These unusual animals are not like the others. Many peoples cannot imagine life without the majestic and strong camels, domesticated many centuries ago. In some countries, family welfare is determined by the number of camel herds. Camel pack for a very long time in the East was a reference measure of weight. And the old Arabian tales, in which the desert ship appears in one way or another, are spread all over the world.
The owners of these animals assure that the camels are smart, they understand the person perfectly, but each of them has its own character. And some are just terribly stubborn!
Many of us, even from school, know that there are different types of camels, similar to each other, but different in some ways. What are their common features and what are the differences?
Common traits of the family
Of course, the main distinguishing feature is the presence of a hump. By the way, precisely on this basis, it is easy to understand what kind of camel belongs to. The family of camelids unites several genera that are not camels, but are very closely related to them. All these animals are mammals. The family belongs to the cloven-hoofed detachment and the corpus callosum. The peculiar structure of the legs is one of the main signs of the family. All camelids have no hooves (functional), and the lower surface of the foot is a corpus callosum. Some births have a steam room, some do not.
Another characteristic feature is a long neck. But the most unusual, perhaps, is another feature of the camelids, which is not visible to the naked eye. All members of the family have oval red blood cells, rather than round ones, like almost all other animals (and humans).
It is noteworthy that the vast majority of members of the family swim well. In the natural habitat of camels, as a rule, there is a shortage of water, many of them have never seen lakes and rivers in life, therefore the mechanism of this phenomenon is not completely clear.
Prehistoric Alticamelus
These animals, from which only fragments of skeletons are scattered all over the globe today, were one of the most numerous representatives of the “mammoth fauna”. The genus included species of camels similar to each other, the names of which were given either by the names of researchers (for example, Knobloch camel), or by place of habitat (Alexandrian camel).
In total, modern scientists distinguish up to ten species of extinct camels. All of them were larger than modern ones, had very long necks, looked somewhat like giraffes (but the similarities were extremely convergent). Alticamelus was common in the Cenozoic.
Bactrian with two humps
Types of camels differ not only in the number of humps, but also in body size. The presence of two humps is the main feature by which you can easily determine that it is Bactrian in front of you, but the height and weight of the animal are also important. A two-humped camel is larger and heavier than its one-humped relative and all other members of the family included in other genera.
This species perfectly tolerates heat, but moderate frosts are not afraid of it. But high humidity is destructive for Bactrian. It is found in Central and Central Asia, in Mongolia and the regions of China and Russia bordering it. People bred many breeds of Bactrian, which are widely used in the household as draft force or pack animals. Camel meat and milk are very valuable, which is why they occupy an important place in the national cuisines of many peoples. Of considerable interest is the dense coat of Bactrian. A large number of camels of this species are found in circuses and zoos.
Haptagay
Most sources name only such types of camels as one-humped and two-humped. But some scholars tend to distinguish haptagai as a separate species. In favor of the version speak the results of genetic studies and obvious external differences. Moreover, even the belief that the Bactrian came from a wild haptagai is questioned. Outwardly they are similar. But the wild camel is smaller than the representatives of domestic meat breeds.
For the first time, the subspecies was described by the famous researcher Przhevalsky. At the time of the scientist, the population of wild two-humped camels was much larger than now. Currently, there are only a few hundred haptagai.
All kinds of studies of these animals make it possible to better study them, to determine measures that will help maintain the number of livestock. In addition, scientists are trying to establish the degree of kinship between the two-humped. Perhaps these are still different types of camels, but at present, official science does not recognize this.
Dromedar - desert ship
One-humped camel is common in the Middle East and North Africa, in Asia Minor. He is also unusually hardy, unpretentious, strong. A man domesticated a wild one-humped camel several thousand years ago, since then the dromedar has been an integral part of the world order of several peoples. Like the two-humped fellow, it has great value in the household.
Dromedars are not found in nature. The ancestors of this animal, not amenable to domestication, became extinct at the dawn of our era. There is information about wild dromedars, but these are not autochthons, but feral animals that once lived with humans. Yes, and such cases are rare. There is no question of separating the lost or fleeing dromedars into a separate form.
By comparing the types of camels, photos of which are presented in this article, you can easily determine the dromedar by the presence of a luxurious hump.
Other members of the family
Camels, llamas and vicuñas are three genera that make up the family of camels. Types of childbirth are few. The genus of llamas, for example, has only two: the llamas themselves (domestic) and the wild form of guanaco. The genus Vicunas includes one species altogether - vicunas, very similar to guanaco, but possessing even smaller sizes.
Some researchers call the clans of llamas and vicunas the camels of the New World. They are much smaller than the Dromedar and Bactrian and do not even have a hint of a hump.
