Santa Fe, New Mexico is a beautiful place to visit if you ever have the chance. The surrounding mountains and rock formations make it a very popular tourist destination as well as place of residence to many of the wealthy from Hollywood. One popular monument to visit is just north of the city, Camel Rock. The weathered sandstone looks much like a camel laying in the middle of the mountains.
Today I wanted to share another of my Silver Striker tokens that comes from almost right next to the formation. The Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico was settled by the Tewa speaking tribe. Like many other Native American tribes they have opened their own casino to help with the tribes finances. At one point they had Silver Striker slot machines in their casino that on occasion would pay out silver or brass tokens. This is one of the silver tokens that came from one of the slots.
About the token:
Sadly Silver Striker slot machines seem to be a thing of the past. I haven't seen one in many years now. But you can still collect the tokens they used to pay out. The silver variety is what I prefer because they are pure silver surrounded by a brass ring. The sliver content is about 0.65 Troy ounces in each one of these making them a great item for stackers and collectors. eBay is the best place to pick them up anymore. They are a lot of fun to collect and there were so many produced world wide I'm not sure it's possible to collect them all.
The Arabian Camel
Instead of talking about rock formation in the desert I thought it might be fun to talk about Arabian camels. These camels have one hump instead of two and are the ones you always see in the desert movies. An interesting fact is that Arabian camels once roamed the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In 1855 the US Army purchased 75 Arabian camels to assist with their move westward. At one point several escaped and wandered the region for several years. There weren't enough to ever establish a breeding population but sightings continued for many years as they can live forty to fifty years!
Camels were also introduced to Australia where they have established breeding populations. They arrived in the 1800's to help transport items in arid environments but many were released into the wild. Now there are over one million feral camels roaming Australia and seriously degrade the habitat. Just like any invasive species they can destroy the entire ecosystem.
Camels are uniquely evolved to handle the hot desert environment. They store water in their fat and as fat is burned it releases water into the body. Their kidneys and intestines are very efficient at conserving water as well. Their urine comes out as a thick syrup because so much water has been conserved. Apparently their feces are excreted so dry they are used to fuel fires without the need to dry them (in the desert you use what is available I suppose.) Their long fur acts to protect the body from the heat radiating from sand so they don't need to sweat to reduce the body temperature nearly as much as other mammals. They can also survive on green plants when available by extracting the water.
To keep sand out of the eyes they have very long eyelashes. However, if sand does get lodged in the eye they have a functioning third translucent eyelid (the nictitating membrane) that can clear it out of the eyes much like aquatic animals or birds.
Overall an animal meant to not just live in the desert, but to thrive in the desert.
I hope you found my post interesting today. I love coins, rounds, or tokens with some sort of animal theme, it's fun to learn more about the animal! I know today's wasn't technically an animal token, but I hope your enjoyed it. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments please feel free to leave them below. Thanks for stopping by!
And since I am posting in the #freecompliments community I just wanted to remind everyone to take some time today to be kind. A little kindness can make a huge difference in someone's life. Please check out the community and consider joining us!
And my disclaimer:
Gold and silver collecting and stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
All pictures are mine unless otherwise noted.
References:
https://www.silverstrikers.com/Web/Catalogs/SilverStrikes/NewMexico/CamelRockTQnm/Camel-Rock-TQnm-Page-01.php/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesuque,_New_Mexico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesuque,_New_Mexico
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_feral_camel
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