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Genus of mammals

This article is about the hoofed mammal. For other uses, see Camel (disambiguation).

 

Camel Temporal range: Pliocene–Recent[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N   ↓
Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius)
Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Camelidae
Tribe:	Camelini
Genus:	Camelus Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Camelus dromedarius [6] Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Camelus bactrianus Camelus dromedarius Camelus ferus †Camelus grattardi (fossil)[2] †Camelus knoblochi (fossil)[3] †Syrian camel (fossil) †Camelus sivalensis (fossil)[4] †Camelus thomasi (fossil)[5]
Distribution of camels worldwide
Synonyms
List Camellus Molina, 1782 Dromedarius Gloger, 1841

A camel (from Latin: camelus and Ancient Greek: κάμηλος (kamēlos) from Ancient Semitic: gāmāl^[7][8]) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus Camelus that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide food (camel milk and meat) and textiles (fiber and felt from camel hair). Camels are working animals especially suited to their desert habitat and are a vital means of transport for passengers and cargo. There are three surviving species of camel. The one-humped dromedary makes up 94% of the world's camel population, and the two-humped Bactrian camel makes up 6%. The wild Bactrian camel is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel, and is now critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals.

The word camel is also used informally in a wider sense, where the more correct term is "camelid", to include all seven species of the family Camelidae: the true camels (the above three species), along with the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña, which belong to the separate tribe Lamini.^[9] Camelids originated in North America during the Eocene, with the ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrating across the Bering land bridge into Asia during the late Miocene, around 6 million years ago.

Taxonomy

[edit]

Extant species

[edit]

Three species are extant:^[10][11]

Genus Camelus – Linnaeus, 1758 – nine species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Bactrian camel	Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758	Domesticated; Central Asia, including the historical region of Bactria and Turkey.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NE  Unknown
Dromedary / Arabian camel	Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758	Domesticated; the Middle East, Sahara Desert, and South Asia; introduced to Australia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NE  Unknown
Wild Bactrian camel	Camelus ferus Przewalski, 1878	Remote areas of northwest China and Mongolia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	EN  Unknown

Biology

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The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years.^[12] A full-grown adult dromedary camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump.^[13] Bactrian camels can be a foot taller. Camels can run at up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph).^[14] Bactrian camels weigh 300 to 1,000 kg (660 to 2,200 lb) and dromedaries 300 to 600 kg (660 to 1,320 lb). The widening toes on a camel's hoof provide supplemental grip for varying soil sediments.^[15]

The male dromedary camel has an organ called a dulla in his throat, a large, inflatable sac that he extrudes from his mouth when in rut to assert dominance and attract females. It resembles a long, swollen, pink tongue hanging out of the side of the camel's mouth.^[16] Camels mate by having both male and female sitting on the ground, with the male mounting from behind.^[17] The male usually ejaculates three or four times within a single mating session.^[18] Camelids are the only ungulates to mate in a sitting position.^[19]

Ecological and behavioral adaptations

[edit]

 

It is a common myth that a camel stores water in its hump,^[20] but the humps in fact are reservoirs of fatty tissue, which can be used as a reserve source of calories, not water. When this tissue is metabolized, it yields a greater mass of water than that of the fat processed. This fat metabolization, while releasing energy, causes water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water.^[21][22]

Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods of time without any external source of water.^[24] The dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every 10 days even under very hot conditions, and can lose up to 30% of its body mass due to dehydration.^[25] They can drink as much as 30 imperial gallons (140 litres) at a time^[26] but this is stored in the animal's bloodstream, not, as popularly believed, in its humps.^[20]

Unlike other mammals, camels' red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates the flow of red blood cells during dehydration^[27] and makes them better at withstanding high osmotic variation without rupturing when drinking large amounts of water.^[28][29]

Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water consumption that would kill most other mammals. Their temperature ranges from 34 °C (93 °F) at dawn and steadily increases to 40 °C (104 °F) by sunset, before they cool off at night again.^[24] In general, to compare between camels and the other livestock, camels lose only 1.3 liters of fluid intake every day while the other livestock lose 20 to 40 liters per day.^[30] Maintaining the brain temperature within certain limits is critical for animals; to assist this, camels have a rete mirabile, a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other which utilizes countercurrent blood flow to cool blood flowing to the brain.^[31] Camels rarely sweat, even when ambient temperatures reach 49 °C (120 °F).^[32] Any sweat that does occur evaporates at the skin level rather than at the surface of their coat; the heat of vaporization therefore comes from body heat rather than ambient heat. Camels can withstand losing 25% of their body weight in water, whereas most other mammals can withstand only about 12–14% dehydration before cardiac failure results from circulatory disturbance.^[29]

When the camel exhales, water vapor becomes trapped in their nostrils and is reabsorbed into the body as a means to conserve water.^[33] Camels eating green herbage can ingest sufficient moisture in milder conditions to maintain their bodies' hydrated state without the need for drinking.^[34]

Camels have three-chambered stomachs and perform rumination as part of their digestive process, even though they are not part of the ruminant sub-order.^[35]

The camel's thick coat insulates it from the intense heat radiated from desert sand; a shorn camel must sweat 50% more to avoid overheating.^[36] During the summer the coat becomes lighter in color, reflecting light as well as helping avoid sunburn.^[29] The camel's long legs help by keeping its body farther from the ground, which can heat up to 70 °C (158 °F).^[37][38] Dromedaries have a pad of thick tissue over the sternum called the pedestal. When the animal lies down in a sternal recumbent position, the pedestal raises the body from the hot surface and allows cooling air to pass under the body.^[31]

Camels' mouths have a thick leathery lining, allowing them to chew thorny desert plants. Long eyelashes and ear hairs, together with nostrils that can close, form a barrier against sand. If sand gets lodged in their eyes, they can dislodge it using their translucent third eyelid (also known as the nictitating membrane). The camels' gait and widened feet help them move without sinking into the sand.^[37][39]

The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at reabsorbing water. Camels' kidneys have a 1:4 cortex to medulla ratio.^[40] Thus, the medullary part of a camel's kidney occupies twice as much area as a cow's kidney. Secondly, renal corpuscles have a smaller diameter, which reduces surface area for filtration. These two major anatomical characteristics enable camels to conserve water and limit the volume of urine in extreme desert conditions.^[41] Camel urine comes out as a thick syrup, and camel faeces are so dry that they do not require drying when used to fuel fires.^{[42][43][44][45]}

The camel immune system differs from those of other mammals. Normally, the Y-shaped antibody molecules consist of two heavy (or long) chains along the length of the Y, and two light (or short) chains at each tip of the Y.^[46] Camels, in addition to these, also have antibodies made of only two heavy chains, a trait that makes them smaller and more durable.^[46] These "heavy-chain-only" antibodies, discovered in 1993, are thought to have developed 50 million years ago, after camelids split from ruminants and pigs.^[46]

The parasite Trypanosoma evansi causes the disease surra in camels.^[47]: 2

Genetics

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The karyotypes of different camelid species have been studied earlier by many groups,^{[48][49][50][51][52][53]} but no agreement on chromosome nomenclature of camelids has been reached. A 2007 study flow sorted camel chromosomes, building on the fact that camels have 37 pairs of chromosomes (2n=74), and found that the karyotype consisted of one metacentric, three submetacentric, and 32 acrocentric autosomes. The Y is a small metacentric chromosome, while the X is a large metacentric chromosome.^[54]

The hybrid camel, a hybrid between Bactrian and dromedary camels, has one hump, though it has an indentation 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) deep that divides the front from the back. The hybrid is 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.32 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the hump. It weighs an average of 650 kg (1,430 lb) and can carry around 400 to 450 kg (880 to 990 lb), which is more than either the dromedary or Bactrian can.^[55]

According to molecular data, the wild Bactrian camel (C. ferus) separated from the domestic Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus) about 1 million years ago.^[56][57] New World and Old World camelids diverged about 11 million years ago.^[58] In spite of this, these species can hybridize and produce viable offspring.^[59] The cama is a camel-llama hybrid bred by scientists to see how closely related the parent species are.^[60] Scientists collected semen from a camel via an artificial vagina and inseminated a llama after stimulating ovulation with gonadotrophin injections.^[61] The cama is halfway in size between a camel and a llama and lacks a hump. It has ears intermediate between those of camels and llamas, longer legs than the llama, and partially cloven hooves.^[62][63] Like the mule, camas are sterile, despite both parents having the same number of chromosomes.^[61]

