A camel is artiodactyl or not. Bactrian camel: name, interesting facts, photos

Camel is large mammal an animal that belongs to the placental infraclass, superorder Laurasiatheria, order Artiodactyla, suborder Callus, family camelids, genus Camelus (lat. Camelus).

In a number foreign languages the word “camel” sounds similar to its Latin name: in English the camel is called camel, the French call it chameau, the Germans - Kamel, and the Spaniards - camello.

The origin of the Russian-language name of the animal has two versions. According to one of them, in the Gothic language a camel was called “ulbandus”, but, interestingly, this name applied to an elephant. And the confusion arose from the fact that the people who named the large animal that way had never seen either camels or camels. Then the Slavs adopted the word, and “ulbandus” turned into “camel”. A more plausible version identifies the name of the animal with its Kalmyk name “byurgyud”. But no one doubts the fact that the camel is a real ship of the desert, covering hundreds of kilometers across the vast expanses of sand.

Camel - description, characteristics, structure.

A camel is an animal that has quite large sizes: average height at the withers of an adult is about 210-230 cm, and the weight of a camel reaches 300-700 kg. Particularly large individuals weigh more than a ton. Body length is 250-360 cm Bactrian camels, 230-340 cm for single-humped animals. Males are always larger than females.

The anatomy and physiology of these mammals are a clear indicator of their adaptability to life in harsh and dry conditions. The camel has a strong, dense build, a long U-shaped curved neck and a rather narrow, elongated skull. The animal's ears are small and round, sometimes almost completely buried in thick fur.

The camel's large eyes are reliably protected from sand, sun and wind by thick, long eyelashes. The nictitating membrane, the third eyelid, protects the animal's eyes from sand and wind. The nostrils are shaped like narrow slits that can close tightly, preventing moisture loss and protecting during sandstorms.

Taken from the site: ephemeralimpressions.blogspot.ru

A camel has 34 teeth in its mouth. The animals' lips are rough and fleshy, adapted for tearing off thorny and tough vegetation. Upper lip bifurcated.

Large calluses are located on the chest, wrists, elbows and knees of domestic animals, allowing the mammal to painlessly lower itself and lie on the hot ground. Wild individuals do not have calluses on their elbows and knees. Each camel's leg ends in a cloven foot with some kind of claw located on a calloused pad. Two-toed feet are ideal for walking on rocky and sandy terrain.

The camel's tail is quite short in relation to the body and is about 50-58 cm. At the end of the tail there is a tassel formed by a tuft of long hair.

Camels have a thick and dense coat that prevents moisture from evaporating in hot weather and provides warmth on cold nights. The camel's fur is slightly curly, and its color can be very diverse: from light to dark brown and almost black. On the back of the animals’ heads there are paired glands that secrete a special odorous secretion, with which camels mark their territory by bending their necks and wiping themselves on stones and soil.

Contrary to popular belief, a camel's hump contains fat, not water. For example, the hump of a Bactrian camel contains up to 150 kg of fat. The hump protects the animal's back from overheating and is a reservoir for energy reserves. There are 2 closely related species of camels: one-humped and two-humped, having, respectively, 1 or 2 humps, laid evolutionary development, as well as some differences associated with living conditions.

Camels retain fluid in the scar tissue of the stomach, so they can easily tolerate long-term dehydration. The structure of camels' blood cells is such that during prolonged dehydration, when another mammal would have died long ago, their blood does not thicken. Camels can survive without water for a couple of weeks, and without food they can live for about a month. The red blood cells of these animals are not round, but oval in shape, which is a rare exception among mammals. Without access to water for a long time, a camel can lose up to 40% of its weight. If an animal loses 100 kg in a week, then after receiving water it will quench its thirst within 10 minutes. In total, the camel will drink more than 100 liters of water at a time and make up for the lost 100 kg of weight, recovering literally before our eyes.

All camels have excellent eyesight: they are able to spot a person a kilometer away, and a moving car 3-5 km away. Animals have a well-developed sense of smell: they sense a source of water at a distance of 40-60 km, easily anticipate the approach of a thunderstorm and go to where the showers will occur.

Despite the fact that the majority of these mammals have never seen large bodies of water, camels can swim well, tilting their bodies slightly to the side. A camel runs at an amble, and the speed of a camel can reach 23.5 km/h. Some individuals of wild haptagai are capable of accelerating up to 65 km/h.

Enemies of camels in nature.

The main natural enemies of the camel are. Previously, when camels were found in their habitats, they also attacked both wild and domestic animals.

Life expectancy of a camel.

