| Arabian oryx | |
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| Male in Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve | |
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Conservation status
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 Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[1] |
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CITES Appendix I [1]
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Hippotraginae |
| Genus: | Oryx |
| Species: |
O. leucoryx
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| Binomial name | |
| Oryx leucoryx
(Pallas, 1777)
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The Arabian oryx or white oryx (Oryx leucoryx) is a medium-sized antelope with a distinct shoulder bump, long, straight horns, and a tufted tail.[2] It is a bovid, and the smallest member of the genus Oryx, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980.
In 1986, the Arabian oryx was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, and in 2011, it was the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after previously being listed as extinct in the wild. It is listed in CITES Appendix I. In 2016, populations were estimated at 1,220 individuals in the wild, including 850 mature individuals, and 6,000–7,000 in captivity worldwide.[1]
The taxonomic name Oryx leucoryx is from the Greek orux (gazelle or antelope) and leukos (white). The Arabian oryx is also called the white oryx in English, dishon in Hebrew,[3] and is known as maha, wudhaihi, baqar al-wahsh, and boosolah in Arabic.[4]
The name "oryx" was introduced by Peter Simon Pallas in 1767 for the common eland as Antilope oryx. He also scientifically described the Arabian oryx as Oryx leucoryx, giving its range as "Arabia, and perhaps Libya". In 1816, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville subdivided the antelope group, adopted Oryx as a genus name, and changed the species name Antilope oryx to Oryx gazella. In 1826, Martin Lichtenstein confused matters by transferring the name Oryx leucoryx to the scimitar oryx, now Oryx dammah. The Zoological Society of London obtained the first living individual in Europe in 1857. Not realizing this might be the Oryx leucoryx of previous authors, John Edward Gray proposed calling it Oryx beatrix after Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. Oldfield Thomas renamed the scimitar oryx as Oryx algazal in 1903 and gave the Arabian oryx its original name.[4]
The Arabian oryx' coat is an almost luminous white, the undersides and legs are brown, and black stripes occur where the head meets the neck, on the forehead, on the nose, and going from the horn down across the eye to the mouth. Both sexes have long, straight or slightly curved, ringed horns which are 0.61–1.49 m (2–4.9 ft). It stands between 0.79 and 1.25 m (2.6 and 4.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and typically weighs between 220 to 460 lb (100 to 209 kg).[5][2]
Historically, the Arabian oryx probably ranged throughout most of the Middle East. In the early 1800s, they could still be found in the Sinai, Palestine, the Transjordan, much of Iraq, and most of the Arabian Peninsula. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, their range was pushed back towards Saudi Arabia, and by 1914, only a few survived outside that country. A few were reported in Jordan into the 1930s, but by the mid-1930s, the only remaining populations were in the Nafud Desert in northwestern Saudi Arabia and the Rub' al Khali in the south.[2]
In the 1930s, Arabian princes and oil company clerks started hunting Arabian oryxes with automobiles and rifles. Hunts grew in size, and some were reported to employ as many as 300 vehicles. By the middle of the 20th century, the northern population was effectively extinct.[2] The last Arabian oryx in the wild before reintroduction was reported in 1972.[6]
Arabian oryxes prefer to range in gravel deserts or hard sand, where their speed and endurance will protect them from most predators and hunters on foot. In the sand deserts in Saudi Arabia, they used to be found in the hard sand areas of the flats between the softer dunes and ridges.[2]
Arabian oryxes have been reintroduced to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Jordan. A small population was introduced on Hawar Island, Bahrain, and large semi-managed populations at several sites in Qatar and the UAE. The total reintroduced population is now estimated to be around 1,000. This puts the Arabian oryx well over the threshold of 250 mature individuals needed to qualify for endangered status. However, the majority of the population is concentrated in Saudi Arabia.[1]
The Arabian oryx rests during the heat of the day. A herd in Oman can range over 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi). Packs are of mixed sex and usually comprise between 2 and 15 induvials, though herds of up to 100 have been reported. Arabian oryxes are generally not aggressive toward one another, which allows herds to exist peacefully for some time.[7]
The diets of the Arabian oryx consist mainly of grasses, but it eats a large variety of vegetation, including buds, herbs, fruit, tubers and roots. Herds follow infrequent rains to eat the new plants that grow afterwards. They can go for several weeks without water.[7] In Oman, it primarily eats grasses of the genus Stipagrostis, flowers from Stipagrostis plants appeared highest in crude protein and water, while leaves seemed a better food source with other vegetation.[8]
