CAMELIDS: CHARACTERISTICS, TAXONOMY, HABITAT, FEEDING - BIOLOGY - 2024

The camelids (Camelidae) are hoofed mammals Artiodactyla placental belonging to the order, which are grouped into three distinct genres: Camelus, and Lama Vicugna. Some of its representatives are the llama, the vicuña and the camel.

The members of this order are usually grouped in two. This is based, among other factors, on your geographic location. The camelids of the New World are the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña and the guanaco.

Source: pixabay.com

Throughout history, man has domesticated camelids, using them as means of transport and as pack animals. They also consume their meat and milk and with their fur they make various textile garments.

Bed

According to molecular data, New World camelids and Old World camelids separated about 11 million years ago. Despite this, these genera can interbreed, forming viable offspring. The bed is a hybrid species, the product of the artificial union of an Arabian camel and a llama.

This animal is medium in size and lacks a hump. The ears are short and its tail is long, as in the case of the dromedary. Their legs are longer than those of the llama, with a notch in the hooves, a characteristic similar to that of the llama. They are sterile, even though the parents have the same number of chromosomes.

Evolution

During the Upper Eocene, camelids appeared in North America. During the ice age, the climate became very adverse for these animals, and they had to emigrate.

A group of them, the ancestors of the current genus Camelus, made it through the Bering Strait, reaching Africa and Asia. Others, the ancestors of the Lama and Vicugna genera, advanced across the Isthmus of Panama to South America.

In the central Andean region, the Paleolama and Lama emerged in the Middle Pleistocene. During the Holocene, the only survivor of the previous species, the Lama, migrated to the colder areas, where it settled.

General characteristics

Head

The skull is elongated in shape, with a highly developed sagittal crest and postorbital bar. Neither genus has horns.

His upper lip has a deep cleft that makes it split into two parts that he can move independently.

Extremities

Their limbs are long, they join the body at the top of the thigh. The front legs have calluses or knee pads. In the Vicugna genus, the knee joint has a low position, because the femur is long and vertically positioned.

The ulna and fibula bones are reduced, presenting in the form of a splint. When running, camelids do so in a rotating stride, due to the fact that the front and rear legs move unison on each side of the body.

Legs

The legs are wide in the Camelus and thin in the genera Lama and Vicugna. Camelids are the only plantigrade ungulates. Metapodials three and four are proximally fused, forming a cannon bone.

The first two phalanges of the third and fourth fingers are flattened and extended, while the last phalanx is reduced. The phalanges of the middle finger are embedded in the pad that makes up the sole of the foot.

Most of the weight falls on the footpads, which are tough and fibrous in nature. The Andean camelids, the llama and the vicuña, use them to get more grip on the rocky terrain where they live.

Teeth

The cheek teeth are characterized by low crowns and crescent-shaped cusps. Between the incisors and molars there is a wide separation, called the diastema.

Adults have two upper incisors, similar to canines. Lower incisors are spatula-shaped and project forward

Shape and size

The South American genera, llama and vicuña, vary in weight from 35 kilograms to 100 kilograms. Camels are much larger, weighing between 450 and 650 kilograms.

Both species of camels have humps, dromedaries have only one, and Bactrians have two.

Taxonomy

Animal Kingdom.

Subkingdom Bilateria.

Infra-kingdom Deuterostomy.

Chordate Phylum.

Vertebrate Subfilum.

Infrafilum Gnathostomata.

Tetrapoda superclass.

Mammal class.

Subclass Theria.

Infraclass Eutheria.

Order Artiodactyla.

Family Camelidae

The Camelidae family is divided into three genera: Lama, Vicugna, and Camellus:

Genus Lama

Llamas are robust animals, which in adulthood reach an approximate weight of 100 kilograms. They are white or black, having variations and combinations between these two shades. Its head is large and covered in short, fine fur.

The ears are long, pointed and curved inward. They have a pointed snout. They are herbivorous and live in the high Andes, in South America. Some examples are the llama and the guanaco.

Genus Vicugna

Vicunas are medium-sized animals, with a long neck covered with wool. The head is small, with a group of hairs that reach the eyes and in females it completely covers the forehead. Their ears are small, arranged vertically and totally covered with wool.

They live in the Andean mountain range, in South America. The alpaca and vicuña are some of the representatives of this genus.

Genus Camelus

Camels are large, herbivorous animals with a thin neck and long limbs. On their back they have humps or humps, where fatty tissue is stored. The African species has one hump and the Asian two. Her lip is split in two, being able to move them independently.

Dromedaries inhabit Africa and Asian camels can be found in some regions of Asia.

Habitat

Camelids are found from the Arabian Peninsula to Mongolia and in western and southern South America. There has been a drastic reduction, as far as wild species are concerned, but domesticated genera have spread throughout much of the world.

New world camelids

The habitat of llamas and vicuñas is made up of the formations of the High Andes, which extend from northern Peru to northern Argentina, including the highlands of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and the páramos of Ecuador.

In general, they could live in localities that are from 3,000 to 5,000 meters of altitude. The alpaca can live close to humid areas or in wetlands, which are small areas of land at high altitudes with permanent humidity. On the contrary, the vicuña prefers to inhabit the high grasslands.