On average, a camel lives about 40-50 years. This applies to both one-humped and two-humped species. Life expectancy in captivity ranges from 20 to 40 years.

What does a camel eat?

Camels are able to digest very rough and non-nutritious food. Bactrian camels eat various shrub and semi-shrub vegetation in the desert: saltwort, camel thorns, barnyard grass, parsifolia, sand acacia, wormwood, onions, ephedra, and young branches of saxaul. With the onset of cold weather in rare oases, animals feed on reeds and eat poplar leaves. In the absence of main sources of food, Bactrians do not disdain the skins and bones of dead animals, as well as any products made from these materials. The dromedary camel feeds on any plant foods, including rough, hard and salty foods.

By consuming succulent grass, a camel can live without water for up to 10 days, obtaining the necessary moisture from the vegetation. Desert animals visit springs once every few days, and the camel drinks a lot at a time. For example, a Bactrian camel is capable of drinking 130-135 liters of water at a time. A notable feature of khaptagai (wild Bactrian camels) is their ability to drink brackish water without harm to the body, while domestic camels do not drink it.

All camels can withstand prolonged hunger, and it has been scientifically proven that overfeeding has a much worse effect on the health of these animals. By autumn, in years of abundant food supply, camels noticeably gain weight, but in winter they suffer much more than other animals: due to the lack of real hooves, they are not able to dig through snowdrifts in search of suitable food.

Domestic camels are extremely indiscriminate in their food and are practically omnivorous. In captivity or in a zoo, animals happily eat fresh grass and silage, any compound feed, vegetables, fruits, grain, branches and foliage of trees and shrubs. Also, the diet of domestic camels must include salt bars to satisfy the body's need for salt.

The three-chambered stomach helps the animal digest food. The mammal swallows food without first chewing, then regurgitates the partially digested food, the cud, and chews it.

Types of camels, photos and names.

The camel genus includes 2 species:

• Bactrian camel.

Below is a more detailed description of them.

The dromedary, or one-humped camel, has survived to this day exclusively in its domestic form, not counting newly feral individuals. “Dromedary” is translated from Greek as “running,” and the animal was nicknamed “Arabian” in honor of Arabia, where these camels were domesticated. Dromedaries, like Bactrians, have very long, calloused legs, but are more slender in build. Compared to two-humped camels, one-humped camels are much smaller: the body length of adult individuals is 2.3-3.4 m, and the height at the withers reaches 1.8-2.1 m. Weight dromedary camel ranges from 300 to 700 kg.

The head of the dromedary has elongated facial bones, a convex forehead, a hook-nosed profile, and the lips are not compressed like those of cattle. The cheeks are enlarged, the lower lip is often drooping. The neck of the dromedary camel has developed muscles. A small mane grows along the upper edge of the neck, and at the bottom there is a short beard that reaches the middle of the neck. The forearms have no edges. In the area of ​​the shoulder blade there is an edge in the form of “epaulettes”, which consists of long curled hairs and is absent in Bactrian camels.

Also, the one-humped camel differs from the two-humped camel in that the first does not tolerate frost at all, while the second is adapted to existence in extreme conditions. low temperatures. The coat of dromedaries is dense, but not particularly thick and long; such fur does not warm, but only prevents intense loss of fluid. On cold nights, the body temperature of a dromedary camel drops significantly; in the sun, the body warms up extremely slowly, and the camel sweats only when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees. The longest hair grows on the animal's neck, back and head. The color of dromedaries is predominantly sandy, but there are dromedary camels that are dark brown, reddish-gray or white.

This is the largest representative of the genus and the most valuable pet for most Asian peoples. The Bactrian camel got its name from Bactria, a region in Central Asia, where it was domesticated. Small quantity wild two-humped camels, called haptagai, have survived to this day: several hundred individuals live in China and Mongolia, preferring the most inaccessible landscapes.

The Bactrian camel is a very large and heavy animal: the body length reaches 2.5-3.6 m, and the average height of adult individuals is 1.8-2.3 meters. The height of animals, including humps, can reach up to 2.7 m. The length of the tail is 50-58 cm. Typically, a mature camel weighs from 450 to 700 kg. Male camels of the valuable Kalmyk breed, fattened over the summer, can weigh from 800 kg to 1 ton, the weight of females ranges from 650 to 800 kg.

