Chapter 2: The Camel

When the mammoth was living in Eurasia and North America, a very dry zonal steppe was covering the land, up to the shores of the Arctic Sea. It stretched from England across northern Siberia the Bering Strait to Alaska and the Yukon and still further east into Canada’s Northwest Territories. This Mammoth Steppe is supposed to have grown at an annual precipitation of less than 200 mm, 150 mm and 100 mm. In such a dry climate, only dry steppe (short grassland) and steppe desert could have grown. And on this dry steppe and steppe desert, large herds of mammoth have lived, they say. – Is that true?

Someone might say now: The camel is quite a large animal. It is well adapted to dry steppe and steppe-desert. This browser is thriving there, despite of its large size. It is still able, to find there enough to eat. Would that not prove that also the mammoth was able to live on such a dry steppe and desert-steppe? Would that not prove that also the mammoth would have found there enough to eat? - Could the mammoth not have lived there, just like the camel of today?

That is a serious argument. Is it valid? Before we are able to answer this, we must first find out: Where has the camel lived in Eurasia, when the mammoth was grazing there? How far north did it range? And in what kind of a climate has it lived there? Then we shall look briefly at Alaska and the Yukon.

Professor N. K. Vereshchagin and G. F. Baryshnikov (1980), in St. Petersburg, Russia, report: The camel Camelus knoblochi, Camelus bactrianus has lived, according to their map, during the late Pleistocene on the Russian Plain from 35° to 56°E and up to 56°N. In what kind of a climate has it grazed there during the peak of the Last Glaciation?

Russian Plain, 35 to 53°E, up to 56°N. The climate during the Last Glaciation, according to Prof. B. Frenzel’s Atlas of Paleoclimates (1992:41) and recent July temperature: Now 18°C July temperature. Then 8°C less = 10°C July temperature. Now 4°C mean ann. air temp., then 12°C less = -8°C ann. air temp. Then 250 m thick permafrost and ice wedges. Then –6°C permafrost temperature x 1.32 = -7.92°C mean ann. air temperature during peak of Last Glaciation.

Central Siberia, 74° to 83°E, up to 54°N. Now 19°C July temp. Then 7°C less = 12°C July temperature. Now 0°C mean ann. air temp. Then 9°C less = -9°C ann. air temp. Then –6°C permafrost temperature x 1.32 = -7.92°C mean annual air temperature during peak of Last Glaciation.

East Siberia, east of Lake Baikal, 110°E, up to 52°N. Now 16°C July temp. in valleys. Then 7°C less = 9°C July temp. Now 0°C ann. air temp. Then 9°C less = -9°C ann. air temp. Then –10°C permafrost temperature x 1.32 = -13.2°C mean annual air temperature and ice wedges during peak of Last Glaciation.

In such a glacial climate, zonal dry steppe and desert steppe could not have grown, at least not one, which could have supported herds of camels and woolly mammoths. Neither the camel nor the mammoth could have lived in such a glacial climate. They would have frozen and starved to death. When the camel and the mammoth were living in eastern Europe and central Siberia, the climate was temperate, mild, without any permafrost and ice wedges, without any arctic winters, without ice and snow.

Yukon/Alaska

Where has the camel lived in North America, when the woolly mammoth was grazing up there? How far north has one found there its remains? When has it lived up there? In what kind of a climate?

C. R. Harington reports about the camel from the late Pleistocene of the Yukon Territory and Alaska. Two different kinds of camels have lived there, together with the mammoth: Paracamelus and Camelus hesternus: "Paracamelus was approximately16% larger than the living Bactrian camel. It had a long, narrow skull. Zdanski (1926, p. 35) states that it is difficult to distinguish Paracamelus gigas from the living camels. Presumably Paracamelus occupied arid steppe grasslands in the interior continental regions. ... Undoubtedly Paracamelus and the large Yukon camel were well adapted to surviving under cold conditions. Perhaps Paracamelus, like the living camels, fed on dry scrub. And if it had enough water at intervals, it could travel great distances." (1977:658).

"Camelus hesternus (western camel): Remains of the western camel are very rare in Pleistocene deposits of the Yukon Territory. Evidently very few western camels occupied the unglaciated part of the Yukon Territory during the late Wisconsin. The species was living in central Alaska near the peak of the Wisconsin glaciation.