Evolution

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The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago (during the Eocene).^[18] It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.^[64][65] By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium was the size of a goat and had many more traits similar to camels and llamas.^[66][67] The hoofed Stenomylus, which walked on the tips of its toes, also existed around this time, and the long-necked Aepycamelus evolved in the Miocene.^[68] The split between the tribes Camelini, which contains modern camels and Lamini, modern llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos, is estimated to have occurred over 16 million years ago.^[69]

The ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrated into Eurasia from North America via Beringia during the late Miocene, between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago.^[70][71][72] During the Pleistocene, around 3 to 1 million years ago, the North American Camelidae spread to South America as part of the Great American Interchange via the newly formed Isthmus of Panama, where they gave rise to guanacos and related animals.^[18][64][65] Populations of Paracamelus continued to exist in the North American Arctic into the Early Pleistocene.^[71][73] This creature is estimated to have stood around nine feet (2.7 metres) tall. The Bactrian camel diverged from the dromedary about 1 million years ago, according to the fossil record.^[74]

The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus, which vanished along with horses, short-faced bears, mammoths and mastodons, ground sloths, sabertooth cats, and many other megafauna as part of the Quaternary extinction event, coinciding with the migration of humans from Asia at the end of the Pleistocene, around 13–11,000 years ago.^[75][76]

An extinct giant camel species, Camelus knoblochi roamed Asia during the Late Pleistocene, before becoming extinct around 20,000 years ago.^[77]

• 
  Stenomylus illustration
• 
  Stenomylus skeleton
• 
  Poebrotherium skeleton
• 
  Procamelus skull
• 
  Camelops hesternus, the last true camel native to North America

Domestication

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Like horses, camels originated in North America and eventually spread across Beringia to Asia. They survived in the Old World, and eventually humans domesticated them and spread them globally. Along with many other megafauna in North America, the original wild camels were wiped out during the spread of the first indigenous peoples of the Americas from Asia into North America, 10 to 12,000 years ago; although fossils have never been associated with definitive evidence of hunting.^[75][76]

Most camels surviving today are domesticated.^[45][78] Although feral populations exist in Australia, India and Kazakhstan, wild camels survive only in the wild Bactrian camel population of the Gobi Desert.^[12]

History

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When humans first domesticated camels is disputed. Dromedaries may have first been domesticated by humans in Somalia or South Arabia sometime during the 3rd millennium BC, the Bactrian in central Asia around 2,500 BC,^{[18][79][80][81]} as at Shar-i Sokhta (also known as the Burnt City), Iran.^[82] A study from 2016, which genotyped and used world-wide sequencing of modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), suggested that they were initially domesticated in the southeast Arabian Peninsula,^[83] with the Bactrian type later being domesticated around Central Asia.^[84]

Martin Heide's 2010 work on the domestication of the camel tentatively concludes that humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium somewhere east of the Zagros Mountains, with the practice then moving into Mesopotamia. Heide suggests that mentions of camels "in the patriarchal narratives may refer, at least in some places, to the Bactrian camel", while noting that the camel is not mentioned in relationship to Canaan.^[85] Heide and Joris Peters reasserted that conclusion in their 2021 study on the subject.^[86]

In 2009–2013, excavations in the Timna Valley by Lidar Sapir-Hen and Erez Ben-Yosef discovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones yet found in Israel or even outside the Arabian Peninsula, dating to around 930 BC. This garnered considerable media coverage, as it is strong evidence that the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time.^[87][88]

The existence of camels in Mesopotamia and Arabia but not in Syria is not a new idea. The historian Richard Bulliet thought that although camels were occasionally mentioned in the Bible, this didn't mean that the domestic camels were common in the Holy Land at that time.^[89] The archaeologist William F. Albright, writing even earlier, saw camels in the Bible as an anachronism.^[90]

The official report by Sapir-Hen and Ben-Joseph says:

The introduction of the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) as a pack animal to the southern Levant ... substantially facilitated trade across the vast deserts of Arabia, promoting both economic and social change (e.g., Kohler 1984; Borowski 1998: 112–116; Jasmin 2005). This ... has generated extensive discussion regarding the date of the earliest domestic camel in the southern Levant (and beyond) (e.g., Albright 1949: 207; Epstein 1971: 558–584; Bulliet 1975; Zarins 1989; Köhler-Rollefson 1993; Uerpmann and Uerpmann 2002; Jasmin 2005; 2006; Heide 2010; Rosen and Saidel 2010; Grigson 2012). Most scholars today agree that the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age (not before the 12th century [BC])

and concludes:

Current data from copper smelting sites of the Arabah Valley enable us to pinpoint the introduction of domestic camels to the southern Levant more precisely based on stratigraphic contexts associated with an extensive suite of radiocarbon dates. The data indicate that this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the 10th century [BC] and most probably during this time. The coincidence of this event with a major reorganization of the copper industry of the region—attributed to the results of the campaign of Pharaoh Shoshenq I—raises the possibility that the two were connected, and that camels were introduced as part of the efforts to improve efficiency by facilitating trade.^[88]

• 
  A camel serving as a draft animal in Pakistan (2009)
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  A camel in a ceremonial procession, its rider playing kettledrums, Mughal Empire (c. 1840)
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  Petroglyph of a camel, Negev, southern Israel (prior to c. 5300 BC)
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  Joseph Sells Grain by Bartholomeus Breenbergh (1655), showing camel with rider at left

Textiles

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Desert tribes and Mongolian nomads use camel hair for tents, yurts, clothing, bedding and accessories. Camels have outer guard hairs and soft inner down, and the fibers may also be sorted by color and age of the animal. The guard hairs can be felted for use as waterproof coats for the herdsmen, while the softer hair is used for premium goods.^[91] The fiber can be spun for use in weaving or made into yarns for hand knitting or crochet. Pure camel hair is recorded as being used for western garments from the 17th century onwards, and from the 19th century a mixture of wool and camel hair was used.^[92]

By at least 1200 BC the first camel saddles had appeared, and Bactrian camels could be ridden. The first saddle was positioned to the back of the camel, and control of the Bactrian camel was exercised by means of a stick. However, between 500 and 100 BC, Bactrian camels came into military use. New saddles, which were inflexible and bent, were put over the humps and divided the rider's weight over the animal. In the seventh century BC the military Arabian saddle evolved, which again improved the saddle design slightly.^[93][94]

Military forces have used camel cavalries in wars throughout Africa, the Middle East, and their use continues into the modern-day within the Border Security Force (BSF) of India. The first documented use of camel cavalries occurred in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.^[95][96][97] Armies have also used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules.^[98][99]

The East Roman Empire used auxiliary forces known as dromedarii, whom the Romans recruited in desert provinces.^[100][101] The camels were used mostly in combat because of their ability to scare off horses at close range (horses are afraid of the camels' scent),^[19] a quality famously employed by the Achaemenid Persians when fighting Lydia in the Battle of Thymbra (547 BC).^{[55][102][103]}

The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps, stationed in California, in the 19th century.^[19] One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal in Benicia, California, where they nowadays serve as the Benicia Historical Museum.^[104] Though the experimental use of camels was seen as a success (John B. Floyd, Secretary of War in 1858, recommended that funds be allocated towards obtaining a thousand more camels), the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 saw the end of the Camel Corps: Texas became part of the Confederacy, and most of the camels were left to wander away into the desert.^[99]

France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara^[105] in order to exercise greater control over the camel-riding Tuareg and Arab insurgents, as previous efforts to defeat them on foot had failed.^[106] The Free French Camel Corps fought during World War II, and camel-mounted units remained in service until the end of French rule over Algeria in 1962.^[107]

In 1916, the British created the Imperial Camel Corps. It was originally used to fight the Senussi, but was later used in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Imperial Camel Corps comprised infantrymen mounted on camels for movement across desert, though they dismounted at battle sites and fought on foot. After July 1918, the Corps began to become run down, receiving no new reinforcements, and was formally disbanded in 1919.^[108]

