What Animals Can Go the Longest Without Drinking Water? (Up to 20 years!)

11. Camel (15 days)

Are you surprised to know that when it comes to going without water, camels don’t even make it into the top 10? Oh, you’re going to be amazed at what we have for you. But in all due respect to our thirsty camel friends, they do have a unique water storage system. They store fat in their humps that they use for energy and hydration when water is scarce. The humps swell when they are full and begin to sag when the fat stores are being used up. It’s a pretty convenient way for camel riders to tell how much “gas” their animal has left and can start looking for the next oasis for a fill-up!

10. Giraffe (21 days)

If you’re going to cross the desert riding an animal, a giraffe would get you a week further down the road than a camel. Giraffes can go up to 21 days without a drink. Unlike camels, they don’t have the means to store large amounts of water in their bodies. But they do extract moisture from the plants they eat, particularly acacia leaves. Giraffes have to spread their front legs to enable them physically to drink water. After a long dry spell, they can drink up to 14 gallons (54 liters) at once.

9. Desert Tortoise (1 year)

Desert tortoises come in two main species that live in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Inside their domed shells, they have an enlarged bladder that can store 40% of their body weight in water and liquid waste. It holds enough for them to help the tortoise survive a dry spell of up to a year . . . unless they get scared. A sudden fright can cause a desert tortoise to urinate out all of its water reserves. If it’s a dry season and it can’t replenish the moisture, it could die quickly.

8. Jerboa (3 years)

The jerboa is native to Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Asia. They are highly adapted to desert conditions: able to survive temperature extremes, able to jump very high to get away from predators and travel quickly, and have large ears to help them detect the slightest sound of an approaching predator. They get their water from the plants and insects they heat, going their entire 3-year lifetime without drinking liquid water.

7. Water-Holding Frog (5 years)

The water-holding frog really does need a way to hold on to water, living in the arid conditions of the Australian outback. It hyper-hydrates itself by soaking up water through its skin. When things dry up, it burrows underground and creates a cocoon of skin around itself to prevent water loss. Then it slowly eats its skin to keep itself from getting too hungry. It can live a crazy 5 years in this condition!

6. Kangaroo Rat (5 years)

Despite their name, kangaroo rats are not related to kangaroos and aren’t found in Australia. They’re small rodents native to the deserts of North America. They got their name from their remarkable ability to jump long distances, using their tails to help them stick the landing. One of their adaptations to desert life is a set of kidneys that conserve as much water as possible from their urine. They also don’t sweat but have oily coats to help keep them cool. With these kinds of adaptations, they can go their whole 5-year lifetime without liquid water!

5. West African Lungfish (5 years)

West African lungfish have survived on Earth for almost 400 million years. They have gills to breathe underwater but can also extract oxygen from the air. When drought sets in, they burrow into the mud and encase themselves in a mucus cocoon for protection. They can survive this way for up to five years, digesting their own muscle tissue for nutrition.

4. Gerenuk (8 years)

The first time you see a picture of a gerenuk, you might think it had been photoshopped. But these strange creatures that look part antelope, part giraffe are real. They’re native to the deserts and savannas of East Africa. Their long necks help them reach leaves from higher branches and spot danger from a distance. They conserve water with nasal passages that prevent moisture loss through evaporation. Their bodies conserve water from their urine, which makes it highly concentrated. And they move no more than they have to, standing in place to browse. All of this helps them conserve moisture from their food and go up to 8 years without drinking liquid water.

3. Couch’s Spadefoot Toad (10 years)

Couch’s spadefoot toads live in the Colorado Desert. They grow at a fast rate. The eggs hatch in two days; the tadpoles grow legs in 10 days; and by 3 months they’ve reached half their adult size. In dry periods, they burrow down to a wet layer of sand and surround themselves with layers of partially shed skin. Retaining water like this, they can survive up to 10 years without drinking water!

2. Arabian Sand Gazelle (14 years)

Arabian sand gazelles are found in small numbers scattered across the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring areas. They survive in the intense desert heat by shrinking their hearts and livers up to 30%. These organs consume a lot of oxygen and cause animals to breathe more, losing moisture with every exhalation. With smaller hearts and livers, they breathe less and lose less water. Incidentally, this also helps reduce how much hot and dusty desert air they inhale, so it’s a win-win for these graceful creatures.

1. Thorny Devil (20 years)

Zoologists have really not been nice to Australia’s thorny devil. As if that common name wasn’t insulting enough, its Latin scientific name is Moloch horridus. Moloch was an ancient Canaanite god who was the object of child sacrifice. “Horridus,” actually means “rough” or “bristly” but can also mean “rude” or yes, you guessed it, “horrid.”

In reality, this little 8.3 in (21 cm) lizard is only aggressive to the ants it eats. Its mouth is so specifically adapted to eating ants, that it physically cannot drink liquid water. Instead, dew droplets condense on its scales and get absorbed from all over its body to the mouth through capillary action. When things are especially dry, they can bury themselves in the sand to absorb whatever minimal moisture might be there. As one of these little devils can live for 15-20 years, it is the hands-down winner, the animal that can go the longest without drinking water.