A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus ''Camelus'', bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia, and Bactrian camels are native to Central and East Asia. Both species are domesticated; they provide milk and meat, and are working animals.

The term ''camel'' (from the Arabic جمل, ''ǧml'', derived from the triconsonantal root signifying "beauty") is also used more broadly to describe any of the six camel-like creatures in the family camelidae: the two true camels, and the four South American camelids: the llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña.

The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years. A fully grown adult camel stands at the shoulder and at the hump. The hump rises about out of its body. Camels can run at up to in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to .

Fossil evidence indicates that the ancestors of modern camels evolved in North America during the Palaeogene period (see also ''Camelops''), and later spread to most parts of Asia. The people of ancient Somalia or the Kingdom of Punt first domesticated camels well before 2000 BC.

Distribution and number

The 14 million dromedaries alive today are domesticated animals (mostly living in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East and the Indian subcontinent). The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world, where the dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life. They provide peripatetic Somali and Ethiopian people with milk, food and transportation. The Bactrian camel is now reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, mostly domesticated. It is thought that there are about 1,000 wild Bactrian camels in the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia.

There is a substantial feral population of dromedaries estimated at up to 1,000,000 in central parts of Australia, descended from individuals introduced as transport animals in the 19th century and early 20th century. This population is growing at approximately 8% per year. The government of South Australia has decided to cull the animals using aerial marksmen, because the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers. For more information, see Australian feral camel.

A small population of introduced camels, dromedaries and Bactrians survived in the Southwest United States until the second half of the 20th Century. These animals, imported from Turkey, were part of the U.S. Camel Corps experiment and used as draft animals in mines and escaped or were released after the project was terminated. A descendant of one of these was seen by a backpacker in Los Padres National Forest in 1972. Twenty-three Bactrian camels were brought to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush.

Eco-behavioural adaptations

Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other animals. Their temperature ranges from at night and up to during the day, and only above this threshold will they begin to sweat. The upper body temperature range is often not reached during the day in milder climatic conditions, and therefore, the camel may not sweat at all during the day. Evaporation of their sweat takes place at the skin level, not at the surface of their coat, thereby being very efficient at cooling the body compared to the amount of water lost through perspiration.

A feature of their nostrils is that a large amount of water vapor in their exhalations is trapped and returned to their body fluids, thereby reducing the amount of water lost through respiration.

They can withstand at least 20-25% weight loss due to sweating (most mammals can only withstand about 15% dehydration before cardiac failure results from circulatory disturbance). A camel's blood remains hydrated, even though the body fluids are lost, until this 25% limit is reached. Camels eating green herbage can ingest sufficient moisture in milder conditions to maintain their bodies' hydrated state without the need for drinking.

A camel's thick coat reflects sunlight, and also insulates it from the intense heat radiated from desert sand. A shorn camel has to sweat 50% more to avoid overheating. Their long legs help by keeping them further from the hot ground. Camels have been known to swim.

Their mouth is very sturdy, able to chew thorny desert plants. Long eyelashes and ear hairs, together with sealable nostrils, form a barrier against sand. Their gait and their widened feet help them move without sinking into the sand.

The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at retaining water. Urine comes out as a thick syrup, and their feces are so dry that they can fuel fires.

All camelids have an unusual immune system. In all mammals, the Y-shaped antibody molecules consist of two heavy (or long) chains along the length of the Y, and two light (or short) chains at each tip of the Y. Camels also have antibody molecules that have only two heavy chains, which makes them smaller and more durable. These ''heavy chain-only'' antibodies, which were discovered in 1993, probably developed 50 million years ago, after camelids split from ruminants and pigs, according to biochemist Serge Muyldermans.

Genetics

According to molecular data, the New World and Old World camelids diverged 11 MYA. In spite of this, these species turned out to be conserved sufficiently to hybridize and produce live offspring(cama). The dromedary-guanaco inter-specific hybrid provided the ideal platform to compare the karyotypes of Old World and New World camels.

The cama is a camel/llama hybrid bred by scientists who wanted to see how closely related the parent species were. The dromedary is six times the weight of a llama, hence artificial insemination was required to impregnate the llama female (llama male to dromedary female attempts have proven unsuccessful). Though born even smaller than a llama cria, the cama had the short ears and long tail of a camel, no hump and llama-like cloven hooves rather than the dromedary-like pads. At four years old, the cama became sexually mature and attracted to llama and guanaco females. A second cama (female) has since been produced using artificial insemination. Because camels and llamas both have 74 chromosomes, scientists hope that the cama will be fertile. If so, there is potential for increasing size, meat/wool yield and pack/draft ability in South American camels. The cama apparently inherited the poor temperament of both parents as well as demonstrating the relatedness of the New World and Old World camelids.