"Perhaps during the Sangamon interglacial it was able to spread northward to Eastern Beringia. There it lived at least to the peak of the Wisconsin glaciation. ... Camelops hesternus was confined to North America. In life it looked very much like a large (7 feet (2.1 m) to the top of the back) dromedary (Camelus dromedarius). ... Its limbs were 20% larger, its leg joint knobbier, and its head was longer and narrower than those of the dromedary. ... Mummified remains of this species one has found in a cave near Fillmore, Utah. Dried muscle was still attached to the skull. ... It appears to be a good paleoenvironmental indicator of arid scrublands and grasslands. In the Yukon and Alaskan occurrences suggest that it would tolerate cold, at times snow-covered steppe-grasslands." (1977:688).

Dr. C. R. Harington stated to me in his letter of 13 October 1994, that "the western camels lived in the Yukon near the peak of the last glaciation". And in his article "Pleistocene Vertebrate Localities in the Yukon" (1989:96) he says: Remains of the western camel found at Sixtymile (in Dawson area, central western Yukon). Its radiocarbon date 23 320 years B.P.

The western camel (Camelops hesternus) remains one has recovered at Sixtymile, near 65°N, and in the northern Yukon (Old Crow Basin) near 67°N. It is supposed to have lived there also at the peak of the Last Glaciation. – The remains of Camelops hesternus in central Alaska one has found in the Fairbanks area, near 65°N.

Camelops, the extinct western camel of North America. From: E. Anderson, in Quaternary Extinctions (1984:71), Paul S. Martin and Richard Klein (eds.). Its limbs were 20% larger than those of the living two-humped camel.

 

Sixty Mile, Old Crow Basin and Fairbanks Area

The large camel of the central and northern Yukon Territory and of central Alaska is supposed to have lived there also during the peak of the Last Glaciation, some 23,320 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. In what kind of a climate would the camel then have had to live there in this Yukon/Alaskan "refugium"? Could a zonal steppe have grown there in such a cold climate? And if so, could it have supported the camel, the mammoth, the bison, and the wild horse?

I have calculated the Last Glacial climate from present climate maps and from B. Frenzel’s (1992) Paleo-Climate Atlas:

Now 14°C July temp. Then 6°C less = 8°C July temperature. Now –6°C ann. air temp. Then 9-10°C less = -15°C ann. air temp. Then 800 m thick permafrost and active ice wedges. Then –15°C permafrost temperature x 1.32 = -19.8°C mean annual air temperature during Last Glaciation. – How cold was that? – That was colder, than the northeastern-most part of Siberia is now. There the mean annual air temperature is now "only" –16°C. Only the northern edge of Greenland and Ellesmere Island do have now a mean annual air temperature of –20°C. In such a cold climate, the dry zonal shrub steppe could not have grown. And neither the camel nor the mammoth could have lived there. They would have frozen and starved to death.

 

Wild Camel: where now living

Where is the wild camel living now? Where has it lived until quite recently, before man has killed it off? How far north has the two-humped camel lived in Siberia? In what kind of a climate and on what kind of a plant-cover has it grazed there?

B. B. Corbet (1978), British Museum (Natural History), London, England, remarks: "Bactrian camel, Camelus ferus: Range: As a wild animal now confined to the western Gobi Desert, probably persisting in two areas near the Lop Nor and in S. Mongolia. Formerly throughout the dry steppe and semi-desert zone from Russian Turkestan to the Gobi Desert."

Professor V. G. Heptner and co-workers state about the two-humped wild camel: "The natural (the original) range of the wild camels has been very large. It has reached in the desert-steppe-zone from Asia across huge areas." The wild two-humped camel was found in historical times (on the territory of the former USSR) mainly in Kazakhstan, in the Sayssan Basin, near the Irtysh River, northward up to about 50°N, and in the steppes of the Altai." (1961:87).

How far north has the two-humped camel lived in recent times in Siberia? In what kind of a climate? – According to V. G. Heptner (1961) map p. 90, the wild camel has lived in Kazakhstan up to about 51°N, 50-75°E. Also further east, it was found: southwest and south of Lake Baikal.

 

A herd of wild Bactrian camels files across a scrub-covered valley toward an oasis in Great Gobi National Park. The animals are in their autumn pelage. (August 1989). From: George B. Schaller, Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe (1998:160) Fig. 9.4.

 

This subadult male Bactrian camel was caught as an infant and reared by a domestic foster mother. He shows the typical small, conical humps of wild camels. From: George B. Schaller, Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe (1998:153) Fig. 9.2.

 

The authorities of Great Gobi National Park captured wild Bactrian camel young for a captive-breeding program. The animal is about 2 months old. From: George B. Schaller, Wildlife of the Tibetan Steppe (1998:162) Fig. 9.5.

 

Northern Kazakhstan, 51°N, 50-75°E

Present climate on camel’s northernmost range: 20° to 22°C July temperature. 2200° to 2400° temperature sum with days above 10°C, 750 mm potential evapotranspiration. 4° to 6°C mean annual air temperature. No permafrost. 37 to 40 kcal cm² annual net radiation at earth’s surface per year. The normal range further south is still warmer.

Yukon/Alaska. The camel’s former northernmost range in the northern Yukon Territory lay at 67°N (in the Old Crow Basin). That is now about 1800 km further north in latitude. Today the camel is going up to about 51°N. Hence, when the camel was living in the Far North, together with the woolly mammoth, it had to be there much warmer than now. The summer up there had to be then just as warm and as long, as it is now in southern Siberia at 51°N, some 1800 km further south. And there was then no permafrost in the northern Yukon.

 

Arabian Desert Camel

The camel is quite a large animal. And despite its size, it is able to survive in the dry steppe and steppe-desert. Does that not prove that the mammoth could also have lived there? – Before we are able to answer this, we must first find out, why the camel is able to thrive, where other animals would thirst and starve to death. How long is the camel able to live without drinking any water? Why is it then still staying alive?

The biologist Reuven Yagil, Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, southern Israel, has published his findings about the one-humped camel in his book The Desert Camel (1985): The Arabian one-humped camel is 2.7 m high at the shoulder. When fully grown, it weighs 450-600 kg. It is able to march at 16 km/h for 18 h at a time. The camel is able to live 2-3 weeks without drinking any water. It will lose then 1/3 of its body weight in water. But it will not get ill. The camel is able to live 30 days, without drinking water, if the grazing is good.”

 

Sahara camels are marching

1000 km within 20-30 days, without drinking any water

The burrow (donkey) is able to stay only 4 days without drinking water. And the Bedouin goats for 3 days. The camel is taking in 30 liter of liquid per day with is food. The camel drinks once a week in summer; every 7-10 days in autumn and spring, and every 4-6 weeks in winter.

The annual plants and salt bushes contain up to 80% water in all seasons, also in the dry season. The camel needs much salt. When the camel has stayed 14 days without drinking water, its water deficit will be then 200 liters. It is able to drink those 200 liters within 3 minutes. The fat in its hump is not used as water. When the camel has lost 25% of its body weight in 10 days, the size of its hump does not change. The fat in its hump is its energy reserve for lean times. - Yagil, R. (1985).

In 1874 and 1876 an explorer by the name of Giles crossed the deserts of South Australia. During his first trip, he used 3 camels and 2 horses, travelling 350 km at 40°C in autumn. The horses died, even though they were given water to drink. The camels survived the 8-day march without water. – During the second trip Giles was using only camels. He marched 480 km in 17 days across the Victoria desert, without any difficulty.

Food: The pasturing camel takes in 10-20 kg green fodder per day. That is 5-10 kg dry matter. When eating salty plants, containing 80% water, the camel eats 30-40 kg per day. The camel is a browser. It does not destroy its food source. It takes a little here and a little there, while moving all the time.

The camel in a corral, not grazing, but being fed, will maintain its body weight, by eating 3-5 kg poor quality hay per day. The camel grazes 8-12 hours per day. It does not care at all about the heat. The desert camel is tougher, than those, living on a lush pasture. The camel, in the corral, gets 3-5 kg poor quality hay per day. And in winter also 2 kg grain per day.

Salt plants: 30% of their weight consists of salt. The camel needs 140 g salt a day. It prefers the dried-out pasture, and avoids the green pasture. The camel’s nitrogen is balanced, when its food contains 9.6% crude protein. Below 9.6% CP, the camel is using tissue nitrogen, to make up the deficit. – Yagil, R. (1985).

 

600-kg Camel: Water-Deficit

The 600-kg camel, drinking 14 days no water, will have a water-deficit of 200 liter (Yagil R. 1985:22). That is 33.33% of its body weight. When drinking no water for 30 days in a row, the 600-kg camel will have then a water-intake-deficit of 428 liter, or 71.143% of its body weight. But this animal will not get ill and will not die from it. The desert camel needs 3.571 liter water for 1 kg food (dry matter). - The elephant will thirst to death, when its water-intake deficit has reached 51% of its body weight, as we have seen on Galana ranch, in Kenya, East Africa. – This proves to me that the elephant and mammoth are not adapted to the dry steppe and desert, like the camel. The tusker could not have lived in the dry mammoth steppe of the late Pleistocene.

Arabian Camel: DCP needed

The fully-grown Arabian camel weighs 450-600 kg, or an average 525 kg. In the corral, when not grazing, it takes in 3-5 kg dry matter per day, or an average 4 kg DM, when on maintenance. Its food contains then 9.6% CP (dry wt) (Yagil 1985). It will digest 59% of the crude protein, as L. W. Cahill (1995) found out, when testing 4 Bactrian camels. The Arabian adult camel needs 3.501g DCP and 2.065 g DCP/kg0.75 day for maintenance. When grazing in the desert, the adult Arabian camel takes in 5-10 kg dry matter a day, or an average 7.5 kg. It needs 9.6% CP (dry wt) for maintenance. And it digests 59% of the crude protein. It needs then

6.565 g CP and 3.873 g DCP/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

 

Arabian Camel: Energy needed

The average adult Arabian camel, weighing 525 kg, takes in 4 kg dry matter in the corral, when not browsing. It is able to maintain then its body weight. How much metabolizable energy (ME) does the adult camel need then for maintenance?

The 525-kg camel in the corral takes in 4 kg DM/day. The food of the African elephants, shot in Kenya, contains 4.33 kcal/g (Clemens, E. T. and Maloiy, O. M. 1982:150).

4 kg DM/d x 4.33 kcal/g = 17 320 kcal GE. It digests 53.1% of GE (Cahill, L. W. 1995).

That is 9 196.92 kcal DE/d. ME is 78.467% of DE. That is 7 216.547 kcal ME/d.

The 525-kg adult camel needs then 84.0 kcal DE and 65.797 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

When browsing, at 7.5 kg DM/day intake, the 525-kg adult camel needs then 157.225 kcal DE and 123.370 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

 

Northwest African Camel

How much digestible crude protein and metabolizable energy does the adult camel need, to maintain its body weight?

R. Zine Filali and A. Guerouali, Rabat-Institute, in Marocco, NW Africa, studied 5 one-humped females. Their average body weight was 300 kg. They got 2 kg barley grain and 1 kg wheat straw per day each, when on maintenance. They found out: The 300-kg adult one-humped camel needs 5425 kcal ME/day or 75 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance. Filali, et al. (1994:10).

DCP needed. How much digestible crude protein does the 300-kg adult one-humped camel then get, when on maintenance?

Barley grain contains 9-13% CP, or an average 11.9% CP. Wheat straw contains 3.2% CP (dry wt), (Close and Menke, 1986).

2000 g barley grain contains then 238 g CP/day. 1000 g wheat straw contains then 32 g CP/day. Together 270 g CP/day.

Of these 270 g CP/d, the camel digests 59%.

The 300-kg adult camel needs then 3.746 g CP and 2.210 g DCP/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

 

Digestible and Metabolizable Energy (ME) needed

How much digestible and metabolizable energy does the 300-kg adult camel need for maintenance? –The 300 kg adult camel gets 3 kg dry matter per day. There is 4.33 kcal/g in the elephant’s food in Kenya, East Africa. So the camel takes in 12 990 kcal gross energy (GE) per day. It digests 53.1% of this gross energy (Cahill 1995). It takes in then 6,897.69 kcal DE/day. The metabolizable energy(ME) for the camel is 78.467% of digestible energy (DE).

Result: The 300-kg one-humped camel, when fully grown, needs 95.589 kcal DE and 74.885 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

Let us compare this now with the values, R. Zine Filali and A. Guerouali, the scientists at the Rabat-Institute in Marocco have published. They found that the one-humped camel needs 75 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance. - I calculated 74.885 kcal ME/kg0.75 day. That is quite close!

 

Bactrian Camels in Canada

What have Canadian scientists found out, when testing Bactrian camels? How much protein and energy do they need, to maintain their body weight?

The biologists L. W. Cahill, Cambridge, Ontario, and B. W. McBride, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, studied 4 non-pregnant Bactrian camels. Their average body weight was 687 kg. They presented their findings at an international workshop on animal nutrition (1995). The 4 two-humped Bactrian camels were able to eat as much as they wanted. They took in 4.1 kg dry matter a day. Their food contained 13.75% CP. They digested 59% of the crude protein.

Result: The Bactrian camel, weighing 687 kg, took in 4.201 g CP/kg0.75 and 2.478 g DCP/kg0.75 day. The Bactrian camel digested 53.1% of the gross energy (GE). Metabolizable energy (ME) was 78.467% of digestible energy (DE). They took in then 70.250 kcal DE and 55.124 kcal ME/kg0.75 day.

 

Camel of West and Northwest Sahara

How is the camel able to live in the west and northwest Sahara? How much must the free-grazing camel there eat and drink at least in the desert?

The French biologist Hilde Gauthier-Pilters reports about her findings: "During a field study lasting two and one-half years, we investigated the behaviour and ecology of free-grazing camels in the northwestern and western Sahara. During the study we lived with the nomads. We concentrated our attention on the extreme environmental conditions in summer, when air temperatures exceed 40°C. In total we spent ten summer months in the field." (1974:543).

"We investigated food consumption of 150 camels during 500 hours of observation at all seasons and on the different types of pasture available. Camels move continuously, when feeding. And they only take small bites from each plant. Since the size of a bite of plant matter is rather constant for each plant species, it was possible to calculate accurately the amount of plant matter, they have ingested, by counting the number of bites, and weighing quantities of plant matter corresponding to the size of a bite. ... Camel herds cover more than 20 km while grazing during a day. ...

"Camels have seasonal food preferences, which are dependent of the moisture content of the plants. They often prefer dried plants to green ones, even in summer. ... Camels can thrive on the hardest, driest and thorniest plants. They eat thorns as long as seven centimeters. And the thorny acacias are among the favorite forage plants. It is amazing, to find in how good a condition camels are on the poorest feeding grounds, even during he middle of summer.

"The animals spend 8-10 hours a day grazing, irrespective of whether the pasture is good or poor. During summer, camels feed mainly at night, particularly during moonlit nights. Then they rest from morning until afternoon, wherever they happen to bed down. Most of the food, namely 30-40 kg forage (8-12 kg dry weight) they ate on salty pastures containing annuals. These plants contain up to 80 per cent water. The least food (5 kg/day) they ate, when grazing on dried grass pastures and when the animals grazed Acacias. The latter they are eating slowly, due to the woody and thorny branches." Gauthier-Pilters, H. (1974:543).

How much fodder must grow at least in the western and northwestern Sahara, so that the free-grazing camel is still able to live there? And at how much rain per year is this aboveground dry matter growing?

Hilde Gauthier-Pilters: "In the regions that we visited in the north-western and western Sahara the annual food consumption of a camel varies between 2-4 tons of forage dry weight. ... Because both flowers and stalks they are eating very slowly, food intake is very low: 5 kg/day. The average plant production of this kind of pasture is about 220 tons of dry matter per 100 hectares. This represents a food supply sufficient for 300 camels for five months. Hence 100 km² of Aristida pasture may feed 30,000 camels for five months. Camels do move a lot, while grazing even on the best of pastures. Vegetation density varies greatly in large areas.

"Panicum turgidum pasture: They are found in depressions and river beds on sandy soils of lesser depth than those found under Aristida cover. ... Panicum pastures are very common in the central and western Sahara, and one often finds them along wadi-systems. Panicum do sprout at the slightest rainfall. Productivity is only one-third that found on Aristida pastures, about 80 tons dry matter per 100 hectares. The average plant cover is only 8 percent. Theoretically, 80 camels could subsist on that amount of forage for five months. ... The productivity of this type of pasture compares favourable with pastures in South-West Africa. There average rainfall reaches 100 mm (Walter, 1970).

"Camels must often live on less productive pastures. In regions, where the average annual rainfall is below 100 mm, only highly mobile animals like the camel, can utilize the vegetation Their low food requirement correlates with the sparseness and irregular distribution of the vegetation." (1974:543, 544).

"Free-grazing desert camels take little food compared to their adult body weights of 300-500 kg. They are much more hardy than camels from rich pastures in semi-arid regions. During months of travel, our riding camels rarely obtained more than 10 kg of fresh forage per day. And they still were able to work. The free-grazing camels must all the time search for new feeding grounds over large areas. This keeps them fit." (1974:544).

 

Sandy reg in the Zemmour, Sahara, northwest Africa, with no vegetation in sight. From: Hilde Gauthier-Pilters and Anne Innis Dagg, The Camel (1981) Fig. 11. A reg is a rather flat plain with fine gravel, sand, chalk or loam. There water and wind have laid down the sediments. Zemmour lies in the Sahara in the northwestern part of North Africa, in the northwestern-most part of Mauritania.

How much water does the camel’s food contain in the western and northwestern Sahara, in summer and in winter?

Hilde Gauthier-Pilters: "In the regions, in which we worked, the amount of water in the ingested vegetation varied from 3-30 litres/day/camel, depending on season and the locality of pastures. These could be found on dunes, rocky places, in wadi-systems or in salty areas. In the big dune region of Algeria, the vegetation is made up mainly of shrubs, which remain green even in summer. This is due to their long roots and the moisture trapped in the dunes. Even in summer camels may ingest up to 15 litres of water with the food per day per animal. The water content of the shrubs varies little over the course of the year. In the dune regions of the western Sahara one finds only grass pastures, which dry up in summer. At that season a camel ingests on such pastures no more than one third of a litre of water per day with its food.

"During the cool season, when the vegetation is fairly green (water content 40-60%), camels can go up to six months without drinking. At this time the herds spread over a large area. It can exploit then pastures, which are out of reach in summer, because there are no wells. Even working animals can go for as far as 1,000 km at this season without drinking.

"In central Mauretania the summers are longer and hotter. The herds are feeding in the dunes on dry grass. They can go there only for 3-4 days without drinking. ... The appetite of camels decreases, when they have lost much water. But not, till the animals have dropped one third of their body weight." (1974:544, 545).

"The Schmidt-Nielsens and their co-workers were able to weigh their study animals. And they found out: Camels can tolerate a dehydration equivalent to 30 percent of their body weight. For most mammals, including man, dehydration of 20 percent is fatal. In the camel, the blood plasma volume remains almost constant. And this maintains circulation, while it is withdrawing water from its extravascular space. Indeed, according to our investigations, camels seem to tolerate a water loss exceeding 40 per cent of their body weight.

"We have measured the water intake on more than 800 occasions and in more than 500 camels, mostly in summer. Their capacity for drinking is very great. When the water loss incurred by the animal does not exceed 90-100 litres, which may correspond to 20 per cent the normal weight, the camel regains its original weight within a few minutes after drinking. If the animal is severely dehydrated it must drink two or three times over a span of a few hours to reconstitute its weight.

"The camels move at 5 km per hour, not trotting, and may thus cover up to 100 km in one day. They possess a faculty for finding remote localities by the most direct route. Under favourable wind conditions, it is said that camels can perceive water pools and fresh pasture from a distance of 40-60 km. After heavy rainfall, some pools may of course be several kilometers in length. The risk of losing newly displaced camels is particularly great after rain has fallen. On many occasions during riding, I noticed how our camels turned their heads in the direction of heavy rain clouds on the horizon from where the wind blew, and tried to head in that direction." - Gauthier-Pilters, H. (1974:545, 548).

A Tuareg terik saddle, which is fastened in front of the hump, gives the rider better control than the rahla saddle, in which the rider sits farther back. In the Sahara, northwest Africa. From: Hilde Gauthier-Pilters and Anne Innis Dagg, The Camel (1981) Fig. 47.

