Talk:Camel

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Contents

[edit] Hair?

I know there's a separate article on camel's hair as used in clothing and fabric, but shouldn't that use of the animal be in this article?

[edit] Swimming?

When did camels learn how to swim?

I saw that too. I guess I would like it removed unless a source can be found. Rboesen 19:16, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
Yup. Too bad. That would look great in the article, and I'd learn something about camels, too! User:Movingimage created the category a few days ago, thought. We might want to have a look at what he's doing. --SidiLemine 19:30, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

The name camel comes from the Hebrew gamal, "to repay" or "requite", as the camel does the care of its master.

I don't understand what the last part of this sentence is trying to convey. --Danny Rathjens 05:14, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

  • I've rewritten that bit. Kappa 18:20, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Isn't the association of the Hebrew word gamal (meaning "camel") with the Hebrew root GML (meaning "to repay") more than a little speculative? It could be simple coincidence. I'm removing that part of the sentence, if you don't mind. —Simetrical 20:30, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Contradiction

Why does this article say there are at least 500,000 feral in Australia while dromedary puts the number at only 32,000? - SimonP 23:32, Jan 5, 2005 (UTC)

The latest estimate from the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission is 700,000. See http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1344199.htm for details.

Tannin 21:27, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Why is there a COLOR picture of "A native Turkmen man with his dromedary, circa around 1905–1915 in Turkmenistan." if it is from 1905???

well i mean sometimes if i really have to poop, i think about camels then i don't. have you ever done that? well i sometimes have, and it works really great!

huh??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.83.67.245 (talk) 23:41, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Area of origin

This page states that camels are "native to the dry and desert areas of Asia and northern Africa"

The camel bones recently found in Arizona are said to be 10,000 years old. But no information is given to establiish that date. The U.S. Army used camels in the southwest in the 1800's, so the bones are probably from one of those camels. 208.47.97.54 15:01, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

But the "African Slave Trade" page says:

the transportation of large numbers of slaves did not become viable until camels were introduced from Arabia in the 10th century

The second page seems little more authoritative in that respect... Can anyone shed some light?

yes this page is misleading and will be changed in short order camels dont orginate from east africa ie somalia the camel was indroduced to north africans in the 7th century bc by ther persians than it slowly over time was an animal that the east africans sarted to use where do these people get there info from--Mikmik2953 (talk) 18:32, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notes

Please define the diet and metabolism of camels. Do they chew their cud? Have 2 stomachs? How long can they go without food or water? moved from article to talk --Thatdog 09:32, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Meat

what are the weight units in this section? kg? lbs? For me they come up as squares.

"A camel carcass can provide a substantial amount of meat, the male dromedary carcass can weigh 400㎏ or more while the carcass of a male Bactrian can weigh up to 650㎏. The carcass of a female camel weighs less than the male ranging between 250 and 350 ㎏."

Lukas 23:23, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Excrements

How much does a camel release urine and feces and how much of it. Are the feces commonly used for burning?

[edit] Vandalized!

This article has been vandalized in several places.

~~Don Granberry.

[edit] Cheese

There has been successful cheese making for years now. See Caravane_cheese for detials. --SidiLemine 17:08, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Went ahead and added cheese making information without going corporate and pointing to a commercial venture. Included FAO report/technical paper and method. Could probably go into A LOT of chemical composition of milk but that maybe overkill. Also, according to one source cheese production ceased in 1991 though that has not been verified. --jadepearl (talk) 18:21, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Serengeti

The first sentence is false or misleading and should be changed. I do not think that either dromedaries or baktrian camels are found on the seregeti in northern Tanzania. Perhaps the article has been vandalised. 203.23.210.116 10:52, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism

This is by far the most vandalised article I've been watching. What's up with it? Anyone has an explanation? I just don't get it. Why would people want to vandalize camels? Does this also happen to cows? Should this page be protected? So many questions, so little time.--SidiLemine 11:21, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