When the Arabian oryx is not wandering its habitat or eating, it digs shallow depressions in the soft ground under shrubs or trees for resting. They can detect rainfall from a distance and follow in the direction of fresh plant growth. The number of individuals in a herd can vary greatly (up to 100 have been reported occasionally), but the average is 10 or fewer individuals.[9] Bachelor herds do not occur, and single territorial males are rare. Herds establish a straightforward hierarchy that involves all females and males above the age of about seven months.[10] Arabian oryxes tend to maintain visual contact with other herd members, with subordinate males taking positions between the main body of the herd and the outlying females. If separated, males will search areas where the herd last visited, settling into a solitary existence until the herd's return. Where water and grazing conditions permit, male Arabian oryxes establish territories. Bachelor males are solitary.[11] A dominance hierarchy is created within the herd by posturing displays, which avoid the danger of serious injury their long, sharp horns could potentially inflict. Males and females use their horns to defend the sparse territorial resources against interlopers.[12]
The Arabian oryx changes its physiology and behaviour at different times of the year to increase survival during times when food and water are in limited supply. During the summer, when droughts are common in the desert environments where it lives, the Arabian oryx will drastically reduce its minimal fasting metabolic rate by lying completely inactive beneath shade trees during the day and ranging over smaller areas at night to forage.[13] By letting its body temperature rise during the heat of the day, it uses less evaporative cooling and retains more body water, and at night, the cool night air lowers its temperature back to the normal range.[14] The oryx's arterial blood temperature is partly powered by a network of small arterial vessels with a large surface area called the rete mirabile, which branches from the two carotid arteries to the brain and allows for heat exchange between warm arterial blood and the cooler blood in the sinus cavities.[14] Because of these changes in behaviour and physiology, it was shown that Arabian oryx can reduce their urine volume, faecal water loss, and resting metabolic rate by at least 50%.[15]
The Arabian wolf is the Arabian oryx's only predator. In captivity and safe conditions in the wild, it has a maximum life span of up to 20 years.[11] In periods of drought, though, their life expectancy may be significantly reduced by malnutrition and dehydration. Other causes of death include fights between males, snakebites, disease, and drowning during floods.[16]
The Arabian oryx is the national animal of Jordan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates,[17] Bahrain, and Qatar.[18]
The Arabian oryx is also the namesake of several businesses on the Arabian peninsula, notably Al Maha Airways and Al Maha Petroleum.
In the King James Version of the Bible, the word re'em is translated as 'unicorn'. In Modern Hebrew, the name re'em lavan, meaning white oryx, is used in error for the scimitar-horned oryxes living in the sanctuary Yotvata Hai Bar near Eilat.[19] The scimitar oryx is called re'em Sahara. The Arabian name ri'ïm is the equivalent of the Hebrew name re'em, also meaning white oryx, suggesting a borrowing from the Early Modern Era.
A Qatari oryx named "Orry" was chosen as the official games mascot for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha,[20] and is shown on tailfins of planes belonging to Middle Eastern airline Qatar Airways.
The myth of the one-horned unicorn may be based on oryxes that have lost one horn. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder held that the oryx was the unicorn's "prototype".[21] From certain angles, the oryx may seem to have one horn rather than two,[22][23] and given that its horns are made from hollow bone that cannot be regrown, if an Arabian oryx were to lose one of its horns, for the rest of its life, it would have only one.[21]
Another source for the concept may have originated from the translation of the Hebrew word re'em into Greek as μονόκερως, monokeros, in the Septuagint.[24] In Psalm 22:21, the word karen, meaning horn, is written in singular. The Roman Catholic Vulgata and the Douay-Rheims Bible translated re'em as rhinoceros; other translations are names for a wild bull, wild oxen, buffalo, or gaur, but in some languages, a word for unicorn is maintained. The Arabic translation alrim is the correct choice etymologically, meaning 'white oryx'.[25]
The Phoenix Zoo and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society of London (now Fauna and Flora International), with financial help from the World Wildlife Fund, are credited with saving the Arabian oryx from extinction. In 1962, these groups started the first captive-breeding herd in any zoo, at the Phoenix Zoo, sometimes referred to as "Operation Oryx".[26][27] Starting with nine animals, the Phoenix Zoo has had over 240 successful births. From Phoenix, Arabian oryxes were sent to other zoos and parks to start new herds.