Dromedary-Bactrian hybrids are called bukhts, are larger than either parent, have a single hump and are good draft camels. The females can be mated back to a Bactrian to produce ¾-bred riding camels. These hybrids are found in Kazakhstan.

Military uses

Camel cavalry have been used in wars throughout Africa, the Middle East and into modern-day India. Armies have also used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules.

In the East Roman Empire the Romans used auxiliary forces known as Dromedarii, whom they recruited in desert provinces. The camels were mostly used in combat because of their ability to scare off horses at close ranges, a quality famously employed by the Achaemenid Persians when fighting Lydia, although the Persians usually used camels in baggage trains for arrows and equipment.

19th and 20th centuries

Cuisine

Dairy

Camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is considered a whole food, nomads requiring nothing but camel milk for up to six months. Camel milk is rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins and immunoglobulins. It is lower in fat and cholesterol fat than cow milk. It is said to have many healthful properties and is used as a medicinal product in India, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Africa and the Middle East. It is also used as an aphrodisiac in these countries, an example being Ethiopia. Bedouins believe that the curative powers of camel milk are enhanced if the camel's diet consists of certain desert plants. Camel milk can readily be made into a drinkable yogurt, but does not set due to lesser milk solids than cow or goat's milk. Camel milk cream can be separated and made into butter or cheese but the yields will be low in comparison to buffalo or cow cream, again due to the low fat and solids content.

Camel milk cannot be made into butter by the traditional churning method. It can be made if it is soured first, churned, and a clarifying agent added, or if it is churned at , but times vary greatly in achieving results. Until recently, camel milk could not be made into camel cheese because rennet was unable to coagulate the milk proteins to allow the collection of curds. Under the commission of the FAO, Professor J.P. Ramet of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires (ENSAIA) was able to produce curdling by the addition of calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet. The cheese produced from this process has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest, even for the lactose intolerant.. The sale of camel cheese is limited owing to the small output of the single dairy currently producing camel cheese and the absence of camel cheese in most camel cultures. Cheese imports from countries that traditionally breed camels are difficult to obtain due to restrictions on dairy imports from these regions.

Meat

Camel meat has been eaten for centuries. It has been recorded by ancient Greek writers as an available dish in ancient Persia at banquets, usually roasted whole. The ancient Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel. Camel meat is still eaten in certain regions including Somalia, where it is called ''Hilib geel'', Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Kazakhstan and other arid regions where alternative forms of protein may be limited or where camel meat has had a long cultural history. In the Middle East, camel meat is the rarest and most prized source of pastırma. Not just the meat, but also blood is a consumable item as is the case in northern Kenya, where camel blood is a source of iron, vitamin D, salts and minerals. Camel meat is also occasionally found in Australian cuisine, for example, a camel lasagne is available in Alice Springs.

Health issues

Religion

Islam

There are Islamic traditions that allow the drinking of urine for medicinal purposes. However, these traditions have varying levels of authentication within Islamic scholarship.

Also, some Islamic schools of thought consider it haraam for a Muslim to perform salah in places where camels lie as it is said to be a dwelling place of shaytan.

Judaism

See also

References

Footnotes

Notations

Further reading

External links

Category:Camelids Category:Livestock Category:African cuisine Category:Middle Eastern cuisine Category:Halal food Category:Milk Category:Domesticated animals

In 2007, he announced that he signed with Warp Records. Following his Warp debut, the six-track ''Reset EP'', he became one of the label’s cornerstone artists and released his second album, titled ''Los Angeles'', on June 10, 2008. His third album, ''Cosmogramma'', was released on May 3, 2010, in the UK and May 4, 2010, in the US. In January 2011, ''Cosmogramma'' won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.

Recently, Flying Lotus collaborated with the Ann Arbor Film Festival in the performance of a live scoring of the 1962 avant-garde film ''Heaven and Earth Magic''. In a post-viewing interview with the audience, Flying Lotus said he was unsure whether or not a recording of the performance (or a recreation of it) would be publicly released, but he would be enthusiastic toward similar projects in the future. He was chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that it co-curates in December 2011 in Minehead, England.

In January 2011, Flying Lotus won The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards for his video "MmmHmm" in the Video, Short Form category. Flying Lotus will be collaborating with R&B; singer Erykah Badu on new material for her next album.

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Demos

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EPs

12-inch singles

Production

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References

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