April 2009
Longleat Camels Suffer 'Bad Hair Day'!
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The birds collecting the bedding for their nests! |
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Native to the rocky deserts of Central and Eastern Asia, the Bactrian Camel is well adjusted to climatic extremes. With temperatures reaching over 38OC (100 OF) in summer and dropping to -29OC (-20 OF) in winter, they have adapted specifically to withstand these variations.
Imagine the joy therefore for local birds to Longleat when one of these adaptations kicked in – moulting! Not content with picking the hair off the ground however, these birds have now taken to pecking it off the backs of the camels to fulfil their need for a fur-lined nest for their offspring!
As Deputy Warden Ian Turner confirmed “We have 6 Bactrian Camels in the park and all have started moulting in the last couple of weeks.
“We have noticed a marked increase in the number of birds in the Camel Enclosure during this time with a strong predominance of jackdaws. These cheeky things are landing on the camels’ backs, taking a quick grab at the dead hair before flying back to their nests.
“It’s difficult to
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Longleat camels during the moulting season |
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imagine the sheer quantity of hair that comes off each camel. If you can assume around eight bin bags per camel however, that may give you some idea of how much these birds are pinching and taking away. You can just imagine the deluxe nature of these nests!”
The Bactrian Camel can be easily recognised from its nearest relative, the Dromedary, as it has two humps rather than one. The humps are used to store fat which can be converted to energy when enduring long periods without water or food.
Camels rarely sweat which enables them to conserve fluids for long periods of time. They can also drink vast quantites of water when it is available - a very thirsty animal can drink 135 litres (30 gallons) of water in only 13 minutes!
The Bactrian Camel is listed as critically endangered in the wild with probably less than 950 wild camels still surviving in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and China.
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BBC
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