Dromedary camel. One-humped camel. The lifestyle and habitat of the dromedary camel The dromedary camel lives in New Zealand

Dromedary camel (dromedary, dromedary)- a widely known animal of the camelid family, one of the brightest representatives of mammals. The dromedary camel is also called a dromedary or dromedary, both of which are correct names.

Where does the dromedary camel live?

The primary habitat of the dromedary camel is Africa and Asia, mainly deserts. Currently, wild populations of dromedaries have practically ceased to exist, and dromedary camels are domesticated animals. The dromedary is used in human life as an excellent runner and a strong animal. By using dromedary camels They transport quite heavy and bulky things, and this animal is also used as a vehicle. IN wildlife Dromedary camels are found only in Australia. These are the animals that escaped from their owners or were voluntarily released into the wild by their former owners.

Activity of dromedary camels is observed in daytime days. Dromedaries form harems, which consist of one male, several females and newborn camels. A female dromedary camel gives birth to only one baby; it is extremely rare for two babies to be born at the same time. The gestation period for a female lasts approximately 400 days from the moment of conception. The ability to reproduce offspring in a female dromedary camel appears at the age of three, in a male - at 4-6 years.

Sometimes male dromedary camels unite in bachelor herds, but they cannot survive for long without a female and still create a harem. In bachelor herds there is a struggle for leadership and representatives dromedary camels capable of fighting to gain leadership.

Titles in Russian : dromedary, dromedary camel, dromedary.
In English - Dromedary, Arabian camel; in Ukrainian - Dromedary camel; in German - Dromedar, Arabisches Kamel.

Origin of name: The word "dromedary" comes from the Greek "dromeios" - "fast running".

Description

Appearance: Elongated (but not as long as the Bactrian camel) hair grows on the neck, shoulders and hump. The chest is deep and narrow, the neck is long and curved.
No hooves. There are two big toes on each foot, resting on a callous thickening of the skin lying on the keratinized sole. Two large claws protrude from the sole. Such limbs are adapted for walking on rocky deserts and soft sand, but not for traveling on sharp stones, slippery surfaces and sticky mud.
There are calluses on the chest, elbows, knees and heels. The lips are tough, which allows camels to eat thorns. The upper lip is forked.
The eyes are large, with thick eyelashes and a nictitating membrane (third eyelid), which protects the eyes from the wind. During sandstorms camels close not only their eyes, but also their slit-like nostrils.
Male dromedaries have a soft palate, which they inflate during the breeding season to attract females. This sac (red) is often mistaken for a tongue, because... it hangs on one side, protruding from the mouth.

Behavior

The dromedary camel leads a nomadic lifestyle during the day. Animals travel up to 70 km per day. IN summer months They stick to bushes and sandy plains and migrate to salt lakes and swamps in winter.
Dromedars spend 8-12 hours a day feeding. As they move, they strip off branches and leaves as they go. Each portion of chewing gum is chewed up to 40-50 times.
On hot days, dromedaries rest huddled together, which lowers their body temperature. If there are sources of water nearby, camels go to water at dawn. In ten minutes, a dehydrated camel can drink up to 130 liters of water. Dromedaries do not tolerate frost well.
They run well, reaching speeds of up to 25 km/h, but the usual caravan speed is up to 10 km/h.
Camels love to wallow in the sand, rub their bodies against trees, and scratch their bodies with their front and hind legs, as well as with their lower incisors. They swim well.
Vision is well developed, the animal can see a moving object at a distance of up to 1 km. Using its sense of smell, it can smell water at a distance of up to 40-60 km.

Lifestyle

Social structure: wild dromedaries are found in groups of three types: 1 - single males, 2 - year-old groups (females with camels), 3 - winter groups(male leader, 5-20 females and their camels). In groups of the third type, the leader protects his females from other camels (both males and females).
Old males are found alone. Animals in such groups are not territorial. During drought, camels form herds of up to several hundred individuals.
Outside the breeding season, dromedary camels are not aggressive.

Enemies: not known.

Reproduction

Reproduction: During the breeding season, males gather a herd of up to 20 females. The male actively protects his females from other males.
The male dromedary has well-developed scent glands on the back of the head (about 6 cm in diameter). With their secretions and urine (the male urinates on his tail and at the same time waves it in different directions, thus splashing it), he marks his territory.
When two rivals meet, the males scream; if none of the rivals retreats, the males try to press each other to the ground with their necks, biting the legs and grabbing the head.
Mating lasts 7-35 minutes (average 11-15). Pregnant females are separated from the main herd and gather in separate groups.
Interestingly, the dromedary camel embryo first develops two humps.

Breeding season/period: The period coinciding with the beginning of the rainy season and increasing daylight hours.

Puberty: Females at 3-4 years, males at 5-6 years. Reproductive age in females lasts up to 30 years.

Pregnancy: Lasts 13-15 months.

Offspring: The female gives birth to one camel. The weight of a newborn is 30-50 kg. Dromedary camels are born without a hump. Lactation lasts up to 1.5-18 years. A female can produce up to 8-10 liters of milk per day.

Economic importance

Benefits for humans: The peoples of the desert have tamed dromedary camels since ancient times: they ride them, transport various loads, make clothing and housing from wool, drink camel milk and eat camel meat.
Northern Arabian tribes began using dromedaries as riding animals approximately 3,100 years ago.
Dromedaries and Bactrians produce fertile offspring.

