Since we started planning for Secrets of the Silk Road, almost every powerpoint presentation I’ve seen has been festooned with pictures of camels. We’ve spent many a coffee break needling over whether or not the camels peppering the latest powerpoint were Bactrians or Dromedaries.
Bactrian camels have two humps! Surely, you knew that already.
At this point, if you mention the word “Bactrian” you will induce an inevitable eye-roll.
Bactrian camels, the ones we are concerned with here, are native to the steppes of central Asia and are better suited to colder climates than Dromedaries which are more accustomed to the deserts of western Asia.
We’re going a bit camel happy as we gear up for the big opening weekend celebration on Feb 5-6 when a real live Bactrian camel is going to come to the Museum. So I searched our archival image database for camels and here are the wonderful images with which I will festoon this blog post…
More pics and facts about camels on Nat Geo’s site for the Mongolian Doco Land of the Weeping Camel.
