Camel

For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation).

Camel
Temporal range: Pliocene–Recent[1]
↓
A one-humped camel
Dromedary
(Camelus dromedarius)
A shaggy two-humped camel
Bactrian camel
(Camelus bactrianus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Camelidae
Tribe: Camelini
Genus: Camelus
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Camelus dromedarius [6]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Distribution of camels worldwide
Synonyms
List

A camel (from Latin: camelus and ‹See Tfd›Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Ancient Semitic: gāmāl[7][8]) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The wild Bactrian camel is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel, and is now critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals.

The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña, which belong to the separate tribe Lamini.[9] Camelids originated in North America during the Eocene, with the ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrating across the Bering land bridge into Asia during the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago.

  1. ^ "Fossilworks: Camelus". fossilworks.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  2. ^ Geraads, D.; Barr, W. A.; Reed, D.; Laurin, M.; Alemseged, Z. (2019). "New Remains of Camelus grattardi (Mammalia, Camelidae) from the Plio-Pleistocene of Ethiopia and the Phylogeny of the Genus" (PDF). Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 28 (2): 359–370. doi:10.1007/s10914-019-09489-2. ISSN 1064-7554. S2CID 209331892. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-03.
  3. ^ Titov, V. V. (2008). "Habitat conditions for Camelus knoblochi and factors in its extinction". Quaternary International. 179 (1): 120–125. Bibcode:2008QuInt.179..120T. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2007.10.022.
  4. ^ Falconer, Hugh (1868). Palæontological Memoirs and Notes of the Late Hugh Falconer: Fauna antiqua sivalensis. R. Hardwicke. p. 231.
  5. ^ Martini, P.; Geraads, D. (2019). "Camelus thomasi Pomel, 1893 from the Pleistocene type-locality Tighennif (Algeria). Comparisons with modern Camelus". Geodiversitas. 40 (1): 115–134. doi:10.5252/geodiversitas2018v40a5.
  6. ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  7. ^ "camel". The New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, Inc. 2005.
  8. ^ Herper, Douglas. "camel". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  9. ^ Bornstein, Set (2010). "Important ectoparasites of Alpaca (Vicugna pacos)". Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica. 52 (Suppl 1): S17. doi:10.1186/1751-0147-52-S1-S17. ISSN 1751-0147. PMC 2994293.