyes complimented with an aqua blue textural background.
A camel is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The Wild Bactrian camel is a separate species and is now critically endangered. The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña. The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years. A full-grown adult dromedary camel stands 6 feet at the shoulder and 7 feet at the hump. Bactrian camels can be a foot taller. Camels can run at up to 40 mph in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 25 mph. Bactrian camels weigh 660 to 2,200 pounds and dromedaries 660 to 1,320 pounds. The widening toes on a camel's hoof provide supplemental grip for varying soil sediments. Camels do not directly store water in their humps; they are reservoirs of fatty tissue. When this tissue is metabolized, it yields more than one gram of water for every gram of fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water. Camels depicted in art have great historical and cultural significance. The oldest carvings of camels were discovered in Saudi Arabia. They were analyzed by researchers from several scientific disciplines and were estimated to be 7,000 to 8,000 years old. The dating of rock art is made difficult by the lack of organic material in the carvings that may be tested, so the researchers attempting to date them tested animal bones found associated with the carvings, assessed erosion patterns, and analyzed tool marks in order to determine a correct date for the creation of the sculptures. This Neolithic dating would make the carvings significantly older than Stonehenge (5,000 years old) and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza (4,500 years old) and it predates estimates for the domestication of camels.
Amy E. Fraser’s Oil Pastel Animal Portrait series is an impassioned tribute to the beauty and magic of our beloved Animal Kingdom. Fun, gestural and energetic, these vibrant animals are painted in a stylized realism that is imbued with distinctive character and personality.
The Arabian Camel by Amy E. Fraser. Animal Portrait Paintings created from the artist’s intense connection to and love for all creatures great and small. Oil Pastel on archival paper. All images copyright Amy E. Fraser. All rights reserved.
Uploaded
May 30th, 2022
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