There are two types of camels. Arabian (also called Dromedary) camels have one hump, and Bactrian camels have two humps. Camels store fat in their humps and are very efficient and conserving their body’s water. The Dromedary exists only as a domestic animal, and it is assumed that its ancestors roamed the deserts of Arabia where it is thought to have been domesticated. Although, in Australia, introduced dromedary descendants now survive in the outback as feral animals. Bactrian camels are an endangered species because most of them have been domesticated, and not many are wild ones left. Camels can tolerate Winnipeg’s extreme temperatures, because they evolved in an environment where there is considerable variation between day and night temperatures, so you can come to the zoo in the winter and see our camels playing in the snow. Since these ungulates have an even number of toes they are in the Artiodactyla order.
Get To Know Your Zoo Animals:
We currently have 4 camels at our Zoo. Camelia is the camel with one hump. Our only male is Luther. He has two floppy humps. We believe he was born without the muscle structure to support his humps. The other two girls are Zhara and Perry. They both have two humps.