In World War I, the British Army also created the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, which consisted of a group of Egyptian camel drivers and their camels. The Corps supported British war operations in Sinai, Palestine, and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops.^{[109][110][111]}

The Somaliland Camel Corps was created by colonial authorities in British Somaliland in 1912; it was disbanded in 1944.^[112]

Bactrian camels were used by Romanian forces during World War II in the Caucasian region.^[113] At the same period the Soviet units operating around Astrakhan in 1942 adopted local camels as draft animals due to shortage of trucks and horses, and kept them even after moving out of the area. Despite severe losses, some of these camels ended up as far west as to Berlin itself.^[114]

The Bikaner Camel Corps of British India fought alongside the British Indian Army in World Wars I and II.^[115]

The Tropas Nómadas (Nomad Troops) were an auxiliary regiment of Sahrawi tribesmen serving in the colonial army in Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara). Operational from the 1930s until the end of the Spanish presence in the territory in 1975, the Tropas Nómadas were equipped with small arms and led by Spanish officers. The unit guarded outposts and sometimes conducted patrols on camelback.^[116][117]

The annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival is held in Saudi Arabia. In addition to camel racing and camel milk tasting, the festival holds a camel "beauty pageant" with prize money of $57m (£40m). In 2018, 12 camels were disqualified from the beauty contest after their owners were found to have injected them with botox.^[118] In a similar incident in 2021, over 40 camels were disqualified.^[119]

Camel meat and milk are foods that are found in many cuisines, typically in Middle Eastern, North African and some Australian cuisines.^{[120][121][122][123]} Camels provide food in the form of meat and milk.^[124]

Camel milk is a staple food of desert nomad tribes and is sometimes considered a meal itself; a nomad can live on only camel milk for almost a month.^{[19][42][125][126]}

Camel milk can readily be made into yogurt, but can only be made into butter if it is soured first, churned, and a clarifying agent is then added.^[19] Until recently, camel milk could not be made into camel cheese because rennet was unable to coagulate the milk proteins to allow the collection of curds.^[127] Developing less wasteful uses of the milk, the FAO commissioned Professor J.P. Ramet of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires, who was able to produce curdling by the addition of calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet in the 1990s.^[128] The cheese produced from this process has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest, even for the lactose intolerant.^[129][130]

Camel milk can also be made into ice cream.^[131][132]

Approximately 3.3 million camels and camelids are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.^[133] A camel carcass can provide a substantial amount of meat. The male dromedary carcass can weigh 300–400 kg (661–882 lb), while the carcass of a male Bactrian can weigh up to 650 kg (1,433 lb). The carcass of a female dromedary weighs less than the male, ranging between 250 and 350 kg (550 and 770 lb).^[18] The brisket, ribs and loin are among the preferred parts, and the hump is considered a delicacy.^[134] The hump contains "white and sickly fat", which can be used to make the khli (preserved meat) of mutton, beef, or camel.^[135] On the other hand, camel milk and meat are rich in protein, vitamins, glycogen, and other nutrients making them essential in the diet of many people. From chemical composition to meat quality, the dromedary camel is the preferred breed for meat production. It does well even in arid areas due to its unusual physiological behaviors and characteristics, which include tolerance to extreme temperatures, radiation from the sun, water paucity, rugged landscape and low vegetation.^[136] Camel meat is reported to taste like coarse beef, but older camels can prove to be very tough,^[13][18] although camel meat becomes tenderer the more it is cooked.^[137]

Camel is one of the animals that can be ritually slaughtered and divided into three portions (one for the home, one for extended family/social networks, and one for those who cannot afford to slaughter an animal themselves) for the qurban of Eid al-Adha.^[138][139]

The Abu Dhabi Officers' Club serves a camel burger mixed with beef or lamb fat in order to improve the texture and taste.^[140] In Karachi, Pakistan, some restaurants prepare nihari from camel meat.^[141] Specialist camel butchers provide expert cuts, with the hump considered the most popular.^[142]

Camel meat has been eaten for centuries. It has been recorded by ancient Greek writers as an available dish at banquets in ancient Persia, usually roasted whole.^[143] The Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel.^[42] Camel meat is mainly eaten in certain regions, including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and other arid regions where alternative forms of protein may be limited or where camel meat has had a long cultural history.^{[18][42][134]} Camel blood is also consumable, as is the case among pastoralists in northern Kenya, where camel blood is drunk with milk and acts as a key source of iron, vitamin D, salts and minerals.^{[18][134][144]}

A 2005 report issued jointly by the Saudi Ministry of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details four cases of human bubonic plague resulting from the ingestion of raw camel liver.^[145]

Camel meat is also occasionally found in Australian cuisine: for example, a camel lasagna is available in Alice Springs.^[143][144] Australia has exported camel meat, primarily to the Middle East but also to Europe and the US, for many years.^[146] The meat is very popular among East African Australians, such as Somalis, and other Australians have also been buying it. The feral nature of the animals means they produce a different type of meat to farmed camels in other parts of the world,^[121] and it is sought after because it is disease-free, and a unique genetic group. Demand is outstripping supply, and governments are being urged not to cull the camels, but redirect the cost of the cull into developing the market. Australia has seven camel dairies, which produce milk, cheese and skincare products in addition to meat.^[147]

Muslims consider camel meat halal (Arabic: حلال, 'allowed'). However, according to some Islamic schools of thought, a state of impurity is brought on by the consumption of it. Consequently, these schools hold that Muslims must perform wudhu (ablution) before the next time they pray after eating camel meat.^[148] Also, some Islamic schools of thought consider it haram (Arabic: حرام, 'forbidden') for a Muslim to perform Salat in places where camels lie, as it is said to be a dwelling place of the Shaytan (Arabic: شيطان, 'Devil').^[148] According to Abu Yusuf (d.798), the urine of camels may be used for medical treatment if necessary, but according to Abū Ḥanīfah, the drinking of camel urine is discouraged.^[149]

Islamic texts contain several stories featuring camels. In the story of the people of Thamud, the prophet Salih miraculously brings forth a naqat (Arabic: ناقة, 'milch-camel') out of a rock. After Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina (the Hijrah), he allowed his she-camel to roam there; the location where the camel stopped to rest determined the location where he would build his house in Medina.^[150]

According to Jewish tradition, camel meat and milk are not kosher.^[151] Camels possess only one of the two kosher criteria; although they chew their cud, they do not have cloven hooves: "But these you shall not eat among those that bring up the cud and those that have a cloven hoof: the camel, because it brings up its cud, but does not have a [completely] cloven hoof; it is unclean for you."^[152]

The Palestinian Muslim Makhamara clan in Yatta, who claim descent from Jews, reportedly avoid eating camel meat, a practice cited as evidence of their Jewish origins.^[153][154]

What may be the oldest carvings of camels were discovered in 2018 in Saudi Arabia. They were analysed by researchers from several scientific disciplines and, in 2021, were estimated to be 7,000 to 8,000 years old.^[155] The dating of rock art is made difficult by the lack of organic material in the carvings that may be tested, so the researchers attempting to date them tested animal bones found associated with the carvings, assessed erosion patterns, and analysed tool marks in order to determine a correct date for the creation of the sculptures. This Neolithic dating would make the carvings significantly older than Stonehenge (5,000 years old) and the Egyptian pyramids at Giza (4,500 years old) and it predates estimates for the domestication of camels.