Harm to humans: Wild camels cause damage to fruit tree plantations, although not as severely as other wild animals (horses, donkeys and goats).
During a drought, wild dromedaries, gathering near a source of drinking water, can pollute it and also destroy all the vegetation growing nearby, thereby sometimes completely destroying the oasis.
Camels suffer from tuberculosis and brucellosis, which are transmitted to livestock.

Number and security

Population: The population of wild dromedary camels in Australia is estimated at about 500 thousand individuals. The number continues to increase.
There are about 17 million dromedaries in the world.
Currently, dromedary camels are not considered as wild animals, but as semi-domesticated animals living under human care.

Copyright holder: Zooclub portal
When reprinting this article, an active link to the source is MANDATORY, otherwise, use of the article will be considered a violation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.

Since ancient times, the companion of the southern nomad was the camel - an unpretentious, hardy inhabitant of deserts and semi-deserts. Until now, these animals play a huge role in the lives of many peoples. They are used as horse, pack and horse-drawn transport; camels provide people with valuable wool, milk and meat. Meanwhile, this is one of the most amazing and unusual creatures on our planet.

Types of camels

Camels belong to the genus herbivorous mammals order of artiodactyls. Scientists classify them as a separate suborder of callosopods, in which camels and their distant relatives - vicuñas and llamas, living on the South American continent, are the only representatives.

These are large animals, taller than human height, with a long flexible neck, thin legs and a soft fatty hump on the back. Only two types have survived to this day:

• Dromedary camel or dromedary;
• And the two-humped camel - Bactrian, named after the ancient state Central Asia, Bactria, where the unpretentious “ships of the desert” were first tamed by humans.

The camel is a unique example of the adaptation of living organisms to environmental conditions. These hardy, surprisingly unpretentious animals thrive in the arid, sharply continental climate of deserts and semi-deserts, calmly enduring both huge temperature changes and prolonged dehydration.

They are distinguished by a dense, elongated body with a small, elongated head. The structure of the flexible neck, curved in the shape of a “U”, is such that the desert dweller can easily pluck leaves and soft branches from fairly tall trees or pick up food from the ground without bending his long legs. Their ears are small, rounded, and in some breeds they may be almost invisible due to their long, thick fur. The tail, with a small hard tassel, is quite short in comparison with the body, and does not exceed 50–58 cm in length.

The entire body of a camel is covered with thick curly hair, which perfectly protects both from scorching rays and from low winter temperatures. The color of the pile can be different: from light sand to dark brown. Occasionally there are even black animals.

The hump, located on the back of a camel, serves as excellent protection from the burning southern sun and is a kind of storage nutrients. Its top is covered with longer and stiffer hairs than the rest of the body, and often has a color different from the main color. The shape also plays an important role: for example, in an emaciated animal, the hump sags and resembles an empty wineskin. But it quickly rises and becomes dense as soon as the camel eats and gets enough water.

Nature took special care of the camel's head. Large, widely spaced better review the eyes have a third eyelid that protects from dust and sand, and are surrounded by long thick eyelashes. Deep brow ridges also provide additional protection from the wind. At the same time, the vision of humpbacked mammals is excellent: they can spot a person a kilometer away, and they can see a large moving object, for example, a car, even 4–5 kilometers away.

Camels are famous for their excellent sense of smell. Thus, they sense water sources in the desert 50–60 km away. This is largely due to the structure of the nose. The narrow nostrils are covered with a special fold, thanks to which the moisture that inevitably evaporates during breathing flows into the mouth; this protects animals from dehydration, but does not dull their sense of smell.

The nasal openings of a camel have such a structure that they can close almost completely, protecting the respiratory tract from sand and the loss of excess fluid. It is thanks to this feature that camels are among the few mammals that can survive a dust storm without damage, which in the desert has truly monstrous destructive power.

The camel's jaw deserves special mention. There are 38 teeth in the oral cavity, including 4 rather sharp fangs - 2 above and 2 below. Except them, lower jaw has 10 molars and the same number of incisors, and the upper one has 12 molars and 2 incisors. A camel can easily bite through a hard thorn or dry branch, and its bite is much more painful than a horse's bite. The fleshy lips of these animals - smooth lower and bifurcated upper - are designed for tearing off tough food and have rough, durable skin.

It is known that camels are distinguished by sharp, quite unpleasant smell. Contrary to popular belief, this “aroma” does not come from sweat. Camels practically do not sweat at all (in arid climates, excess moisture loss would be wasteful). But on the back of the head of these animals there are glands with a sharp-smelling secretion, with which males mark their territory by rubbing their heads and necks on trees.

Outwardly, both a two-humped and one-humped camel may seem disproportionate and even fragile due to thin legs, but this is only an appearance. An adult individual can easily withstand many hours of trekking through the desert and is capable of carrying a load equal to half its weight. Cloven hooves with a large horny claw allow them to move freely on rocky and sandy surfaces, and in winter they serve as an excellent aid in obtaining food: with their help, camels dig out edible branches and thorns from under the snow.

These animals are distinguished from other artiodactyls by a characteristic feature: dense skin growths - calluses - in those places where the camel comes into contact with the soil while lying down. Thanks to them, animals are able to lie without harm even on hot midday sand or rocky ground (and in some areas of Asia and Africa, the temperature of the earth in summer reaches 70⁰ Celsius). Similar formations located on the chest, elbows, knees and wrists of the camel. The exception is wild, non-domesticated individuals: they completely lack elbow, chest and knee calluses.

Thus, these mammals have rightfully earned their name “ship of the desert.” True, all their amazing features also have a downside: the list of places where camels live is not so long. In humid climate neither a one-humped nor a two-humped camel can exist, getting sick and dying very quickly.

