RUDYARD KIPLING

1. HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP BY RUDYARD KIPLING

2. ABOUT THE WRITER • Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865 in Bombay, India. He was educated in England but returned to India in 1882. In 1892, Kipling married Caroline Balestier and settled in Brattleboro, Vermont where he wrote The Jungle Book and "Gunga Din." Eventually becoming the highest paid writer in the world, Kipling was recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. He died in 1936.

3. DESERT ANIMALS • Deserts cover about one fifth (20 percent) of the earth's land area. The desert is a harsh environment with very little rainfall and extreme temperatures; a desert is defined as a region that gets less than ten inches of precipitation per year. Because of these dry conditions, there is limited plant and animal life in deserts. Desert plants (like cacti) are not abundant; neither is animal life. • Some deserts get both very hot (during the day) and very cold (during the night, when temperatures can drop well below freezing). Some deserts, however, are always cold (for example, the Gobi Desert in Asia, and the desert on the continent of Antarctica). • Different animals live in the different types of deserts. Animals that live in the desert have adaptations to cope with the lack of water, the extreme temperatures, and the shortage of food. To avoid daytime heat, many desert animals are nocturnal; they burrow beneath the surface or hide in the shade during the day, emerging at night to eat. Many desert animals do not have to drink at all; they get all the water they need from their food. Most desert animals are small.

5. WATCH A VIDEO ON DESERT ANIMALS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS FEATURES • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5scAt0hasIg

6. CAMELS A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. The two surviving species of camel are the dromedary, or one-humped camel, which is native to the Middle East and the Horn of Africa; and the Bactrian, or two-humped camel, which inhabits Central Asia. Both species have been domesticated; they provide milk, meat, hair for textiles or goods such as felted pouches, and are working animals. DROMEDARY CAMEL BACTRIAN CAMEL

7. WATCH A VIDEO ON CAMELS http://video.nationalgeographic.co.in/video/animals/mammals-animals/zebras-horses-camels/camel_dromedary_tunisia/

8. DROMEDARY CAMELS The dromedary (pronounced /ˈdrɑmədɛɹi/ or /ˈdrɒmədri/) or Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius) is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. First described by Aristotle of Stagira, the dromedary was given its binomial name by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The dromedary is the next largest member of the camel family after the Bactrian camel. The oldest known ancestor of the dromedary is the Protylopus. Males are 1.8–2 m (5.9–6.6 ft) tall and females 1.7–1.9 m (5.6–6.2 ft) tall. Males range from 400–600 kg (880–1,300 lb), while females weigh 300–540 kg (660–1,200 lb). They vary in colour from a light caramel to black. The notable hump, measuring 20 cm (7.9 in), is fat bound together by fibrous tissue. Its diet includes foliage and desert vegetation, like thorny plants, and eats Acacia, Atriplex and Salsola species whenever available. The camels are active in the day, and rest together in groups. Led by a dominant male, each herd consists of about 20 individuals.

9. BACTRIAN CAMELS The Bactrian camel is the largest mammal in its native range and rivals the Dromedary as the largest living camel. Shoulder height is from 180 to 230 cm (5.9 to 7.5 ft), head-and-body length is 225–350 cm (7.38–11.5 ft) and the tail length is 35–55 cm (14–22 in). At the top of the humps, the average height is 213 cm (6.99 ft). Body mass can range from 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb), with males often being much larger and heavier than females.[11] Its long, wooly coat varies in colour from dark brown to sandy beige. There is a mane and beard of long hair on the neck and throat, with hairs measuring up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long. The shaggy winter coat is shed extremely rapidly, with huge sections peeling off at once, appearing as if sloppily shorn off. There are two humps on the back, which are composed of fat (not water as is sometimes thought). The face is typical of a camelid, being long and somewhat triangular, with a split upper lip. There are long eyelashes, which, along with the sealable nostrils, help to keep out dust in the frequent sandstorms which occur in their natural range. The two broad toes on each foot have undivided soles and are able to spread widely as an adaptation to walking on sand. The feet are very tough, as befits an animal of extreme environments.

10. WATCH AN AUDIO-VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE STORY HOW THE CAMEL GOT HIS HUMP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiKHUrFFEUU

11. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT Answer the questions in short 1.What did the man ask the three animals to do at the end of the day? 2.Why were the animals angry and what did they do? 3.What were the complaints of the three animals against the camel? 4.What was the camel doing all day long? 5.How did the Djinn punish the camel? 6.According to the Djinn what was the use of the hump? 7.Did the camel change after the punishment?

12. Acknowledgement NCERT text class VIII National Geographic website Youtube Wikipedia