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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 212.93.55.37 (talk) at 15:21, 5 February 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Intro is still unclear with respect to conservation status

Yet, the world's only population of wild dromedaries are in Australia.

In addition to being grammatically incorrect (should be "...is in Australia"), this sentence seems to directly contradict the animal's conservation status of "extinct in the wild". Can someone please clear this up? Matt Gerber 19:41, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How exactly does 13 million dromedaries plus a large feral contingent consitute 'extinct in the wild'? Considering that they are more or less self-sustaining without human intervention.

Move mention of bactrian camels

The paragraph which begins "The stronger and more durable Bactrian Camels. . ." seems to imply that the Arab conquest of North Africa introduced the domesticated Bactrian camel, not the dromedary. Is this correct? If it is, it belongs in the article on the Bactrian Camel, not here. —Charles P. (Mirv) 17:41, 11 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

700,000 is exaggerated

The current article states "None survive in the wild, although there is an escaped feral population of about 700,000 in Australia.[1]" But according to the PDF linked in [1], the article states the number as being "at least 300,000". This is the same figure that is mentioned in the Feral article, which uses the same source. Where does the number 700,000 come from? This figure should refer to another source, or be changed to 300,000.

"None survive in the wild, although there is an escaped feral population" sounds like a contradiction to me. Is there some good reason why a feral population does not qualify as "in the wild"? -- DPJ, 2006-02-19 19:38 UTC

I've altered the text so that statement hopefully makes more sense. The previous wording was a copyvio anyway. Tomertalk 05:11, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

May also want to mention recent discovery of giant dromedary dating around 100,000 years.

Terminology

I was rather taken aback by the title of this article. Surely the correct term is Arabian camel? A dromedary is a specialised type of Arabian camel bred for racing. PatGallacher 21:28, 26 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I quote from Oakland Zoo website[1] "The name 'Dromedary' is properly reserved for the Arabian racing camel such as those used in the various military camel corps."

Having moved this article, I will change the contents in due course. PatGallacher 14:49, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have never heard of an "Arabian Camel". Was this change made based solely on the Oakland Zoo page? If no further support for the name "Arabian Camel" can be found, this page should be moved back. See Wikipedia:Use common names. Note also that every other Wikipedia version also calls the animal "Dromedary" or a variant thereof. Tomertalk 03:43, 13 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I have no objection to "Arabian Camel" instead of "Arabian camel". No, this change was not just based on Oakland Zoo website. I read something along the same lines in an encyclopedia some years ago, and Wikipedia is the first serious reference work I have come across which used this terminology. I rode one of these animals a few years ago, I don't remember the guide calling it a dromedary. There is a certain symmetry in Arabian Camel v. Bactrian Camel. Trying a goggle search does not provide a clear answer to the question: which is the more common name. In any case, if you read the Wikipedia guidelines, "Use common names" is not a rigid guideline, there can be exceptions if a name is problematic in some way. PatGallacher 12:40, 13 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On the contrary. Google searches pretty emphatically show a preference for "dromedary" over "arabian camel".

The first shows a 19.4:1 occurrence of "dromedary" vs. "arabian camel" in non-wikipedia mirror sites. The second shows an astonishing 28:1 preference for dromedary exclusively over mention of both names. Moreover, the third search demonstrates a mindblowing 79.3:1 preference for "dromedary" on pages that also mention zoos. I'd say that pretty definitively, if not thoroughly and soundly, demonstrates that "dromedary" is clearly more common. The name "dromedary" isn't problematic, it's "arabian camel" that seems to be. For pete's sake. The binomial name is Camelus dromedarius, not Camelus arabicus. Tomertalk 22:04, 16 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Since no response to the above has been made in the past month and a half, I'm going to go ahead and move the article back to Dromedary. If anyone wants it at Arabian camel, they can go ahead and bring it up at WP:RM. Cheers, Tomertalk 20:26, 1 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am doing a report on ARABIAN CAMELS and it is defenately one of the names for the Dromedary Camel. I have seen it on a very large number of web sites and books. SM

That's nice, but how does it support or diminish anything said above? Tomertalk 04:25, 1 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The following paragraph is full of ambiguities, PLZ re-edit

"Around the second millennium BC, camels became established to the Sahara region but disappeared again from the Sahara beginning around 900 BC. The Persian invasion of Egypt under Cambyses introduced domesticated camels to the area. Domesticated camels were used through much of North Africa, and the Romans maintained a corps of camel warriors to patrol the edge of the desert. The Persian camels, however, were not particularly suited to trading or travel over the Sahara; rare journeys made across the desert were made on horse-drawn chariots.

The stronger and more durable Bactrian Camels first began to arrive in Africa in the fourth century. It was not until the Islamic conquest of North Africa, however, that these camels became common. While the invasion was accomplished largely on horseback, the new links to the Middle East allowed camels to be imported en masse. These camels were well-suited to long desert journeys and could carry a great deal of cargo. For the first time this allowed substantial trade over the Sahara."

Please state which species os camels you mean here. the paragraph explains an intertwined history of two species of camels which can be both described by the word camel. Hakeem.gadi 08:05, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Recategorization

I've recatagorized this page into 'Category:Fauna of the Sahara', instead of 'Category:Wildlife of the Sahara', because there are more animals in 'Category:Fauna of the Sahara'. User:George cowie 09:06, 8th July 2006.

Map query

If there is a very substantial population of dromediaries in Australia, and the only major feral population in the whole world, the map should show this. Since there is no wild population, the distribution shown on the map should be the actual domesticated and feral populations, not historic distribution.

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