The question of where camels live is quite complicated. On the one hand, thanks to their endurance, these animals are able to live in areas characterized by arid, sharply continental climate. They are found in deserts and semi-deserts, at altitudes up to 3300 km above sea level. On the other hand, now the number of wild camels is rapidly declining, and their distribution area is becoming smaller. The reason for this was human activity: Almost all open sources of water in the desert have long been occupied by people, and haptagai, due to natural caution, are extremely reluctant to approach humans. The wild Bactrian camel has been protected for several decades as an endangered species included in the Red Book. Now there are only a few regions where you can still find Bactrians in their natural, non-domesticated form:

• southeast of Mongolia, Trans-Altai part of the Gobi Desert;
• the western, arid regions of China, primarily in the vicinity of the long-dry Lake Lop Nor, known for its salt marshes.

In general, the habitats of wild camels are 4 not too large, isolated areas of deserts and semi-deserts.

As for dromedaries, it is impossible to meet them in the wild. The wild dromedary camel finally became extinct at the turn of the New Era and is now bred exclusively in captivity.

The list of places where camels tamed by people live is much wider. They are used as a means of transportation and draft power in almost all areas close to natural conditions to the desert.

Thus, the dromedary camel is found today:

• in the north African continent, in all countries up to the equator (in Somalia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia);
• on the Arabian Peninsula;
• in countries Central Asia– Mongolia, Kalmykia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, in the UAE and Yemen and in other countries up to the northern provinces of India.
• in the desert regions of the Balkan Peninsula;
• in Australia, where dromedaries were brought by settlers in the 19th century instead of horses that could not withstand critical temperatures and extremely low humidity;
• and even in the Canary Islands.

Bactrians can boast of no smaller range. The Bactrian camel is one of the most common representatives of livestock throughout Asia Minor and in northern China, in Manchuria.

According to rough estimates, the population of dromedaries in the world now reaches 19 ml; Of these, almost 15 million live in North Africa alone.

Camels are rightfully revered by many peoples almost as sacred animals. After all, not only trade, but also the lives of people in many areas of our planet depend on them.

Etymology of the name

Linguists have been arguing about the origin of the name of this unpretentious representative of the desert fauna for centuries, but not a single theory has yet been recognized as the only correct one. The difficulty is not only that different countries ah, the “ship of the desert” is called differently, but there is too much of a gap separating modernity and the ancient world. Over the 4,000 years that have passed since the domestication of the camel, the language of different countries has undergone enormous changes, borrowed words managed to become “indigenous” and then become obsolete. However, some assumptions can be made.

The camel has been known to people living in arid desert regions since ancient times. In the life of a Bedouin, he played the same role as a horse in the life of a steppe nomad. Comrade in arms, transport, carrier of heavy loads... And also - nutritious milk, wool for clothing, shelter from a sandstorm, meat in a hungry year - all this is a camel. It’s not surprising that every nation gave given name to your faithful companions. Thus, in the Kalmyk steppes the majestic hunchbacked giant is still called “byurgud”, in the north of Africa - “mehari”, and in Farsi this animal is called the word “ushtur”.

The Latin name of these animals sounds like “Camelus”, and, according to the most common theory, goes back to the Arabic name “جَمَل” - “gamal” in our usual transcription. All Western European versions of the camel name come from the Latin term: in English-speaking countries it is called “camel”, in Germany – “Kamel”, the heirs of the Roman Empire, the Italians use the word cammello, and the Spanish version sounds almost the same – “camello”. The French went a little further - their “ship of the desert” is called “chameau”.

There is much more controversy surrounding the Russian name of this animal. There are three versions of the origin of the word “camel”:

• According to the first, the term is a highly distorted borrowing from the Latin language. The Romans, who had colonies in Africa and Asia, knew many large riding animals that were unfamiliar to European inhabitants. One of them, elephantus, meaning elephant, found its way into the Gothic language and was eventually adapted to ulbandus. The Slavs, unlike the Goths, who settled in the lands from present-day Germany to the Balkan Peninsula, lived much further north, and mistakenly used this term to define the large double-humped transport of their southern neighbors.
• The second version can be considered a complement to the first, since it can explain how the Western “ulbandus” could transform into the Russian “camel”. The Old Slavonic transcription of this word did not have the letter “r” and sounded like “velьbǫdъ”. This form of the name is used in many Old Russian texts, for example, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” The two semantic roots of “welblood” are translated into modern ones as “big, great” and “to walk, wander, wander.” This is a completely viable theory - the camel is indeed considered one of the most durable riding animals, capable of covering up to 40 km or more per day.
• According to some linguists, the word “camel” came to Russia from Kalmykia, where the word “burgud” is still used.

What do camels eat and what do they eat?

Everyone knows that camels are one of the most unpretentious animals in terms of food. They are able to digest even those foods that other mammals do not touch and can live for a long time without food. The list of what camels eat is quite long. It includes:

• grass, both fresh and already faded in the sun;
• leaves of trees, especially poplars (in the cold season this is the basis of the camel’s diet);
• barnyard;
• camel thorn (so named because other animals are unable to digest its tough fiber);
• ephedra
• sand acacia;
• sagebrush;
• parfolia;
• steppe onion;
• saxaul branches;
• and some other types of shrubs.

The diet largely depends on where camels live. So, at home, these mammals happily eat grain, hay, silage, fruits and vegetables, as well as any other plant foods. The answer to such unpretentiousness lies in the structure digestive organs camel Its stomach has three chambers and is capable of digesting even the coarsest and, at first glance, nutrient-free food. In this case, animals swallow food without chewing, and after a few hours they regurgitate the semi-digested mixture and slowly chew it.