The Bactrian camel has a dense body and long limbs. Bactrians are distinguished by a particularly long, curved neck, which first bends down and then rises again, so the animal's head is in line with its shoulders. The humps of a camel are located at a distance of 20-40 cm from each other (meaning the distance between the bases of the humps), forming a saddle between them - a place where a person can sit. The distance from the saddle to the ground is about 170 cm, so before climbing onto the camel's back, the rider must order the animal to kneel or lie down on the ground. The space between the humps is not filled with fat even in the most well-fed individuals.

An indicator of the health and fatness of a Bactrian camel is its elastic, evenly standing humps. In emaciated animals, the humps completely or partially fall to the side and dangle while walking. The Bactrian camel has an extremely thick and dense coat with developed undercoat, ideal for living in harsh conditions. continental climate with its sultry summers and cold, snowy winters. It is noteworthy that in the usual biotopes of Bactrians in winter the thermometer drops below -40 degrees, but the animals tolerate such frost painlessly.

The structure of the fur of a Bactrian camel is very unique: the hairs are hollow inside, which significantly reduces the thermal conductivity of the coat, and each hair is surrounded by thin hairs of undercoat, between which air accumulates and is well retained, also reducing heat loss. The length of the Bactrian's coat is 5-7 cm, but on the lower part of the neck and the tops of the humps the hair length exceeds 25 cm. The longest hair grows on these camels in the fall, and in the winter the Bactrians look the most pubescent. With the onset of spring, Bactrian camels molt: the hair begins to fall out in clumps and then the Bactrians look especially unkempt and shabby, but by summer the short coat takes on a normal appearance.

The usual color of the Bactrian camel is brown-sand of varying intensity, sometimes very dark, reddish or very light. Among domestic Bactrian camels, the most common individuals are brown in color, but gray, white and almost black specimens are also found. Light-colored camels are the rarest and make up only 2.8% of the total population.

What is the difference between domestic and wild Bactrian camels?

There are some differences between domestic and wild Bactrian camels:

• Wild camels (khaptagai) are slightly smaller in size than domestic camels and are not as dense, but rather lean; their footprints are thinner and more elongated;
• The Khaptagai have much more narrow muzzle, the ears are shorter, their pointed humps are not as large and voluminous as those of their domestic relatives;
• The body of khaptagai is covered with reddish-brown-sandy fur. In domestic animals, the coat may be light, sandy yellow or dark brown;
• The wild camel haptagai runs much faster than the domestic one;
• But the main difference between a domestic camel and a wild one is that khaptagai have completely absent callous formations on the chest and knees of the front legs.

Camel hybrids, photos and names.

Since ancient times, the population of countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan has practiced interspecific hybridization of camels, that is, they crossed one-humped and two-humped camels. Hybrids have great value V national economy these countries. Below is a description of the hybrids:

Nar– a hybrid of first generation camels, crossed using the Kazakh method. When crossing female Kazakh Bactrian camels with male Turkmen dromedary camels The Arvana breed produces a viable cross. Hybrid females are called nar-maya (or nar-maya), males are called nar. In appearance, the bunk looks like a dromedary and has one elongated hump, which consists of 2 humps fused together. The offspring always exceeds the parents in size: the height at the shoulders of an adult bunk is from 1.8 to 2.3 m, and the weight can exceed 1 ton. The annual milk yield of a female Nara with a fat content of up to 5.14% can exceed 2000 liters, while for dromedaries the average milk yield is 1300-1400 liters per year, and for Bactrians no more than 800 liters per year. Nars, in turn, are capable of producing offspring, which is rare among hybrid specimens, but their young are usually weak and sickly.

Iner (iner) is also a hybrid of first-generation camels obtained by the Turkmen method, namely: by crossing a female Turkmen dromedary camel of the Arvana breed with a male Bactrian camel. The hybrid female is called iner-maya (or iner-maya), the male is called iner. The iner, like the bunk, has one elongated hump, is distinguished by high rates of milk yield and wool clipping, and also has a powerful physique.

Zharbay, or jarby– a rare second-generation hybrid obtained by crossing first-generation camel hybrids. Experienced camel breeders try to avoid such reproduction, since the offspring are low productive, sickly, often with obvious deformities and signs of degeneration in the form of severely deformed joints of the limbs, a curved chest, and so on.

Kospak– a camel hybrid obtained by crossing the absorption type of Nar-May females with a male Bactrian camel. Quite a promising hybrid in terms of increased meat mass and high milk productivity. It is also recommended for breeding for further crossing in order to increase the small population of another camel hybrid, kez-nar.

Kez-nar- a group of hybrid camels that are the result of crossing Cospak females with dromedary males of the Turkmen breed. As a result, individuals appear that exceed the cospaks in weight, and are ahead of the nar-may in height at the withers, milk production and wool clipping.

