Dromedary Camels
The Dromedary camel is sometimes referred to as the Arabian
camel, as this is the location it is most associated with and
believed to have been domesticated there some 5000 years ago.
Nowadays there are no wild Dromedary camels, although Australia
does have a population of about 700,000 feral camels after their
introduction in the mid 19th century. It is believed the 13million
dromedary camels alive today are all domesticated.
Like their two humped cousins, dromedary camels do not store
water in the hump, but a fatty reserve enables them to survive
without water and food for some time. When the reserve is depleted
it can sag to the side. A couple of days rest and plenty of food
and water will have the hump back to it full strength and they
are ready to go again. This is what made them so useful for travelling
long distances over areas such as the Sahara Desert (hence ‘Ship
of the Desert’) where they were an important animal for
thousands of years. The camels provided humans with a beast of
burden that could walk for miles a day, and provide meat, wool,
milk and fuel. Their very dry dung can be burnt on a fire.
Dromedary camels prefer to live in small family groups of about
30, made up of females, young (less than 5 years old) and lead
by a dominant male. The male will defend his place by spitting
at, biting and head butting any interlopers.
Their diet is similar to most ruminants, although they can tolerate
salty plants and can drink brackish and salty water if needed.
Although, as a now domesticated species this is rarely necessary.
These camels have longer limbs than their two humped cousins;
however they do not grow quite as tall, reaching only about six
and a half feet tall. Having never been required to withstand
the temperature variations they do not grown such a long coat,
although the shed fibre is still sought after for spinning and
weaving as it is very soft and rarely has guard hairs.
Some things are shared between the two Genus Camelus. The breeding
cycles of both the Bactrian and Dromedary camels are the same,
Calves are born 12 – 14 months after the rutting season,
one calf, and two year between pregnancies. Their feet are webbed,
padded and spread when placed on the ground to prevent sinking
into sand and their colouration helps them blend into their environment.
Their top lips have a labial cleft which allows each side to move
independently and makes choosing food easier. Their ears are small
but their hearing is acute, also they are lined with fur to keep
out sand and dust. Each type matures around the same ages and
lives to be in their 30’s or 40’s. Finally, they both
walk with the rolling gait of both right legs moving forward then
both left legs.
Just a little movie trivia for you all. According the internet
movie database (www.imdb.com)
camels have appeared in 91 movies. Some you might recognise are
Road to Morocco (1942) starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and The
Ten Commandments ((1956) with Charlton Heston as Moses. More recently,
filmed in Australia was Kangaroo Jack in 2003.
But, the classic camel movie has to be Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
with its all star cast that included Peter O’Toole, Alec
Guinness and Omar Sharif. It is rumoured that Peter O'Toole finally
mastered camel-riding by adding a layer of sponge under his saddle
to ease his tender backside. This was apparently adopted by the
local Bedouin tribesmen who were extras for the desert scenes.
One last brief note, if you ever have trouble identifying your
Bactrian from your Dromedary just turn the first letter of each
on its side and you will see that a B has two humps and a D only
one ;-)
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