• 
  Shadda (cover, detail), Karabagh region, southwest Caucasus, early 19th century
• 
  Vessel in the form of a recumbent camel with jugs, 250 BC – 224 AD, Brooklyn Museum
• 
  Maru Ragini (Dhola and Maru Riding on a Camel), c. 1750, Brooklyn Museum
• 
  The Magi Journeying (Les rois mages en voyage)—James Tissot, c. 1886, Brooklyn Museum
• 
  How the Camel Got His Hump (From Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories)

There are approximately 14 million camels alive as of 2010^[update], with 90% being dromedaries.^[156] Dromedaries alive today are domesticated animals (mostly living in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Maghreb, Middle East and South Asia). The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world,^[23] where the dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life. They provide nomadic people in Somalia^[18] and Ethiopia with milk, food, and transportation.^{[126][157][158][159]}

Over one million dromedary camels are estimated to be feral in Australia, descended from those introduced as a method of transport in the 19th and early 20th centuries.^[160] This population is growing about 8% per year;^[161] it was estimated at 700,000 in 2008.^{[144][156][162]} Representatives of the Australian government have culled more than 100,000 of the animals in part because the camels use too much of the limited resources needed by sheep farmers.^[163]

A small population of introduced camels, dromedaries and Bactrians, wandered through Southwestern United States after having been imported in the 19th century as part of the U.S. Camel Corps experiment. When the project ended, they were used as draft animals in mines and escaped or were released. Twenty-five U.S. camels were bought and exported to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush.^[99]

The Bactrian camel is, as of 2010^[update], reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals, most of which are domesticated.^{[45][156][164]} The Wild Bactrian camel is the only truly wild (as opposed to feral) camel in the world. It is a distinct species that is not ancestral to the domestic Bactrian camel. The wild camels are critically endangered and number approximately 950, inhabiting the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.^[165]

Notes

Bibliography

• Camels and Camel Milk. Report Issued by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (1982)
• Ramet, J. P. (2011). The technology of making cheese from camel milk (Camelus dromedarius). FAO Animal Production and Health Paper. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 978-92-5-103154-4. ISSN 0254-6019. OCLC 476039542. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
• Vannithone, S.; Davidson, A. (1999). "Camel". The Oxford companion to food. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-19-211579-9.
• Wilson, R.T. (1984). The camel. New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-77512-1.
• Yagil, R. (1982). Camels and Camel Milk. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper. Vol. 26. Rome: Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations. ISBN 978-92-5-101169-0. ISSN 0254-6019.

Further reading

• Gilchrist, W. (1851). A Practical Treatise on the Treatment of the Diseases of the Elephant, Camel & Horned Cattle: with instructions for improving their efficiency; also, a description of the medicines used in the treatment of their diseases; and a general outline of their anatomy. Calcutta, India: Military Orphan Press.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camelus.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Camels.

Wikispecies has information related to Camelus.

• International Society of Camelid Research and Development
• Six Green Reasons to Drink Camel's Milk
• Use of camels by South African police
• The Camel as a pet
• "Could Emirati camels hold the key to treating venomous snake bites?"

Historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey

For other uses, see Cappadocia (disambiguation) and Cappadocian (disambiguation).

Place in Katpatuka

Cappadocia
Ancient region of Central Anatolia Region, Turkey
Clockwise from top: Ortahisar Castle, View of Uçhisar Castle, Mount Erciyes, Rose Valley, Ihlara Valley, Göreme Open Air Museum, Aerial view over Cappadocia
Cappadocia among the classical regions of Anatolia (Asia Minor)
Persian satrapy	Katpatuka
Roman province	Cappadocia

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Interactive map of Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia
Includes	Göreme National Park, Kaymakli Underground City, Derinkuyu underground city
Criteria	Cultural: i, iii, v; Natural: vii
Reference	357
Inscription	1985 (9th Session)
Area	9,883.81 ha

Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃəˌ -ˈdoʊkiə/; Turkish: Kapadokya, from Greek: Καππαδοκία) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir province.

According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revolt (499 BC), the Cappadocians were reported as occupying a region from the Taurus Mountains to the vicinity of the Euxine (Black Sea).^[1] Cappadocia, in this sense, was bounded in the south by the chain of mountains that separate it from Cilicia, to the east by the upper Euphrates, to the north by the Pontus, and to the west by Lycaonia and eastern Galatia.^[2]

The name, traditionally used in Christian sources throughout history, continues in use as an international tourism concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders, in particular characterized by fairy chimneys,^[3] in addition to its religious heritage of being a centre of early Christian learning, evidenced by hundreds of churches and monasteries (such as those of Göreme and Ihlara), as well as underground cities that were dug to offer protection during periods of persecution.^[4][5]

The earliest record of the name of Cappadocia (/kæpəˈdoʊʃəˌ -ˈdoʊkiə/; Turkish: Kapadokya; Ancient Greek: Καππαδοκία, romanized: Kappadokía, Classical Syriac: ܩܦܘܕܩܝܐ, romanized: Kəp̄uḏoqyā, from Old Persian: 𐎣𐎫𐎱𐎬𐎢𐎣 Katpatuka; Hittite: 𒅗𒋫𒁉𒁕, romanized: Katapeda; Armenian: Կապադովկիա,, romanized: Kapadovkia) dates from the late sixth century BC, when it appears in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid emperors, Darius the Great and Xerxes I, as one of the countries (Old Persian dahyu-). In these lists of countries, the Old Persian name is Katpatuka. It was proposed that Kat-patuka came from the Luwian language, meaning "Low Country".^[6]

Subsequent research suggests that the adverb katta meaning 'down, below' is exclusively Hittite, while its Luwian equivalent is zanta.^[7] Therefore, the recent modification of this proposal operates with the Hittite katta peda-, literally "place below" as a starting point for the development of the toponym Cappadocia.^[8]

The earlier derivation from Iranian Hu-apa-dahyu 'Land of good horses' can hardly be reconciled with the phonetic shape of Kat-patuka. Several other etymologies have also been offered in the past.^[9]

Herodotus wrote that the name of the Cappadocians was applied to them by the Persians, while they were termed by the Greeks "White Syrians" (Leucosyri),^[10] who were most probably descendants of the Hittites.^[11] One of the Cappadocian tribes he mentions is the Moschoi, associated by Flavius Josephus with the biblical figure Meshech, son of Japheth: "and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians". AotJ I:6.^{[citation needed]}

Cappadocia appears in the biblical account given in the book of Acts 2:9. The Cappadocians were named as one group (among "Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia")^[12] hearing the Gospel account from Galileans in their own language on the day of Pentecost shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Acts 2:5 states "Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven," seeming to suggest that some of the Cappadocians were Jews, or part of the diaspora of Jews present in Jerusalem at the time.^[12]

The region is mentioned in the Jewish Mishnah, in Ketubot 13:11, and in several places in the Talmud, including Yevamot 121a, Hullin 47b.^[13]

Under the later kings of the Persian Empire, the Cappadocians were divided into two satrapies, or governments, with one comprising the central and inland portion, to which the name of Cappadocia continued to be applied by Greek geographers, while the other was called Pontus. This division had already come about before the time of Xenophon. As after the fall of the Persian government the two provinces continued to be separate, the distinction was perpetuated, and the name Cappadocia came to be restricted to the inland province (sometimes called Great Cappadocia), which alone will be the focus of this article.^[14]

The kingdom of Cappadocia still existed in the time of Strabo (c. 64 BC – c. AD 24) as a nominally independent state. Cilicia was the name given to the district in which Caesarea, the capital of the whole country, was situated. The only two cities of Cappadocia considered by Strabo to deserve that appellation were Caesarea (originally known as Mazaca) and Tyana, not far from the foot of the Taurus.^[15]

Cappadocia lies in central Anatolia, in the heartland of what is now Turkey. The relief consists of a high plateau over 1,000 m in altitude that is pierced by volcanic peaks, with Mount Erciyes (ancient Argaeus) near Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) being the tallest at 3,916 m. The boundaries of historical Cappadocia are vague, particularly towards the west.^[16]

To the south, the Taurus Mountains form the boundary with Cilicia and separate Cappadocia from the Mediterranean Sea. To the west, Cappadocia is bounded by the historical regions of Lycaonia to the southwest, and Galatia to the northwest. Due to its inland location and high altitude, Cappadocia has a markedly continental climate, with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters.^[17] Rainfall is sparse and the region is largely semi-arid.^{[citation needed]}

Cappadocia contained the source of the Sarus and Pyramus rivers, and the middle course of the Halys river, and the tributary of the Euphrates, later called Tokhma Su. As no one of these rivers was navigable or served to fertilize the lands along its course, none has much importance in the history of the province.^[15]

Ignimbrites of Miocene age are present within the area. The distinctive landscape of Cappadocia was formed through the erosion of thick volcanic deposits created by ancient eruptions of Mount Erciyes, Mount Hasan, and Göllüdağ. Over millions of years, wind and water erosion shaped these soft volcanic rocks into the region’s characteristic fairy chimneys and rock formations.

