WILD CAMELS 



also with clothing. The common or Arabian camel 

 never grows so thick a coat as does his Asiatic 

 cousin, for it would prove worse than useless to him 

 under the burning sun of the arid deserts where he is 

 most at home ; but even so, its hair at times attains 

 sufficient length to enable the natives to make gar- 

 ments from it. Thus, it was dressed in one of these 

 that John the Baptist went out into the desert. 



Camels, it has been stated, are now unknown as 

 wild animals, but this is not the case, according to Dr. 

 Sven Hedin, who saw large herds of them during his 

 many journeys of exploration in Central Asia. Mr. 

 R. Lydekker,^ who refers to these animals as " C. 

 bactriamis ferus" has examined several skulls, and 

 has found that they differ essentially from either of 

 the two domesticated species. The dentition of the 

 wild camel appears to approximate much more closely 

 to that of fossil species, and this, combined with several 

 minor variations, appears to indicate that the living 

 wild camel is more nearly related to the extinct than 

 to either of the existing domesticated species. 



The camel (Arab, djemal; Heb. gamel) is one 



of the most curious and specialised animals among 



ruminants. The head, placed at the end of a long 



curved neck, is ridiculously small, as also are the ears, 



while the eyes are large, and the nostrils peculiar, 



being narrow and slit-like and capable of being closed 



at will. This power is very useful to them during a 



sandstorm, for on such occasions they will lie down 



with their backs to the wind, and with their necks 



stretched out along the ground, will lie motionless 



with closed nostrils until the storm is passed. Behind 



the head on the upper part of the neck are two large 



^ Ency. Brit.^ article on Camels, by R. Lydekker. 

 270 