Kurt- a group of hybrid camels obtained by crossing the iner-may with males of the Turkmen dromedary. Kurt is a one-humped hybrid; the animal's forearms are slightly pubescent. Milk productivity is quite high, although the fat content of the milk is low, and the kurt is not a record holder in terms of the amount of wool sheared.

Kurt-nar- hybrid camels bred by crossing Kurt hybrid females and Bactrian males of the Kazakh breed.

- a hybrid of a dromedary camel and a llama. The resulting hybrid has no hump, the animal's fur is fluffy, very soft, up to 6 cm long. The kama's limbs are long, very strong, with double hooves, so the hybrid can be used as a hardy pack animal, capable of carrying loads weighing up to 30 kg. Kama has rather small ears and long tail. Height at the withers varies from 125 to 140 cm, and weight from 50 to 70 kg.

Probably each of us has asked ourselves this question at least once, and in our search for an answer we have come across many conflicting versions. Some argue that saliva accumulates in a camel’s hump, others talk about huge reserves of water, because how else can one explain their ability to survive in the hot desert? Unfortunately for many, both versions are incorrect. But if so, then what do camels hide in the most prominent part of their body?

Why does a camel need a hump and what is inside?

In fact fat accumulates in a camel's hump, the same fat that I, and you, and many other people and animals have. Typically, mammals store fat in their muscles or under their skin, but camels are special animals and store fat in their hump, which fuels them during long treks through the desert. A camel's hump can weigh up to 35 kg, making them quite capable of going without food for up to 2 weeks. If a camel spends for a long time without food, the hump begins to significantly decrease in size and fall to one side. To put it in order, the camel needs rest and increased nutrition for several days.
Despite all of the above, the fat in the hump of a camel serves only as a food substitute and is not capable of releasing water.

Where do camels get water and where do they store it?

If the camel's hump plays virtually no role in the conservation and production of water, a completely logical question arises: “where do camels get water from and where do they store it?” This question can be answered very easily - camels simply drink and drink a lot; an animal can drink up to 75 liters of water at a time. Despite this, camels drink only to quench their thirst and restore normal level water in the body, while they are unable to store water for the future.

How do camels survive without water?

The secret of camels lies in their unique body.
Firstly, camels are able to minimize the loss of moisture from the body; they defecate extremely rarely, while their excrement is very dry, and their urine is highly concentrated. Moreover, the breathing of camels is structured in such a way that moisture does not leave the body with exhaled air, but condenses on the walls of the nasal concha and flows back. No less important feature The organism of these mammals is the ability to tolerate large changes in body temperature. During the day, a camel's body temperature can vary from 32.2 °C to 40.6 °C, and only when it reaches the highest tolerable temperature does the camel begin to sweat. For comparison, normal temperature the human body temperature is 36.6 °C and its increase by just 1 °C can already mean that you are sick.
Secondly, camels are very resistant to dehydration: they can normally tolerate a loss of 30-40% of body water. For comparison, a loss of 20% of water is fatal for a person, while a loss of 10% causes painful disorders.

Why does a camel have a hump on its back?

After reading this article, few people will have this question, because we already understand that the hump serves as a source of food for camels. But if you think about it, many animals have fat, distributed throughout the body, and only camels store it in their hump. Why? As you know, nature never does anything for nothing, and the camel’s hump actually has a few more beneficial properties. Since the sun shines predominantly from above, the camel's hump serves as a shield, protecting the animal from solar radiation. In addition, since fat betrays heat much worse than water, the hump prevents the body from heating up under straight lines. sun rays. The blood is also protected from heat: due to the fact that fat cells do not need oxygen, the blood vessels pass below the hump, in an area of ​​​​relative coolness. Among other things, some species of camels have thicker hair on their backs, while the hair on all other parts of the body is much thinner. This body structure helps repel heat from direct sunlight above and cool the camel from below.

The camel is a unique animal. Some consider him handsome, while others find him unattractive and even scary. There are a huge number of interesting facts about camels, which I will tell you about. Let's check how broad your knowledge about camels is?

We have already repeatedly told you about various animals, such as cats or birds, but today I will write about something more exotic. So, 20 of the most interesting facts about camels.

1. Let's start from the very beginning, with the word "camel" and its origin, and it comes from the Arabic word "beauty"

2. Contrary to popular belief, the hump of camels does not store water. It stores fat, which helps lower the high temperature of the rest of the body.

