Sunrise with Wild Camels

A female wild camel in the orange light of the sunrise. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

I returned again to Toli Bulag this August. The breeding centre has been built over the past two years mostly with funds from Prague Zoo, or rather the capital city of Prague, and seven wild camels moved in last year in September.

In the early morning the documentarist David Broda and I set up in the enclosure with camels. We were accompanied by the head of the project Adiya and the employee of the breeding centre Tserennadmid (the one in the traditional Mongolian hat, which is no longer seen in everyday life, and a long cigarette holder). As we were approaching the enclosure together over the gravelly, stone-hard surface, I realized again what a harsh environment wild camels live in. A minimum of vegetation, an absolute lack of water, and a temperature range from minus forty to plus forty degrees; from searing frost to scorching heat.

In the enclosure, Tserennadmid climbed onto a dune, looked around and showed us in which direction we were to continue. We followed—and we saw the camels just at the moment when the first rays of sunlight hit them. It was a breathtaking sight! The desert, the dunes, the orange light and unique, rare animals bathing in it!

There are only a few hundred wild camels remaining in the Gobi Desert (hence our effort to create a backup population) and they differ from domestic Bactrian camels at first glance. One wonders how disputes about whether they are truly a distinct species could have dragged on for so long, disputes that were finally resolved only by DNA analysis. Wild camels are slimmer and, I would say, even more graceful, and differently colored than domestic camels, but above all they have different humps: smaller, erect and pointed like mountain peaks.

The first three calves born this spring in Toli Bulag. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

Cautiously we got closer to the group in the enclosure and finally we spotted also three calves! Yes, three of five females gave birth to baby camels in April! They stack together, the first, second, third… Tserennadmid kept an eye on the male so he would not endanger us, so we could get even closer. Cuteness itself…

Portrait of a camel calf. It’s impossible not to compare it to Hurvínek... Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

It was mainly these calves that brought us here. We carried detailed instructions to their local breeders, and our colleague Honza Marek did his best to pass on his experience. After all, with wild animals it is necessary to work in a different way than with domestic ones... But we also addressed the improvement of both breeding centres and many other things as well.

An aerial view of part of the Toli Bulag breeding station. The camels were brought here from the long-running breeding centre at Zakhyn Us. Photo: David Broda, Prague Zoo