Since its introduction to Australia in 1860, the dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) has established a feral population of 750,000 across the outback. PHOTOGRAPH BY Cezary Wojtkowski
Australia’s ceaseless outback has become home to the largest feral population of dromedary camels in the world. How did an animal associated with the Middle East end up down under and what are the consequences of their arrival to the historic desert ecosystem? Australia’s outback is a fierce environment strewn with sandy grass, red sand and boundless horizons rolling over an area of 6 million km2, almost twice the size of India. If you strolled through the hardened terrain before long, you’d be greeted with Australia’s famed fauna of kangaroos and the occasional rarer dingo. But sighting a camel, however, would be believed to be out of the question. Initially, if you saw one, you’d no likely shrug and think on for the outback already is an expanse of loneliness and mystery that plays tricks on the mind. Possibly you would presume that it’s an escaped pet, alone traversing the desert to its fate is realized. But as one becomes many and herds of camels unmistakably pace by with a calm sense of belonging, you before long crave for the story of their origin. Although camels appear to be expertly crafted to the rugged elements of Australia’s desert, they are by no means a native Australian species being about as Australian as a grizzly bear. However, since the first imports of camels in the 19th century from the Arabian Peninsula including India and Afghanistan, this narrative was set to change.
The dromedary (Camelus dromedarius), commonly known as the Arabian camel, was the perfect asset to allow British explorers to delve into the geographical secrets of the scorched outback. Packhorses and donkeys didn’t make the cut in the punishing arid conditions that comprise 70% of Australia’s landmass. Instead, between 1870 and 1920, 20,000 camels were imported along with their 2000 handlers who later became known as the ‘Afghans’. Together as a team, camel and handler, the desert puzzle was slowly filled in as transport routes were established, a testament to the fortitude and stamina of the one-humped beasts. Supplies such as tea, wool, and tobacco passed through settlements helping develop vital trade for Australian society. However, as the world’s technological age exponentially advanced, the camel trade was not to last.
The sudden arrival of motorised transport and the internal combustion engine in the 1930s left the camels redundant. Opportunity collapsed for Australia’s cameleers who subsequently released their companions to fend for themselves as they pursued new opportunities away from the outback. Alone but by no means lost, the feral camels thrived. Today, these forgotten camel couriers make up the largest feral population of camels in the world at an estimated 750,000 strong. After claiming the outback as their new home, the camel population doubled every 8 to 9 years. Australia lacks a natural predator that can match the half tonne mass of an adult camel leaving them to peacefully multiply. The colossal stretch of the outback shielded most Australians from the ongoing boom but today the problem has come to the forefront of the public eye. The 2013 film ‘Tracks’ retold the true story of Robyn Davidson who undertook a 1,700-mile trek from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean in 1977 on foot, accompanied only by her dog and four camel companions. Throughout the 9-month feat, Robyn witnessed the feral camels first-hand, but after almost 50 years on the camels have ravaged the outback ecosystem. As the camels rampage through the desert, they drink towns dry, destroy village infrastructure, strip lands of vegetation and foul waterholes vital for aboriginal communities’ survival and cultural belonging. What practical solutions do we have to control camel numbers? Is the damage exerted on the outback reversible or will we have to come to accept the consequences of their presence down under?
Camels are found in every mainland Australian state except New South Wales and Victoria. Within these regions, the camels have caused considerable damage to infrastructure and environmental lands estimated to already cost $10 million. PHOTOGRAPH BY Stanislav Fosenbauer Camels are voracious feeders which graze on grass and herbaceous plants as well as consuming woody vegetation. Their appetite for Australian flora is plentiful feeding upon 80% of native plants including rare and threatened desert species. Plant by plant, the camels have stripped historical feeding grounds for Australia’s native species all whilst reducing the amount of sequestered carbon in vegetation and emitting considerable levels of greenhouse gases. The camels have not stopped at damaging vegetation, they commonly foul waterholes, a precious source of freshwater, and ultimately life, in the harsh grip of the outback. Macroinvertebrate biodiversity has been seen to drop as camels visit the waterholes creating significantly poorer turbid water. These species, which include insects, clams, and snails, are responsible for breaking down living and decaying plant material in freshwater ecosystems to ensure healthy waters. Water in all deserts has been cherished as a sacred commodity, a grasp at life in an unforgiving arena, and the aboriginal people treat it no different. Not only do they rely upon them to drink, wash, and cook, but waterholes have also become shrines of hope housing ceremonial art on sacred cultural grounds.
