Camel Physiology – Camel4ALL

Q: Can a camel be a dairy animal?

A: Yes, because of many reasons but a camel for dairy doesn’t mean the monocultural cow dairy model.

Q: What should be the salient features and goals of a dairy camel?

A: There are many characteristics that are considered the best tools to select a camel for dairy purposes.

A female camel with good reproductive performance like first calving (5 years of age), calving interval (2 years), zero or very low abortion rate
A camel owing the dairy characteristics (discussed in many articles)
Thriftiness (but not feed conversion efficiency like in the cow model), in camel farming we provide according to the needs but not as a reward for milk
Mothering ability (the connection with the calf and the presence of the calf) is very crucial for milk production in camels
Efficient milking ability (machine milking ability as well)
Social, friendly, and good in temperament (happy and friendly camels produce in stress-free conditions
Having an average production above 1500 kg per lactation (300 days)
Having a lactation of more than 8 months

Camel is a very good dairy animal in many ways, an efficient biological machine, highly adapted to climate change, and produces milk in extreme weather. https://camel4all.info/index.php/2023/11/16/the-charecteristcs-of-a-dairy-camel/

A very typical example of a high-yielding dairy camel. Udder, teats, milk vein, and rib cage of a high-yielding camel. Such signs will help you in selecting a dairy camel. This camel is producing >20 kg per day. The udder conformation (in the following image) tells most of the dairy traits in camels.

Coordinated body parts, clearly defined organs, healthy coat, barrel shape thoracic region, spacy belly, medium-sized hump, and shining body coats are the salient features of a dairy camel. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216145752_Camel_a_potential_dairy_animal_in_difficult_environments

Camel milk production is stable in almost all seasons, which is very important for pastoralists when the milk of other animals is seized in the dry period. Camel intake per kg of milk produced is very low, making it an efficient biological model. Understanding the potential of the camel as a milch animal.

Does the Camel Hump Originated in the Snowy or Sandy Ecosystem?

My understanding of the origin of the hump

As a desert ecologist and camelogist, the hump is the tool, nature gifted to the camels to sustain in challenging climatic conditions. The hump (s) developed when the natural course of climate change started in Asia and Arabia (35000 years before?).

Why Dromedary has single and Bactrian have double humps?

In some regions, there was one climatic challenge (hot dry weather like Arabia), the summer season but the other regions had 2 challenges (extreme cold and extreme hot like Mongolia). Nature gifted one hump for the single challenge (Arabia) and a double hump for the camels surviving in the 2 challenges (Mongolia). Mongolian Bactrian Camel -Breeding, Milk Production, and Lactation Curve

A smart idea

D, if you turn D one step anticlockwise, it will make one hump, making dromedary camel
B, if you turn B one step anticlockwise, it will make 2 humps, making Bactrian camel

Dromedary or single humped camel. Also known as Arabian camel.

Double humped Bactrian camel in Mongolia — Dromedary or single humped camel. Also known as Arabian camel.

Q: Does the hump originate in the snowy desert of the sandy desert?

According to Natalia Rybczynski, https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-rybczynski-548a8845/, their iconic hump(s), containing fat, also may have been adaptive. As seen in high-latitude ungulates today, fat deposits could have been critically important for allowing populations to survive and reproduce in harsh climates characterized by 6-month long, cold, winters. She has revealed from the fossils study that the camels had hump in the ancient times. https://answersingenesis.org/natural-selection/survival-of-the-fittest/humps-key-to-ancient-camel-arctic-survival/

She says “The sediments associated with the fragments suggest this animal’s habitat consisted of forests and peat-bogs. Beaver, horse, bear, rabbit, and tiny deer fossils are also found within about six miles of the site. Though soft tissue-like humps are not ordinarily preserved in the fossil record, the modern camel hump is a fat-filled structure that would have greatly facilitated the survival of this large herbivorous animal through the Arctic winter darkness” https://answersingenesis.org/natural-selection/survival-of-the-fittest/humps-key-to-ancient-camel-arctic-survival/

My understanding of the origin of the hump

Why Dromedary has single and Bactrian have double humps?

A smart idea

Q: Does the hump originate in the snowy desert of the sandy desert?

Further reading