The Future of the Wild Camel
Kathryn Rae is the Founder and Managing Trustee of the Wild Camel Protection Foundation and Dr Anna Jemmett is their ecologist with a PhD in the study of the Wild Camel
The critically endangered wild camel, Camelus ferus, хавтгай, 野骆驼, inhabits the desert ecosystems of Mongolia and China. In China it survives in the Gashun Gobi, Lop Nur and the Taklamakan deserts. In Mongolia, it exists only in the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area (GGSPA) bordering China and in one captive population. The protected area was established over fifty years ago by the Mongolian government with the support of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and is a stronghold for this incredibly rare species.
The wild camel is critically endangered, a classification given to species which have an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Learning more about wild camels has been enormously difficult due to their scarcity (less than 1000 remain) and the vastness of their habitat in Mongolia and China. The wild camel is a separate species from the domesticated Bactrian (Camelus bactrianus) and the last remaining species of truly wild camel left on the planet. They are incredibly well adapted to the extreme Gobi environment, surviving in both extreme heat and cold, drinking salt water and even migrating through a nuclear testing zone!
This migration, combined with the vast size of a wild camel’s natural home range makes the wild camel an umbrella species, protecting it requires protecting large areas of its Gobi habitat. The Gobi is a key biodiversity site with a functioning and healthy ecosystem. It has one of the lowest levels of human influence globally and is home to many threatened plants and animals including the Asiatic wild ass, Gobi bear and snow leopard. Beyond individual species, the Gobi is itself threatened. The rarity and importance of the habitat has led to it being included as part of a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There are many threats to the survival of the wild camel including habitat degradation and loss, mining (both legal and illegal), increased desertification due to climate change, human encroachment and disturbance, predation, competition and hybridisation with the domestic Bactrian camel. Individually these all have consequences for the species but combined with the low population number they threaten extinction.
A more recent threat comes from the possible construction of a main border crossing point on the southern boundary of the protected area. This would include the construction of a major road through part of the protected area, further fragmenting and disturbing the habitat. The disturbance could be direct, through more frequent contact with people, their modes of transport and their livestock, or indirect through increased competition for resources (food and water), disease and hybridisation. The drying up of water points increases these risks by increasing the contact between species. It is not only wild camels that struggle with this but other wildlife, humans and their livestock too.
The Mongolian government will host the Desertification Conference in 2026 at a time when the country is being severely affected by desertification. The annual rainfall in the Gobi has decreased and the land is becoming drier and hotter with winds blowing sand south across the border to China polluting the air in major cities.
The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) was founded as a United Kingdom environmental charity in 1997 and has a strong history of wild camel conservation across both Mongolia and China along with a formal agreement with the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment. The WCPF established a captive wild camel breeding centre in the Buffer Zone of the GGSPA. The captive wild camels are released from the breeding centre between April and September where they graze in a habitat very similar to where they would be found in the wild. The breeding centre is managed by local Mongolian staff and Dr Adiya Yadamsuren, a zoologist and wild camel expert. The WCPF funds all the staff and operational costs of the captive wild camel breeding centre at Zakhyn Us in Mongolia. And under an agreement with the Knowsley Safari Park two vets travel out each spring to check on the health of the captive wild camels and the new born calves. So far this year four female calves and two male calves have been successfully born at the breeding centre.
The captive population held in Mongolia could be significant to the survival of the species, providing an insurance should the remnant wild population become extinct. Management of this herd has until now focused on successful breeding and care of the species in captivity. This has been successful in terms of longevity and breeding and improvements are being made to make the herd a more effective insurance population, this includes the opening of a second breeding facility in Autumn 2024.
As well as managing the captive population, the WCPF is working on the development of a species survival plan involving research on genetics, population biology and behaviour in order to fill data gaps. This involves working closely with academic and zoological institutions including Prague Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, the University of Kent and the Institute of Zoology of the Zoological Society of London to benefit from their expertise and experience of managing in-country programs for endangered species.
The future of the wild camel is uncertain. Desertification, human interference and loss of habitat will continue. However, this remarkable animal has survived for over 750,000 years and the WCPF, alongside its partners, will continue their efforts to protect both the critically endangered wild camel and its rare desert habitat from extinction.
The opinions expressed are those of the contributor, not of the RSAA.
