Wild Bactrian camel
| Wild Bactrian camel | |
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| Wild Bactrian camel | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Camelidae |
| Genus: | Camelus |
| Species: | C. ferus |
| Binomial name | |
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Camelus ferus Przewalski, 1878 |
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| Current range | |
The wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) is a critically endangered species of camel living in parts of northern China and southern Mongolia. It is closely related to the domesticated Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus). They are both large, even-toed ungulates native to the steppes of central Asia, with a double hump (small and pyramid-shaped). Until recently, wild Bactrian camels were considered to have descended from domesticated Bactrian camels that became feral after escaping from captivity or being returned to the wild. However, a 1.9% difference in suggests a divergence date of 0.7 to 1.5 million years ago, long before the start of domestication. While previously considered to be a subspecies (Camelus bactrianus ferus) of the Bactrian camel, the latest research establishes the wild Bactrian camel as a separate species from the domesticated Bactrian camel due to its distinct genetic makeup. It is restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang.
Compared to the domesticated Bactrian camel, the wild Bactrian camel is slightly smaller and has been described as "relatively small, lithe, and slender-legged, with very narrow feet and a body that looks laterally compressed."
"The wool of C. ferus is "shorter and sparser than that of domestic animals" (Schaller 1998: 152) and its colour is always sandy (Bannikov 1976: 398). And most notably, C. ferus has "low, pointed, cone-shaped humps—usually about half the size of those of the domestic camel in fair condition” (Bannikov 1976: 398)."
It can also survive on water even saltier than seawater – which no other large mammal in the world, including the domestic Bactrian camel, can tolerate.
"The wild Bactrian camel differs from the domestic Bactrian in a number of ways – smaller, more conical humps, flatter skull (havtagai, the Mongolian name for a wild Bactrian camel, means 'flat-head'), a different shape of foot – but the outstanding difference is genetic."
Their habitat is in arid plains and hills where water sources are scarce and very little vegetation exists with shrubs as their main food source.
Wild Bactrian camels travel over long distances, seeking water in places close to mountains where springs are found, and hill slopes covered in snow provide some moisture in winter. The size of a herd may vary up to 100 camels but generally of 2-15 members in a group; this is reported to be due to arid environment and heavy poaching. The wild Bactrian camels are limited to three pockets in Mongolia and China; about 600 in the Gobi desert in northwest China and 800 in the Mongolian desert.
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Wikipedia