Photo by Quaehee Yu
 

Camel (Bactrian)

Description    There are two kinds of camels: the Arabian, or dromedary camel, which has one hump, and the Bactrian camel, which has two humps.   The humps are stores of flesh and fat, absorbed as nutrition when food is scarce.   Camels can subsist without water for several days.   They have broad feet that are adapted to walking on soft sands, and have heavy eyebrows and eyelashes to protect their eyes during sandstorms.   They are called the ship of the desert.

Habitat   Bactrian camel is better adapted to a rocky and cooler region, by virtue of its smaller size and heavier build, harder and more cloven feet, longer and finer wool, and other qualities.   The original distribution of the Bactrian camel extended over the dry steppes and semidesert of central Asia to Mongolia.   Its current distribution is the Gobi desert, southwestern Mongolia, and northwestern China; there are fewer than 1000 Bactrian camels in the wild.

Food   Bactrian camels feed on a wide variety of plant material - grasses, herbs, and leaves.

More Pictures and Sounds  

• ZooNet Image Archieves - Bactrian Camel 
• The Birmingham Zoo - The real vedio of Camel baby 
• Bioinfo Animal Pictures Archive  - Camel's sound
   

More Information 

• Camel Facts - camel facts and illustrations by students from Mrs. Habib's 2nd grade class in Amman, Jordan.
• National Zoological Park - Dr. Robinson On Camels
• A-Z of Camels - a comprehensive fact-pack on the special characteristics of this amazing creature.
• Camel - Camelus Bactrianus - brief information and drawing of this animal from the Canadian Museum of Nature.
• RHR: Bactrian Camel - read Bactrain Camel facts, find out how many are left, or test your knowledge of these desert creatures with two humps.

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Last modified : April 5, 2000
Created by Quaehee Yu