Your opinion can help us make it better. We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration. Among the mysteries Rudyard Kipling explores in his Just So stories, is how the camel got its hump.
Or should that be humps? So 'scruciating idle indeed that the Djinn of all deserts decided to teach it a lesson by creating a hump it would have cart around on its back. And there it has remained ever since, although according to Kipling "the camel has never yet learned how to behave. But if the one-humped camel, the more accurate name for which is a dromedary, was saddled with a hump for bad behavior, what must the Bactrian camel, also just known as a camel, have done to earn two?
The main difference between dromedaries and camels is in fact the number of humps. The former, which live in large numbers in Africa and the Middle East, and more recently in Australia and North America too, is far more common that the latter, which is native to Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Apart from the obvious difference in the number of protrusions, dromedaries and camels vary in other ways too. Also, camels can go for days without drinking water, even in the hot dry desert.
Little kids: A grown-up camel stands 6 feet tall at the shoulder, but its hump is 1 foot higher up than that. How high is the top of its hump? Bonus: If 2 dromedaries and 2 bactrian camels go for a walk, how many humps do they have? These humps give camels their legendary ability to travel up to desert miles without water.
In winter, even desert plants may hold enough moisture to allow a camel to live without water for several weeks. When camels do refill, however, they soak up water like a sponge. A very thirsty animal can drink 30 gallons of water in only 13 minutes. Other adaptations help dromedaries thrive in desert conditions. Their nostrils close to keep sand at bay, and they have bushy eyebrows and two rows of long eyelashes to protect their eyes. Large, tough lips enable them to pick at dry and thorny desert vegetation.
Big, thick footpads help them navigate the rough rocky terrain and shifting desert sands. Arabian camels have been domesticated for approximately 3, years and have been long valued as pack animals. They can carry large loads for up to 25 miles a day. Some cultures judge a person's wealth based on the number of camels they own. Today, nearly all of the world's camels are domestic animals.
They are found in northern Africa and southwestern Asia, and have been introduced to Australia. The F1 nar-maya is back-crossed with a male of Kazakh dromedary to produce a new F2 hybrid named aydaramir-arada. This hybrid will be then back-crossed to a Bactrian camel to produce a new F3 hybrid named aydaramir-nar that will be again back-crossed to a dromedary of the Turkmen breed to produce a new F4 hybrid named aydaramir-kurt. This latest hybrid will finally be back-crossed to the new breed of Kazakh dromedary obtaining a new F5 hybrid named aydaramir Baimukanov et al.
The second hybridization strategy consists of crossing the F1 nar-maya with a male dromedary of the Turkmen breed to obtain an F2 hybrid arada-kurt also named Dostik 1. This hybrid will be crossed with the new breed of Kazakh dromedary obtaining a new F3 hybrid named arada-nar. The new breed has a Bactrian camel genetic make-up of F2 arada-kurt may also be used to develop a line of hybrids named Dostik by back-crossing repeatedly with dromedaries of the Turkmen breed.
The mating generates an F3 hybrid named Dostik 2 and subsequently an F4 hybrid Dostik 3. These latest hybrids are bred among each other and generate an F5 hybrid simply named type Dostik 3 Baimukanov et al. Modern variations of the Kazakh Hybridization Method leading to the production of new hybrids: dromedary type Dostik 3 , arada , and aydaramir.
The second variation of the Kazakh Hybridization Method is shown in Fig. With this breeding method, the F1 nar-maya is back-crossed to a male Bactrian camel to produce an F2 hybrid named kospak 1 or bal-kospak. This hybrid is then further back-crossed with a Bactrian male to obtain a new F3 hybrid named kopsak 2 or myrza kospak , and again to obtain a new F4 hybrid named kospak 3 or nar-kospak Kazakhstan Patent Database b.
All the hybrid kospaks can be back-crossed with Turkmen dromedaries to produce various types of hybrids named kez-nars. Baidara may occasionally be crossed with the new Kazakh dromedary or a pure-bred Bactrian camel as this seems to increase early reproductive maturity.
