Data Module · Three Species · Two Trade Routes

The Ship of
the Desert

Camels evolved in North America 46 million years ago. Crossed the Bering Strait. Built the Silk Road and the Saharan caravans. Today, 40 million serve humanity across three species — one of which is disappearing. The dromedary is not "the Arabic camel." The Bactrian is not "the Central Asian one." And the wild Bactrian is a separate species that survived nuclear tests and drinks water saltier than the sea.

Dromedary

Camelus dromedarius

Domestic Bactrian

Camelus bactrianus

Wild Bactrian

Camelus ferus

Key Numbers

40M

Global camel population (2024)

94% dromedary, 6% Bactrian

950

Wild Bactrian camels alive

Fewer than the giant panda. Gobi Desert only.

46M

Years since Camelidae evolved

North America. They crossed the Bering Strait.

Years since wild & domestic Bactrian diverged

Separate species, not ancestor–descendant

Nuclear tests wild camels survived

Lop Nur, China. Still breeding naturally.

8th c.

Morocco began industrial-scale breeding

Including Bactrian × dromedary hybrids

Species Comparison

Three Camels, Three Worlds

The dromedary rules the heat. The Bactrian carries the cold. The wild Bactrian is not their ancestor — it is a third species, diverged a million years ago, surviving in one of the most hostile landscapes on earth.

	Dromedary	Domestic Bactrian	Wild Bactrian
Humps	1	2	2
Population	~38 million	~2 million	~950
Conservation	Domesticated (no wild populations)	Domesticated	Critically Endangered (IUCN)
Habitat	Hot deserts — Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, Horn of Africa	Cold deserts & steppes — Central Asia, Mongolia, China	Gobi Desert — NW China, SW Mongolia
Domesticated	~3000 BCE, SE Arabian Peninsula	~2500 BCE, Turkmenistan–Iran border	Never domesticated
Temperature range	0°C to +55°C	-40°C to +40°C	-40°C to +55°C
Max weight	400–690 kg	600–1,000 kg	450–690 kg
Shoulder height	1.8–2.4 m	1.6–1.8 m (taller at hump: 2.1 m)	1.6–1.8 m
Carry capacity	100–200 kg	170–250 kg	N/A — wild
Daily range	60 km/day (light load)	47 km/day (heavy load)	3–6.4 km/day (avg), up to 75 km
Water endurance	10 days without water	7 days without water	Weeks — can drink salt water
Trade route	Trans-Saharan + Incense Route	Silk Road	None — avoids humans

Dromedary

94% of all camels on earth. Built North Africa. No wild populations survive — the last wild dromedary went extinct millennia ago. Every dromedary alive is domesticated or feral.

Domestic Bactrian

Largest living camel. Shaggy winter coat for -40°C. The Silk Road animal — carried goods from China to the Mediterranean for two millennia. Named for Bactria, ancient Afghanistan.

Wild Bactrian

A separate species, NOT the ancestor of the domestic Bactrian. Diverged ~1 million years ago. Survived 43 atmospheric nuclear tests at Lop Nur. Drinks salt water that would kill its domestic cousin. Fewer than 1,000 remain.

Population Scale

The Disproportion

If every camel on earth stood in a line, 94 of every 100 would be dromedaries. Five would be domestic Bactrians. And fewer than one in 40,000 would be wild.

Dromedary~38 million

Domestic Bactrian~2 million

Wild Bactrian~950

← That red line is not empty. It represents 950 animals in the Gobi Desert.

The Ghost Species

The wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) is not the ancestor of the domestic Bactrian. Genetic analysis shows they diverged approximately one million years ago. The wild species has a flatter skull (Mongolian name: havtagai, "flathead"), smaller conical humps, sparser wool, and can drink brackish water saltier than the sea — an ability no domestic camel possesses. It survived 43 atmospheric nuclear tests at Lop Nur between 1964 and 1996, and is still breeding naturally on the irradiated steppe. Fewer than 950 remain in four locations across China and Mongolia. Each wild camel ranges over 12,000 km² per year. Poachers lay landmines at salt springs where they drink.

Morocco

The Saharan Machine

Morocco's dromedaries are not one breed. Three distinct types — pack, riding, and crossbred — each shaped by centuries of selective pressure in the harshest terrain. From the 8th century CE, Morocco bred camels at industrial scale, even producing Bactrian × dromedary hybrids: a sleek messenger variant and a heavy cargo variant. The camel is slaughtered at weddings. Its meat costs less than mutton. Its image is the marker of Saharan identity.

Guerzni

Pack camel

Small, stocky, teak skin, large hump. Hardy nomad breed — carries loads across the Sahara.

Marmouri

Riding camel

Long legs, light build, thin skin. Fast — the mehari of the desert. Sensitive to harsh conditions.

Khouari

Crossbreed

Guerzni × Marmouri cross. Combines endurance with speed. The compromise breed.

The 8th-Century Innovation

From the 8th century CE, Morocco bred Bactrian × dromedary hybrids — the first documented camel crossbreeding programme in Africa. The F1 hybrids produced two variants: a fast, light messenger camel and a heavy cargo animal that could carry more than either parent species. Hybrid camels can bear up to 400 kg — nearly double a purebred dromedary. The trans-Saharan caravan routes from Wadi Draa to the Ghana Empire opened in this same century.

Timeline

46 Million Years

Camels are American. They evolved in Arizona, crossed the Bering Strait, and went extinct in their homeland 13,000 years ago. Every camel caravan in the Sahara, every Silk Road shipment, every Australian feral herd traces back to a North American ancestor.

46 Mya

Camelidae evolves in North America

6–7 Mya

Ancestors cross Bering land bridge into Asia

4.4 Mya

Dromedary and Bactrian lineages diverge

1 Mya

Wild and domestic Bactrian lineages split

~13,000 ya

Camels go extinct in North America (megafauna collapse)

~3000 BCE

Dromedary domesticated in SE Arabia (milk, hair, leather)

~2500 BCE

Bactrian domesticated at Turkmenistan–Iran border

~1200 BCE

S-Arabian saddle innovation → military camel use

~1000 BCE

Camel hybridization begins (Bactrian × dromedary)

9th c. BCE

Dromedary introduced to Egypt

5th c. BCE

Dromedary reaches wider North Africa

2nd c. BCE

Silk Road fully operational — Bactrian is the vehicle

8th c. CE

Morocco breeds camels at scale + creates hybrid variants

8th c. CE

Trans-Saharan caravan routes open: Wadi Draa → Ghana Empire

11th c. CE

Major route: Sijilmasa → Awdaghost (Almoravid era)

1840–1907

Dromedaries imported to Australia for transport

1964–1996

43 nuclear tests at Lop Nur — wild camels survive

2002

Wild Bactrian listed as Critically Endangered (IUCN)

2024

UN International Year of Camelids

The Pattern

What the Camel Built

The same family, split between two deserts, built the two greatest overland trade networks in human history.
The Bactrian carried silk, spices, and Buddhism across Central Asia. The dromedary carried gold, salt, and Islam across the Sahara. Between them, they connected China to Rome and Morocco to Mali — a continuous belt of camel-powered commerce encircling the entire arid zone of the Old World.
The dromedary arrived in North Africa late — perhaps the 5th century BCE, with wider adoption only in the 4th to 7th centuries CE. Before that, North African trade ran on donkeys, horses, and human backs. The camel did not merely improve Saharan trade. It made it possible. A horse dies in the deep Sahara. A dromedary drinks 145 litres in one session and walks 60 km the next day.
And in the Gobi, the third species — the one that never agreed to be domesticated — runs from humans at 64 km in a day when captured, drinks water that would poison its cousins, and is slowly disappearing because miners lay landmines at the springs where it drinks.

Sources

Wikipedia: "Camel," "Dromedary," "Bactrian camel," "Wild Bactrian camel" · Britannica: "Camel" · FAO: Camels factsheet (2024) · Almathen et al. (2016), "Ancient and modern DNA reveal dynamics of domestication," PNAS · Mohandesan et al. (2017), "Old World camels in a modern world," Animal Genetics · Yuan et al. (2024), Bactrian camel cladogram, genome analysis · IUCN Red List: Camelus ferus (Critically Endangered → Endangered, 2025 reclassification) · Wild Camel Protection Foundation (wildcamels.com) · ZSL: Conservation of Mongolia's Wild Camels · Frontiers in Pastoralism: "Economic contribution of camel-based livestock systems in North-African drylands" (Morocco, 2024) · ICAR: "Camel genetic resources in Morocco" (Guerouali) · World History Encyclopedia: "The Camel Caravans of the Ancient Sahara" · AramcoWorld: "Camels: The Magnificent Migration" (2018) · PMC: "Homogeneity of Arabian Peninsula dromedary camel populations" (2022) · San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: Camel factsheet.