Prominent rock formations such as Ortahisar and Uçhisar are composed of harder volcanic rock layers, which were more resistant to erosion than the surrounding softer deposits. As a result, these formations remained elevated over time and were later adapted for the construction of rock-cut castles and settlements.

In respect of the 'voluminous eruption deposits in a fluvio-lacustrine sequence with 'fairy-chimney' development produced by uplift and erosion', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The Miocene Cappadocian ignimbrites sequence' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'^[18]

Achaemenid Cappadocia

A Cappadocian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief.

The location of Achaemenid Cappadocia.^[19]

Cappadocia was known as Hatti in the late Bronze Age, and was the homeland of the Hittite power centred at Hattusa. After the fall of the Hittite Empire, with the decline of the Syro-Cappadocians (Mushki) after their defeat by the Lydian king Croesus in the 6th century BC, Cappadocia was ruled by a sort of feudal aristocracy, dwelling in strong castles and keeping the peasants in a servile condition, which later made them apt to foreign slavery. It was included in the third Persian satrapy in the division established by Darius but continued to be governed by rulers of its own, none apparently supreme over the whole country and all more or less tributaries of the Great King.^[15][20]

After ending the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great tried to rule the area through one of his military commanders. But Ariarathes, previously satrap of the region, declared himself king of the Cappadocians. As Ariarathes I (332–322 BC), he was a successful ruler, and he extended the borders of the Cappadocian Kingdom as far as to the Black Sea. The kingdom of Cappadocia lived in peace until the death of Alexander.^[15]

The previous empire was then divided into many parts, and Cappadocia fell to Eumenes. His claims were made good in 322 BC by the regent Perdiccas, who crucified Ariarathes; but in the dissensions which brought about Eumenes's death, Ariarathes II, the adopted son of Ariarathes I, recovered his inheritance and left it to a line of successors, who mostly bore the name of the founder of the dynasty.^[15]

Persian colonists in the Cappadocian kingdom, cut off from their co-religionists in Iran proper, continued to practice Zoroastrianism. Strabo, observing them in the first century BC, records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well as fire temples.^[21]

Strabo relates, were "noteworthy enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning."^[21] According to Strabo, who wrote during the time of Augustus (r. 27 BC – AD 14), almost three hundred years after the fall of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, there remained only traces of Persians in western Asia Minor; however, he considered Cappadocia "almost a living part of Persia".^[22]

Under Ariarathes IV, Cappadocia came into relations with Rome, first as a foe espousing the cause of Antiochus the Great, then as an ally against Perseus of Macedon. The kings henceforward threw in their lot with the Republic as against the Seleucids, to whom they had been from time to time tributary. Ariarathes V marched with the Roman proconsul Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus against Aristonicus, a claimant to the throne of Pergamon, and their forces were annihilated (130 BC). The imbroglio which followed his death ultimately led to interference by the rising power of Pontus and the intrigues and wars which ended in the failure of the dynasty.^[15][23]

The Cappadocians, supported by Rome against Mithridates VI of Pontus, elected a native lord, Ariobarzanes, to succeed (93 BC). In the same year, Armenian troops under Tigranes the Great entered Cappadocia, dethroned king Ariobarzanes and crowned Gordios as the new client-king of Cappadocia, creating a buffer zone against the encroaching Romans. When Rome deposed the Pontic and Armenian kings, the rule of Ariobarzanes was established (63 BC).^[24]

In Caesar's civil war, Cappadocia was first for Pompey, then for Caesar, then for Antony, and finally, Octavian. The Ariobarzanes dynasty came to an end, a Cappadocian nobleman Archelaus was given the throne, by favour first of Antony and then of Octavian, and maintained tributary independence until AD 17, when the emperor Tiberius, whom he had angered, summoned him to Rome and reduced Cappadocia to a Roman province.^[24]

In 70 AD, Vespasian joined Armenia Minor to Cappadocia, and made the combined province a frontier bulwark. It remained, under various provincial redistributions, part of the Eastern Empire for centuries.^[25] In 314, Cappadocia was the largest province of the Roman Empire, and was part of the Diocese of Pontus.^[26] In 371, the western part of the Cappadocia province was divided into Cappadocia Prima, with its capital at Caesarea (modern-day Kayseri); and Cappadocia Secunda, with its capital at Tyana.^[26]

By 386, the region to the east of Caesarea had become part of Armenia Secunda, while the northeast had become part of Armenia Prima.^[26] Cappadocia largely consisted of major estates, owned by the Roman emperors or wealthy local families.^[26] The Cappadocian provinces became more important in the latter part of the 4th century, as the Romans were involved with the Sasanian Empire over control of Mesopotamia and "Armenia beyond the Euphrates".^[26]

Cappadocia, now well into the Roman era, still retained a significant Iranian character; Stephen Mitchell notes that "many inhabitants of Cappadocia were of Persian descent and Iranian fire worship is attested as late as 465"^[26] and the area also contained a sizeable Armenian population since antiquity.^[27] For most of the Byzantine era it remained relatively undisturbed by the conflicts in the area with the Sasanian Empire, but the Persian Wars of the 610s and 620s placed Cappadocia on the frontline for the first time since the first century.^[28]

The exact date of arrival of Christianity in uncertain, but latest from the third century it was firmly established in society and the Church was fully developed.^[29] The Cappadocian Fathers of the 4th century were integral to much of early Christian philosophy. It produced, among other people, John of Cappadocia, Patriarch of Constantinople from 517 to 520, and Macrina, an early champion of women's monasticism.^[30] The region suffered famine in 368 described as "the most severe ever remembered" by Gregory of Nazianzus:

The city was in distress and there was no source of assistance [...] The hardest part of all such distress is the insensibility and insatiability of those who possess supplies [...] Such are the buyers and sellers of corn [...] by his word and advice [Basil's] open the stores of those who possessed them, and so, according to the Scripture, dealt food to the hungry and satisfied the poor with bread [...] He gathered together the victims of the famine [...] and obtaining contributions of all sorts of food which can relieve famine, set before them basins of soup and such meat as was found preserved among us, on which the poor live [...] Such was our young furnisher of corn, and second Joseph [...] [But unlike Joseph, Basil's] services were gratuitous and his succour of the famine gained no profit, having only one object, to win kindly feelings by kindly treatment, and to gain by his rations of corn the heavenly blessings.^[31]

This is similar to another account by Gregory of Nyssa that Basil "ungrudgingly spent upon the poor his patrimony even before he was a priest, and most of all in the time of the famine, during which [Basil] was a ruler of the Church, though still a priest in the rank of presbyters; and afterwards did not hoard even what remained to him".^[31] Basil also famously constructed near Caeserea the Basileias, a vast complex with hospices for sick, churches, quarters for travellers and facilities for doctors and nurses.^[32]

The Arrival of Muslim Arab armies in the mid-seventh century resulted in the breakdown of civil and military order of the Eastern provinces and a colossal displacement of population.^[28] Cappdocia became a border region of the Byzantine Empire, frequently raided by the Caliphate. From the 7th century, Cappadocia was divided between the Anatolic and Armeniac themes.^[28] The frontier zone between Caeserea (Kayseri) and Melitene became a no-man's land, in which the akritai and ghazis fought each other and which is remembered in the epic Digenes Akritas.^[33] The warfare, consisting of the yearly razzias as well as major campaigns took a heavy toll on the cities and villages, especially on the favourite Arab lines of march.^[34]

Cappadocia contains several underground cities (see Kaymaklı Underground City), many of which were dug by Christians to provide protection during the Arab raids and periods of persecution.^[5] The underground cities have vast defence networks of traps throughout their many levels. These traps are very creative, including such devices as large round stones to block doors and holes in the ceiling through which the defenders may drop spears.