3. The main reason The reason why camels can go for long periods without water is the structure of their red blood cells. They are oval in shape and, once dehydrated, remain able to flow while human red blood cells collide with each other. The camel is the only mammal with oval red blood cells

4. Camels can drink up to 200 liters of water at a time

5. The body temperature of these animals ranges from 34 degrees Celsius at night to 41 degrees during the day. They don't start sweating until the temperature exceeds 41 degrees.

6. The following photograph shows the facial expression of a camel during mating, or sometimes to enhance the "spitting" effect.

7. If a camel has gone to bed or just rested, then getting him to get up is almost impossible until he himself wants it.

8. Camels' lips have a special shape, which greatly helps them graze.

9. They can eat anything, including thorny thorns, without damaging their lips or mouth.

10. Camels can kick in all four directions with each of their legs.

11. They can completely close their nostrils from wind and sand when necessary.

12. The shape of their nostrils allows them to store water vapor and return it to the body as liquid.

13. Camels can lose 25% of fluids without dehydration. Most mammals can only lose 15%.

14. Camels are ruminants, like cows and goats.

15. They also get moisture from green plants, allowing them to live without drinking.

16. Their fur is reflective sunlight and protects the body from high temperature deserts.

17. One of the camel's defensive abilities is spitting. Essentially, they pull up from the stomach and spit out a dirty, foul-smelling substance when provoked. Those who experienced this themselves will never forget this :)

18. Camel excrement is so dry that it is used as fuel, and their urine is thick like syrup.

19. B North Africa camel is a sacred animal

20. Camels were often used in warfare, especially in severely arid regions.

Alticamelus (Aepycamelus).
The prehistoric genus of camelids Alticamelus (Aepycamelus), which lived in the Miocene in North America, had long neck, and on the back instead of a hump there is only a slight elevation.

The formation and mass distribution of camels occurred at the end of the Pliocene and at the beginning of the Pleistocene - the time of extinction of the early camelid genus Paracamelus and the appearance large forms camels (Camelus). Adaptations developed by modern camels to life in arid conditions (humps, features of digestion and metabolism, absorption large quantity water and, in connection with this, the need for food containing a lot of salt, ambling, etc.) probably appeared relatively late in the evolution of camelids (Camelidae) and were not characteristic of them initially. The unpretentiousness of camels caused the spread of these animals in conditions unsuitable for other herbivores.

Apparently, camels close to modern ones appeared during the habitat of camelids in North America, with the appearance of large expanses of savannah-like landscape there, where anatomical features arose that allowed camels to adapt to a dry and harsh climate. Ancient camels entered the territory of Eurasia through the Bering Isthmus, apparently, at the end of the Pliocene and until the end of the Pleistocene they were numerous there.

In the Pleistocene in the territory Eastern Europe there was a large Knoblochi camel (Camelus knoblochi), very close to both modern camels. Noteworthy is the recent discovery of a perfectly preserved skull of this camel in Rostov region Russia. The remains of two-humped camels, similar to modern ones, were found in the Volga region, on the banks of the Irtysh and in the Moscow region.

Camels (along with the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, big-horned deer, etc.) were one of the main representatives of the so-called mammoth fauna, which existed in northern Eurasia until the end of the last glaciation 10-12 thousand years ago. The project to restore such fauna in the reserve (“Pleistocene Park”) includes, among other things, the introduction of Bactrian camels.

Domestication of camels

Camels were domesticated 2000 BC. e. These are the most powerful pack and draft animals in the conditions of their distribution. Camels from 4 to 25 years old are used as draft force; they can carry up to 50% of their weight. A camel can walk 30-40 km a day during long journeys. A camel with a rider can travel up to 100 km per day, with an average speed of 10-12 km/h. Camels have long been used in armies, since antiquity and the Middle Ages, to transport goods and riders; combat camels were used directly in battle as part of combat cavalry and individually, often with the aim of intimidating the enemy.

In Russia, one breed of one-humped camel is bred - Arvana and three breeds of two-humped camels - Kalmyk, Kazakh and Mongolian. The most valuable breed is Kalmyk.

Camel meat is used as food, as well as milk, from which shubat, butters and cheeses are made. Milk yield for dromedaries averages 2000 kg per year (may exceed 4000 kg for Arvan) and 750 kg for Bactrians (according to other sources, 600-800 kg). At the same time, the fat content of milk is 4.5 and 5.4 percent, respectively, and the content of vitamin C is significantly higher than in cow's milk. High quality Camel wool is different (it is valued higher than sheep), which contains up to 85% fluff. The wool clipping is 5-10 kg for a Bactrian and 2-4 kg for a dromedary. Camels are sheared in the spring.

