Camel ensures food security in climate change scenario, why? Because;
Camel is the most efficient animal in water economy, as camel consumes 8-10 times less water than the dairy cow in the same environment to produce 1 kg of milk
Camel has unique gut flora (microbiome), very diverse and as efficient as the termite’s microflora, can digest the hardiest and toughest dry matter, the camel can convert wood into energy
Camel is protein efficient as camel recycles blood urea and fulfill some of the protein requirement its recycling mechanism
Camel has very minute or zero-emission because of its efficient digestive system which digests feedstuffs in a way that produce very little methane
The high temperature cannot depress the milk yield of the camel, ironically the camel lactation curve incline in the harsh summer days
Camel does not need any cooling inputs, they can tolerate the skin burning heat waves of the desert, otherwise, in the same environment the dairy cattle need artificial cooling systems which consume energy and water
In the holy Quran, it is said “Do they not look at the Camels, how they are made? And at the Sky, how it is raised high? And at the Mountains, how they are fixed firm? And at the Earth, how it is spread out? In these honored verses, Allah (Praise & Glory be to him) surpassed the camel upon all other living creatures and made the contemplation of how it was mentioned prior to raising high the sky, fixing firm mountains, and spreading out the earth. In this honored verse, the Creator, who knows the secrets of his creatures, advises people to think and contemplate in creating camels as a creature witnesses Allah’s glory, power, and planning.
Majaheem camels in Al Ula Saudi Arabia.
The Camel Knows all the 100 Names
The Arabs believe that only the camels know the one-hundred name of God, which means that the human being knows 99 names of Allah, and the 100th name is only known by camel. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered his last sermon, which is considered the Charter of Humanity while sitting on a camel called Qiswah. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will be sitting on a camel while entering Jannah and Hazrat Bilal (RTA) will have the Mahar of the camel, leading camel to Jannah.
Autho love the camel milk
Conclusion
In short, the camel is unique, special, and incredible. There is a wide room in the camels’ field to explore and use its uniqueness for the well-being of health, nature, and environment.
Camel is very different from other livestock, owing very special physiological and anatomical features making it one of the most resilient creatures of the challenging climatic conditions. Camels adapt and resolve with some multidimensional features to cope with the situations where the temperatures are red hot, water and feed sources are scarce, and the conditions of life are harsh.
Insurance of Life Sustenance in Challenging Conditions
The very important feature of the camel is its potential of producing milk (for calf) to sustain its life cycle and reproduce offspring for the continuation of the camel race. The long, harsh, and challenging days of the desert do not dent the camel milk yield but slightly increase with more watery milk to fulfill the water requirements of the calves in the arid and hot conditions.
Camel is Admired from Religion to Tradition and Believes to Science
The features of the camels are well praised in the holy books, travelers’ stories, documentaries of national geographic, research articles, and the folk songs and stories of the nomads. According to a study, the camel needs 1.9 kg dry roughages to produce 1 kg of milk in the arid condition, and in the same conditions, a native cow needs 9.1 kg dry matter for the same quantity of milk.
Camel Needs Lesser Inputs to Produce
Based on my personal experience, the dairy camel needs far less water than the dairy cows in the same conditions. The drinking water requirements of dairy cows are 8-10 times more per liter milk products in extremely hot weather (>45C). The dairy cows not only require water for food but for cooling and the cooling system needs a lot of power to regulate it’s cooling and exhaust fans. Also, the camel requires a lesser quantity of crude protein in the feed as it is unique in urea recycling. A diet of 16% CP is more than enough for a camel to fulfill its basics and production requirements.
Longer and Productive Farm Life
The camel has tremendous potential as farm livestock because of its longer product life cycle (up to 10-12 parties). The high yielding dairy cow only manages 4 lactations on the farm because of high yielding, overloaded health inputs, the extra burden of feed ingredients (higher CP), and stressful conditions because of multiple factors. In the same conditions, camels take lesser water, feed (lesser CP), and absorb the higher temperatures in their hump and live a very stress-free lifestyle.
The stress-free lifestyle of camel fabricates unique milk, full of nutrients and positivity which ultimately supports our health and happiness.
Dr. Raziq
Shorter Register of Diseases
Also, the camel has a very specific and limited number of diseases, except few like Mange (skin disease) and trypanosomiases (blood parasites), other diseases do not need much human intervention. The hard and strong udder ensures it potential to be less prone to mastitis and other glandular diseases if properly milked in hygienic conditions. Such a phenomenon makes the camel the best dairy choice as it needs lesser health and comforts inputs and milk production in stress-free conditions.
The Camels are Happy Browsers
The Camel Sustains in Conditions where others can hardly survive
Even if kept in the same ecological zone with comfortable environmental conditions (preferred for cows), the camel is more efficient in water and feeds turnover into milk. In ideal conditions camels need 4 liters of water for one kg milk (with an average production yield of 10 kg/per day), while in the same condition dairy cows need 4 times more water for one kg milk yield.
Conclusion
Camel is fantastic livestock, designed with special DNAs to support human life in driest parts of the world. The policymakers at all levels should realize the importance of this unique creature and should give a chance to the incredible camel to perform as a food security animal in the climate change context. The WORLD CAMEL DAY is therefore celebrated each year on 22nd June to aware the people about the incredible role the camel is playing and the hopes we foresight from the camel in the challenging future. First WORLD CAMEL DAY was celebrated on the 22nd of June, 2008.
World Camel Day and Camel4Life International
The camel is rarely admired for its incredible roles and it is still hiding from the eyes of the policymakers. Me with the like-minded people, launched WORLD CAMEL DAY to advocate camels and aware the masses about the importance of the camel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDPMUKbIthU
