iBactrian Camel
Conservation status
Critically endangered
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Superorder: Cetartiodactyla Order: Artiodactyla Family: Camelidae Genus: Camelus Species: C. bactrianus
Binomial name
Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758

The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of eastern Asia. The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the Dromedary, also known as the Arabian Camel, which has one. The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn3. ... Organisms that have a conservation status of critically endangered have an extremely high risk of becoming extinct. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Subregnum Parazoa Porifera Subregnum Eumetazoa Placozoa Orthonectida Rhombozoa Radiata (unranked) Ctenophora Cnidaria Bilateria (unranked) Acoelomorpha Myxozoa Superphylum Deuterostomia Chordata Hemichordata Echinodermata Chaetognatha Xenoturbellida Superphylum Ecdysozoa Kinorhyncha Loricifera Priapulida Nematoda Nematomorpha Onychophora Tardigrada Arthropoda Superphylum Platyzoa Platyhelminthes Gastrotricha Rotifera Acanthocephala Gnathostomulida Micrognathozoa Cycliophora Superphylum Lophotrochozoa Sipuncula Nemertea Phoronida Ectoprocta Bryozoa... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Multituberculata (extinct) Volaticotheria (extinct) Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Australosphenida Ausktribosphenida Monotremata Subclass Eutheria (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Anagaloidea (extinct) Arctostylopida (extinct) Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Cingulata Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Dinocerata (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Leptictida (extinct) Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia... Orders Order Cetacea Order Artiodactyla Humpback Whale breaching. ... Families Suidae Hippopotamidae Tayassuidae Camelidae Tragulidae Moschidae Cervidae Giraffidae Antilocapridae Bovidae The even-toed ungulates form the mammal order Artiodactyla. ... Species  Lama glama  Lama pacos  Lama guanicoe  Vicugna vicugna  Camelus dromedarius  Camelus bactrianus The four llamas and two camels are camelids: members of the biological family Camelidae, the only family in the suborder Tylopoda. ... For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation). ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[1] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... 1758 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Families Antilocapridae Bovidae Camelidae Cervidae Giraffidae Hippopotamidae Moschidae Suidae Tayassuidae Tragulidae The even-toed ungulates form the mammal order Artiodactyla. ... A steppe in Western Kazakhstan in early spring In physical geography, a steppe (Russian: - step, Ukrainian: - step, Kazakh: - dala), pronounced in English as step, is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Binomial name Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758 The Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius) (sometimes referred to simply as the dromedary) is a large even-toed ungulate native to northern Africa and western Asia, also the land of east africa, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somaliland. ...

Nearly all of the estimated 1.4 million Bactrian Camels alive today are domesticated, but in October 2002 the estimated 950 remaining in the wild in northwest China and Mongolia were placed on the critically endangered species list.^[1] For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The critically endangered Amur Tiger, a rare subspecies of tiger. ...

Physical characteristics and habitat

A Bactrian Camel in the Kyzyl Kum desert in Uzbekistan.

Bactrian Camels are over 2 meters (7 feet) tall at the hump and weigh in excess of 725 kg (1,600 lb). They are herbivores, eating grass, leaves, and grains, capable of drinking up to 120 litres (32 US gallons) of water at a time. Their mouths are extremely tough, allowing them to eat thorny desert plants. Image File history File links Bactrian_camel. ... Image File history File links Bactrian_camel. ... The Kyzyl Kum (Uzbek: red sand; also called Qyzylqum) is a desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. ... A deer and two fawns feeding on some foliage A herbivore is often defined as any organism that eats only plants[1]. By that definition, many fungi, some bacteria, many animals, about 1% of flowering plants and some protists can be considered herbivores. ...

They are supremely adapted to protect themselves against the desert heat and sand, with wide, padded feet and thick leathery pads on the knees and chest, nostrils that can open and close, ears lined with protective hairs, and bushy eyebrows with two rows of long eyelashes. Thick fur and underwool keep the animal warm during cold desert nights and also insulate against daytime heat. A nostril is one of the two channels of the nose, from the point where they bifurcate to the external opening. ...

The Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) is the only other surviving camel, native to the Sahara desert, but today is extinct in the wild. By comparison, the Bactrian Camel is a stockier, hardier animal able to survive the scorching desert heat of northern Iran to the frozen winters in Tibet ^[2]. The Dromedary is taller and faster, and with a rider it can maintain 8–9 mph for hours at a time. A loaded Bactrian Camel moves at about 2.5 mph ^[3]. The Sahara is the worlds second largest desert (second to Antarctica), over 9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), located in northern Africa and is 2. ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; pronounced in the Lhasa dialect; Chinese: ; pinyin: or Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: [the two names are used with different connotations; see Name section below]) is a region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. ...

History

It is thought that the Bactrian Camel was domesticated (independently from the Dromedary) sometime before 2500 BCE^{[citation needed]}, probably in northern Iran and Northern Pakistan or southwestern Turkestan^{[citation needed]}. The Dromedary is believed to have been domesticated around 4000 BCE^{[citation needed]} in Arabia. The wild population of Bactrian Camels was first described by Nikolai Przhevalsky in the late 19th century. (Redirected from 25th century BCE) (26th century BC - 25th century BC - 24th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2900 - 2334 BC -- Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period 2494 BC -- End of Fourth Dynasty, start of Fifth Dynasty in Egypt. ... Shown in green is the Kashmiri region under Pakistani control. ... Map of Turkestan (green) with borders of modern states in white Turkestan (Persian: ترکستان ) (also spelled Turkistan or Türkistan) is a region in Central Asia, which today is largely inhabited by Turkic people. ... (5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – 3rd millennium BC - other millennia) Events City of Ur in Mesopotamia (40th century BC). ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ... Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, also spelled Przewalski and Prjevalsky (Russian: ) (April 12, 1839—November 1, 1888 (Gregorian calendar)), was a Russian geographer and explorer in central and eastern Asia. ...

Subspecies

There is some evidence that the Bactrian Camel can be divided up into different subspecies. In particular, it has been discovered that a population of wild Bactrian Camel lives within a part of the Gashun Gobi region of the Gobi Desert. This population is distinct from domesticated herds both in genetic makeup and in behavior. However, the significance of those differences has not yet been demonstrated. The Gobi ( Chinese: [GÄ“bì (Shāmò)] ; Mongolian: Говь [Gowi] ) is a large desert region in northern China and southern Mongolia. ...

There are possibly as many as three regions in the genetic makeup that are distinctly different from domesticated camels and there is up to a 3% difference in the base genetic code. However, with so few wild camels, it is unclear what the natural genetic diversity within a population would have been.

Another remarkable difference is the ability of these wild camels to drink saltwater slush, although it is not yet certain the camel can extract useful water from it. Domesticated camels do not attempt to drink salt water, though the reason is unknown.

Gallery

St. Louis Zoo The Saint Louis Zoological Park is a zoo in Forest Park in St. ...	Paignton Zoo	Belgian Zoo Bactrian Camel in a Belgian Zoo, taken by myself, File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...	A Bactrian camel “smiles”
Two Bactrian camels

References

1. ^ Hare (2002). Camelus bactrianus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
2. ^ Creature Features - Pet Facts: Camels. Retrieved on December 5, 2005.
3. ^ Camel. Retrieved on December 5, 2005.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Camelus bactrianus

• ARKive - images and movies of the wild Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)
• National Geographic - Wild Bactrian Camels Critically Endangered
• Wild Camel Protection Foundation
• BBC - Discovery of camels in the Gashun Gobi region

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...