How many humps will a camel have if his parents are two-humped and one-humped camels

Today in the world there are two types of camels: one-humped camel, or dromedar, and two-humped camel - Bactrian. But these are closely related species that are able to interbreed with each other and give viable offspring. At the same time, the appearance of hybrids surprisingly combines the features of both parents.

Dromedar

Dromedars were once widespread in the desert and semi-desert regions of Africa and the Middle East, but today they exist there only in the domesticated form. In Arab countries, single-humped camels still play an important role in people's lives: they are still used as pack animals, as well as for meat and skin. Interestingly, feral dromedars live in Australia, where they were introduced by immigrants.

Bactrian

But the two-humped camels still live in the wild in the sparsely populated regions of western China and Mongolia. But the bulk of the representatives of this species are Bactrians, domestic animals that are bred in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Central Asian countries, and they are in Russia.

Despite the apparent similarity, these two species, in addition to different numbers of humps, have a number of significant differences. Bactrian camels are slightly larger than their one-humped counterparts, they have longer and thicker coat of dark color, are very hardy and able to live in harsh conditions of sharply continental climate, which can not be said about dromedaries. But at the same time, the two species cross perfectly and can produce viable and very unusual descendants.

When the dromedar and Bactrian are crossed, hybrids of the first generation, called nars, are born. This is what these unusual camels look like.

Nar - a hybrid of Dromedar and Bactrian

It seems that they have one huge hump, but in fact it is not one, but two humps that have fused with each other. The color of the fur of these camels resembles that of the Bactrian - it is darker, and in all its appearance the bunks more closely resemble their two-humped parent. Nars are characterized by increased endurance, larger sizes, good fertility, therefore they are willingly bred in Kazakhstan and other countries of Central Asia. But at the same time, as it often happens, the offspring from such hybrids (jarbays) are of little value, often with external defects, and they do not resort to such crosses.

In order to obtain valuable and viable offspring from hybrids, the bunks are bred either with dromedaries or with bactrians. Breeding work on the development of new camel hybrids is actively conducted in Kazakhstan. Scientists note that when crossbreeding hybrids of the first generation of bunks with purebred Bactrians, animals with larger sizes are obtained, and milk yield increases up to 40%.

You can find out how camels manage to survive in the desert and other interesting information about these animals in one of our previous materials.

Watch the video: Bactrian Vs Dromedary Camel Behaviours (March 2024).

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