Bactrian camel

Bactrian camels eat plants.

They can eat dry, prickly and salty plants that other animals leave. A camel's hump stands up when it has eaten well.

Bactrian camels are mainly plant eaters. They can live on tough, dry, thorny and salty plants that most other animals refuse. Each half of a camel's split upper lip moves on its own, so it can pick short plants close to the ground.

When plants are very hard to find, they have been known to chew rope, canvas and even dead animals. A well-fed camel's humps stand upright. After days without food, the humps lean over and sag as the fat inside is used up.

Britannica describes Bactrian camels as technically omnivorous but primarily herbivorous, feeding on a wide selection of vegetation including thorny, tough or dry plants that other animals refuse; when such food runs out they may eat rope, canvas and carcasses. Like other camels they chew cud, bringing food back up to chew it again.

The humps are fat stores, not water tanks. Fat can be converted to energy, so a camel can go a long time without food; in cool weather, when not working hard, Bactrian camels have been known to go months without drinking. When they do drink, Britannica reports up to about 100 liters in a matter of minutes. A well-fed camel's humps sit upright; after days without food or water they deflate and sag.

Camels live together in groups.

They moan, groan and hum. A mother camel and her baby hum to each other.

Camels are very social. A herd usually has one grown-up male with females and young; males that are chased out form bachelor herds. Camels make many sounds, from moans and groans to bleats and rumbling roars, and mothers and newborn calves hum to each other.

They also talk with their bodies. A friendly camel may greet another by blowing in its face. Ears pointing forward mean it is alert, and a tail curled over its back means it is giving in.

Camel herds typically have one dominant adult male; males driven from the group form bachelor herds. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance lists a vocal repertoire of moans, groans, high-pitched bleats, loud bellows and rumbling roars, with mothers and newborns humming to each other.

Body language matters too: blowing in another camel's face is a friendly greeting, ears held forward signal alertness, and a tail curled over the back signals submission. The famous spit is really regurgitated stomach contents mixed with saliva, used to surprise or distract a threat; the cheeks bulge just before. Britannica credits their strength, endurance and docile nature for making domestic Bactrian camels such useful companions to people.

People have kept Bactrian camels for a very long time.

Camels carried things on long trips across Asia. People also use camel milk, wool and meat.

People in Central Asia tamed Bactrian camels between about 6,000 and 4,000 years ago. Strong, tough and calm, they became partners for nomadic families who move with their animals across the steppes.

A Bactrian camel can carry up to about 270 kilograms, as much as three or four grown-ups, for about 40 kilometers a day. Long lines of camels called caravans carried goods along the Silk Road, the old trade routes between China and the West. Camel hair is still spun into cloth.

Britannica dates domestication of C. bactrianus to between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago in Central Asia, after which domestic herds spread slowly westward and became central to the migratory lives of steppe nomads. Camels supply transport, wool, milk, meat, leather and even dung for fuel.

As pack animals they can carry up to 270 kilograms for about 40 kilometers a day, and they are often ridden. Caravans of Bactrian camels were instrumental in Silk Road trade. Deep history lies behind them: the Old World camel lineage crossed from North America into Asia between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago, and one- and two-humped camels split about 4 to 5 million years ago.

There are lots of Bactrian camels, because people care for them.

Their wild cousin, the wild camel, is very rare. People are working to protect it in the desert.

The domestic Bactrian camel is not in danger: there are more than a million of them. Its wild cousin is a different story. The wild camel is a separate species that lives only in remote deserts of China and Mongolia.

In 2025 the IUCN listed the wild camel as Endangered, with only about 780 to 1,380 adults left. Its desert home is threatened by mining, roads, droughts and competition with farm animals for food and water. People have set up a nature reserve for wild camels in China.

With more than a million animals, the domestic Bactrian camel is not considered threatened. The wild camel, Camelus ferus, is a sister species: Britannica reports that 21st-century studies place the split between wild and domestic Bactrian camels between about 1.5 million and 700,000 years ago, so wild camels are not feral runaways from domestic herds, as was once thought.

The IUCN's 2025 global assessment lists the wild camel as Endangered (criterion C1), with 780 to 1,380 mature individuals in a severely fragmented, decreasing population; it had been listed as Critically Endangered since 2002. Threats include livestock grazing, mining, roads, problematic native species or diseases, and droughts. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance notes the Wild Camel Protection Foundation, founded in 1997, which set up a reserve for wild camels in China.