In 1968, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, out of concern for the land's wildlife, particularly ungulates such as the Arabian oryx, founded the Al Ain Zoo to conserve them.[28]
Arabian oryxes were hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972. By 1980, the number of Arabian oryxes in captivity had increased to the point that Arabian oryx reintroduction was started. The first release, to Oman, was attempted with Arabian oryxes from the San Diego Wild Animal Park.[6] Although numbers in Oman have declined, there are now wild populations in Saudi Arabia and Israel,[29][30] as well. One of the largest populations is found in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, a large, fenced reserve in Saudi Arabia, covering more than 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi).[1]
On June 28, 2007, Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was the first site ever to be removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List. UNESCO's reason for this was the Omani government's decision to open 90% of the site to oil prospecting. The Arabian oryx population on the site has been reduced from 450 in 1996 to only 65 in 2007. At that time, there were fewer than four breeding pairs left on the site.[31][needs update]
In June 2011, the Arabian oryx was relisted as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. The IUCN estimated there were more than 1,200 Arabian oryx in the wild as of 4 December 2020[update] 2016, with 6,000–7,000 held in captivity worldwide in zoos, preserves, and private collections. Some of these are in large, fenced enclosures (free-roaming), including those in Syria (Al Talila), Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE.[1] This is the first time the IUCN has reclassified a species as vulnerable after it had been listed as extinct in the wild.[32] The Arabian oryx is also listed in CITES Appendix I.[1]
| Authority control databases: National |
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| Camel
Temporal range:
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| Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) |
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| Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) |
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| Scientific classification |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Camelidae |
| Tribe: | Camelini |
| Genus: | Camelus Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Camelus dromedarius [6]
Linnaeus, 1758
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| Species | |
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| Distribution of camels worldwide | |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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A camel (from Latin: camelus and Ancient Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Ancient Semitic: gāmāl[7][8]) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The wild Bactrian camel is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel, and is now critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals.
The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña, which belong to the separate tribe Lamini.[9] Camelids originated in North America during the Eocene, with the ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrating across the Bering land bridge into Asia during the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago.
Three species are extant:[10][11]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bactrian camel
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Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758 |
Domesticated; Central Asia, including the historical region of Bactria and Turkey. |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NE
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| Dromedary / Arabian camel
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Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758 |
Domesticated; the Middle East, Sahara Desert, and South Asia; introduced to Australia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
NE
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| Wild Bactrian camel
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Camelus ferus Przewalski, 1878 |
Remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EN
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The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years.[12] A full-grown adult dromedary camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump.[13] Bactrian camels can be a foot taller. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph).[14] Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg (660 to 1,320 lb). The widening toes on a camel's hoof provide supplemental grip for varying soil sediments.[15]
The male dromedary camel has an organ called a dulla in his throat, a large, inflatable sac that he extrudes from his mouth when in rut to assert dominance and attract females. It resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of the camel's mouth.[16] Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind.[17] The male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session.[18] Camelids are the only ungulates to mate in a sitting position.[19]
It is a common myth that a camel stores water in its hump,[20] but the humps in fact are reservoirs of fatty tissue, which can be used as a reserve source of calories, not water. When this tissue is metabolized, it yields a greater mass of water than that of the fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water.[21][22]
Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water.[24] The dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every 10 days even under very hot conditions, and can lose up to 30% of its body mass due to dehydration.[25] They can drink as much as 30 imperial gallons (140 litres) at a time[26] but this is stored in the animal's bloodstream, not, as popularly believed, in its humps.[20]
