Camel
Webpages concerning "Camel"
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Wikipedia-Article "Camel"
- For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation).
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 Bactrian Camel |
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 Dromedary |
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A camel is either of the two species of large even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus, the Dromedary (Single hump) and the Bactrian Camel (Double hump). Both are native to the dry and desert areas of Asia and northern Africa. The name camel comes via the Greek kamelos, the Arabic jamal or the Hebrew gahmal, "camel".
The term camel is also used more broadly, to describe any of the six camel-like creatures in the family Camelidae: the two true camels, and the four South American camelids: Llama, Alpaca, Guanaco and Vicuna. For an overview of the camel family, see camelid. For more information on the two true camels, see Dromedary and Bactrian Camel.
- Family Camelidae
Camels are well known for their humps. They do not store water in them as is commonly believed. Their humps are a reservoir of fatty tissue, while water is stored in their blood. This allows them to survive days on end without food and water.
Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually. The fiber structure is similar to cashmere. The down is usually 1-3 inches long. Camel down does not felt easily. The down is spun into yarn for knitting.
Humans first domesticated camels approximately 5,000 years ago. The Dromedary and the Bactrian Camel are both still used for milk, meat, and as beasts of burden—the Dromedary in northern Africa and western Asia; the Bactrian Camel further to the north and east in central Asia.
Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today, the species is extinct in the wild: all but a handful are domesticated animals (mostly in Sudan, Somalia, India and nearby countries), as well as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. There is, however, a substantial feral population estimated at 700,000 in central parts of Australia, descended from individuals that escaped from captivity in the late 19th century. This population is growing at approximately 11% per year and in recent times the state government of South Australia has decided to cull the animals using aerial marksmen, the reason being that the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers. For more information, see Australian feral camel.
The Bactrian Camel once had an enormous range, but is now reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, mostly domesticated. It is thought that there are about 1000 wild Bactrian Camels in the Gobi Desert, and small numbers in Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Russia.
A small population of introduced camels, Dromedaries and Bactrians, survived in the Southwest United States until the early 1900s. These animals, imported from Turkey, were part of the US Camel Corps experiment and used as draft animals in mines, and escaped or were released after the project fell through.
Camel Hybrids
Bactrian camel have 2 humps and are rugged cold-climate camels while Dromedaries have one hump and are desert dwellers. Bactrian/Dromedary hybrids are called Bukhts, are larger than either parent, have a single hump and are good draft camels. The females can be mated back to a Bactrian to produce three-quarter bred riding camels. These hybrids are found in Kazakhstan.
The Cama is a camel/llama hybrid bred by scientists who wanted to see how closely related the parent species were. The Dromedary Camel is a Llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the Llama female (Cam Parker to Dromedary female have proven very successful). Though born even smaller than a Llama calf, the Cama had the short ears and long tail of a camel, no hump and Llama-like cloven hooves rather than the Dromedary-like pads. At four years old, the Cama became sexually mature and interested in Llama and Guanaco females. A second Cama (female) has since been produced using artificial insemination. Because Camels and Llamas both have 38 pairs of chromosomes, scientists hope that the Cama will be fertile. If so, there is potential for increasing size, meat/wool yield and pack/draft ability in South American camels. The Cama apparently inherited the poor temperament of both parents as well as demonstrating the relatedness of the New World and Old World camelids.
The South American Camelids can be hybridized:
- A male Alpaca/female Llama results in a Huarizo.
- A male Vicuna/female Alpaca results in a Paco-vicuna.
- A female Alpaca/male Llama results in a Misti.
- A male Vicuna/female Llama results in a Llamo-vicuna.
- A male Alpaca/female Guanaco results in a Paco-guanaco.
- A male Guanaco/female Llama results in a Llama-guanaco (unusual in that the sire's name should form the first part of the hybrid's name).
- A Llama/Alpaca cross which resembles the Llama parent is also known as a Warilla; but if it resembles the Alpaca parent it is called a T'aqa.
External links
| Camelids | |
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| Afro-Asiatic Camelids: Bactrian Camel - Dromedary | |
| South American Camelids: Alpaca - Guanaco - Llama - Vicuña | |
| Hybrid: Cama | |