Camel

I

Introduction

Camel, large cud-chewing mammal with one or two humps on the back, found in the arid regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia.

In prehistoric times camels roamed on all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. Camels originated in North America but became extinct there about 11,000 years ago. Desert-dwelling people in Asia domesticated the camel more than 3,000 years ago. Since then, people have relied on the camel as a means of transportation and a source of milk, meat, wool, and hides. Often called the “ship of the desert,” the camel is known for its incredible endurance as a pack animal. The camel is unrivaled among mammals in its ability to survive for long periods of time without food and water. The fatty humps on the camel’s back provide nutrition when no food is available.

II

Types of Camels

There are two types of camels: the Arabian camel (also known as the dromedary), with one hump, and the Bactrian camel, with two humps. They are native to the arid regions of North Africa and Asia, including the Middle East and Arabia. The Arabian and Bactrian camels can interbreed, producing hybrid offspring.

A

Arabian Camels

Arabian camels make up about 90 percent of the estimated 20 million camels in the world. Domesticated Arabian camels are found throughout North Africa and South and Southwest Asia, with the largest populations in Somalia, Sudan, and India. The only significant population of feral Arabian camels lives in Australia. They descended from domesticated camels that were imported to the continent.

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B

Bactrian Camels

The native range of the Bactrian camel extends over the dry steppes and semidesert of Central Asia to Mongolia. Most of the estimated 2 million domesticated Bactrians live in Mongolia and China. Wild Bactrian camels live only in the Gobi of southwestern Mongolia and in the Takla Makan desert and the Lop Nur area of northwestern China. Fewer than 950 Bactrian camels remain in the wild, making them even more rare than the giant panda. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists them as critically endangered.

The Lop Nur area is one of the harshest environments on earth. The camel’s ability to survive there is remarkable. The area is a desert wasteland in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. There is no fresh water in the area, only salty springs. The lake of Lop Nur and other lakes in the area have mostly dried up due to global warming. The wild Bactrian camels are the only mammals living in the area because they alone can drink saltwater.

In addition, China used the Lop Nur area as a nuclear testing site from 1955 until 1996. The wild Bactrian camels somehow survived more than 40 atmospheric tests. A United Nations expedition of scientists discovered the camels in the area in 1999. The area was then designated a nature reserve specifically to protect this extraordinary population of wild Bactrian camels. Genetic tests have shown that the wild Bactrian camels are genetically distinct from domesticated ones, and scientists consider them a separate species. Only the wild Bactrian camels in the Lop Nur area are completely isolated from domestic herds, so there is no possibility of interbreeding and their unique genetic traits can be preserved.

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