Do camels store water in their humps?
No.Camels don't store water in their humps. The humps are made of fat, an energy reserve for when food is scarce. Camels survive the desert by conserving water in their bodies and drinking a lot when they can.
What's actually true
A camel's hump is a fat store, not a water tank. Camels are famous for going a long time without drinking, so it's tempting to picture the hump as a water bottle. London's Natural History Museum is clear: the humps are made of fat. That fat is an energy reserve for lean times. Camels handle the desert through other adaptations, like losing very little water from their bodies and drinking a lot at once.
Takeaway: Camel humps hold fat for energy. Their desert survival comes from saving water, not storing it in the hump.
Why people believe it
The hump is the most visible thing about a camel, and a camel's most famous talent is going without water, so the two got linked. A hump that shrinks when the animal is underfed looks like a tank running dry. Cartoons and school lessons repeated the picture. The real tricks, like saving water in the body, are invisible, so they never replaced the simple story.
Source
“But they don't store water in them. Instead, their humps are made of fat.”
Natural History Museum, London: How do camels survive in deserts? — Natural History Museum, London. Checked on 2026-10-26.