Camel spit, contrary to popular belief, does not consist of saliva, but of partially digested chewing gum.

The one-humped camel is considered more picky in terms of nutrition than the two-humped camel. Thus, during a hungry period, Bactrians are quite capable of eating animal skins and even bones, while dromedaries are forced to make do exclusively with plant foods.

It has been noticed that a strict “diet” has a much better effect on these amazing creatures than a plentiful diet. In years of famine, the survival rate of the population in winter is much higher than during periods when there was enough food in the summer. All camels can withstand hunger and thirst without harm. An adult animal can go without food for up to 30 days, accumulating nutrients in its humps and subsequently subsisting on them.

Equally phenomenal is the ability of these mammals to withstand thirst. In the absence of any source of moisture, a dromedary camel can live 10 days if it does not expend energy by running or carrying heavy objects. During the period of activity, this period is reduced to 5 days. The Bactrian camel is less hardy in this regard: for it, the period of abstinence in hot weather is limited to 3, maximum 5 days.

In many ways, these unique qualities are associated with the structural features of the blood. In camels, unlike other mammals, red blood cells are oval in shape, which makes them better able to retain moisture. “Ships of the Desert” can withstand dehydration up to a quarter of their own weight (while for other mammals, a loss of fluid of 15% is already fatal). Get these moisture amazing creatures maybe even from food. So, juicy grass supplies camels with enough fluid, and on fresh pastures they can go without water for up to 10 days.

However, there are other reasons for such phenomenal endurance:

• Both Bactrians and dromedaries lead an inactive lifestyle, thereby expending energy very slowly.
• Camels practically do not lose moisture during their life. The steam exhaled from the nostrils precipitates and flows into the oral cavity. The intestines process body waste, almost completely absorbing the liquid (this is the reason that camel feces are often used by desert dwellers as fuel for fires). Camels begin to sweat only if the body temperature rises above 40⁰ and there is real threat death from overheating, but this happens extremely rarely.
• The camel's body is designed in such a way that during a season rich in food and water, the necessary substances accumulate in its body, gradually being consumed until the time when the animal cannot replenish its reserves.

Domestic camels

For many regions, these animals are not only the optimal means of transportation, but also the only livestock that can easily withstand difficult climatic conditions.

Camel wool plays a huge role in the economy. It is valued much higher than goat or sheep, because due to the large mass fraction of fluff (about 85%) it provides excellent warmth in cold weather. From a dromedary you can get from 2 to 4 kg of wool per year; but the average annual harvest from Bactrian reaches 10 kg.

An impressive portion of the diet of many peoples living in desert areas is occupied by products made from camel milk - cheese, butter, fermented milk drinks, such as Turkmen chal or Kazakh shubat. A camel gives from 2 to 5 liters of milk per day; however, this amount largely depends on the breed of the animal. Thus, the annual yield from Bactrian rarely exceeds 750 - 800 liters. But for dromedaries, 2 tons of milk per year is the norm, not to mention Arvans, from which you can get 4 or more tons per year.

The fat content of camel milk is higher than that of cow milk, reaching 5.5% for Bactrians. In dromedaries this figure is slightly lower - 4.5%. It is rich in many microelements, including iron, calcium, magnesium, and the vitamin C content in it is even higher than in cow or goat milk. Due to its low content of caseic acid, it is easily digestible, has a foamy appearance and a sweetish taste.

In ancient times, camels were often used as fighting animals. The four-legged warrior carried two riders into battle: a driver in front and an archer behind. And in the case of hand-to-hand combat, the camel itself turned into a rather dangerous weapon, because it was capable of not only kicking, but also using its teeth. And on the main square of the small town of Aktyubinsk Astrakhan region a monument was erected to two camels named Mishka and Mashka: they were the ones who carried the gun mount, which was one of the first to begin shelling the Reichstag in May 1945.

Camels have long been used as riding and cartage animals. They are able to freely carry a load equal to half their own weight. Outwardly, these imperturbable “ships of the desert” give the impression of slow and phlegmatic animals. However, this is due not so much to their character as to the need to retain moisture, which is consumed much faster during activity. A camel is indeed a very calm animal, and it is not so easy to make it run, wasting precious energy. But they are capable of walking at a measured pace, without getting tired, for hours, covering a distance of up to 50 km per day, and with constant urging, up to 100 km.

In some countries, the size of the bale a camel can carry is the official measure of weight. It is equal to 250 kg.

In many Arab countries There is a national sport - camel racing. For example, in the UAE, such competitions are held every week, starting from April and until October, when the rainy season continues. On the roads here you can find the usual local residents warning sign: “Caution! Camels!

Wild and domesticated camels: differences

The ancient ancestors of modern camels were widespread across large parts of Eurasia, in North America and the Arabian Peninsula. It is there, according to scientists, that these hardy creatures were first domesticated by humans around the 2nd millennium BC.

To this day, only the Bactrian camel has survived in its wild, original form; the dromedary is found in natural environment exclusively as a domesticated, secondarily feral animal. In fact, the very existence of wild camels was officially confirmed only at the beginning of the 20th century, during an Asian expedition led by Przhevalsky. It was he who discovered the existence of wild Bactrians, called “haptagai”.