Camels, dead and alive, are found at a waterhole around Docker River, Northern Territory. Camels can drink 200 litres in one sitting when thirsty quickly drying up waterholes for local aboriginal communities as well as other thirsty camels. In years of drought camel mortality at these locations is common.
PHOTOGRAPH BY R.Bugg
Unfortunately, these perceived lackadaisical creatures have not stopped at waterholes. Instead, they have developed a thirst for the water supplies held preciously in aboriginal communities. Especially in a time of drought, camels demand water supplies breaking taps, pumps and toilets ushered on by the struggle to survive. Thirsty adult camels can guzzle 100-200 litres of precious water in a matter of minutes. Outback communities are left thirsty and defeated bearing the expensive rebuild of fencing and water infrastructure. Overall, the direct impacts on infrastructure damage, grazing land loss, and competition with livestock for vegetation have exceeded $10 million. What measures can locals and governments do to reduce the camel problem?
The figure shows feral camel distribution and population density in 2008. Feral animals are those that live in the wild despite descending from a domesticated individual. Since going feral in the 1930s camels have been found in many Australian states including Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and parts of Queensland.
FIGURE BY Glenn Edwards
The initial brutal but truthful reaction from the Australian government was to cull hefty numbers of camels in an effort to reduce densities in areas where they have become too numerous causing direct human-wildlife conflict. Between 2009 and 2013, the National Feral Camel Action Plan pumped $19 million into the removal of camels over roughly 685,000 km2 of land. Over 160,000 camels were shot, mostly aerially by helicopter, leaving the bodies to wastefully rot and seep into the iconic red sand.
Predictably this blunt emotionless response was met with backlash from critics who instead called for the camels to be sent back to native regions or farmed for their produce. However, local culls to protect remote aboriginal communities are still being completed as recent as 2020 in southern Australia. Further funding and research are planning to make culls even more successful by adopting the Judas technique. Selected camels are radio-tagged and followed to locate more individuals, and it appears to work. Researchers found that tagged camels were found with a cohort of others on 96% of occasions, accidentally betraying their feral companions. The helicopter is called in, killing all but the tagged individual, allowing the survivor to doom any future friends. The other called for solution is to round up, capture, and farm the feral camels. There’s a market for camel dairy and meat: people are willing to pay for it. Camel milk is hailed for its anti-microbial properties and high vitamin C content and farmers are getting creative with how they process it. Chocolate, cheese and ice cream are all Australian farm creations that utilize the milk. Small-scale camel farms are spreading across the states with multiple established farms popping up in Southern Australia and across Queensland.
Small-scale Australian farms are creating products such as milk, cheese, and wool to profit from the invasive species. This creates a new source of income in an environment with limited opportunities.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Shutterstock In terms of the meat industry, Australia currently processes around 5,000 camels a year for human consumption and demand from other nations such as Saudi Arabia, Japan and USA for the meat is present. The obstacle is scaling production up to be profitable whilst solving the environmental crisis by reducing numbers. Firstly, rounding up camels in a sea of desert requires immense skill, time and money using helicopters to spot them. Once caught the job isn’t done, transporting camels is no easy task in the desert. The outback lacks numerous robust roads making transport to abattoirs and trade locations a lengthy logistical nightmare. It appears that local communities can still carry out small-scale practices to make a living, through tourist rides and farming, but currently the most impactful method to control camel numbers, although wasteful, are these widespread culls.
Tourists embark on an afternoon camel tour around the famous aboriginal landmark of Uluru.
PHOTOGRAPH BY Shutterstock
The story of Australia’s wild camels is far from finished. Will the Australian government invest heavily to make this invasive species farmable or continue on with its arranged culls? Possibly a situation will be reached where helicopters are used to round up camels, rather than shoot them on the spot. For now, Australians are learning to control and co-exist with their desert dwellers as the camels have established to stay down under. Maybe sighting a camel in the outback may not be so strange after all.
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