It isn't too special. And the page is not a candidate for protection - read up at Wikipedia:Protection policy and note that temporary protection is warranted for "a page or image that has been a recent target of persistent vandalism..." The vandalism here isn't that bad. I'll let you check cattle's history yourself :-) --Yath 13:08, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
This is crazy. Who does this? Why? I really can't figure out. I guess vandalism on Wiki would make a good essay subject in at least a dozen fields, prom psychology to sociology, including computer networks. I mean, movies, people, countries, I would understand. But Camels and Cattle? 5 to 10 times a day? I need an explanation.--SidiLemine 13:27, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
I assure you alcohol is frequently involved, as evidenced by a majority of my reverted edits. As it happens I'm currently in a social drunken mood so my recent edit attempts improvement rather than levity, but lord I've had at least 4 funny edits come to mind reading through this article.
Oops that was me *hic* Jtdunlop (talk) 10:33, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
Most vandalism I see is buy people obviously too young to drink. But that doesn't mean you're wrong.... --192.18.43.225 (talk) 20:42, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] intro vandal

someone keeps vandalizing the intro -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.74.114.192 (talk • contribs) October 6, 2006 @ 19:31 (UTC)

[edit] Fat to water

1111 grams water from 1000 grams fat? Is there a decimal point missing? What is the real figure? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.19.185.115 (talk • contribs) November 26, 2006 @ 17:21 (UTC)

OK, I realized afterwards that I misinterpreted the sentence.70.19.185.115 18:24, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

This needs a reference, i have been told (in my undergrad biology classes) that the hump has nothing to do with water storage, and that metabolism of fat causes more water loss through increased respiration than is gained. and that it is more likely that the hump has a function in temperature regulation. I have yet to find references though. - AlexandraTyers (12-feb-07)

[edit] Contradiction II

'Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today, the species is all but extinct in the wild, There is, however, a substantial feral population estimated at up to 700,000 in central parts of Australia,'

Am I missing something here? How does all but extinct and a feral population of 700,000 add up? Vyse 14:26, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
--------------
Note: "Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today, the species is all but extinct in the wild . . . " --4.235.141.237 00:55, 18 May 2007 (UTC)


Wild animals are not quite the same as feral animals. Most people think of all animals not under human control as "wild", but the distinction between wild and feral is pretty important to scientists who study animal populations. 192.18.43.225 (talk) 20:40, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Distribution and Numbers

"Although there are almost 13 million Dromedaries alive today,..."

Please change your numbers, that there are estimated 17 million dromedaries in the world, not 13 million. Add approx. 2 mill. Bactrian Camels and you'll come to ca. 19 mill. camels worldwide, although these numbers are from 1994. Sources: - http://www.vethelplineindia.com/art_camelsector.htm

        - http://www.fao.org/waicent/search/5_dett_fao.asp?pub_id=206678

[edit] Camel

"A fully-grown adult camel stands 1.85m/6 feet at the shoulder and 2.15m/7 feet at the hump."

Camels can be much larger: Camels with shoulder heights of 2.10 (females)/ 2.30m (males) and above can be found in Northern Kenya and Somalia. Maandeeq 11:09, 12 December 2006 (UTC) maandeeq Maandeeq 11:09, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hybrids

So, how does this naming scheme work?

  • Cama
  • Llamel
  • Dromedactrian
  • Bactromedary
  • Camuña
  • Vicuñel

etc.? Basically, where does the name "Cama" come from, what other varieties have been "tried", and what are the proposed names for these purported hybrids? Tomertalk 09:30, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Would appear to be yet more vandalism

"Due to the amount of meat a camel eats, it must also drink lots of H2O. Camels in the deserts of the Middle East have been known to consume up to 40 gallons of water, and urinate for over 3 hours."

From the "Cuisine" section. Okay, I'm not sure about the whole urinating thing (I do know that camels drink a lot, so it may be possible) but aren't camels primarily herbivores? 71.217.114.221 19:27, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kashrut

What exactly constitutes a hoof? I'd say camels had split hooves. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.122.208.51 (talk) 16:45, 14 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Dude

Can we get a definition on the word, particularly what precisely it refers to. Prob not necessary for a disambiguation, but does warrant confirmation of what it refers to. Londo06 22:27, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Dude comes up with the word you address a person with. Might want a disambiguation? Alexsanderson83 19:29, 17 April 2007 (UTC)


[edit] The Old Camel Joke

Just to say that the adage: 'A camel is a horse designed by committee' (Anon) has now been updated to: 'A camel is a horse designed by wikipedia editors'. Just so you know...Colin4C 19:59, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Expansion

How can we expand this article to include more camels? The world needs more camels. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.251.26.28 (talk) 02:52, 4 May 2007 (UTC).