Unlike other mammals, camels' red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration[27] and makes them better at withstanding high osmotic variation without rupturing when drinking large amounts of water.[28][29]
Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other mammals. Their temperature ranges from 34 °C (93 °F) at dawn and steadily increases to 40 °C (104 °F) by sunset, before they cool off at night again.[24] In general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1.3 liters of fluid intake every day while the other livestock lose 20 to 40 liters per day.[30] Maintaining the brain temperature within certain limits is critical for animals; to assist this, camels have a rete mirabile, a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other which utilizes countercurrent blood flow to cool blood flowing to the brain.[31] Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49 °C (120 °F).[32] Any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat; the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat. Camels can withstand losing 25% of their body weight in water, whereas most other mammals can withstand only about 12–14% dehydration before cardiac failure results from circulatory disturbance.[29]
When the camel exhales, water vapor becomes trapped in their nostrils and is reabsorbed into the body as a means to conserve water.[33] Camels eating green herbage can ingest sufficient moisture in milder conditions to maintain their bodies' hydrated state without the need for drinking.[34]
Camels have three-chambered stomachs and perform rumination as part of their digestive process, even though they are not part of the ruminant sub-order.[35]
The camel's thick coat insulates it from the intense heat radiated from desert sand; a shorn camel must sweat 50% more to avoid overheating.[36] During the summer the coat becomes lighter in color, reflecting light as well as helping avoid sunburn.[29] The camel's long legs help by keeping its body farther from the ground, which can heat up to 70 °C (158 °F).[37][38] Dromedaries have a pad of thick tissue over the sternum called the pedestal. When the animal lies down in a sternal recumbent position, the pedestal raises the body from the hot surface and allows cooling air to pass under the body.[31]
Camels' mouths have a thick leathery lining, allowing them to chew thorny desert plants. Long eyelashes and ear hairs, together with nostrils that can close, form a barrier against sand. If sand gets lodged in their eyes, they can dislodge it using their translucent third eyelid (also known as the nictitating membrane). The camels' gait and widened feet help them move without sinking into the sand.[37][39]
The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at reabsorbing water. Camels' kidneys have a 1:4 cortex to medulla ratio.[40] Thus, the medullary part of a camel's kidney occupies twice as much area as a cow's kidney. Secondly, renal corpuscles have a smaller diameter, which reduces surface area for filtration. These two major anatomical characteristics enable camels to conserve water and limit the volume of urine in extreme desert conditions.[41] Camel urine comes out as a thick syrup, and camel faeces are so dry that they do not require drying when used to fuel fires.[42][43][44][45]
The camel immune system differs from those of other mammals. Normally, the Y-shaped antibody molecules consist of two heavy (or long) chains along the length of the Y, and two light (or short) chains at each tip of the Y.[46] Camels, in addition to these, also have antibodies made of only two heavy chains, a trait that makes them smaller and more durable.[46] These "heavy-chain-only" antibodies, discovered in 1993, are thought to have developed 50 million years ago, after camelids split from ruminants and pigs.[46]
The parasite Trypanosoma evansi causes the disease surra in camels.[47]: 2
The karyotypes of different camelid species have been studied earlier by many groups,[48][49][50][51][52][53] but no agreement on chromosome nomenclature of camelids has been reached. A 2007 study flow sorted camel chromosomes, building on the fact that camels have 37 pairs of chromosomes (2n=74), and found that the karyotype consisted of one metacentric, three submetacentric, and 32 acrocentric autosomes. The Y is a small metacentric chromosome, while the X is a large metacentric chromosome.[54]
The hybrid camel, a hybrid between Bactrian and dromedary camels, has one hump, though it has an indentation 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) deep that divides the front from the back. The hybrid is 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.32 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the hump. It weighs an average of 650 kg (1,430 lb) and can carry around 400 to 450 kg (880 to 990 lb), which is more than either the dromedary or Bactrian can.[55]
According to molecular data, the wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) separated from the domestic Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus) about 1 million years ago.[56][57] New World and Old World camelids diverged about 11 million years ago.[58] In spite of this, these species can hybridize and produce viable offspring.[59] The cama is a camel-llama hybrid bred by scientists to see how closely related the parent species are.[60] Scientists collected semen from a camel via an artificial vagina and inseminated a llama after stimulating ovulation with gonadotrophin injections.[61] The cama is halfway in size between a camel and a llama and lacks a hump. It has ears intermediate between those of camels and llamas, longer legs than the llama, and partially cloven hooves.[62][63] Like the mule, camas are sterile, despite both parents having the same number of chromosomes.[61]