Camels are common only in deserts and dry steppes; they cannot live in areas with humid climate or in the mountains. In domesticated form, both species of Old World camels are common in many areas of Asia and Africa. Dromedaries are found in northern Africa up to 1° south latitude, the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia. In the 19th century they were brought to Australia, where they quickly adapted to the local climatic conditions and today they have reached the number of 50 thousand individuals. Bactrians are distributed in regions from Asia Minor to Manchuria. There are about 19 million camels in the world, of which 14.5 million live in Africa. In Somalia alone there are 7 million, and in neighboring Sudan there are 3.3 million.

The wild form of the dromedary is believed to have become extinct by the beginning of our era. Its most likely ancestral home was the south Arabian Peninsula, although it is not yet completely clear whether its ancestor was a wild form of the dromedary or a common ancestor with the Bactrian.

N.M. Przhevalsky, in his Asian expedition, first discovered the existence of wild Bactrian camels, the Haptagai, the existence of which was assumed but disputed. Wild populations of Bactrian still exist in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Mongolia, where three separate populations live around a thousand individuals. Nowadays, the issue of acclimatization of wild Bactrian camels in a Pleistocene park in Yakutia is being considered.

History of Bactrian domestication

The earliest archaeological information about the breeding of Bactrians dates back to the 7th-6th millennia BC. e.; in any case, the domestication of the Bactrian camel occurred earlier than 1000 BC. e. A number of sources indicate that domestic Bactrians appeared about 4,500 years ago. The discovery during excavations of ancient settlements in eastern Iran of a vessel with the dung of a two-humped camel and the remains of the hair of the camel itself dates back to 2500 BC. The image of a Bactrian being led by the bridle of a man is carved on the famous Black Obelisk of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (9th century BC), located in the British Museum, is one of ancient images domestic camel in general. Another image was discovered on the ruins of the Apadana Hall of the palace of the Persian kings in Persepolis, dating back to the 5th century. BC e.

Unlike the dromedary camel, the Bactrian camel remained almost unknown in Europe for a long time. There is evidence that the Roman emperors Nero and Heliogabalus harnessed a pair of Bactrian camels to their chariots as rare and outlandish animals, but in general, Europeans almost did not encounter the Bactrian until the Middle Ages. The word “Bactrian” is Latin (lat. bactrianus), literally meaning “Bactrian”, after the name of the historical region of Bactria, located in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya (in ancient times - a province of the Persian kingdom).

Camels (Camelus) are a genus of mammals belonging to the camelid family (Camelidae) and the suborder Camelidae. Large representatives of the artiodactyla order (Artiodactyla) are well adapted for life in arid regions, including deserts, semi-deserts and steppes.

Description of the camel

The weight of an average adult camel varies between 500-800 kg, with a height at the withers of no more than 200-210 cm. One-humped camels are reddish-gray in color, while two-humped camels are characterized by a dark brown color.

Appearance

Camels have curly fur, a long and arched neck, and small, rounded ears. Representatives of the camelid family and the callosopod suborder are characterized by the presence of 38 teeth, of which ten are represented by molars, two canines, ten molars, two molars, a pair of canines and twelve molars.

Thanks to the long and shaggy eyelashes, the camel’s large eyes are reliably protected from sand and dust, and the slits of the nostrils can be closed very tightly if necessary. A camel's vision is excellent, so the animal is able to see a moving person at a distance of a kilometer, and a car even five kilometers away. The large desert animal perfectly smells water and plants.

This is interesting! A camel is able to sense the territory of fresh pasture or the presence fresh water even fifty kilometers away, and seeing in the sky storm clouds, the desert animal heads towards them, hoping to get to a place with rainfall.

The mammal is quite well adapted to life in harsh and waterless areas, and also has special pectoral, wrist, elbow and knee calluses, which often come into contact with soil heated to 70°C. The animal's fairly thick fur is intended to protect it from the scorching daytime sun and night cold. The fingers connected together form a common sole. Wide and two-toed camel feet are well adapted for walking on small stones and loose sand.

A camel is not capable of losing significant amounts of fluid through natural feces. Moisture, which is released from the nostrils during breathing, easily collects inside a special fold, after which it enters the animal’s oral cavity. Camels long time are able to do without water completely, but in this case about 40% of the total mass bodies.

One of the specific adaptations of camels for living in desert conditions is the presence of humps, which are large fat deposits and serve as a kind of “roof” that protects the animal’s back from the rays of the scorching sun. Among other things, the high concentration of such fat reserves of the whole body in the back area contributes to good heat output. Camels are excellent swimmers, and when moving in water, such animals typically tilt their body slightly to the side.

