Bactrian Camel - Camelus bactrianus

This species has a long wooly coat, which varies in colour from dark brown to sandy beige. It also has a mane and beard on the neck and throat, with hairs up to 25 cm long. The shaggy winter coat is shed extremely rapidly, with huge sections peeling off at once, almost as if it were shorn off. There are two humps on the back, which are composed of fat, not water as is sometimes thought. The face is long and somewhat triangular, with a split upper lip. The long eyelashes, along with the sealable nostrils, help to keep out dust during the frequent sandstorms which occur in its habitat. The two broad toes on each foot have undivided soles and are able to spread widely as an adaptation to walking on sand.

Bactrian Camel, Great Gobi A

Habitat and food

This species is found in the Gobi and Gashun Gobi deserts of northwest China and Mongolia. Vegetation is sparse and the desert varies from rocky mountain massifs, to flat extremely arid pavement-like areas, stony "gobi" desert plains, poplar fringed oases, vast washed-out plains and high sand dunes.
Bactrian camels feed on leaves, grasses and shrubs.

Behaviour

Bactrian camels are extremely adept at withstanding wide variations in temperature - from the freezing cold to the blistering heat. They have a remarkable ability to go without water for months at a time, but when water is available they may drink up to 57 liters at once.  When well fed, the humps are plump and erect, but as resources decline the humps shrink and lean to one side. In some areas, in the absence of fresh water, the species has adapted to drinking salt water slush, which the domestic camel will not touch.

Bactrian camels are said to be good swimmers. Their sense of sight is well developed and theeir sense of smell is extremely good too.

Wild camel in Lop Nur wild camel nature reserve

Reproduction and group structure

Bactrian camels live in small groups of 6-30 females and young led by and adult male, or they can be solitary.

Besides humans, Bactrian camels are predated upon by wolves.

According to one source (based on observations made during five expeditions) the Bactrian Camel in China is facing a population size reduction of at least 80% within the next three generations.

According to the same source, after years of dramatic decline in Mongolia (known decline of 46% since 1985), the Bactrian Camel population in the Great Gobi section A Strictly Protected Area (SPA) currently seems to be doing fairly well.

However, an alternative source suggests that we lack rigorously collected data on camel numbers and distribution and simply have too few good estimates on camel numbers to make inferences about historical trends in numbers and distribution. Since the late 1990s no rigorous surveys have been performed across the wild camel range, hence, we have no reliable data is available on the species' numbers and distribution.

• China
• Mongolia

• Mongolian Desert
• Mongolia

Historical distribution

Current distribution Bactrian Camel
Source: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Formerly distributed throughout the steppes and semi-deserts of Kazakhstan, South Mongolia and North China.

Currently restricted to three subpopulations in South West Mongolia (Great Gobi A Strictly Protected Area) and China (Taklimakan desert and Lop Nuur).

Domesticated in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, north to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China (www.wildcamels.com).

However, for both the historical and current distribution it has been suggested that available data is insufficient to distinguish between domestic and wild Bactrian camels until relatively recent times (~150 years ago). As a result, only rough 'guesstimates' can be made on the distribution and range of this species.

Hunting

It is estimated from information received from the Protected Area staff and Mongolian scientists working in the 'Great Gobi Reserve A' that, in Mongolia, 25 to 30 Wild Bactrian Camels are being killed annually when they migrate across the international border into China on the southernmost boundary of the protected area 'Great Gobi Reserve A'. The hunting is mainly for local subsistence use.

Habitat loss

Due to the reduction in water points (oases) because of drought, wolves have increased their predation of Wild Bactrian Camels. This activity is concentrated at the remaining water points in the area. The remaining habitat in Mongolia is also being degraded by domestic livestock.

Economic pressure

In China, in the new Arjin Shan Lop Nur Nature Sanctuary, up to 20 Wild Bactrian Camels are killed annually by miners and hunters for subsistence use. Economic pressure to use the areas adjoining the Nature Reserve as grazing for domestic Bactrian camels has increased hybridisation on the southern border. This poses a significant threat to the unique genetic strain of the Wild Bactrian Camel, which current scientific DNA research suggests is a separate species.

Multiple factors

For 45 years, this area of the Gashun Gobi was the nuclear test site area of China. In spite of this, the Wild Bactrian Camel survived and is apparently breeding naturally. Since the cessation of nuclear tests in China, the Wild Bactrian Camel now faces new threats including highly toxic illegal mining and hunting for food and sport. Parts of the Wild Bactrian Camel's designated habitat are likely to be designated for industrial use (gas pipe line laying, exploitation of minerals). Domestic Bactrian camels and goats have also been introduced to the designated areas and hence compete for grazing and water.

Status

There seems to be a serious lack of clarity regarding the status of this species population numbers and distribution. Rigorous surveys across the Bactrian camel range are urgently needed to assess camel numbers, distribution and potential threats.

• It has been suggested that the primary threat for the Mongolian population is human encroachment at the fringes of the protected area. Poaching and hybridization with domestic camels are also possible threats, though the degree to which they affect the species is still very unclear.
• Movements of domestic camels into the Great Gobi section A SPA have been observed on many occasions.
• Poaching is still rife, together with illegal mining, resulting in wild camels being shot for food (www.wildcamels.com).
• Other threats to the remaining populations, both in China and Mongolia, include habitat degradation, reduction of water resources and predation by wolves (www.wildcamels.com).

Establishment of nature reserves

The 'Great Gobi Reserve A' was established in Mongolia in 1982, and in 2000 the 'Arjin Shan Lop Nur Nature Reserve' was established in China. Although the first phase of Nature Reserve construction is now complete, much more work, including the opening of a second Nature Reserve in China is needed.

A captive Bactrian Camel breeding programme in Mongolia has been established by the Wild Camel Protection Foundation. This is an urgent conservation priority. For more information see the above inserted links under 'Current Projects'.

Only fifteen wild Bactrian camels are currently held in captivity in China and Mongolia. With so few captive animals, the whole species could be wiped out if their natural habitats in China and Mongolia are destroyed. It is therefore important to breed enough animals in captivity to insure against this possible disaster. As each female camel can give birth at most once every two years, relying on natural methods alone would permit the numbers to rise only very slowly.

• Legal aspects of (Re-)introduction of large herbivores

• Large herbivores on the move
• Status report 2007 of the large herbivores of the palaeartic

A captive breeding program was originally established by the Mongolian Ministry for Nature and Environment (now Ministry for Nature, Environment and Tourism) in the early 1990s and improved by the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area Administration with help from a UNDP/GEF Biodiversity Project (Mijiddorj 2002). The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) has set up a captive wild Bactrian Camel breeding centre and so far the births have been encouraging (Hare, pers.comm. 2007).

The WCPF has recently signed an agreement with the Zoological Society of London to advise on the future management of wild camels in Mongolia and China. This could help raise the professional standards of managing and monitoring of the wild Bactrian camel in both countries (Hare, pers.comm. 2007). A captive population well away from the wild source population should be considered as a safeguard for the species. Designating new areas in both China and Mongolia either as Nature Reserves or Strictly Protected Areas or connecting existing ones might reduce the threat of poaching and illegal mining and could facilitate the migration of wild Bactrian camels along the border desert area between Mongolia and China  (www.wildcamels.com, Kaczensky et al. submitted 2009).

The causes of camel decline and the species' ecology are poorly understood and more research and sound monitoring schemes are urgently needed (Reading et al. 2002 & 2005).

Preliminary genetic research indicates that wild Bactrian camels represent a distinct species from Domestic Camels (Han et al. 2002, Silbermayr submitted 2009).