Throughout the Dark Ages to the Middle Byzantine period, Armenians immigrated in significant numbers into Cappadocia, partly due to imperial policies.^[27] The Arab historian Abu Al Faraj asserts the following about Armenian settlers in Sebasteia, during the 10th century:

They [the Armenians] were assigned the Sebaste (now Siwas) district of Cappadocia. Their number grew to such an extent that they became valuable auxiliaries to the imperial armies. They were employed to garrison the fortresses reconquered from the Arabs (probably Membedj, Dolouk, etc.). They formed excellent infantry for the armies of Basileus in all wars, constantly fighting with courage and success alongside the Romans.^[35]

As a result of the Byzantine military campaigns and the Seljuk invasion of Armenia, the Armenians spread into Cappadocia and eastward from Cilicia into the mountainous areas of northern Syria and Mesopotamia, and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually formed. This immigration was increased further after the decline of the local imperial power and the establishment of the Crusader States following the Fourth Crusade. To the crusaders, Cappadocia was terra Hermeniorum, the land of the Armenians, due to the large number of Armenians settled there.^[36]

In the 9th–11th centuries, the region comprised the themes of Charsianon with its capital at the eponymous city and Cappadocia, which had first its capital in Nyssa and then at Koron, after Nyssa had been sacked by the Arabs in 838.^[37] By the mid-tenth century, the region was again reorganised as much of the no-men's land was resettled, especially around the area of Larissa, Tzamandos, and Lykandos.^[37] After the Byzantine reconquests in the East finished, Cappadocia was again removed from the frontier and an increasingly demilitarised region in the eleventh century.^[38]

Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Turkish clans under the leadership of the Seljuks began settling in Anatolia. With the rise of Turkish power in Anatolia, Cappadocia slowly became a tributary to the Turkish states that were established to the east and to the west; some of the native population converted to Islam^[39] with the rest forming the remaining Cappadocian Greek population.

By the end of the early 12th century, Anatolian Seljuks had established their sole dominance over the region. With the decline and the fall of the Konya-based Seljuks in the second half of the 13th century, they were gradually replaced by successive Turkic ruled states: the Karaman-based Beylik of Karaman and then the Ottoman Empire. Cappadocia remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1922, when it became part of the modern state of Turkey.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 18th century, a fundamental change occurred in between when a new urban center, Nevşehir, was founded by a grand vizier who was a native of the locality (Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha), to serve as regional capital, a role the city continues to assume to this day. In the meantime many former Cappadocians had shifted to a Turkish dialect (written in Greek alphabet, Karamanlıca).

Where the Greek language was maintained (Sille, villages near Kayseri, Pharasa town and other nearby villages), it became heavily influenced by the surrounding Turkish. This dialect of Eastern Roman Greek is known as Cappadocian Greek. Following the foundation of Turkey in 1922, those who still identified with this pre-Islamic culture of Cappadocia were required to leave, so this language is now only spoken by a handful of their descendants, most now located in modern Greece.^{[citation needed]}

Cappadocia Church (Turkish: Kapadokya Kilisesi) is a Christian church and local congregation in Avanos, a town in Nevşehir Province in Cappadocia.^{[40][41][42][43][44]} The church holds Turkish-language worship services within a Protestant theological framework, according to its own statements.^[45] Several online travel and business directories list it as one of the places of worship and visitation in Avanos.^[42][43][44]

The area is a popular tourist destination, as it has many areas with unique geological, historic, cultural, and religious features. Touristic Cappadocia includes four cities: Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray and Niğde.^{[citation needed]}

The region is located southwest of the major city Kayseri, which has airline and railway service to Ankara and Istanbul and other cities.^{[citation needed]}

The most important towns and destinations in Cappadocia are Ortahisar, Ürgüp, Göreme, Love Valley, Ihlara Valley, Selime, Güzelyurt, Uçhisar, Avanos and Zelve.^{[citation needed]} Cappadocia is served by Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport (NAV), which functions as the region’s primary airport. According to the Republic of Türkiye Directorate General of State Airports Authority (DHMİ), recent infrastructure and capacity expansion projects have increased the airport’s annual passenger capacity to nearly 2 million, a level considered sufficient for the region’s current tourism demand.^[46]

Sedimentary rocks formed in lakes and streams and ignimbrite deposits that erupted from ancient volcanoes approximately nine to three million years ago, during the late Miocene to Pliocene epochs, underlie the Cappadocia region. The rocks of Cappadocia near Göreme eroded into hundreds of spectacular pillars and minaret-like forms. People of the villages at the heart of the Cappadocia region carved out houses, churches and monasteries from the soft rocks of volcanic deposits.^[47]

Göreme became a Christian monastic centre in 300–1200 AD. The Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, and houses and churches carved into rocks in the Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valleys, all evidence Cappadocia as a centre of early Christian learning and are thus a place of pilgrimage. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the Christian monastic communities in Cappadocia (see Churches of Göreme and Churches of the Ihlara Valley) and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. The complex contains more than 30 carved-from-rock churches and chapels, some having superb frescoes inside, dating from the ninth century to the eleventh century.^[48]

The three main castles in Cappadocia are Uçhisar Castle, Ortahisar Castle, and Ürgüp Kadıkalesi (Temenni Tepe). Among the most visited underground cities are Derinkuyu, Kaymakli, Gaziemir and Ozkonak. The best historic mansions and cave houses for tourist stays are in Ürgüp, Göreme, Güzelyurt and Uçhisar.^{[citation needed]}

Hot-air ballooning is especially popular in Cappadocia, particularly around Göreme, offering sunrise flights over the region's fairy chimneys and valleys.^[49]

Trekking is practised in Ihlara Valley, Monastery Valley (Güzelyurt), Ürgüp and Göreme.^{[citation needed]}

In 1975, a study of three small villages in central Cappadocia—Tuzköy, Karain and Sarıhıdır—found that mesothelioma was causing 50% of all deaths. Initially, this was attributed to erionite, a zeolite mineral with similar properties to asbestos, but detailed epidemiological investigation demonstrated that the substance causes the disease mostly in families with a genetic predisposition to mineral fiber carcinogenesis. The studies are being extended to other parts of the region.^[50][51]

The area was featured in several films due to its topography. The 1983 Italian/French/Turkish film Yor, the Hunter from the Future and 1985's Land of Doom were filmed in Cappadocia. The region was used for the 1989 science fiction film Slipstream to depict a cult of wind worshippers. In 2010 and early 2011, the film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was filmed in the Cappadocia region.^[52]

Autechre's second album, Amber, features a photo of this region's fairy mountains as the cover art,^[53] being their only album whose cover isn't computer-generated.^{[citation needed]}

Cappadocia's winter landscapes and broad panoramas are prominent in the 2014 film Winter Sleep (Turkish: Kış Uykusu), directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.^[54]

The 2011 video game Assassin's Creed Revelations features the city as a major location, where the protagonist Ezio Auditore travels to in a bid to stop the Byzantine Templars and their operations, kill Manuel Palaiologos and recover the final Masyaf key.

Since 2012, a multiday track running ultramarathon of desert concept, called Runfire Cappadocia Ultramarathon, is held annually in July. The race tours 244 km (152 mi) in six days through several places across Cappadocia reaching out to Lake Tuz.^[55] In September 2016, for the first time, the Turkish Presidential Bike Tour took place in Cappadocia, with more than 300 cyclists from around the globe participating.^[56]

• 
  Aerial view of the town Göreme.
• 
  Aerial view of Uçhisar
• 
  General view of Ürgüp
• 
  Avanos
• 
  Göreme Historical National Park
• 
  The 'Three beauties' fairy chimneys, thought to be named after to Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, located in Ürgüp
• 
  Pigeon Valley, formerly known as Vasil Potamus
• 
  Aktepe "White Hill" near Göreme and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• 
  Balloons taking off at sunrise
• 
  Mt. Erciyes (3916 m), the highest mountain in Cappadocia
• 
  View towards Güzelyurt Monastery Valley and Church Mosque
• 
  Cappadocia traditional houses
• 
  Decorated tree with Uçhisar Castle in the background.
• 
  Horses roaming in Cappadocia
• 
  rock-cut architecture in Monks Valley, Paşabağ
• 
  A rock-cut church in Cappadocia
• 
  Derinkuyu underground city
• 
  Kaymakli underground city
• 
  Cappadocian Greeks in traditional clothing
• 
  Gümüşler Monastery Courtyard in Niğde
• 
  Çanlı Kilise, meaning "Bell Church" in Aksaray Province.
• 
  Kizil Kilise, meaning "Red Church" in Güzelyurt
• 
  Doors of Mustafapaşa
• 
  Architectural style of Avanos
• 
  Ortahisar castle

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bunbury, Edward Herbert; Hogarth, David George (1911). "Cappadocia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–288.

