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Bactrian Camel

Bactrian Camel line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Bactrian Camel full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Bactrian Camel was completed on 4.8.2011. I recall the Minnesota Zoo getting these animals, because the climate in the state closely resembles the cold, dry deserts these camels come from. Recently, we saw a show where a young Bactrian Camel was cavorting in a private zoo. I recalled my friend Warren Lynn had an excellent photo of one of these animals in his image library. I used that to create this drawing. With this, I've completed drawings of both extant camel species (the other being the Arabian Dromedary.

Information about the Bactrian Camel:

The Bactrian Camel is a large, even-toed ungulate native to the cold, barren steppes of Central Asia. While the species has been widely domesticated and there are thought to be over 1,000,000 on the planet, there are only small, isolated populations in remote areas of the Gobi Desert that are wild. The IUCN has the Bactrian Camel on their Red List, and it is considered critically endangered. This camel is liklely the ancestor of all domestic two-humped camels. It is well adapted to the harsh conditions of the Gobi Desert, which is one of the driest, coldest places on earth. These camels can survive through droughts and when food is extremely scarce. Camels are the only land animals that can drink salt or brackish water with no ill effects.