306 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Pkai ty CharUi Knight] [Aldinha 



BACTRIAN CAMEL 



The most useful transport animal of Central Asia 



THE LLAMAS 



THE LLAMAS are humpless 'camels, and 

 confined to the western and southernmost 

 parts of South America. Two wild and two 

 domesticated species are known. The name 

 Llama, itshould be mentioned, properlybelongs 

 to the domesticated animal of that name. 



THE VICUNA 



This is the smaller of the two wild 

 species. Vicunas live in herds in the 

 mountain-ranges of Peru, dwelling during the 

 wet season high up amid rocks and precipices, 

 near the region of perpetual snow. In the 

 dry season they descend to the higher valleys. 

 Their capture is a matter of great difficulty; 

 for, apart from the inaccessible nature of their 

 haunts, they are exceedingly shy and vigilant. 

 They are clothed in a woolly coat of extremely 

 delicate texture, much in demand for weaving 

 purposes. 



The baby vicuna, it is interesting to 

 note, is able to run swiftly directly after 

 its birth, and possesses great powers of 



distinguished from its Arabian relative by the 

 fact that it has two humps, is shorter in 

 the leg and heavier, and has longer hair 

 and stouter and harder feet. The shorter 

 legs are distinctly advantageous, enabling the 

 animal to get about with ease and safety over 

 rocky and hilly ground. 



The hordes of wild camels found in 

 Turkestan, in the neighbourhood of Kashgar, 

 are believed by Major C. S. Cumberland to 

 be descended from camels which escaped 

 when the district known as Takla Makan was 

 buried in a great sand-storm 200 years ago. 

 From the fury of that storm it is said no 

 human being escaped alive. Some camels 

 apparently did, perhaps owing their survival 

 to the power they possess of closing the 

 nostrils, and thereby keeping out the sand. 



The Bactrian camel lives upon the salt 

 and bitter plants of the steppes, which are 

 rejected by almost all other animals. It is 

 further able to drink brackish water from the 

 salt lakes by which it is surrounded. When 

 pressed by hunger, it will even eat felt blankets, 

 bones and skins of other animals, and fish ! 



YOUNG BACTRIAN CAMEL 



The fwo humfi are just beginning to groin 