The haptagai camel has several noticeable differences from its domesticated ancestor:

• their hooves are distinguished by a narrower shape, compared to domestic camels;
• the physique of wild camels is lean and dry, with a more elongated muzzle and short ears, and their height and weight are slightly less than those of a domesticated animal;
• a hump that is not so spacious makes wild camels more vulnerable during drought or famine;
• but the easiest way to distinguish a haptagai is by his clean legs and chest, without the slightest trace of calluses.

Now wild camels are on the verge of extinction: their total number in the world barely exceeds 3,000 individuals.

Lifestyle of Khaptagai camels

Camels in the wild lead a nomadic lifestyle, constantly migrating from one source of water to another. They usually wander small families, from 5 to 10 - 15 individuals. They include one adult male and several females with cubs. Adult males usually roam alone, occasionally joining herds and leaving during the rutting season. Large herds can be found only at watering places, where the number of camels can reach several tens of thousands of heads.

Like domestic camels, khaptagai are diurnal animals. At night they are not active, but during daylight hours they are in constant motion.

Despite constant migrations, the places where camels live are clearly demarcated. These animals do not leave their natural habitat, staying close to springs and oases. As a rule, in the summer they roam in the northern regions, and with the onset of cold weather they move further to the south. At this time, they can be found in oases rich in trees, in the foothills, where it is easy to find protection from the wind, as well as in shallow ravines.

The species of camels that have survived to this day are not very diverse and include only two items: the two-humped Bactrian and the single-humped dromedary.

The one-humped variety of the "ship of the desert", unlike its larger relative, is considered not so much a horse-drawn animal as a racing animal. The very name “dromedary” or “ Camelus dromedarius", comes from ancient Greek as "one who runs", "running". It has a shorter height (no more than 190 cm, rarely 210 cm) and is inferior to its two-humped relative in weight, due to which it is capable of developing significantly greater speed.

But in terms of cold resistance, the dromedary camel is more vulnerable. It does not tolerate the cold in the desert well due to its not too thick coat, which protects well from the heat, but does not warm well.

Another distinctive feature of dromedaries is their short, shaggy mane, which starts from the back of the head and turns into a beard, ending in the middle of the neck. There are the same “decorations” on the back, in the area of ​​the shoulder blades. The fur of these animals, as a rule, has a sandy shade of varying saturation, although brown, gray-red and even extremely rare white individuals are occasionally found.

The dromedary camel has other names. So, in many countries it is called “Arabian” - after the name of the area where these animals were first domesticated. It was from the Arabian Peninsula that the leisurely giants with one hump began their triumphal march around the world.

The second name of this species comes from the ancient state of Bactria, located in Central Asia (the first information about these animals is found in documents from that particular region). Bactrians are much more massive than dromedaries, their height reaches 230 cm, and the saddle between the humps is approximately 170 cm from the ground. The distance between the bases of the humps ranges from 20 to 40 cm.

The Bactrian camel has a long neck, due to the strong bend of which the head and shoulders of the animal are located at the same height (which is not typical for the one-humped representative of these mammals).

The fur of Bactrians is very thick and dense, allowing them to easily withstand extreme cold. In winter, its length reaches 7 cm on the body and 25 on the tops of the humps. But with the onset of warmer weather, the two-humped giants begin to shed, which is why they look rather untidy in the spring - until the period when the hair grows back.

Camel breeds

Despite the fact that currently there are only two species of these unpretentious animals, several varieties are bred in the world, which have many differences from each other. So, only in our country there are 4 breeds of camels:

• Mongolian;
• Kazakh;
• Kalmyk (the largest in the world - it is bred mainly for wool and meat);
• and the Turkmen Arvana, famous for its wool.

Of these, only the long-haired Arwana is single-humped. But in Arab countries the number of breeds is approaching 20:

• Omani;
• Sudanese;
• majaim;
• azael;
• mania, famous for its excellent running qualities;
• al-hajin (also used in horse racing);
• and others.

Despite a large number of names, the differences between Arabian camel breeds are insignificant. Thus, both the Sudanese and Omani varieties and manias are used in horse racing and are not inferior to each other.

Camel hybrids

The endurance and usefulness of camels in farming are so great that attempts to crossbreed and breed new species have not stopped to this day. Unlike many other animals, hybrid camel species are quite viable.

"Mestizos" include:

• “Nar” is a large, weighing up to 1 ton, hybrid of the one-humped Arwan and the two-humped Kazakh camel. Distinctive feature This breed has one large hump, as if consisting of two parts. Nars are bred primarily for their milking qualities - the average milk yield per individual is 2,000 liters per year.
• "Kama". This hybrid of a dromedary camel and a llama is distinguished by its short height, on average from 125 to 140 cm, and low weight (it does not exceed 70 kg). This baby does not have a standard hump, but it has excellent load-carrying capacity and is often used as a pack animal in hard-to-reach places.
• "Iner", or "Iner". In order to get this one-humped giant with magnificent hair, a female Turkmen camel breed is crossed with an Arvan male.
• “Jarbay” is a rather rare and almost non-viable subspecies, born from the mating of two hybrids.
• "Kurt." A not very popular one-humped hybrid of a female Inera and a male camel of the Turkmen breed. Despite decent milk yield per individual, they are rarely bred due to the low fat content of milk and unsatisfactory wool characteristics.
• "Kaspak". But this hybrid of a Bactrian camel and a female Nara (they are often called Nar-Maya, adding a feminine suffix to the breed) is very popular. It is grown mainly for its large milk yield and impressive meat mass.
• "Kez-nar." A hybrid of a camel of the Turkmen breed and a caspak, considered one of the largest both in size and in terms of milk yield.

