The Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius)
Dromedary Camel
The Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius) (often referred to simply as the “Dromedary”) is a large even-toed ungulate native to northern Africa and western Asia, also the land of east Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It is also the best-known member of the camel family. Other members of the camel family include the llama and the alpaca in South America. The dromedary camel has one hump on its back, in contrast to the Bactrian Camel which has two. The dromedary is sometimes called an Arabian Camel. Some maintain that the name “dromedary” should be used to refer only to racing camels. To quote the Oakland Zoo’s website,
The name “Dromedary” is properly reserved for the Arabian racing camel
such as those used in the various military camel corps.
Originally native to western Asia and East Africa, dromedaries were first domesticated in central or southern Arabia some thousands of years ago. There are currently almost 13 million domesticated dromedaries, mostly in the area from Western India via Pakistan through Iran to northern Africa. None survive in the wild in their original range, although the escaped population of Australian feral camels is estimated to number at least 500,000. Around the second millennium BCE, the dromedary was introduced to Egypt and North Africa.
Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today, the species is all but extinct in the wild, persisting mainly as domesticated animals (mostly in Sudan, Somalia, India and nearby countries), as well as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
Camel Evolution
The camels evolved in North America roughly 45 million years ago, they probably were big, had no toes, only crossing over to Asia (and from there into the Middle East and Africa) roughly 3 million years ago. Although various camel species were for a time one of the dominant animal groups in North America, they died out along with most of the North American megafauna some time after humans first appeared on the continent. According to Reuters, the recent discovery of a previously unknown giant dromedary camel species in central Syria, thought to be 100,000 years old, is leading scientists to reconsider traditional theories of modern camel origins.
Information Courtesy of Wikipedia
