ORF Documentaries

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    2012x01 Ships of the Desert

    • no air date42m

    Camels are masters of the art of survival. They can go for up to ten months without a drop of water, then drink 200 litres in only 15 minutes, and even digest salt water. Domesticated as beasts of burden they laid the foundations of ancient long-distance trade, with salt and incense caravans regularly crossing the most hostile landscapes in the world. Today, camels are still the most important source of milk, meat, leather, wool, fertilizer and fuel in large parts of Africa and Asia, and for the Bedouins of Arabia. Unsurprisingly Bedouins call the camel Al-Ata Allah, the gift of God. Now medical researchers are exploring the miraculous properties of camels' milk - apparently effective against Alzheimer's and cancer! The film shows camels defying the deadly conditions of the desert with their Bedouin owners; valuable decorated fighting camels, cosseted and pitched against one another in Turkey; Saudi Arabia's unique hi-tech camel clinics; and feral camels in Australia, saved from the cull and coralled for re-export to Arabia, where their descendents are specially bred into racing camels worth up to $3 million each

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