And more lerts *hic* Jtdunlop (talk) 10:35, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Origin

The origin of the modern day Camelidae can be traced back to the Protylopus which occupied North Ameirca about 54.8 to 33.7 million years ago[1], during the Eocene Period. Camelidae, along with many other North American mammals, became extinct from the continent, however, many, by this time, had crossed over the Bering Land Bridge into Asia. Others had migrated into South America and eventually evolved into the domesticated llama. [2] No-one is quite sure why Camelidae became extinct in North America, but a change in climate usually gets the blame. As the North America continent became cooler, silica levels in grass tripled. As this made the grass much tougher, it is possible that it wore the teeth of Camelidae and various other mammals in the area. This could result in starvation from being unable to chew properly. [3] There is also some evidence that suggests that the species was hunted by humans after the Bering Land Bridge disappeared 10,000 years ago.[4]

A discovery was recently made of a previously unknown giant dromedary camel species in central Syria, thought to be 100,000 years old.


I've moved this here as it looks a bit like it's copied from the sources and the first reference doesn't actually back up the point it is making. Sorry I haven't got time now to reformat it but we need to be careful of plagerism as it's a serious legal issue. Thanks to Jamie for his effort - could you check that first ref and make changes here - I will help out when I get back later but I need to be somewhere else now. Sophia 13:02, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it going to be mentioned in the article somewhere that Camels originated in North America? I mean, it seems like a healthy fact, but when I put it in the other day it was reverted. --ChaosSorcerer91 09:57, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New Photos

I added two photos of camels to this site. I am not a camel expert and I know nothing about camels. I created the "Image Gallery" section and put the pictures there. If someone knows anything about camels, can you please move the pictures to a section of this article where the pictures can match up with what the article states, or change the caption to go along with something interesting about the camels in the pictures? To me the second picture looks like they could be baby camels; maybe that could be put in the caption. I would apreciate it if someone could do that. Thank you. Leitmanp 21:01, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Drinking

Almost the entire article uses SI units except for the amount a camel can drink in one go "20 to 25 gallons". This sounds doubtful to me, regardless of whether the gallons are US or Imperial, hence the request for a reference. To clarify this, I would ask the person responsible to add the information in litres. Thanks. TinyMark 21:12, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Problem

I don't believe the dromedary is a camel -- I just don't! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.24.28.237 (talk) 00:38, 6 December 2007 (UTC)


Does anyone have information about camels dancing?

Also, what about crusader horses being spooked when first encountering camels and also the earlier military destabilisation in the near east that was caused by the domestication of camels? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Avimimus (talk • contribs) 23:13, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

And Joe Camel, where is he?? *hic* Jtdunlop (talk) 10:36, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Camel Farming

I re-reverted a typo fix that got undone, but now that I look more closely at the article, why is, "They also have long eyelashes protect their eyes from sand storms." even under this segment? Seems completely unrelated/out-of-place here. Im-Mersion (talk) 04:10, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Link Removal

Not sure where the photojournal of a camel being raised as a pet in America was removed. I was not interested in creating "hit rankings" as suggested by the person who removed it. I was interested in however in showing the camel in a way that's not often thought of in America, as a companion animal. The photojournal also details for the first year of a camel's life from 30 days old onward. Surely this would interest anyone who was searching for information on camels? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.234.183.224 (talk) 04:25, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

First of all wikipedia etiquette requires that you insert a new topic at the botttom of the page (not the top), and, when you bring up a point for discussion, you do not make the edit your point is referring to. This led to me seeing the change to the article first and reverting it, before noticing that you had entered a comment here!
You have been inserting external links to "photojournals". External links (see WP:EL) are supposed to be helpful and informative, and a photojournal with pretty pictures of some fellow's pet is neither. There are plenty of other places in the Internet (social networking sites) that will be more than happy the link to your photojournal. Anyway, happy editing! TINYMARK 10:30, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

CAMELS ROCK MAN!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.152.208.20 (talk) 23:16, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] When were camels domesticated?

The en.wikipedia has an entire article on the Domestication of the horse, yet no such article as Domestication of the camel, yet this article contains no information about when and where camels were first domesticated. This needs to be addressed by someone more expert on the topic than I am. -- arkuat (talk) 09:20, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

On the same score, the article has no information about the rise of the camel as a beast of burden, replacing other domesticed animals. This shift occurred during historical times, so this is a glaring omission. 192.18.43.225 (talk) 18:06, 12 May 2008 (UTC)