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Camels and camel milk

Year of publication 1982

Pages 69

Author Animal Production and Health Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Category Technical study

ISBN 9251011699

Series title FAO Animal Production and Health Paper

Series number 0254-6019

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Camel milk! What possible importance can camel milk have in the year 1981 in a world beset with a multitude of problems? The answer to this is clear when we consider that one of the biggest problems confronting mankind today is malnourishment. Camel milk can certainly play a far more important role in the prevention of malnutrition than it does today. Growing and raising foodstuffs for the rapidly increasing human population is especially precarious in the hot and arid zones of the world - the v ery areas where the camel is one of the few animals not only to survive, but also to benefit man. Before presenting data on milk production, both quantity and quality, one must consider in detail all the relevant information about the camel in order to ascertain the full value that this animal can play in human nutrition. Camels, or the family of camels, the Camelidae, are found throughout the world and all camels will be mentioned when possible; however, this report deals mainly with the on e-humped dromedary, which is found in the desert and semi-desert areas. Milk is the main food obtained from a herd of camels. (Dahl, 1979). The one-humped camel was domesticated about 3000 B.C.E. in southern Arabia (Buillet, 1975), mainly for its meat and milk (Epstein, 1971). The camels were, and still are, valued as riding, baggade and work animals, as well as providers of hair and hides. In arid zones the camel is a better provider of food than the cow, which is severely affected by the hea t, scarcity of water and feed (Sweet, 1965). Camels originated in North America when the land masses were still joined (Leuner, 1963). These animals were no larger than hares. Here they remained from the upper Eocene throughout the Tertiary period, into the Pleistocene epoch, a period of 40 million years. Continued evolution produced the very large American camels. Prom North America, meanwhile, the animals migrated to other parts of the world, finally disappearing from their original area. Th e various types and breeds in the camel family are probably a result of evolutionary adaptation to the various environments to which the animals were exposed. Some of the camels migrated to the deserts and semi-deserts of northern Africa and the Middle East. Remains of camels have been found in old Palestine, dating to 1800 B.C.E. Field (1979) considered that further migration of camels in Africa was prevented by their susceptibility to tsetseborne trypanosomiasis. However, the camel has been incriminated as the probable host which became infected with Trypanosoma brucei in the northern tsetse areas and spread the infection, which evolved to mechanically-transmitted T. evansi, throughout northern Africa into Asia. These camels have one-hump and long spindly legs. The two-humped camel, the Bactrian, was domesticated on the border of Iran and Turkmenistan and spread to an area bordered by the Crimea, southern Siberia, Mongolia and China. These animals are stockier than the dromedary and covered by a thicker wool. The now-world Camelidae are smaller versions of the camels and live in the heights of the mountains in South America.

Language English

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