The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the Eocene).[18] It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.[64][65] By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.[66][67] The hoofed Stenomylus, which walked on the tips of its toes, also existed around this time, and the long-necked Aepycamelus evolved in the Miocene.[68] The split between the tribes Camelini, which contains modern camels and Lamini, modern llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos, is estimated to have occurred over 16 million years ago.[69]
The ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrated into Eurasia from North America via Beringia during the late Miocene, between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago.[70][71][72] During the Pleistocene, around 3 to 1 million years ago, the North American Camelidae spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange via the newly formed Isthmus of Panama, where they gave rise to guanacos and related animals.[18][64][65] Populations of Paracamelus continued to exist in the North American Arctic into the Early Pleistocene.[71][73] This creature is estimated to have stood around nine feet (2.7 metres) tall. The Bactrian camel diverged from the dromedary about 1 million years ago, according to the fossil record.[74]
The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus, which vanished along with horses, short-faced bears, mammoths and mastodons, ground sloths, sabertooth cats, and many other megafauna as part of the Quaternary extinction event, coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia at the end of the Pleistocene, around 13–11,000 years ago.[75][76]
An extinct giant camel species, Camelus knoblochi roamed Asia during the Late Pleistocene, before becoming extinct around 20,000 years ago.[77]
Like horses, camels originated in North America and eventually spread across Beringia to Asia. They survived in the Old World, and eventually humans domesticated them and spread them globally. Along with many other megafauna in North America, the original wild camels were wiped out during the spread of the first indigenous peoples of the Americas from Asia into North America, 10 to 12,000 years ago; although fossils have never been associated with definitive evidence of hunting.[75][76]
Most camels surviving today are domesticated.[45][78] Although feral populations exist in Australia, India and Kazakhstan, wild camels survive only in the wild Bactrian camel population of the Gobi Desert.[12]
When humans first domesticated camels is disputed. Dromedaries may have first been domesticated by humans in Somalia or South Arabia sometime during the 3rd millennium BC, the Bactrian in central Asia around 2,500 BC,[18][79][80][81] as at Shar-i Sokhta (also known as the Burnt City), Iran.[82] A study from 2016, which genotyped and used world-wide sequencing of modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), suggested that they were initially domesticated in the southeast Arabian Peninsula,[83] with the Bactrian type later being domesticated around Central Asia.[84]
Martin Heide's 2010 work on the domestication of the camel tentatively concludes that humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium somewhere east of the Zagros Mountains, with the practice then moving into Mesopotamia. Heide suggests that mentions of camels "in the patriarchal narratives may refer, at least in some places, to the Bactrian camel", while noting that the camel is not mentioned in relationship to Canaan.[85] Heide and Joris Peters reasserted that conclusion in their 2021 study on the subject.[86]
In 2009–2013, excavations in the Timna Valley by Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones yet found in Israel or even outside the Arabian Peninsula, dating to around 930 BC. This garnered considerable media coverage, as it is strong evidence that the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time.[87][88]
The existence of camels in Mesopotamia and Arabia but not in Syria is not a new idea. The historian Richard Bulliet thought that although camels were occasionally mentioned in the Bible, this didn't mean that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time.[89] The archaeologist William F. Albright, writing even earlier, saw camels in the Bible as an anachronism.[90]
The official report by Sapir-Hen and Ben-Joseph says:
The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the southern Levant ... substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112–116; Jasmin 2005). This ... has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558–584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler-Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age (not before the 12th century [BC])
and concludes:
Current data from copper smelting sites of the Arabah Valley enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates. The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century [BC] and most probably during this time. The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region—attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I—raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade.[88]
Desert tribes and Mongolian nomads use camel hair for tents, yurts, clothing, bedding and accessories. Camels have outer guard hairs and soft inner down, and the fibers may also be sorted by color and age of the animal. The guard hairs can be felted for use as waterproof coats for the herdsmen, while the softer hair is used for premium goods.[91] The fiber can be spun for use in weaving or made into yarns for hand knitting or crochet. Pure camel hair is recorded as being used for western garments from the 17th century onwards, and from the 19th century a mixture of wool and camel hair was used.[92]