Character and lifestyle

In conditions wildlife The camel strives to settle down, but such an animal constantly moves across various desert territories, as well as rocky plains or large foothills, trying to stay within large, already marked areas. Any haptagai prefer to move between rare water sources, which allows them to replenish their vital water supplies.

As a rule, camels live in small herds of five to twenty individuals. The leader of such a herd is the main male. Such desert animals are active mainly during the daytime, and with the onset of darkness, camels sleep or behave rather sluggishly and somewhat apathetically. During hurricane periods, camels can lie down for days, and on hot days they move against the wind, which promotes effective thermoregulation, or hide in bushes and ravines. Wild individuals are shy and somewhat aggressive towards strangers, including people.

This is interesting! There is a well-known practice according to which winter grazing of horses is carried out, easily churning the snow cover with their hooves, after which camels are launched into such an area, picking up the remaining food.

When signs of danger appear, camels run away, easily reaching speeds of up to 50-60 km/h. Adult animals are able to run for two or three days, until their strength is completely exhausted. Experts believe that natural endurance and large size often cannot save a desert animal from death, which is due to its small mental development.

The lifestyle of domesticated individuals is completely subordinate to people, and wild animals quickly get used to leading a lifestyle characteristic of their ancestors. Adult and fully mature males are able to live alone. The onset of winter is ordeal for camels, which find it very difficult to move on snow cover. Among other things, the absence of true hooves in such animals makes it impossible to dig out food from under the snow.

How long do camels live?

IN favorable conditions camels can easily live for about four decades, but such a significant life expectancy is still more typical for fully domesticated specimens. Among wild haptagai, quite often there are quite large individuals, whose age is fifty years.

Types of camels

The camel genus is represented by two species:

• one-humped;
• two-humped

One-humped camels (dromedaries, dromedaries, arabians) - Camelus dromedarius, have survived to this day exclusively in a domesticated form, and may also well be represented by newly feral individuals. Dromedary is translated from Greek as “running”, and such animals are named “Arabians” in honor of the inhabitants of Arabia who tamed them.

Dromedaries, along with Bactrians, have very long and calloused legs, but with a more slender build. Compared to the two-humped camel, the one-humped camel is much smaller, so the body length of an adult is no more than 2.3-3.4 m, with a height at the withers of 1.8-2.1 m. Average weight An adult dromedary camel varies between 300-700 kg.

Dromedaries have a head with elongated facial bones, a convex forehead, and a hook-nosed profile. The animal's lips, compared to horses or cattle, do not compress at all. The cheeks are enlarged in size, and the lower lip is most often drooping. The neck of dromedary camels has well-developed muscles.

This is interesting! A small mane grows along the entire upper edge of the cervical region, and on the lower part there is a short beard reaching the middle of the neck. On the forearms the edge is completely absent. In the area of ​​the shoulder blades there is an edge that looks like “epaulettes” and is represented by long curled hair.

Also, one-humped camels differ from their two-humped counterparts in that they are extremely difficult to tolerate even minor frosts. However, the coat of dromedaries is quite dense, but not too thick and relatively short. The fur of a dromedary camel is not intended for warmth and only helps to prevent excessive fluid loss.

On cold nights, the body temperature of dromedary camels drops significantly, and under the sun's rays the animal warms up very slowly. Most long hair The neck, back and head of the dromedary camel are covered. Dromedaries are predominantly sandy in color, but there are representatives of the species with dark brown, reddish-gray or white fur.

Bactrian camels, or Bactrians (Camelus bactrianus) are the largest representatives of the genus, and are the most valuable pets for a large number of Asian peoples. Bactrian camels owe their name to Bactria. This area in Central Asia became famous for the domestication of the Bactrian camel. There are also currently a small number of wild Bactrian camels called haptagai. Several hundred of these individuals today live in China and Mongolia, where they prefer the most inaccessible natural landscapes.

Bactrian camels are very large, massive and heavy animals. Average length the body of an adult individual of this species reaches 2.5-3.5 m, with a height of 1.8-2.2 meters. The height of the animal, including humps, can easily reach 2.6-2.7 m. The length of the tail most often varies between 50-58 cm. As a rule, the weight of a mature Bactrian camel ranges from 440-450 to 650-700 kg. A well-fed male camel of a very valuable and popular Kalmyk breed over the summer can weigh from 780-800 kg to a ton, and the weight of a female most often ranges from 650-800 kg.

