Photos: If Camels Can’t Survive in Drought-Stricken Somalia, What Can? (PHOTOS)

Jul 20, 2011 10:40 AM EDT

The United Nations declared famine in two regions of southern Somalia on Wednesday and warned that this could spread further within two months in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country unless donors step in to help.  This is the worst drought the region has seen in more than half a century.

More than 10 million people are in need of food aid in the Horn of Africa and most of them are in Somalia.  But, it's not just the people who are suffering.  The camels, for which they rely-upon, are suffering worse.  The death of 50 percent of Somalia's camels poses a grave question: If camels can't survive, what can?

Eastern Africa's drought has proved a death sentence for an animal known for surviving weeks without water.  In some areas, over 80 percent of livestock have perished, forcing families to abandon their homes and relocate into overcrowded refugee camps.

Around two-thirds of Somalia's population depends on their livestock for survival, not only for milk and meat, but also purchasing power.  Oxfam reports that the value of Somali camels has been slashed in half - many nomadic herders are watching as their livelihood dies off, one by one.

Here's a look at a caravan of surviving camels as they head to a watering hole in drought-stricken Somalia: