This animal is a magnificent representative of the two-humped species, so widely distributed in Central Asia.
This species is often called the Dromedary; but, as we have already remarked, this is an error. The dromedary is a swift breed of the Arabian camel. The Bactrian Camel may be distinguished from its Arabian relative by the fact that it has two humps, is shorter in the leg and heavier, and has longer hair and stouter and harder feet. The shorter legs are distinctly advantageous, enabling the animal to get about with ease and safety over rocky and hilly ground.
Photo by Charles Knight] [Aldershot.
BACTRIAN CAMEL.
The most useful transport animal of Central Asia.
The hordes of wild camels found in Turkestan, in the neighbourhood of Kashgar, are believed by Major C. S. Cumberland to be descended from camels which escaped when the district known as Takla Makan was buried in a great sand-storm 200 years ago. From the fury of that storm it is said no human being escaped alive. Some camels apparently did, perhaps owing their survival to the power they possess of closing the nostrils, and thereby keeping out the sand.
The Bactrian camel lives upon the salt and bitter plants of the steppes, which are rejected by almost all other animals. It is further able to drink brackish water from the salt lakes by which it is surrounded. When pressed by hunger, it will even eat felt blankets, bones and skins of other animals, and fish!
THE LLAMAS.
The Llamas are humpless camels, and confined to the western and southernmost parts of South America. Two wild and two domesticated species are known. The name Llama, it should be mentioned, properly belongs to the domesticated animal of that name.