The origin and evolutionary history of camels

The camel is a hoofed animal. It is much taller than cattle and horses. It is covered with brown hair. It has a small head and a long neck, a thick body, slender limbs, and one or two raised fleshy peaks on its back. Rising like a mountain. Camels seem very stupid, but upon closer inspection, they are actually the pride of heaven. It is strong and can not only endure cold, heat, hunger and thirst, but can also carry heavy weights for long distances. It is indeed a good foot for walking in the desert. Therefore, it is known as the "Ship of the Desert".

According to the number of humps, there are two types of camels: one is the Bactrian camel, which has two humps on its back; the other is the dromedary, which has only one hump on its back. Bactrian camels are distributed in central Asia, and wild species still inhabit Xinjiang and western Inner Mongolia in my country. Dromedary camels are found in the desert areas of southwestern Asia and northern Africa. It is said that there are no dromedary camels left in the wild now. The single-humped camel runs faster than the bactrian camel and is the "thousand-mile horse" among the camels.

It is still unclear when camels were domesticated. According to research, the Bactrian camel was domesticated by the working people living in the desert areas of western my country around 1000 BC. Dromedary camels were probably domesticated in Arabia at the same time.

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