Old World camelids

Asian camels are found in Central Asia and dromedaries in North Africa and the Middle East. They inhabit desert and semi-arid areas, covered with sparse vegetation. The climate is represented by a long dry season and a very short rainy period.

The climatic characteristics mean that there are daily great differences in temperature, which is why these animals have organic structures to survive in these desert environments.

Feeding

Camelids are all herbivorous animals. They feed on a wide variety of wet or dry herbs. Due to the characteristics of their lips they can eat spiny and salty plants, which are rejected by the vast majority of other herbivores with whom they share the habitat.

The stomach of camelids is divided into three chambers and a temporary stomach, considered by some scholars with the fourth stomach. During digestion, the complex vegetable particles are transformed into products of simple composition, which facilitate absorption through the digestive mucosa.

The degradation of these molecules occurs in three processes, one mechanical, where the vegetation is chopped by the teeth into smaller pieces and crushed by the teeth.

In the biological process, microbial fermentation breaks down molecules, among which is cellulose. The chemical process is carried out by the action of digestive diastase.

When the animal ruminates, it is facilitating the destruction of the membrane that forms plant cells, causing greater salivation and a faster action of the microbes that participate in fermentation.

New World camelids

The feeding of the adults belonging to the South American camelids is characterized by the ingestion of grasses and grasses, since their habitat is located over 4000 meters of altitude. Llamas and alpacas graze an average of 10 hours a day.

Old World camelids

Because the camel and dromedary habitat are deserts and rocky flats, the vegetation is sparse. Within its diet are cacti, thorny plants, dry leaves, roots, woody trunks, among others.

Your body has adapted to ingesting plants with high salt content, which is a great advantage over other herbivores.

During the day they spend most of the hours looking for food. The excess fat is stored in the humps or humps. In situations where food becomes scarce, the body metabolizes this adipose tissue, transforming it into nutrients and water.

Camels and dromedaries have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to endure for a long time without consuming water. To avoid internal consumption of water, your excretory system produces hard, dry stools and thick urine, with very low water content.

Reproduction

Sexual activity in camelids appears to be acyclical, not presenting a unique pattern. It is estimated that it is influenced by the environmental characteristics of its surroundings. In the females of this group ovulation is induced by copulation.

Their fertility rate is low, compared to other mammals that have also been domesticated. They are polygynous animals, where males can have many sexual partners.

Sexual maturity

The female camel is sexually mature at three years of age, although it is believed that she copulates only when she reaches 4 years of age. Males can reproduce at 3 years, when the amount of sperm necessary to fertilize the female is produced in their testicles.

Mating and copulation

The male camel behaves aggressively during mating, making sounds with his teeth. The male glands located under his neck secrete a reddish-black, foul-smelling substance that drips and colors the skin of that tone.

Before copulation, the male makes attempts to get the female to sit up, biting her shoulder and putting pressure on her neck. During copulation, males and females squat down and the male holds the female with her front legs. Copulation lasts between 7 and 20 minutes.

Male alpacas have no change in appearance during mating. They chase females before copulating and are aggressive with other males, when they both run after the same female.

Females squat down, copulation occurring very quickly. In the same family group, a male can be observed successively copulating with three females.

Gestation

Gestation in the genus Camelus lasts between 12 and 13 months, giving birth to a single young. He can get up shortly after being born, walking a few hours later. The young remain with the mother until they are two years old.

The female alpaca and llama give birth to a calf after 11 months of gestation. The young are kept with the mother for the first year of their life.

Behavior

New World camelids

South American camelids are shy, tame, and docile animals. However, if disturbed, they can kick and spit. While shepherding they mobilize in groups, making it difficult for any member to get lost or lost. At dusk they all return together, on the group's own initiative.

The male of the vicuña is territorial. Their family groups are made up of adult and young males, females and their young. The elderly and young males who have been expelled from their groups form a non-reproductive group.

Courtship in South American camelids is accompanied by running from the male to the female, with biting and attempts to bite her. The female runs and finally lies down, so that the male can mount and copulate.

Old World camelids

Asian camels and dromedaries live in groups, dominated by a male. They fight for control of the group by biting the opponent and trying to dominate them by the neck. Single males form their own herds.

Dromedaries are grouped in three ways: a herd of single males, another of adult females with their young, and one where adult females are found with their one or two-year-old young. Each of these groups is led by an adult male.

When males face a rival, they first approach each other, using dominance signals such as urination and blows to the back. If neither male retreats, the two animals confront each other by biting and striking their bodies with their front legs.

References

1. Myers, P (2000). Camelidae. Animal Diversity Web. Recovered from animaldiversity.org.
2. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia (2004). Camels, Guanacos, Llamas, Alpacas, And Vicuñas (Camelidae). Encyclopedia.com. Recovered from encyclopedia.com.
3. Novoa (1968). Reproduction in camelidae. Department of Zoology, University College of North Wales, Bangor. Recovered from citeseerx.ist.psu.edu.
4. Wikipedia (2018). Canelid. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org.
5. Stephen R. Purdy. (2018). Practical Camelid Reproduction. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Recovered from vasci.umass.edu.
6. ITIS (2018). Camelidae. Recovered from itis.gov.