• Cooper, Eric; Decker, Michael J. (24 July 2012). Life and Society in Byzantine Cappadocia. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-02964-5. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
• Mitchell, Stephen (2018). "Cappadocia". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192562463.
• Raditsa, Leo (1983). "Iranians in Asia Minor". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1139054942.
• Weiskopf, Michael (1990). "Cappadocia". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. IV, Fasc. 7–8. pp. 780–86.
• Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, book "Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia', Scientific Research Publishing |2024|978-1649979582|and Ene Drăghici-Vasilescu, Elena, "Shrines and Schools in Byzantine Cappadocia", Journal of Early Christian History, volume 9, Issue 1, 2019, pp. 1–29

Look up Cappadocia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Species of antelope

 

Arabian oryx
Male in Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Hippotraginae
Genus:	Oryx
Species:	O. leucoryx
Binomial name
Oryx leucoryx (Pallas, 1777)

The Arabian oryx or white oryx (Oryx leucoryx) is a medium-sized antelope with a distinct shoulder bump, long, straight horns, and a tufted tail.^[2] It is a bovid, and the smallest member of the genus Oryx, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabian oryx was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private reserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980.

In 1986, the Arabian oryx was classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List, and in 2011, it was the first animal to revert to vulnerable status after previously being listed as extinct in the wild. It is listed in CITES Appendix I. In 2016, populations were estimated at 1,220 individuals in the wild, including 850 mature individuals, and 6,000–7,000 in captivity worldwide.^[1]

Etymology

[edit]

The taxonomic name Oryx leucoryx is from the Greek orux (gazelle or antelope) and leukos (white). The Arabian oryx is also called the white oryx in English, dishon in Hebrew,^[3] and is known as maha, wudhaihi, baqar al-wahsh, and boosolah in Arabic.^[4]

Taxonomy

[edit]

The name "oryx" was introduced by Peter Simon Pallas in 1767 for the common eland as Antilope oryx. He also scientifically described the Arabian oryx as Oryx leucoryx, giving its range as "Arabia, and perhaps Libya". In 1816, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville subdivided the antelope group, adopted Oryx as a genus name, and changed the species name Antilope oryx to Oryx gazella. In 1826, Martin Lichtenstein confused matters by transferring the name Oryx leucoryx to the scimitar oryx, now Oryx dammah. The Zoological Society of London obtained the first living individual in Europe in 1857. Not realizing this might be the Oryx leucoryx of previous authors, John Edward Gray proposed calling it Oryx beatrix after Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. Oldfield Thomas renamed the scimitar oryx as Oryx algazal in 1903 and gave the Arabian oryx its original name.^[4]

Description

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The Arabian oryx' coat is an almost luminous white, the undersides and legs are brown, and black stripes occur where the head meets the neck, on the forehead, on the nose, and going from the horn down across the eye to the mouth. Both sexes have long, straight or slightly curved, ringed horns which are 0.61–1.49 m (2–4.9 ft). It stands between 0.79 and 1.25 m (2.6 and 4.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and typically weighs between 220 to 460 lb (100 to 209 kg).^[5][2]

Distribution and habitat

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Historically, the Arabian oryx probably ranged throughout most of the Middle East. In the early 1800s, they could still be found in the Sinai, Palestine, the Transjordan, much of Iraq, and most of the Arabian Peninsula. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, their range was pushed back towards Saudi Arabia, and by 1914, only a few survived outside that country. A few were reported in Jordan into the 1930s, but by the mid-1930s, the only remaining populations were in the Nafud Desert in northwestern Saudi Arabia and the Rub' al Khali in the south.^[2]

In the 1930s, Arabian princes and oil company clerks started hunting Arabian oryxes with automobiles and rifles. Hunts grew in size, and some were reported to employ as many as 300 vehicles. By the middle of the 20th century, the northern population was effectively extinct.^[2] The last Arabian oryx in the wild before reintroduction was reported in 1972.^[6]

Arabian oryxes prefer to range in gravel deserts or hard sand, where their speed and endurance will protect them from most predators and hunters on foot. In the sand deserts in Saudi Arabia, they used to be found in the hard sand areas of the flats between the softer dunes and ridges.^[2]

Arabian oryxes have been reintroduced to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Jordan. A small population was introduced on Hawar Island, Bahrain, and large semi-managed populations at several sites in Qatar and the UAE. The total reintroduced population is now estimated to be around 1,000. This puts the Arabian oryx well over the threshold of 250 mature individuals needed to qualify for endangered status. However, the majority of the population is concentrated in Saudi Arabia.^[1]

Behaviour and ecology

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The Arabian oryx rests during the heat of the day. A herd in Oman can range over 3,000 km² (1,200 sq mi). Packs are of mixed sex and usually comprise between 2 and 15 induvials, though herds of up to 100 have been reported. Arabian oryxes are generally not aggressive toward one another, which allows herds to exist peacefully for some time.^[7]

Feeding

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The diets of the Arabian oryx consist mainly of grasses, but it eats a large variety of vegetation, including buds, herbs, fruit, tubers and roots. Herds follow infrequent rains to eat the new plants that grow afterwards. They can go for several weeks without water.^[7] In Oman, it primarily eats grasses of the genus Stipagrostis, flowers from Stipagrostis plants appeared highest in crude protein and water, while leaves seemed a better food source with other vegetation.^[8]

Behavior

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When the Arabian oryx is not wandering its habitat or eating, it digs shallow depressions in the soft ground under shrubs or trees for resting. They can detect rainfall from a distance and follow in the direction of fresh plant growth. The number of individuals in a herd can vary greatly (up to 100 have been reported occasionally), but the average is 10 or fewer individuals.^[9] Bachelor herds do not occur, and single territorial males are rare. Herds establish a straightforward hierarchy that involves all females and males above the age of about seven months.^[10] Arabian oryxes tend to maintain visual contact with other herd members, with subordinate males taking positions between the main body of the herd and the outlying females. If separated, males will search areas where the herd last visited, settling into a solitary existence until the herd's return. Where water and grazing conditions permit, male Arabian oryxes establish territories. Bachelor males are solitary.^[11] A dominance hierarchy is created within the herd by posturing displays, which avoid the danger of serious injury their long, sharp horns could potentially inflict. Males and females use their horns to defend the sparse territorial resources against interlopers.^[12]

Adaptations for desert environments

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The Arabian oryx changes its physiology and behaviour at different times of the year to increase survival during times when food and water are in limited supply. During the summer, when droughts are common in the desert environments where it lives, the Arabian oryx will drastically reduce its minimal fasting metabolic rate by lying completely inactive beneath shade trees during the day and ranging over smaller areas at night to forage.^[13] By letting its body temperature rise during the heat of the day, it uses less evaporative cooling and retains more body water, and at night, the cool night air lowers its temperature back to the normal range.^[14] The oryx's arterial blood temperature is partly powered by a network of small arterial vessels with a large surface area called the rete mirabile, which branches from the two carotid arteries to the brain and allows for heat exchange between warm arterial blood and the cooler blood in the sinus cavities.^[14] Because of these changes in behaviour and physiology, it was shown that Arabian oryx can reduce their urine volume, faecal water loss, and resting metabolic rate by at least 50%.^[15]

The Arabian wolf is the Arabian oryx's only predator. In captivity and safe conditions in the wild, it has a maximum life span of up to 20 years.^[11] In periods of drought, though, their life expectancy may be significantly reduced by malnutrition and dehydration. Other causes of death include fights between males, snakebites, disease, and drowning during floods.^[16]

Importance to humans

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The Arabian oryx is the national animal of Jordan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates,^[17] Bahrain, and Qatar.^[18]

The Arabian oryx is also the namesake of several businesses on the Arabian peninsula, notably Al Maha Airways and Al Maha Petroleum.

In the King James Version of the Bible, the word re'em is translated as 'unicorn'. In Modern Hebrew, the name re'em lavan, meaning white oryx, is used in error for the scimitar-horned oryxes living in the sanctuary Yotvata Hai Bar near Eilat.^[19] The scimitar oryx is called re'em Sahara. The Arabian name ri'ïm is the equivalent of the Hebrew name re'em, also meaning white oryx, suggesting a borrowing from the Early Modern Era.

A Qatari oryx named "Orry" was chosen as the official games mascot for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha,^[20] and is shown on tailfins of planes belonging to Middle Eastern airline Qatar Airways.

Unicorn myth

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The myth of the one-horned unicorn may be based on oryxes that have lost one horn. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder held that the oryx was the unicorn's "prototype".^[21] From certain angles, the oryx may seem to have one horn rather than two,^[22][23] and given that its horns are made from hollow bone that cannot be regrown, if an Arabian oryx were to lose one of its horns, for the rest of its life, it would have only one.^[21]

Another source for the concept may have originated from the translation of the Hebrew word re'em into Greek as μονόκερως, monokeros, in the Septuagint.^[24] In Psalm 22:21, the word karen, meaning horn, is written in singular. The Roman Catholic Vulgata and the Douay-Rheims Bible translated re'em as rhinoceros; other translations are names for a wild bull, wild oxen, buffalo, or gaur, but in some languages, a word for unicorn is maintained. The Arabic translation alrim is the correct choice etymologically, meaning 'white oryx'.^[25]

Conservation

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Main article: Arabian oryx reintroduction

The Phoenix Zoo and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society of London (now Fauna and Flora International), with financial help from the World Wildlife Fund, are credited with saving the Arabian oryx from extinction. In 1962, these groups started the first captive-breeding herd in any zoo, at the Phoenix Zoo, sometimes referred to as "Operation Oryx".^[26][27] Starting with nine animals, the Phoenix Zoo has had over 240 successful births. From Phoenix, Arabian oryxes were sent to other zoos and parks to start new herds.

In 1968, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, out of concern for the land's wildlife, particularly ungulates such as the Arabian oryx, founded the Al Ain Zoo to conserve them.^[28]

Arabian oryxes were hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972. By 1980, the number of Arabian oryxes in captivity had increased to the point that Arabian oryx reintroduction was started. The first release, to Oman, was attempted with Arabian oryxes from the San Diego Wild Animal Park.^[6] Although numbers in Oman have declined, there are now wild populations in Saudi Arabia and Israel,^[29][30] as well. One of the largest populations is found in Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, a large, fenced reserve in Saudi Arabia, covering more than 2,000 km² (770 sq mi).^[1]

On June 28, 2007, Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was the first site ever to be removed from the UNESCO World Heritage List. UNESCO's reason for this was the Omani government's decision to open 90% of the site to oil prospecting. The Arabian oryx population on the site has been reduced from 450 in 1996 to only 65 in 2007. At that time, there were fewer than four breeding pairs left on the site.^{[31][needs update]}

In June 2011, the Arabian oryx was relisted as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. The IUCN estimated there were more than 1,200 Arabian oryx in the wild as of 4 December 2020^[update] 2016, with 6,000–7,000 held in captivity worldwide in zoos, preserves, and private collections. Some of these are in large, fenced enclosures (free-roaming), including those in Syria (Al Talila), Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE.^[1] This is the first time the IUCN has reclassified a species as vulnerable after it had been listed as extinct in the wild.^[32] The Arabian oryx is also listed in CITES Appendix I.^[1]

References

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1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2017). "Oryx leucoryx". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017 e.T15569A50191626. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T15569A50191626.en. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Talbot, L. M. (1960). A Look at Threatened Species. The Fauna Preservation Society. pp. 84–91.
3. ^ Slifkin, Nathan, The Torah encyclopedia of the Animal kingdom, vol.1, OU Press, New York, 2015, pp.272-275
4. ^ ^{a b} "Conservation Programme for Arabian Oryx: Taxonomy & description". National Wildlife Research Center. 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
5. ^ "Oryx". Animals & Plants. San Diego Zoo. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
6. ^ ^{a b} Stanley-Price, Mark (July–August 1982). "The Yalooni Transfer". Saudi Aramco World. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
7. ^ ^{a b} Massicot, P. (2007). "Arabian Oryx". Animal Info. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
8. ^ Spalton, J. A. (1999). "The food supply of Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) in the desert of Oman". Journal of Zoology. 248 (4): 433–441. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1999.tb01043.x.
9. ^ Leu, H. (2001) "Oryx leucoryx" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web.
10. ^ How to go wild. New Scientist (1989-10-28). Retrieved on 2013-01-01.
11. ^ ^{a b} "Arabian Oryx". The Phoenix Zoo. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
12. ^ BBC (2012-04-27). Science & Nature – Wildfacts – Arabian oryx. Retrieved on 2013-01-01.
13. ^ Williams, J. B.; Ostrowski, S.; Bedin, E.; Ismail, K. (2001). "Seasonal variation in energy expenditure, water flux and food consumption of Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx". Journal of Experimental Biology. 204 (13): 2301–2311. Bibcode:2001JExpB.204.2301W. doi:10.1242/jeb.204.13.2301. PMID 11507113.
14. ^ ^{a b} "Animals at the extremes: The desert environment". June 10, 2019. Archived from the original on 2017-01-05. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
15. ^ Ostrowski, S.; Williams, J. B.; Mésochina, P.; Sauerwein, H. (2005). "Physiological acclimation of a desert antelope, Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), to long-term food and water restriction". Journal of Comparative Physiology B. 176 (3): 191–201. doi:10.1007/s00360-005-0040-0. PMID 16283332. S2CID 14680361.
16. ^ "The Oryx Facts". The Arabian Oryx Project. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
17. ^ "The UAE National Symbols..." TEACH United Arab Emirates. 2 (2). Jess Jumeira School. Nov–Dec 2014.
18. ^ Orr, Tamra (30 June 2008). Qatar. Marshall Cavendish. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-7614-2566-3. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
19. ^ "Hai-Bar Yotvata Nature Reserve | | Sights". www.lonelyplanet.com. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
20. ^ "Mascot of Asian Games 2006". Travour.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
21. ^ ^{a b} Rice, M. (1994). The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf, c. 5000–323 BC. Routledge. p. 63. ISBN 0-415-03268-7.
22. ^ "Arabian Oryx". Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
23. ^ Tongren, S. (1981). What's for Lunch: Animal Feeding at the Zoo. GMG Publications. ISBN 978-0-939456-00-0.
24. ^ Gerritsen, Wim (June 2005). "Bestaat de Eenhoorn;of Hoe de wetenschap de bijbel de baas werd". De Groene Amsterdammer.
25. ^ "Smith & Van Dyke Arabic Bible translation - Deuteronomium 33:17". Bible Hub.
26. ^ The Arabian Oryx Project – Timeline. oryxoman.com
27. ^ Phoenix Zoo Species Survival Plan Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. Phoenixzoo.org (2006-01-03). Retrieved on 2013-01-01.
28. ^ "History". Al Ain Zoo. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
29. ^ Saltz, D. (1998). "A long-term systematic approach to planning reintroductions: the Persian fallow deer and the Arabian oryx in Israel". Animal Conservation. 1 (4): 245. Bibcode:1998AnCon...1..245S. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.1998.tb00035.x. S2CID 85943063.
30. ^ Gilad, O.; Grant, W.E. & Saltz, D. (2008). "Simulated dynamics of Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) in the Israeli Negev: Effects of migration corridors and post-reintroduction changes in natality on population viability". Ecological Modelling. 210 (1–2): 169. Bibcode:2008EcMod.210..169G. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.07.015.
31. ^ "Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary: first site ever to be deleted from UNESCO's World Heritage List". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
32. ^ Platt, John (17 June 2011). "Arabian Oryx Makes History as First Species to Be Upgraded from "Extinct in the Wild" to "Vulnerable"". scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 20 June 2011.

Further reading

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• Silverberg, Robert (1967). The Auk, the Dodo, and the Oryx: Vanished and Vanishing Creatures. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. LCCN 67002554. L.C. Card AC 67-10476.

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Oryx leucoryx (category)

Wikispecies has information related to Oryx leucoryx.

• Images and movies of the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) at Arkive
• Living Desert article
• Arabian Oryx at Al Wabra Wildlife Preserve
• Oryx leucoryx on Animal Diversity Web
• Oryx leucoryx on Mammal Species of the World