Camelid comeback: scientists search for ways to save wild cousins on two continents - preservation efforts for the vicuna and two-hump camels - Cover Story

Science News, Jan 11, 2003 by Carol Marzuola

Even that count may indicate that the animals constitute a critically endangered species. Reading says the population appears to have few young, but the researchers aren't sure why. Any number of problems--inbreeding, spontaneous abortions, poor nutrition, or disease--might be to blame. Even healthy Bactrian camels are meager procreators because the birth of a single camel requires a 14-month gestation period.

Another international group, the Wild Camel Protection Foundation in Kent, England, claims that the wild-camel population is dwindling for other reasons, such as drought, poaching, and predation by wolves. The group now wants to increase the number of wild camels by implanting embryos of captured wild camels into surrogate domestic camels. Foundation director John Hare says that the foundation plans to keep the offspring for further breeding or release them into the wild. He says that he's already raised $85,000 of the $150,000 needed to get the program rolling this year.

The plan is upsetting some scientists, who say the costly, high-tech endeavor is a waste for such a poorly studied animal. "Reintroducing animals back into a situation where you haven't figured out and addressed the cause of the population decline in the first place is an antiquated view," says Blumer.

He adds that the wild camels that Hare has said he'll breed have an unclear history. They were raised in captivity near domesticated animals and may have bred with them. Release of these camels might introduce diseases into wild herds, and their offspring might carry domesticated genes.

"If [the herds] get mixed, maybe we'll lose a wild genetic source," worries Tuvdendorj Galbaatar, vice president of the Mongolian Academy of Science.

Galbaatar says that Reading's team is bringing much-needed conservation biology expertise to Mongolia to solve these sorts of issues. The United Nations and World Bank are funding a 5-year study that includes building a permanent research station in the Gobi Desert.

Later this year, Reading and his colleagues plan to collar more camels and continue genetic studies similar to those that have been done on vicuna. The researchers will also collect feces that free-roaming wild herds have left behind. The samples should indicate the animals' diets and hormone signatures, which could tell scientists something about the camels' physiology and reproduction.

Reading says, "Technology allows us to move into this very harsh environment and study an animal that's incredibly shy."