But, when Gil led Lily and her baby, Howser, front and center to introduce them to the audience, he gently gave it a try.
Now, camels have eight litres of milk in their udders, as Gil explained. When a female’s with her baby, and the baby asks for the milk, she excretes oxytocin–which enables her to give milk for ninety seconds. As baby Howser latched onto a teat and began suckling, Gil was able to quickly take a small quantity of milk from a second teat. He explained that, after the ninety seconds was up, Lily’s milk would stop–but she’d still have another four litres to give Howser, the next time he asked for it.
“You want me to try drinking this, right?” Gil asked the audience–just before he obliged.
“It’s a little salty,” he said, after a sip, “Camels have a lot of salt in their system.”