Camel breeding

Reproduction in camels follows the same pattern as in many artiodactyls. The rutting period for these animals is quite dangerous, both for the camels themselves and for people. Sexually mature males become aggressive, and in the fight for a female, they attack their opponent without hesitation. Brutal battles often end in death or injury to the losing side: during the battle, animals use not only their hooves, but also their teeth, trying to knock the enemy to the ground and trample. Males participate in the rut starting from the age of 5 (in females, puberty occurs much earlier - already at 3 years.)

Camels mate in winter, when the rainy season begins in the desert and there is enough water and food for the animals. Moreover, in dromedaries, the rut begins a little earlier than in Bactrians. After a gestation period, which lasts 13 months for one-humped individuals and 14 for two-humped individuals, one, or rarely two, cubs are born, which within a few hours are fully on their feet and are able to run after their mother across the desert.

Camel cubs vary in size. A newborn Bactrian camel weighs from 35 to 46 kg, with a height of only 90 cm. But a small dromedary, with almost the same height, reaches a weight of almost 100 kg. Both one-humped and two-humped camel species nurse their cubs for 6 to 18 months. And parents show care for their offspring until the cub reaches adulthood.

Camel speed

Camels are famous as excellent runners. The average speed of a camel is even higher than that of a horse - from 15 to 23 km/h. There have been cases where a dromedary (which in some literary sources poetically called the “desert walker”), reached speeds of up to 65 km/h.

Unlike the fast dromedary, the Bactrian camel is not capable of a fast forced march due to its more impressive mass. It is also capable of moving at a speed of 50 - 65 km/h, but it runs out of steam much faster than its one-humped relative. Therefore, on the Arabian Peninsula, in Central Asia and Africa, Bactrians were more often used as horse-drawn transport. Yes, on the coat of arms Chelyabinsk region, where the trade route to Iran and China once passed, it is a two-humped giant loaded with bales that is depicted.

How much does a camel weigh?

These mammals are distinguished by their rather high growth: 190 – 230 cm at the withers, and males are always slightly larger than females. Body length can vary from 230 to 340 cm for dromedaries, and from 240 to 360 cm for their Bactrian counterparts. The question of how much a camel weighs is controversial. So, on average, the weight of an adult varies from 300 to 800 kg different breeds. However, there are individual giants whose mass reaches 1 ton. The largest representative of this family is the Bactrian camel, and the smallest is the Cama, a hybrid of a dromedary and a South American llama. The maximum weight of this baby does not exceed 70 kg.

There is still an ongoing debate about how long camels live. The lifespan of domesticated animals ranges from 20 to 40 years. However, among the khaptagai - wild camels - there are individuals that reach the age of 50 years at average duration life about 4 decades.

What's in a camel's hump?

There is a widespread belief that a camel’s hump is a kind of waterskin that is filled with water and from where the animal subsequently receives the necessary liquid. Actually this is not true. “Ships of the desert” are indeed capable of saving liquid for future use, but in the growth on the back, the least amount of it accumulates in its pure form.

The answer to the question of what is in a camel’s hump is more prosaic and, at the same time, surprising. This physiological reservoir is filled with fat, which performs two functions at once: it protects the body from overheating and accumulates nutrients, due to which the animal can exist for a long time without any food sources at all. An adult is capable of losing up to 40% of its weight without harm to its health and quickly regaining it as soon as it finds food.

In case of prolonged thirst or hunger, fat again decomposes into its components, releasing the energy and water necessary for life.

The process of fat breakdown itself has long been known to nutritionists and underlies most methods of getting rid of excess weight. However, the adaptability of camels to environmental conditions amazed even scientists. Recent experiments have shown that 100 g of fat, when broken down, yields an average of about 107 g of liquid.

Camels are able to store liquid for future use not only in the hump, but also in special cavities of the stomach. Having reached a watering hole, the desert walker is capable of drinking more than 100 liters of water at a time. Thus, there is a documented fact: a camel, deprived of food and drink for 8 days during the summer drought, lost 100 kg of weight. Having reached the watering hole, he did not look up from the water for 9 minutes, drinking 103 liters during this time. On average, a one-humped camel can drink from 60 to 135 liters at a time, and a two-humped camel can drink even more.

Hump ​​performs another one important function: regulates heat exchange. This is due to the climatic conditions of the places where camels live. In the desert, the difference between night and day temperatures can reach 50 degrees. The fat pad saves its owner both from the scorching heat (the heat in the Gobi Desert or the Sahara in summer can reach 40 - 45⁰), and from night frosts, often dropping to -10⁰ even in summer time. Sun rays in the summer they are so hot that a hard-boiled egg left in the sand takes half an hour to an hour, and most mammals run the risk of heatstroke and, in the most serious cases, death from overheating. Both one-humped and two-humped camels are free from such risk. The thickness of the fat layer is so great that the animal’s body temperature remains within normal limits. And with the arrival of night, the hump begins to act as a heater, cooling down during the dark time of day to an acceptable 35 - 40⁰ and again providing coolness during the day.

Dromedary camel (also known as dromedary) was domesticated by humans about 5,000 years ago. Nomadic peoples still use it as a pack, riding and draft animal. Dromedaries provide their owners with milk, meat, wool and skins. Most of them live in a semi-wild state, and in Australia there are feral dromedary camels.