By at least 1200 BC the first camel saddles had appeared, and Bactrian camels could be ridden. The first saddle was positioned to the back of the camel, and control of the Bactrian camel was exercised by means of a stick. However, between 500 and 100 BC, Bactrian camels came into military use. New saddles, which were inflexible and bent, were put over the humps and divided the rider's weight over the animal. In the seventh century BC the military Arabian saddle evolved, which again improved the saddle design slightly.[93][94]
Military forces have used camel cavalries in wars throughout Africa, the Middle East, and their use continues into the modern-day within the Border Security Force (BSF) of India. The first documented use of camel cavalries occurred in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.[95][96][97] Armies have also used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules.[98][99]
The East Roman Empire used auxiliary forces known as dromedarii, whom the Romans recruited in desert provinces.[100][101] The camels were used mostly in combat because of their ability to scare off horses at close range (horses are afraid of the camels' scent),[19] a quality famously employed by the Achaemenid Persians when fighting Lydia in the Battle of Thymbra (547 BC).[55][102][103]
The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps, stationed in California, in the 19th century.[19] One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal in Benicia, California, where they nowadays serve as the Benicia Historical Museum.[104] Though the experimental use of camels was seen as a success (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in 1858, recommended that funds be allocated towards obtaining a thousand more camels), the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 saw the end of the Camel Corps: Texas became part of the Confederacy, and most of the camels were left to wander away into the desert.[99]
France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara[105] in order to exercise greater control over the camel-riding Tuareg and Arab insurgents, as previous efforts to defeat them on foot had failed.[106] The Free French Camel Corps fought during World War II, and camel-mounted units remained in service until the end of French rule over Algeria in 1962.[107]
In 1916, the British created the Imperial Camel Corps. It was originally used to fight the Senussi, but was later used in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Imperial Camel Corps comprised infantrymen mounted on camels for movement across desert, though they dismounted at battle sites and fought on foot. After July 1918, the Corps began to become run down, receiving no new reinforcements, and was formally disbanded in 1919.[108]
In World War I, the British Army also created the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which consisted of a group of Egyptian camel drivers and their camels. The Corps supported British war operations in Sinai, Palestine, and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops.[109][110][111]
The Somaliland Camel Corps was created by colonial authorities in British Somaliland in 1912; it was disbanded in 1944.[112]
Bactrian camels were used by Romanian forces during World War II in the Caucasian region.[113] At the same period the Soviet units operating around Astrakhan in 1942 adopted local camels as draft animals due to shortage of trucks and horses, and kept them even after moving out of the area. Despite severe losses, some of these camels ended up as far west as to Berlin itself.[114]
The Bikaner Camel Corps of British India fought alongside the British Indian Army in World Wars I and II.[115]
The Tropas Nómadas (Nomad Troops) were an auxiliary regiment of Sahrawi tribesmen serving in the colonial army in Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara). Operational from the 1930s until the end of the Spanish presence in the territory in 1975, the Tropas Nómadas were equipped with small arms and led by Spanish officers. The unit guarded outposts and sometimes conducted patrols on camelback.[116][117]
The annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is held in Saudi Arabia. In addition to camel racing and camel milk tasting, the festival holds a camel "beauty pageant" with prize money of $57m (£40m). In 2018, 12 camels were disqualified from the beauty contest after their owners were found to have injected them with botox.[118] In a similar incident in 2021, over 40 camels were disqualified.[119]
Camel meat and milk are foods that are found in many cuisines, typically in Middle Eastern, North African and some Australian cuisines.[120][121][122][123] Camels provide food in the form of meat and milk.[124]
Camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is sometimes considered a meal itself; a nomad can live on only camel milk for almost a month.[19][42][125][126]
Camel milk can readily be made into yogurt, but can only be made into butter if it is soured first, churned, and a clarifying agent is then added.[19] Until recently, camel milk could not be made into camel cheese because rennet was unable to coagulate the milk proteins to allow the collection of curds.[127] Developing less wasteful uses of the milk, the FAO commissioned Professor J.P. Ramet of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires, who was able to produce curdling by the addition of calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet in the 1990s.[128] The cheese produced from this process has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest, even for the lactose intolerant.[129][130]
Camel milk can also be made into ice cream.[131][132]