 

Free-Grazing Riding Camel: Maintenance

Where is the free-grazing camel in the western Sahara still able to live? How much aboveground dry plant-matter must grow there at least per year, from how much rain? How much protein and energy does the free-grazing riding camel need there for maintenance?

The desert camel is still able to live in the western and northwestern Sahara, where 80 g DM/m² is growing per year, from 100 mm of rain. And it is also still able to live, where less than 80 g DM/m² has grown per year. The camel herd is walking at least 20 km a day, while browsing and grazing in the desert.

In the western Sahara in summer, on the dry grass pasture, the free-grazing desert camel takes in only 5 kg dry plant matter per day. These 5 kg DM/day do contain only 1/3 water, or 0.333 kg of water. The lowest dry matter intake of the free-grazing riding camel is then 4.667 kg DM/day. Even though it is eating so little, the desert camel is able to work, to carry its rider and to maintain its body weight.

DCP-intake. How much digestible crude protein and metabolizable energy does the free-grazing riding camel need then per day in the western Sahara for maintenance? The adult desert camel in the western and northwestern Sahara weighs an average 400 kg (300-500 kg). It takes in 4.667 kg DM/day = 52.178 g DM/kg0.75 day. The desert camel needs 9.6% crude protein for maintenance (Yagil, R. 1985). At 9.6% CP the 4.667 kg DM/d contains then 5.009 g CP/kg0.75 day. The camel digests 59% of this crude protein (Cahill, L. W. 1995). The free-grazing riding camel in the western Saharan desert is taking in then:

2.995 g DCP/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

ME-intake. How much metabolizable energy does the free-grazing riding camel in the western Sahara need for maintenance? – There is about 4.33 kcal/g. At 52.178 g DM/kg0.75 day, the free-grazing riding camel is taking in 225.93 kcal GE/kg0.75 day. The camel digests 53.1% of GE. And it metabolizes 78.467% of DE (Cahill, L. W. 1995). It needs then:

119.969 kcal DE and 94.136 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance.

 

A Reguibat tribesman with camel stick sitting on a rahla saddle. From: Hilde Gauthier-Pilters and Anne Innis Dagg, The Camel (1981:110) Fig. 45. The Requibat are living mainly from camel’s milk. That is why they do not have to take along so much food during their wanderings. Usually they are riding on their loaded camels.

 

Mammoth and Camel.

Could the elephant or mammoth have lived in the dry steppe and steppe desert just like the camel? Would it find there enough to eat? I am using here the maintenance intake of the Asian female, non-lactating elephant Jap, which Benedict (1936) has tested: She needed 3.228 g DCP and 144 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance. – For the camel I am using here the DCP-intake, as calculated from R. Yagil (1985), of 2.065 g DCP/kg0.75 day for maintenance. And for the metabolic energy, I am using the findings of R. Z. Filali (1994): Namely, 75.258 kcal ME/kg0.75 day for maintenance. Body weight of camel here 525 kg. When browsing and grazing in the dry steppe and steppe-desert, the camel must walk at least 20 km a day (Gauthrie-Pilters, H.1974)

 

3,000-kg adult Elephant. 1,308 g DCP/day = 5.79 camels. 58,372 kcal ME/d = 7.07 camels x 20 km/d walking = 141 km/day. The 3-ton elephant must walk here each day 141 km, to find enough to eat, when grazing in the dry steppe and steppe-desert just like the 7 camels together.

5,000-kg adult Elephant. 1,919 g DCP/d = 8.49 camels. 85,623 kcal ME/d = 10.37 camels x 20 km/d = 207 km/d walking. The 5-ton elephant must walk then each day 207 km, to find enough to eat.

10,000-kg adult Elephant. 3,228 g DCP/d = 14.28 camels. 144 000 kcal ME/d = 17.45 camels x 20 km/d = 349 km/d walking. The 10-ton elephant must walk then each day 349 km through the dry steppe, to find enough to eat. That is as far as 17 camels must walk each day, when browsing in the desert.

 

A loaded camel climbing up a steep slope is helped, if its head is stretched forward. From: Hilde Gauthier-Pilters and Anne Innis Dagg, The Camel (1981) Fig. 45.