Camels and elephants swimming in the middle of the ocean have been captured on film recently and the videos are going viral on social media.
The camels were spotted swimming off the coast of Oman and the elephants were spotted swimming off the coast of Algeria.
But there is no need to panic! According to the Times of Oman, camels swimming in the ocean is not uncommon.
The swimming breed are known as Kharai camels, a subspecies of the one-humped dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius). The camels have adapted to the extreme climate of rain and shallow seas with high salinity and swim long distances in the sea to reach the grazing areas —usually more than 3 km at a time even in deep waters.
“Camels usually cross the sea themselves to move from one area to another, sometimes crossing a path from Masirah Island to Shannah, which is approximately 10 km long,” said Salleh Al Jafari, a local from Al Sharqiyah.
Elephants are also known for their ability to swim in deep water. They may look awkward in water, but elephants are actually excellent swimmers. They’re known to readily cross rivers, or even shallow stretches of ocean when they feel it’s worth the trouble. They often use their trunk as a natural snorkel, and the ancestors of this elephant may have even colonized Sri Lanka by swimming over from the mainland.
“They’re very good swimmers,” said Avinash Krishnan, a research officer with the conservation group A Rocha, in an unrelated incident. “Swimming about 15km (3 miles) from the shore is not unusual for an elephant.”
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