Approximately 3.3 million camels and camelids are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.[133] A camel carcass can provide a substantial amount of meat. The male dromedary carcass can weigh 300–400 kg (661–882 lb), while the carcass of a male Bactrian can weigh up to 650 kg (1,433 lb). The carcass of a female dromedary weighs less than the male, ranging between 250 and 350 kg (550 and 770 lb).[18] The brisket, ribs and loin are among the preferred parts, and the hump is considered a delicacy.[134] The hump contains "white and sickly fat", which can be used to make the khli (preserved meat) of mutton, beef, or camel.[135] On the other hand, camel milk and meat are rich in protein, vitamins, glycogen, and other nutrients making them essential in the diet of many people. From chemical composition to meat quality, the dromedary camel is the preferred breed for meat production. It does well even in arid areas due to its unusual physiological behaviors and characteristics, which include tolerance to extreme temperatures, radiation from the sun, water paucity, rugged landscape and low vegetation.[136] Camel meat is reported to taste like coarse beef, but older camels can prove to be very tough,[13][18] although camel meat becomes tenderer the more it is cooked.[137]
Camel is one of the animals that can be ritually slaughtered and divided into three portions (one for the home, one for extended family/social networks, and one for those who cannot afford to slaughter an animal themselves) for the qurban of Eid al-Adha.[138][139]
The Abu Dhabi Officers' Club serves a camel burger mixed with beef or lamb fat in order to improve the texture and taste.[140] In Karachi, Pakistan, some restaurants prepare nihari from camel meat.[141] Specialist camel butchers provide expert cuts, with the hump considered the most popular.[142]
Camel meat has been eaten for centuries. It has been recorded by ancient Greek writers as an available dish at banquets in ancient Persia, usually roasted whole.[143] The Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel.[42] Camel meat is mainly eaten in certain regions, including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and other arid regions where alternative forms of protein may be limited or where camel meat has had a long cultural history.[18][42][134] Camel blood is also consumable, as is the case among pastoralists in northern Kenya, where camel blood is drunk with milk and acts as a key source of iron, vitamin D, salts and minerals.[18][134][144]
A 2005 report issued jointly by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details four cases of human bubonic plague resulting from the ingestion of raw camel liver.[145]
Camel meat is also occasionally found in Australian cuisine: for example, a camel lasagna is available in Alice Springs.[143][144] Australia has exported camel meat, primarily to the Middle East but also to Europe and the US, for many years.[146] The meat is very popular among East African Australians, such as Somalis, and other Australians have also been buying it. The feral nature of the animals means they produce a different type of meat to farmed camels in other parts of the world,[121] and it is sought after because it is disease-free, and a unique genetic group. Demand is outstripping supply, and governments are being urged not to cull the camels, but redirect the cost of the cull into developing the market. Australia has seven camel dairies, which produce milk, cheese and skincare products in addition to meat.[147]
Muslims consider camel meat halal (Arabic: حلال, 'allowed'). However, according to some Islamic schools of thought, a state of impurity is brought on by the consumption of it. Consequently, these schools hold that Muslims must perform wudhu (ablution) before the next time they pray after eating camel meat.[148] Also, some Islamic schools of thought consider it haram (Arabic: حرام, 'forbidden') for a Muslim to perform Salat in places where camels lie, as it is said to be a dwelling place of the Shaytan (Arabic: شيطان, 'Devil').[148] According to Abu Yusuf (d.798), the urine of camels may be used for medical treatment if necessary, but according to Abū Ḥanīfah, the drinking of camel urine is discouraged.[149]
Islamic texts contain several stories featuring camels. In the story of the people of Thamud, the prophet Salih miraculously brings forth a naqat (Arabic: ناقة, 'milch-camel') out of a rock. After Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina (the Hijrah), he allowed his she-camel to roam there; the location where the camel stopped to rest determined the location where he would build his house in Medina.[150]
According to Jewish tradition, camel meat and milk are not kosher.[151] Camels possess only one of the two kosher criteria; although they chew their cud, they do not have cloven hooves: "But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you."[152]
The Palestinian Muslim Makhamara clan in Yatta, who claim descent from Jews, reportedly avoid eating camel meat, a practice cited as evidence of their Jewish origins.[153][154]
What may be the oldest carvings of camels were discovered in 2018 in Saudi Arabia. They were analysed by researchers from several scientific disciplines and, in 2021, were estimated to be 7,000 to 8,000 years old.[155] The dating of rock art is made difficult by the lack of organic material in the carvings that may be tested, so the researchers attempting to date them tested animal bones found associated with the carvings, assessed erosion patterns, and analysed tool marks in order to determine a correct date for the creation of the sculptures. This Neolithic dating would make the carvings significantly older than Stonehenge (5,000 years old) and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza (4,500 years old) and it predates estimates for the domestication of camels.