The Kazakh dromedary is also utilized by crossing it with a female F5 kez-nar 3 to produce a new F6 hybrid sixth filial generation named baidasbeck Kazakhstan Patent Database b. Recently, a variation of this scheme has been added by utilizing the larger breed of Bactrian camel: Kalmyk breed Fig. When crossing a female F3 kospak with a male Bactrian camel of Kalmyk breed, a valuable new F3 hybrid is obtained named bereket-kospak , which produces a new F4 hybrid named bereket-nar when crossed with a male Turkmen dromedary Kazakhstan Patent Database a.
Bactrian camel stud of the Kalmyk breed. The main objective of dromedary and Bactrian camel cross-breeding practices developed by Kazakh and Russian scientists has been to develop a camel breed with higher milk production capabilities than the Bactrian camel as well as the ability to survive the harsh climate of Central Asia essentially in a free-range situation.
The climatic conditions of such regions are characterized by hot summers and snowbound winters with severe sub-zero temperatures.
Numerous hybrids with such qualities have been developed. Of particular interest are bainar , baykazhy , aydaramir-arada , aydaramir-nar , baidasbeck , and baidar hybrids which have a higher milk production than the Turkmen dromedary. Meanwhile the F2 hybrids: bayshin , and aidaramyr-nar , all F4 hybrids excluding kurt 3 and F5 hybrids sannak, and aidaramyr have a higher live weight than the dromedary and the Bactrian camel.
The work of Russian and Kazakh researchers Baimukanov et al. Breeding hybrid males is not recommended except F5 kurt 4, F4 Dostik 3 , F3 arada-nar. All hybrids have greater productive longevity than dromedary and Bactrian camels with F1 nar-maya and F3 kez-nar capable of 7.
When F1 hybrids breed among themselves, the positive effects of heterosis are completely absent and the resulting F2 hybrid, named jarbay , is an unfit animal. Hybrid calves have a higher birth weight F1 mean birth weight, Their growth rate is also higher.
Higher percentages of dromedary genes in a hybrid increases overall milk production due to: longer and more abundant lactation; improves udder size and conformation including better quarters symmetry and development; increased teats spacing, size, and downward direction.
However, this also reduces fat percentage in milk, reduces wool production and early maturity as well as adaptability to colder climates. Higher percentage of Bactrian camel genes in a hybrid increases wool production, live weight, and fat percentage in milk but decreases lactation length and absolute milk yield. The length of pregnancy also increases. All hybrids have a gestation length shorter than the one of the Bactrian camel mean Dromedary genes shorten the duration of pregnancy.
F4 hybrids have a gestation length closest to the Turkmen and Kazakh dromedary. All hybrids have a lower fat percentage in milk than that of Bactrian camels mean 5. Camel hybridization may play an important role in enhancing camel productivity in all areas of Central Asia that presently keep only Bactrian camels because of the inability of dromedaries to survive in the Central Asian climate. Indeed, trends toward increasing camel milk production utilizing hybrids are already detectable in areas of Kazakhstan Imamura et al.
In many areas of Kazakhstan, dromedaries, Bactrian camels, and their hybrids are free-ranging and naturally intermingling Fig. In such conditions, unsupervised mating may occur and go unrecorded. The identification of hybrid camels based on phenotypic characters is unreliable, particularly for later stage hybrids such as F4-F6 Table 1 and Fig.
Rigorous pedigree recording, combined with permanent camel identification, are therefore better tools to clearly identify individual hybrids and the exact genetic contributions of dromedary and Bactrian camel to their genetic make-up. The increasing availability of advanced techniques for genetic and parentage testing will allow a better understanding of the genetics of dromedary, Bactrian camel, and their hybrids, possibly permitting the detection of valuable genetic traits related to increased productivity or adaptability Burger et al.
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