The Camel That Blows a Red Balloon Out of Its Mouth 🐫

Desert design and language

The medieval Arabic encyclopedia Hayat al-Hayawan (c. 1371) calls the camel one of the most amazing animals — not because it is rare, but because we see it so often that we stopped noticing. A giant that kneels to take its load, can be led by a mouse pulling its bridle, and carries a whole furnished house on its back — food, drink, clothes, and a roof — while it walks. The book says GOD made camels long-necked "ships of the land," built to go ten days without water, and paired them with sailing ships in the Quran: "…and on them and on ships you are carried."

The entry is a treasure chest of linguistic precision. "Al-ibl" isn't even a plural, grammatically — it's a genus-name, and feminine. The diminutive is ubaylah, "little camels." The camel's kunya, its nickname, is Abu Ayyub. And camels are called banat al-layl — "daughters of the night." A sage raised in a land with no camels once reasoned from first principles: "they are probably long-necked, to help them lift heavy loads" — the book presents this as proof of the design.

Here's a marvel I didn't expect: the camel is the only animal with no gallbladder. The book states it flatly — every animal has one except the camel — and links it to the camel's proverbial patience and endurance. On its liver sits a membrane holding a secretion used as kohl, said to help chronic night-blindness. It relishes thorny trees, its gut digesting what would shred other stomachs — yet it often cannot digest barley. The desert's paradox, chewing thorns.

The red display and other medieval claims

But the strangest detail comes during mating season. The male camel's temper sours, he eats less and carries on anyway, loaded with three times his normal load. Then he pushes out the shaqshaqah: a red flap of skin from deep inside his throat that he inflates like a balloon from his cheek. "No one knows what it is," the author marvels. The stallion mates only once a year, but for a long season that leaves him exhausted — and the shaqshaqah became proverbial for violent outbursts: the Prophet himself warned about a man's shaqshaqahs, comparing his rages to the bellowing stallion.

The book also calls the camel "the most spiteful of animals" — and the most modest. It claims no camel will ever mount its own mother: one was tricked into it by a man who covered the female with a cloth; when the son realized the truth, he cut off his own organ and held a grudge until he killed the man. Another, tricked the same way, killed himself.

The breeds get their own catalog — al-Arhabiyya, al-Mahriyya, al-Majdiya of Yemen — and the book even corrects al-Ghazali, who wrongly said "Mahriyya" meant inferior camels. The epithets are poetry: al-'is (strong and hardy), al-najiyah (swift), al-kawma' (huge-humped). And the proverbs! "This is not how you water camels, Sa'd" — of one who botches a task he's unfit for.

Some entries are medieval beliefs, not facts. The book claims a camel that catches sight of the star Canopus drops dead on the spot, that burnt camel hair stops bleeding, and that camel urine instantly sobers a drunk man. And in a 7th-century glimpse of heredity: when a man wondered how his red camels produced a grey offspring, the answer given was "perhaps an old root pulled it" — a trait resurfacing from generations back.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the red balloon that comes from a camel’s mouth?

   The article identifies it as the shaqshaqah, a red flap of skin that a male camel pushes from deep inside its throat and inflates during mating season. Al-Damiri describes it as a marvel and connects the word with violent outbursts, comparing human rage to a bellowing stallion’s display.

2. How long does Hayat al-Hayawan say a camel can go without water?

   The book calls camels “ships of the land” and says they were built to travel for ten days without water. It also emphasizes their ability to kneel for heavy loads, carry food, drink, clothing and shelter, and eat thorny plants that would damage the stomachs of other animals.

3. Are all the camel claims in the article modern facts?

   No. The article clearly separates the source’s medieval beliefs from advice or modern zoology. Claims about Canopus killing a camel, burnt camel hair stopping bleeding, and camel urine sobering a drunk person are reported as historical curiosities from Hayat al-Hayawan, not recommendations or verified medical facts.