There are approximately 14 million camels alive as of 2010[update], with 90% being dromedaries.[156] Dromedaries alive today are domesticated animals (mostly living in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East and South Asia). The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world,[23] where the dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life. They provide nomadic people in Somalia[18] and Ethiopia with milk, food, and transportation.[126][157][158][159]
Over one million dromedary camels are estimated to be feral in Australia, descended from those introduced as a method of transport in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[160] This population is growing about 8% per year;[161] it was estimated at 700,000 in 2008.[144][156][162] Representatives of the Australian government have culled more than 100,000 of the animals in part because the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers.[163]
A small population of introduced camels, dromedaries and Bactrians, wandered through Southwestern United States after having been imported in the 19th century as part of the U.S. Camel Corps experiment. When the project ended, they were used as draft animals in mines and escaped or were released. Twenty-five U.S. camels were bought and exported to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush.[99]
The Bactrian camel is, as of 2010[update], reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, most of which are domesticated.[45][156][164] The Wild Bactrian camel is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) camel in the world. It is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel. The wild camels are critically endangered and number approximately 950, inhabiting the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.[165]
Notes
The male mature camel has a specialized inflatable diverticulum of the soft palate called the "Dulla". and During rutting the Dulla enlarges on filling with air from the trachea until it hangs out of the mouth of the camel and comes to resemble a pink ball. This occurs in only the one-humped camel. Copious saliva turns to foam covering the mouth as the male gurgles and makes metallic sounds. [6 cites to 5 references omitted]
Both the dromedary (the seven-humped camel of Arabia) and the Bactrian camel (the two-humped camel of Central Asia) had been domesticated since before 2000 BC.
As has already been mentioned, this type of utilization [camels pulling wagons] goes back to the earliest known period of two-humped camel domestication in the third millennium B.C.—Note that Bulliet has many more references to early use of camels
The camel was acclimatized in Egypt long before the time of Christ and was subsequently adopted by the Berbers of the desert, who used camel cavalry to fight the Romans. The Berbers spread the use of the camel across the Sahara.
Other trials of the camel were made in 1859 by Major D. H. Vinton, who used twenty-four of them in carrying burdens for a surveying party...All in all, he concluded, the camel was much superior to the mule.
Nevertheless the military prowess of desert peoples impressed the Romans, who recruited large numbers as auxiliary cavalry and archers. In addition to providing the Roman Army with its best archers, the Easterners (largely Arabs but generally known as 'Syrians') served as Rome's most effective dromedarii or camel-mounted troops.
He collected together all the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and the baggage, and taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them accoutred as horsemen. These he commanded to advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse; behind them were to follow the foot soldiers, and last of all the cavalry. When his arrangements were complete, he gave his troops orders to slay all the other Lydians who came in their way without mercy, but to spare Croesus and not kill him, even if he should be seized and offer resistance. The reason why Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy's horse was because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and cannot abide either the sight or the smell of that animal. By this stratagem he hoped to make Croesus's horse useless to him, the horse being what he chiefly depended on for victory. The two armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian war-horses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off; and so it came to pass that all Croesus's hopes withered away.
A great deal of the work of supplying the troops on both fronts has been done by the Camel Transport Corps
As evening approaches we are offered camel meat boats, dumplings stuffed with a finely chopped mixture of meat and vegetables, followed by camel milk tea and finally, warm fresh camel's milk to aid digestion and help us sleep.
He cut the pieces very small and cooked them for a long time. I decided to try something a bit different the following night and cut the pieces a bit bigger and cooked them for less time, as I like my meat rarer than he does. This was a bad idea. It seems that the more you cook camel, the more tender it becomes. So we had what amounted to two pounds or more of rubber for dinner that night.
As the meat can be dry, however, the Abu Dhabi Officer's Club, for one, serves camel burger with beef or lamb fat mixed in, improving texture and taste.
Narrated Al-Bara' ibn Azib: The Messenger of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) was asked about performing ablution after eating the flesh of the camel. He replied: Perform ablution, after eating it. He was asked about performing ablution after eating meat. He replied: Do not perform ablution after eating it. He was asked about saying prayer in places where the camels lie down. He replied: Do not offer prayer in places where the camels lie down. These are the places of Satan. He was asked about saying prayer in the sheepfolds. He replied: You may offer prayer in such places; these are the places of blessing.
A four-year drought is threatening the lives of Somali nomads, and those of the camel herds on which they depend for transportation and milk
Somali pastoralists are a camel community...There is no other community in the world where the camel plays such a pivotal role in the local economy and culture as in the Somali community. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1979) estimates, there are approximately 15 million dromedary camels in the worldPlain text version. Archived 2013-01-02 at the Wayback Machine
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