Bactrian camels have a dense body and fairly long limbs.. Bactrians are noticeably distinguished by a particularly long and curved neck, which initially bends downwards and then rises again. Due to this feature of the neck structure, the animal’s head is characteristically located in line with the shoulder region. The humps of all representatives of this species are located at a distance of 20-40 cm from each other. The space between them is called the saddle, and is often used as a place for a person to sit.

The standard distance from the interhump saddle to the surface of the earth, as a rule, is about 170 cm. In order for a person to climb onto the back of a Bactrian camel, the animal kneels or lies down on the ground. It should be noted that the space that is located between the two humps of a camel is not filled with fat deposits even in the most mature and well-fed individuals.

This is interesting! Bactrian camels, which have a light coat color, are the most rare individuals, the number of which is no more than 2.8 percent of the total population.

The main indicators of the fatness and health of a Bactrian camel are represented by elastic, evenly standing humps. Emaciated animals have humps that partially or completely fall to the side, so they dangle a lot when walking. Adult Bactrian camels are distinguished by an extremely thick and dense coat with a very well-developed undercoat, ideal for the existence of the animal in fairly harsh continental climatic conditions, characterized by hot in summer and cold, snowy winters.

Notable is the fact that in the habitats familiar to the animal in winter period The thermometer often drops even below minus 40 degrees, but the Bactrian camel is able to safely and easily endure such severe frosts due to the special structure of its fur. The hairs of the coat have internal cavities, which significantly reduce the thermal conductivity of fur. The fine hairs of the undercoat retain air well.

The average length of Bactrian fur is 50-70 mm, and on the lower part of the cervical region and the tops of the humps there is hair, the length of which often exceeds a quarter of a meter. The longest fur grows in representatives of the species in autumn period, so in winter such animals look quite pubescent. In the spring, Bactrian camels begin to shed, and their fur falls out in clumps. At this time, the animal has an unkempt, sloppy and shabby appearance.

The usual color for the Bactrian camel is brown-sand with varying degrees of intensity. Some individuals have a very dark or completely light, sometimes even reddish color.

Range, habitats

Camels of both species are quite widespread only in desert zones, as well as in dry steppes. Such large animals are absolutely not adapted to too humid climatic conditions or living in mountainous areas. Domesticated camel species are currently common in many areas of Asia and Africa.

Dromedaries are often found in northern Africa, up to one degree south latitude, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia. In the nineteenth century, such animals were brought to Australia, where they were quickly able to adapt to unusual climatic conditions. To date total quantity There are fifty thousand such animals in Australia.

This is interesting! Bactrians are quite widespread in regions stretching from Asia Minor to Manchuria. There are currently about nineteen million camels in the world, and approximately fourteen million live in Africa.

In Somalia today there are about seven million individuals, and in Sudan - just over three million camels. Wild dromedaries are believed to have gone extinct at the beginning of our era. Their most likely ancestral home was presented southern part Arabian Peninsula, but at present it has not been possible to fully establish whether its ancestors were wild-shaped dromedaries or were a common ancestor with the Bactrian. N.M.

Przhevalsky, in an Asian expedition, first discovered the existence of two-humped wild camels Khaptagaev. Their existence was assumed at that time, but was not confirmed, and was therefore disputed.

Populations of wild Bactrians today exist only in the Xinjiang-Uyghur region. autonomous region and in Mongolia. The presence of only three separate populations was noted there, and the total number of animals in them is currently about one thousand individuals. Currently, issues related to the acclimatization of wild Bactrian camels in the conditions of the Yakut Pleistocene park zone are being actively considered.

Camel diet

Camels are typical representatives ruminants. Both species eat saltwort and wormwood, as well as camel thorn and saxaul. Camels can even drink salt water, and all the fluid in the body of such animals is stored inside the cells of the stomach rumen. All representatives of the callosopod suborder tolerate dehydration very well and quite easily. The main source of water for a camel is fat. The oxidation process of one hundred grams of fat produces about 107 g of water and carbon dioxide.

This is interesting! Wild camels are very cautious and mistrustful animals, so they prefer to die from lack of water or food, but never come too close to people.

Even in conditions of prolonged absence of water, camels’ blood does not thicken at all. Such animals, belonging to the suborder callosopods, can survive about two weeks without water and about one month without food. Even despite such simply amazing endurance, at present wild camels, more often than other animals, suffer from a noticeable reduction in the number of watering places. This situation is explained by the active development by people of desert areas with the presence of fresh natural reservoirs.