What are the differences between a camel and a dromedary?
First of all, surely, you noticed that the camel has two humps and the dromedary has only one. In the strict sense, the dromedary is also a camel.
Physical description
The camel belongs to the family: Camelidae and genus: Camelus. Camels are native to the arid deserts of Western and Central Asia. The weight of a camel can vary from 400 to 750 kilograms. They have sealable nostrils, long eyelashes, and ear hair. These are protective measures against the sand in the desert. Their splayed feet prevent them from sinking into the desert sand while walking.
The presence of bumps on the back is among the most discussed characteristics. There are two species of true camels, called Bactrian camels and dromedaries. The two humps on the back of the Bactrian camel make them more interesting. Camel humps have fatty tissues useful for generating water through biochemical or metabolic processes.
Bactrian camel
This animal is present in the steppes and arid regions of Central Asia. Bactria refers to a region covering Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Today, it exists in a vast territory ranging from Turkey to China.
The camel's physique corresponds to an extremely dry continental climate, with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. from where :
- Unlike dromedaries, camels still exist in the wild, even with few individuals. This wild counterpart is called the Tatar camel and has recently (early 2000s) been considered a separate species with certain characteristics.
- The coat of the Bactrian camel is thick and dense, with up to 7 cm of hair on the underside of the neck, the top of the hump, the head, under the chin and the nape of the neck. Depending on the season, the thickness of the coat protects it from cold and heat.
Dromedary camel
Camels are also known as Arabian camels. Its habitat is in hot deserts such as the Sahara Desert and the Arabian Peninsula. Its anatomical elements are perfectly adapted to these particular living conditions. We stick to the element that really has its character.
His sinuses were ripped out so he could recycle some of the exhaled water vapor. Its nostrils can even be completely closed to limit the drying out of the upper respiratory tract.
It has few sweat glands and is distributed throughout the body: this limits water loss through sweat.
With dehydration, his blood stays fluid, so his body temperature rises more slowly. In contrast, in many mammals, water loss is accompanied by an increase in blood viscosity, which leads to an increase in body temperature. Camels have thick skin, especially on the back.
Camels are herbivores with an average lifespan of 25 years. Like all mammals, it has seven cervical vertebrae, despite its long neck. The dromedary's feet are wide and elastic to walk on sandy ground.
The hump of a dromedary is not a water reserve but an energy reserve: it is a mass of white fat which can weigh up to 100 kg in an animal of good size and which can be transformed into water available to the body.
The concentration of fat reserves in a hump limits their presence under the skin: the less fat an animal has, the better it can cool itself. The camel's body temperature can therefore drop to 34°C at night and rise to 42°C in the event of hot weather.
Animals can go without water for 2 to 3 weeks in the hot season and 4 to 5 weeks in the cool season. If it has to stay in full sun, it will naturally position itself facing the sun to limit the area of exposure.
Camelus ferus, the wild species
Alongside the domestic livestock, it is estimated that there are less than a thousand savages (950 in 2004): 600 in China and 350 in Mongolia. The wild species, Camelus ferus, has been classified by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as "critically endangered" since 2002.
A study, published in 2008, on the genetic heritage of the domestic camel and the wild camel showed that the first does not descend from the second (but from a close species that has now disappeared). Nor is the wild population feral (resulting from escaped domestic animals), as has long been believed. They are in fact two species with very distinct evolutionary histories. The largest population of domestic camels is found in China, where it is estimated that in 2005 there were around 270,000 heads.
The camel has since the dawn of time a special meaning for the Mongols, for whom it is one of the "five figures", animals traditionally bred by the nomads (alongside the horse, the yak, the sheep and the goat) .
Even today, despite technical advances, the camel provides about a third of the transport of goods through the Gobi Desert. In 2008, there were over 260,000 camels; this quantity, however, is constantly decreasing as the number of automobiles increases (in 1954 there were nearly 900,000 camels, and in 1985 just under 600,000).
The female can give birth every two years
The female can give birth every two years. She gives birth to one calf, sometimes two, but very often the gestation of two calves ends in a miscarriage. The gestation of the camel lasts 13 months, delays of 360 to 440 days are also indicated.
Camels are born in the spring, with peak births between March and April. The camel can give birth standing or squatting. The birth lasts five hours. The calf weighs at birth about 36 kg (according to other sources, on average 45 kg) for a height at the withers of about 90 cm. He is able after two hours to follow his mother. The camel generally takes good care of its offspring, but there are cases when the female rejects her calf and refuses to feed it. The calf stays with its mother for quite a long time, until it reaches puberty. This delay is longer in the domestic camel than in the wild camel. When puberty begins, the males begin to keep apart, forming bachelor herds; the females remain in the mother's herd.