HABITAT

The dromedary is common in North Africa and South-West Asia. Its habitat extends from Canary Islands to India. In the 19th century, European settlers brought dromedaries to Australia, where some of the livestock ran wild. In the rest of the territory, dromedaries are domesticated or live in semi-wild herds belonging to nomadic tribes. The one-humped camel lives in places with a dry climate, where the average annual temperature does not fall below 20 ° C, rainfall is rare and no more than 500 mm per year, clouds of sand and dust are carried in the dry desert air, raised by constantly blowing winds, and the change of seasons is almost not expressed.

LIFESTYLE

The one-humped camel is perfectly adapted to the difficult life in the desert. Thick fur perfectly protects the animal from the heat of the day and the cold of the night. The dromedary escapes from the dust raised by the wind by tightly closing his nostrils, and his eyes are covered with a fringe of thick and long eyelashes. The soles of the animal's feet are equipped with cushions made of elastic leather, which make walking on loose sand easier. In the desert, a camel moves slowly and in one hour is able to walk or amble about 5 km (ambling is a gait in which the animal simultaneously moves forward both its left and then both right legs). Dromedaries live in small groups. A harem of one and a half dozen females usually gathers around an adult male, sometimes accompanied by older juveniles. There are also groups consisting exclusively of females with camels, and bachelor herds of males. If there is little plant food, the grazing herd scatters across the desert. A camel requires 30-50 kg of food per day, and in order not to live from hand to mouth, it must spend 8-12 hours searching for food. The animal’s diet includes both green ephemerals, which appear only after rains, and all kinds of bindweed, grasses, acacias and salt marsh plants. At times, the dromedary chews the bones of dead animals and fish, in this way replenishing the reserves of calcium and phosphorus in the body. A well-fed camel has an impressive hump filled to capacity with fat and can weigh up to 15 kg. When food becomes scarce, the dromedary lives off the reserves of its “pantry”; Moreover, in the process of chemical breakdown of fat, water, which is so necessary for life, is formed from it.

REPRODUCTION

When female dromedaries come into heat, males become extremely aggressive. They grind their teeth excitedly, salivate profusely and vigorously rub the secretion of the occipital glands into their shoulder blades. During this period, fierce fights often occur between males. Opponents bite each other, strike with their heads and front legs, fighting with equal success both standing and lying down. The winner approaches the female, and she lies down on the ground, showing him her favor. During mating, which lasts 10-20 minutes, the male makes characteristic gurgling sounds. After a 13-month pregnancy, the female gives birth to one camel weighing 25-50 kg. The female most often gives birth while standing. As soon as the baby is born, the mother sniffs him carefully, but does not lick him or eat the placenta, and the newborn immediately tries to get to his feet and find the mother's udder.

A day later, the baby joins the herd and, together with the adults, wanders through the desert. For the first three months, he eats only his mother's milk, and then begins to pluck greens. Camel cubs willingly spend time in games with peers, which often resemble fights between adult males. The mother weans the one-year-old offspring from the udder. He continues to try to suckle for some time, but, as a rule, by this time his mother is pregnant again and unceremoniously drives him away. Females become sexually mature at 3-4 years, and males at 5-6 years. An adult female bears offspring once every two years.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Dromedar is capable of drinking up to 130 liters of water in one sitting and loves to swim in the rain.
  The camel is the only mammal whose body temperature varies depending on the time of day from 34 to 41 °C. When the temperature rises to 40°C, the sweat glands begin to secrete sweat, which cools the animal's body.
• On the bends of the camel’s limbs there are noticeable thickenings of elastic keratinized skin (so-called calluses), the thickness of which reaches 7 mm. When a camel lies on the ground, the calluses protect the most vulnerable parts of its body from injury.
• Over short distances, a camel can gallop at speeds of up to 25 km/h.
• The single hump of the dromedary is analogous to the posterior hump of the bactrian. During embryonic development, the dromedary also develops a second hump, but then disappears before birth.

RELATED SPECIES

The camelid family is represented by 6 species of animals: the dromedary, the Asian Bactrian, as well as the llama, alpaca, guanaco and vicuna native to South America. All these animals feed on plant foods and are well adapted to the harsh living conditions in mountains and deserts. Their thick wool provides excellent thermal insulation. The closest relative of the dromedar is the Bactrian camel.

Bactrian camel ( Camelus bactrianus ) lives in the cold deserts of Central Asia. On its back it has two humps clearly separated from each other. These formations, filled with fat reserves, stand vertically, and when there is no food, they fall onto the sides of the animal. The Bactrian's height at the withers reaches 230 cm, and its weight reaches 700 kg. Its legs are shorter than those of a dromedary, and its fur is longer and much thicker.

Thanks to this, the Bactrian camel tolerates significant temperature fluctuations well - from 50 degrees Celsius in the summer to -25 degrees Celsius in the winter. Bactrian is able to go for a long time without water, runs fast and is very hardy. It reaches sexual maturity at 4-5 years and lives up to 50 years.

They were considered irreplaceable animals in countries with hot, dry climates, as they faithfully served humans since time immemorial. And the wealth of the owner was measured by the number of camel herds.

It is known that for their endurance, the way they walk, swaying slightly, and the ability to move steadily along the hot sands, they are awarded the nickname: ships of the desert.

And for good reason, because in ancient times they were the only means of transport for movement across sweltering, endless and lifeless expanses. Having some similarities with ungulates of the fauna, camels are often confused with them.

However, being representatives of the order of artiodactyls, but not having exactly hooves, but calloused feet, as bearers of many unique features of appearance and physiology, scientists are classified as a suborder of calloseds.

Camels are humpbacked mammals. And this is not a lack of appearance, but a storage of nutrients and precious moisture. But along with the two-humped, more famous and widespread members of the camel genus, there are animals in the world that have only one hump.

In the wild, such creatures are considered extinct, but a domesticated individual is not at all uncommon in our time. Name of dromedary camel– . Such hardworking creatures now continue their service for the benefit of man.

Dromedaries are smaller than their Bactrian relatives, reaching three meters in length and a height of about two meters. Weight of a dromedary camel averages approximately 500 kg.

These creatures are quite slender and have long legs ending at the bottom with callous pads with two toes. In addition, calluses can be observed not only on the animal’s feet; they cover the knees and other parts of the body.

The coat of dromedaries, longer on the back and neck, most often, merging with the general background of the desert, has a sandy color. However, there are dark brown and even white specimens, but the predominant colors of these creatures, as a rule, are ash-yellow shades.

In addition, the distinctive features of their appearance (as you can see photo of a dromedary camel) are: an elongated muzzle with thick eyebrows and long eyelashes on eyelids, protecting from sand in deserts; upper forked lip; nostrils in the form of slits that can be closed if necessary, which is convenient during sandstorms; and Long neck and short, relatively general sizes, half-meter tail.

These animals took root well and were extremely valued and in demand in North Africa, India and other Asian countries. The dromedary camel lives in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran - countries where he was always indispensable for humans, so much so that he became the hero of many magical oriental tales.

Character and lifestyle of the dromedary camel

dromedary camel – animal, capable of surviving without problems extreme conditions deserts, where some other creatures could not last even one day.

The skin of these creatures is resistant to drying out, and the sweltering heat does not cause sweating. In this way, the body saves precious moisture in desert drought conditions.

But if a camel manages to get to the water, then, as rumor has it, it swims excellently. And this is the mystery of cunning nature, because most camels have never seen so much fresh water in their lives that is contained in rivers and lakes.

Apparently the secret of this phenomenon is hidden in the mechanisms evolution, A dromedary camel, like his brothers, was also awarded this feature.

Desert inhabitants, from ancient times and even to this day, are largely dependent on these hardworking, unpretentious animals. Arabs consider such creatures to be the most valuable gift from Allah.

Camel labor has always been irreplaceable. They carry water, help cultivate the land and carry heavy loads. This became so commonplace that a camel’s pack became a common measure of weight for the ancient peoples of the East.

Animal fur has always provided clothing for humans. Its fat-rich, tasty meat served as food for people, as did camel milk, which, when diluted with water, perfectly quenches thirst.

Dromedaries have been tamed and used by people for so long that practically no information exists about their wild lifestyle, although dromedary camel entered human life, according to some information, still later than his two-humped brothers.

But dromedaries not only became breadwinners and reliable helpers for the desert inhabitants, but also earned their recognition for their valuable qualities. They tolerate heat better than Bactrian camels and even produce more milk.

From Greek “dromaios” is translated as high-speed, and this reveals the whole meaning names of wild dromedary camel, who managed to surpass his relatives in agility.

These animals are champions not only in work, but have become winners more than once, taking part in the famous camel races, popular among the Arab peoples since time immemorial. Nomadic tribes of the deserts even today use these creatures as pack animals and the only vehicle.

Ancestor of the dromedary camel came from the deserts of Arabia, and was first tamed by Bedouin tribes more than three thousand years ago. Later, dromedaries came to Palestine, and from there to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. But the spread to more northern countries was not successful, because although dromedaries are unpretentious and hardy, they do not tolerate cold well.

Camels are surprisingly calm and calm, intelligent, love and understand people. However, they also exhibit unpleasant character traits. For example, these animals can be terribly stubborn.

Each of the creatures has its own habits and personality, which are not always easy to adapt to. They also have a disgusting habit of spitting, which often happens in zoos, where they have repeatedly played such evil tricks on visitors.

Eating a dromedary camel

The stomach of these creatures is like that of their relatives. consists of several chambers, which is convenient for digestion according to their food preferences, because dromedary camel feeding plant foods. And its diet includes, basically, all available plants.

These are ruminant animals, capable of being satisfied with the coarsest and most modest food: branches of thorny bushes, plants, which contain a huge amount of salt, which is impossible for other herbivores to consume.

For some time it can be without food at all, existing due to accumulated fat reserves. Those of the dromedaries that live in the Sahara are able to lead a normal life throughout the winter and work fully without replenishing moisture reserves in the body at all, and their organs are adapted to retain it inside the body and release it only in small quantities. But if a camel finds water and starts drinking, it can absorb up to ten buckets of liquid in a matter of minutes.

Reproduction and lifespan

The conception of future cubs in dromedaries can occur in any season. However, it directly depends on the amount of food consumed, so nature decreed that this most often happens during the rainy season, which is fertile for desert areas, when all living things have the opportunity to rest from the sweltering heat and do not know the lack of a food source.

dromedary camel matures in order to have offspring within a period of up to 6 years. Camel estrus occurs several times a year, which significantly increases the chances of conceiving and bearing, as a rule, a single camel.

Smelling the scent of a female, their prospective partners become aroused. This is noticeable even external signs. A dromedary in the rut becomes overly aggressive, and the sac-like appendage on its palate turns red and looks like a large ball.

These animals mate in an unusual way, lying on their sides or sitting, which is not at all typical for such animals. major representatives fauna. Born after the mother's pregnancy, which lasted about a year, the baby camel is cute with its wavy and soft fur.

He begins to move almost immediately, and after a few hours he is already running, but for a whole year he has the opportunity to enjoy delicious mother’s milk. Life expectancy of a dromedary camel is approximately 45 years old.